MR. BENNETT'S SPENDING HABITS

William J. Bennett is not a hypocrite [letters, May 6]. He is a wealthy
businessman in a lucrative business, and he shares the same ethical
standard that exists in company boardrooms across the country.

Mr. Bennett has managed to package and market the public-domain concepts of
morality and virtue. Harvard MBAs must be salivating at what he has
accomplished. He has taken concepts that are the intellectual property of
all of us and sold them back to us at a huge markup. He is the
quintessential modern-day American success story. That he has taken quite a
lot of this money and turned it over to the casinos of Las Vegas and
Atlantic City would seem to be evidence that he does not have an investment
in these concepts other than in the marketplace. Hence, the lack of hypocrisy.

GILBERT LEE HOGEMIRE

Oak Harbor, Wash.