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Crime--DeSalle Catholic Church 9/28/92 [OA 7581] [2]
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Crime--DeSalle Catholic Church 9/28/92 [OA 7581] [2]
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Speech Backup Chronological Files
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Folder Title:
Crime--DeSalle Catholic Church 9/28/92 [OA 7581 [2]
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PAGE 4
LEVEL 1 - - 3 OF 4 STORIES
The Associated Press
The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Associated Press.
April 22, 1987, Wednesday, AM cycle
SECTION: Domestic News
LENGTH: 584 words
HEADLINE: Former Inmate Arrested One Block From Scene of Fatal Stabbing
DATELINE: DUMAS, Ark.
KEYWORD: Shopkeeper Stabbing
BODY:
An inmate relesed early because of prison overcrowding was arrested
Wednesday, two days after he was freed, in the killing of a shop owner stabbed
with a pair of scissors, authorities said.
Larry Dean Robertson, 28, was captured less than a block from the fabric
store-bus depot where Laverne Sanderlin, 68, was found stabbed to death Tuesday
afternoon, said Sgt. Sam Gordon of the state police. The slaying occurred during
an apparent robbery attempt, police said.
Robertson, one of about 100 inmates granted early release Monday, was charged
with capital murder in Desha County Circuit Court, said Prosecuting Attorney
John Frank Gibson. Robertson had been serving time on a handgun conviction.
A state trooper spotted him Wednesday, standing next to a pickup truck in
downtown Dumas and pursued him by car, Gordon said.
"By the time the trooper returned, the subject had disappeared into a thicket
full of grown-up vines. We sent the dogs in there and flushed him out," Gordon
said.
"He ran two or three blocks. He ran up to the sheriff's car. The sheriff had
seen him running down the street and the sheriff pulled across the sidewalk. The
subject ran up to the sheriff's car and laid over the trunk. He did not resist
arrest," Gordon said.
Robertson was released in the first implementation of the new Emergency
Powers Act by the state Correction Board. Gov. Bill Clinton, who signed the law
during the recently completed legislative session, said Wednesday that he did
not regret taking that action.
Calling the slaying a terrible tragedy and emphasizing that he did not want
to politicize it, Clinton nevertheless said it might increase support among
lawmakers to provide more money for prisons. Clinton said it would take a "few
million" dollars to help the prisons, adding that his staff was still working on
specific figures.
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The Associated Press, April 22, 1987
The governor said the slaying "raises a red flag to me" that inmates who are
considered for early release but who have not met requirements for parole be
screened by both the Pardons and Parole Board and the Correction Board.
Asked whether he thought the slaying would prompt legislative action,
Correction Board Chairman Woodson Walker of Little Rock said Wednesday, "I hope
that there will be some positive benefit to come from this."
Prison officials have said 350 more inmates could be released early during
the next three months.
According to David White, a prison spokesman, Robertson normally would have
been released June 25. Robertson entered prison Nov. 10, 1986, for a Johnson
County conviction of being a felon in possession of a handgun and normally would
have undergone pre-release counseling, White said.
Pre-release counseling was waived for many inmates released early, however.
The Correction Board discussed the consequences of releasing prisoners without
counseling before deciding to invoke the Emergency Powers Act on Friday, White
said.
White said that when an inmate was released and no one was at the prison to
pick him up, the inmate was taken by prison officials to the nearest public
transportation. In Robertson's case, that was the bus station operated by Mrs.
Sanderlin, where White said Robertson was to catch a bus for Mississippi, his
home state.
Robertson had served time in Mississippi prisons from 1980 to 1983 after
being convicted of aggravated assault, White said. Warrants for burglary and
grand larceny had been outstanding in Marshall County, Miss., against Robertson,
but were dropped Feb. 10, White said.
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LEVEL 1 - 4 OF 4 STORIES
The Associated Press
The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Associated Press.
April 22, 1987, Wednesday, PM cycle
SECTION: Domestic News
LENGTH: 364 words
HEADLINE: Shopkeeper Stabbed To Death, Released Inmate Accused
BYLINE: By RICH HARRIS, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: DUMAS, Ark.
