Elizabeth Drew Was First

To the Editors:

In a footnote to my recent piece for the Review [“The Money Fighting Health Care Reform,” NYR, April 8], I wrote that Elizabeth Drew was “one of the first” political journalists to draw public attention to the problem of money in politics. Upon reflection, I think this wording underplays her contribution. With the book of hers I mentioned, Politics and Money: The New Road to Corruption (1983), based on a series she’d written for The New Yorker, she was really the first to explore the problem of how money was corrupting politics. Library Journal observed that Drew had done for the campaign finance reform movement what Rachel Carson had done for the environmental movement.

I am happy to correct the record.

Michael Tomasky
Silver Spring, Maryland