KEYWORD: Inmate Sought
BODY:
A convicted felon who had been let out of an overcrowded prison system two
months early was arrested today in the fatal stabbing of a fabric store clerk
with a pair of scissors.
Larry Dean Robertson, 28, was arrested less than a block from the store,
which also serves as a bus depot, after a police officer spotted him and gave
chase, said state police Sgt. Sam Gordon.
About 50 officers using bloodhounds had begun searching for him after Laverne
Sanderlin, 68, was found dead in the store, where Robertson was dropped off
Tuesday.
A witness to the stabbing gave a description matching Robertson's, said Sgt.
J.W. Hale of the Arkansas State Police. He said the attack occurred during an
apparent robbery attempt.
This morning, as the search continued, Robertson was charged with capital
murder in Desha County Circuit Court, said Prosecuting Attorney John Frank
Gibson of Monticello.
Robertson was granted an early release from the Varner Unit near Dumas on
Monday in the first implementation of a new Emergency Powers Act by the state
Correction Board.
Before the arrest, officers searched woods on the southwest side of this town
of about 6,500 because of a tip, said Police Chief Richard Bonds. A door-to-door
search was conducted during the night.
Prison officials said about 100 inmates were freed Monday and 350 others
could be released early during the next three months under the emergency act.
Gov. Bill Clinton, who signed the act, would not comment on the stabbing, a
spokesman said.
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The Associated Press, April 22, 1987
Under normal circumstances, Robertson, who was in prison for possession of a
handgun, would not have been released until the end of June, said prison
spokesman David White.
Robertson had served time in Mississippi prisons from 1980 to 1983 after
being convicted of aggravated assault, he said.
White said the Correction Board on Friday discussed the ramifications of
releasing prisoners without pre-release counseling.
"They decided that our financial situation and the population situation made
it necessary to implement the Emergency Powers Act," White said.
Robertson was taken to the bus station when he was released because no one
came to pick him up, White said.
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LEVEL 1 - 2 OF 4 STORIES
The Associated Press
The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Associated Press.
April 23, 1987, Thursday, PM cycle
SECTION: Domestic News
LENGTH: 302 words
HEADLINE: Arkansas Governor Says Slaying Shows Need For Special Session
DATELINE: LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
KEYWORD: Shopkeeper Stabbing
BODY:
Gov. Bill Clinton says the arrest of an early release inmate on a murder
charge shows that a special legislative session is needed to address the
problems of prison overcrowding and underfunding.
"It's a terrible tragedy," Clinton said of the slaying of Laverne Sanderlin,
68, who was fatally stabbed Tuesday with scissors in her fabric store, which
also operates as a bus depot.
Larry Dean Robertson, 28, was arrested Wednesday less than a block from the
store, said state police Sgt. Sam Gordon.
Robertson was released from the new Varner Unit at Dumas on Monday, two
months early because of prison overcrowding. He was one of about 100 inmates
gaining early release Monday in the state Correction Board's first
implementation of the Emergency Powers Act.
Prison spokesman David White said Robertson normally would have been released
June 25. He had been in prison since Nov. 10, 1986, after being convicted in
Johnson County of being a felon in possession of a handgun.
Clinton, who signed the Emergency Powers Act into law during the recently
ended legislative session, said he did not regret taking that action.
Rep. Charlotte Schexnayder, who voted for the emergency act, said Clinton
told her he was "seriously considering holding a special session and asking for
a halt" to the early release program until better screening procedures could be
devised.
Robertson was being held Wednesday in the Dumas City Jail. Prosecuting
Attorney John Frank Gibson said the former inmate was charged with capital
murder.
Clinton said it would take a few million dollars to help the prisons.
Clinton said use of the Emergency Powers Act "was always intended to be an
emergency procedure only. It's not something you'd have to do every month,
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The Associated Press, April 23, 1987
month in and month out from now on, to deal with the problem."
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LEVEL 1 - 1 OF 4 STORIES
Proprietary to the United Press International 1987
October 13, 1987, Tuesday, AM cycle
SECTION: Regional News
DISTRIBUTION: Arkansas
LENGTH: 268 words
HEADLINE: Robertson convicted; sentence debated
DATELINE: ARKANSAS CITY, Ark.
KEYWORD: Robertson
BODY:
Larry Dean Robertson, 29, of Grenada, Miss., was convicted Tuesday in
Desha Circuit Court of capital murder. The jury was deliberating on the sentence
in late evening.
Robertson was convicted in Arkansas City, after less than 1 hours of
deliberation, for the April 21 death of Laverne ''Bernie'' Sanderlin, 68, a
Dumas shopkeeper who was stabbed in the eye with a pair of scissors. Under
Arkansas law, he could receive a sentence of death by lethal injection, or life
in prison without parole.
Robertson's attorneys tried to prove he was mentally incompetent during the
trial, but after the defense rested Monday, Robertson insisted on taking the
stand. Despite the objections of his attorneys, Circuit Judge Paul Roberts
allowed Robertson to testify, saying that denying him a chance to testify could
violate Robertson's rights under the Fifth Amendment.
Robertson admitted killing Sanderlin on the day after Robertson was freed
from prison on an early release program. He said she was a member of a child
pornography ring and had pulled a handgun on him.
During a rambling statement on the witness stand, Robertson said he left
Mississippi because a drug dealer threatened his life. He said he had worked
with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics in arresting people selling drugs to
juveniles.
Before Robertson was released from prison, he had been serving an 18-month
term from western Arkansas for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
State-appointed psychologist Dr. Douglas Stevens of North Little Rock had
said Robertson probably could not have understood the criminality of his act.
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The Hotline, May 5, 1992
HILLARY QUITS BOARDS: Hillary Clinton 5/4 resigned from the
boards of Wal-Mart Inc., yogurt franchise TCBY, and cement
company Lafarge Corp., in order to devote herself "full-time" to
her husband's campaign. ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE's Harter notes
an OH-based subsidiary of Lafarge has come under fire from
activists for burning hazardous waste. Mrs. Clinton is expected
to remain with the Rose Law Firm, which the DEM-GAZETTE estimates
has made $41, 450 from government-related litigation since 1989.
Twenty other AR law firms did more government business than Rose
(5/5). W. POST reports Mrs. Clinton drew $60, 700 from the three
boards last year, and $110K from Rose (5/5).
DEATH PENALTY: N.Y. NEWSDAY's Jordan examines Clinton's
record on the death penalty, noting the scheduled execution 5/7
of Steven Douglas Hill, who shot and killed a state trooper in
1984. Clinton allowed the execution of Ricky Ray Rector three
months ago; a sidebar story repeats earlier questions as to his
mental competence. Rector also killed a police officer. Clinton
"zealously defends his record on crime issues," saying Dems
"should no longer feel guilty about protecting the innocent." A
third story notes research on Clinton's record by conservative
activist Floyd Brown and his PAC. Possible subjects for
independent expenditure TV spots: escaped furlougher Charles
The Hotline, May 5, 1992
Lloyd Patterson -- still at large - and Larry Dean Robertson,
who was released in '87 to ease jail overcrowding, and murdered a
woman the next day. Both men are white (5/4).
AR PROTESTS: About a dozen state employees, some of whom
represented state worker unions, "angered by having to take a 20
percent pay cut" to cover the AR deficit picketed outside Little
Rock state offices. Many "blamed the state's budget crisis on
the absent (Clinton). But both Clinton and LG Jim Guy Tucker
"reviewed and agreed with the cuts." Clinton spokesperson Mike
Gauldin said he "would have made the same decision had he been in
(AR) every day" (Walker, DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, 5/5).
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2ND STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1992 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday
May 4, 1992, Monday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 3
Other Edition: City Pg. 14
LENGTH: 510 words
HEADLINE: Seeking Ammunition
BYLINE: George E. Jordan
KEYWORD: ARKANSAS; CAPITAL PUNISHMENT; EXECUTION; BILL CLINTON; 1992; ELECTION;
CAMPAIGN; CANDIDATE; ISSUE
BODY:
When Arkansas prison inmate Charles Lloyd Patterson hijacked an airplane and
fled the state last month, Republicans were gleeful and Gov. Bill Clinton braced
for an attack on the crime issue.
Patterson is a candidate to star this summer in an anti-Clinton advertising
campaign by the committee that used felon Willie Horton against Massachusetts
Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988.
Patterson escaped while on a five-day furlough from his 40-year sentence for
hiring a hit man to murder a lawyer.
"Americans are sick and tired of being victims of crime. They want to be
protected from criminals," said Floyd Brown, chairman of the Virginia-based
Citizens United, a conservative political action committee with no direct ties
to any party. "We can motivate voters on that issue and we use it."
The Presidential Victory Committee, a division of Brown's group, paid for the
television ads in 1988 featuring Horton, a black convicted murder who committed
rape while on furlough from a Massachusetts prison. The ads severely damaged
Dukakis' presidential campaign and brought charges of racism from civil-rights
groups.
President George Bush hammered away at Dukakis on the furlough program, and
Dukakis' record on crime emerged as a negative campaign issue.
Clinton, who touts himself as a tough-on-crime Democrat, warned Brown late
last month to "be careful with this criminal-justice business
If I were
them, I'd be careful."
Brown said he has "taken my lumps" over Horton and said he would avoid ads
featuring anyone black.
Unlike Horton, Patterson is white and is not known to have physically harmed
anyone since he fled in a twin-engine plane on April 9, the day he was due back
at prison.
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Newsday, May 4, 1992
Authorities said he flew himself to central Arkansas, where he went to the
home of the key witness who put him in jail, taunting him for several hours at
gunpoint. Patterson, who has not been seen since, hijacked another plane that
was recovered in Texas.
Brown said two researchers spent several months in Arkansas and are still
searching old newspapers for ammunition against Clinton, such as the 1987
release of Larry Dean Robertson by the Arkansas Correction Board to ease jail
overcrowding. The next day, Robertson murdered a woman.
"We feel if we use the ammunition we've been collecting, Gov. Clinton might
be denied the nomination. We're going to wait until he's nominated," said Brown.
If the Victory Committee launches a campaign, it would not be the first time
Clinton has been attacked for his record on crime.
In 1980, Clinton commuted the life sentence of 74-year-old murderer James L.
Surridge, who then went on a crime rampage that included murder and bank
robbery. Mike Gauldin, Clinton's spokesman, said Surridge singlehandedly
prompted Clinton to severely limit executive clemency.
Surridge, one of 44 murderers whose life sentences were commuted by Clinton
in his first two-year term, figured in Clinton's 1981 loss to Republican Frank
White. Clinton returned as governor in 1983 and has been re-elected three more
times.
GRAPHIC: Photos- 1) Charles Patterson. 2) James Surridge
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3RD STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1992 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
April 17, 1992, Friday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 6A
LENGTH: 592 words
HEADLINE: His record on crime scrutinized
BYLINE: Bill Nichols
KEYWORD: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:BILL CLINTON:ELECTION ISSUE
BODY:
Republicans searching for vulnerabilities in Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton's
record have a new name to ponder: Charles Lloyd Patterson.
Last week, Patterson, an Arkansas inmate serving a 40-year sentence - on
charges that include solicitation to commit murder - escaped during a furlough,
hijacked a charter flight and disappeared.
In 1987, another Arkansas inmate, released early to help ease crowding in
state prisons, stabbed a store clerk to death the day of his release.
Willie Horton revisited, say Republicans, who for decades have painted
Democrats as 'soft''' on crime.
Horton is the Massachusetts inmate who raped a woman after failing to return
from a weekend furlough and was the chief symbol of an ad campaign against
Michael Dukakis.
But Clinton, with a fairly conservative record on crime issues, seems eager
to fight any such attack.
Clinton 'strictly reflects the public stance that it's necessary to be tough
on crime,' says state Rep. Charlotte Schexnayder, a Democrat.
Schexnayder also edits the Dumas Clarion, the weekly newspaper in the town
where Larry Dean Robertson killed Laverne Sanderlin in 1987 after his early
release.
She says few in Dumas blame Clinton mostly because the early release program
was passed by the Legislature and accepted by the public as a way to curb
crowded jails.
''I don't see how people can blame the governor, she says.
Arkansas Republicans disagree and tried to tar Clinton with the Robertson
case during his 1990 re-election campaign.
The issue got little media attention, says state GOP consultant Jerry
Russell, who complains that Clinton, 'hasn't had anybody take the tough issues
and use them against him.
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USA TODAY, April 17, 1992
But Arkansas liberals criticize Clinton for favoring longer sentences and
more jails cells over social policies aimed at the root causes of crime.
That makes for a prospective nominee who, on law and order issues, could
cause Republicans problems:
- Clinton supports the use of the death penalty and has presided over three
executions.
Democrats, he likes to say, 'should no longer feel guilty about protecting
the innocent.'
Clinton was criticized in Arkansas and by Democratic rivals for allowing the
execution in January of Rickey Ray Rector, a convicted murderer who was severely
brain damaged.
Another execution is set for May 7. And another death-row inmate, Barry Lee
Fairchild, is mildly retarded.
- Clinton commuted 70 sentences in his first term, including the death
sentence of James Surridge, a 73-year-old convicted murderer who later killed a
man during a robbery.
But after that issue contributed to his 1980 defeat, Clinton apologized.
Since 1981, he's commuted seven sentences.
- On furloughs, Clinton already asked for a review of the program, used for
decades. And, unlike Dukakis, he quickly reacted to last week's incident,
suspending the program.
Arkansas averages 250 furloughs a year, said David White, of the state
corrections department, and had only two escapes or crimes committed last year
and none in 1990.
White also notes that furloughs are widely used. Of 85,000 furloughs
nationwide in 1990, including 5,000 from federal prisons, only 800 prisoners
escaped or committed crimes.
Clinton, more so than Dukakis, will fight back on crime.
''Before 1980, he was kind of like Dukakis, says Ernie Dumas, former
columnist at the defunct Arkansas Gazette.
''But since then, he gives it better than he takes it. He'll come back with
the meanest, toughest ads you ever saw. Like George Bush, he'll do anything to
win.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO; b/w, AP (1988 photo)
CUTLINE: PATTERSON: Inmate will be profiled tonight on Fox TV's 'America's Most
Wanted.'
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION; CANDIDATE; CRIME; ARKANSAS; GOVERNOR
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USA TODAY, April 17, 1992
NOTES: WASHINGTON AND THE WORLD; See main story; Clinton pushes economic plan //
Calls for emphasis on future
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4TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
The Associated Press
The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Associated Press.
January 24, 1992, Friday, PM cycle
SECTION: Political News
LENGTH: 608 words
HEADLINE: Clinton's Prison Release Record Long, Possibly Troublesome
BYLINE: By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: LITTLE ROCK
KEYWORD: Clinton-Death Row
BODY:
Voters looking for a tough-on-crime Democrat may favor Bill Clinton, a
Southern governor who has set 68 execution dates, seen two carried out and is
scheduled to allow a third murderer to be put to death tonight.
But Clinton, a Democratic presidential candidate, may be open to the same
charges of leniency that weighed down former Massachusetts Gov. Michael
Dukakis's run for the White House.
In 1979, Clinton, then in the first year of his first term as governor,
commuted the death sentence of James L. Surridge, a 73-year-old convicted
murderer who doctors said was ill and near death.
Surridge, who had been in prison since 1964, was released on Feb. 13, 1980.
By the end of that year, Surridge had shot and killed 61-year-old Russell
Ratliff during a robbery.
"Clinton could have his own Willie Horton there," said Claibourne Darden, an
Atlanta-based Democratic pollster.
In 1988, an independent campaign ad assailed the weekend furlough of Horton,
done while Dukakis was governor. Horton, a convicted murderer serving in
Massachusetts, raped a Maryland woman and terrorized her husband while he was on
the furlough.
From 1979 to January 1981, Clinton commuted 70 sentences, 40 of which were
life sentences.
After losing a re-election drive in 1980, Clinton in the 1982 gubernatorial
race apologized for the mistakes of his first term and promised not to commute
any more first-degree murder sentences.
Since then, Clinton has commuted just seven sentences.
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The Associated Press, January 24, 1992
Clinton has a total of 68 execution dates and presided over his first two
executions, both in 1990. Convicted cop killer Rickey Ray Rector is scheduled to
be killed by lethal injection tonight.
Clinton said he reluctantly commuted one first-degree murder sentence since
1983, under pressure from the Department of Correction.
"You always think about something like that," Clinton said in a 1989
interview of the Surridge incident. "That old man was not as sick as people
thought he was."
In that interview, Clinton criticized Dukakis's handling of the damaging
Willie Horton ad.
"It was a terrible mistake not to answer the Willie Horton thing," Clinton
said. "If the issue were raised I would explain my position. I've tightened up
the procedure. I also drafted a bill that set longer sentences, and I've set 54
execution dates, so I think I've got a more conservative record on the issue
than Governor Dukakis has."
In a debate among the five major Democratic presidential candidates last
Sunday, Clinton, speaking of his support for the death penalty, said Democrats
"should no longer feel guilty about protecting the innocent."
Despite the change, Surridge, now back in prison, could still haunt Clinton,
Darden says.
"This kind of issue is a standing liability for any politician in that
position," Darden said. "When you want to run for president, that liability
becomes inflamed.
"It will remind everyone of that fine governor of Massachusetts," he said.
"That's what the Republicans would like to do."
Of Surridge, Clinton said, "It was a judgment call and all judgment calls are
subject to misjudgment. It was a terrible thing, something I have to live with."
Dukakis did not take an active role in the release of Willie Horton, like
Clinton did in commuting Surridge's sentence. More like the Horton incident was
the April 1987 case of Larry Dean Robertson.
The Arkansas Correction Board released Robertson as part of an effort to
relieve prison overcrowding. The next day, he stabbed and killed Laverne
"Bernie" Sanderlin.
After the Sandlerlin murder, Clinton ordered the board not to release inmates
unless they were reviewed by the board first.
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5TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1992 Levitt Communications, Inc.
Roll Call
January 13, 1992
SECTION: Pennsylvania Avenue
LENGTH: 1251 words
HEADLINE: Sex Questions On Clinton? Let's Settle Them Now
BYLINE: By Morton M. Kondracke
BODY:
The first votes of the Democratic primary season won't be cast for four weeks
yet, but already Bill Clinton is being touted as the all-but-sure Democratic
nominee.
"There is a certain giddiness around here," said one Clinton strategist after
Doug Wilder's withdrawal and Clinton's endorsement by AFSCME and the teachers'
unions. But there is also a certain terror rife among Clinton supporters and
other Democrats MAIN that just about the time the candidate actually seals the
nomination, the so-called "personal issue" will explode and destroy the party's
best chance in years of winning the White House.
So, now is the time for the press's scrutiny machine to be turned on full
throttle, and for some discussion to take place of what kind of sexual conduct
should disqualify a candidate from being president. For that matter, any other
flaws in Clinton's record ought to be exposed as soon as possible, before more
rivals drop out, and it's too late for any new candidates to get into the race.
Let's be clear: A lot of mud already has been thrown at Clinton and none of
it has stuck. The candidate's hometown of Little Rock is hip-deep in dirt spread
by three unsavory local characters - a right-wing kook who has filed suits
naming at least ten women as Clinton paramours, a bankrupt restaurateur who used
the back of his barbecue menu to accuse Clinton of fathering an illegitimate
baby, and Clinton's 1990 Republican opponent, who routinely briefs out-of-town
reporters on charges by the other two.
Local journalists have tracked down a number of the women named in the suits,
have interviewed Clinton's state patrol guards and household employees - and
have come up with nothing. Reportedly, two major national news organizations
have pursued the trail, too, with the same results. If that's true, the
organizations ought to say what they know, or don't know.
Then, there is another story making the rounds in Washington that I've
checked out and determined is false, too. Allegedly, after one of his policy
speeches at Georgetown University, Clinton put the make on an attractive black
woman who turned out to be the daughter of Democratic National Committee
Chairman Ron Brown.
Brown says that his daughter, a law student in New York, didn't attend the
Georgetown speeches. He says that his daughter has met Clinton precisely once,
in 1989, at a luncheon in Aspen, Colo., at which Brown and his wife were also
present. "The whole thing is absurd," says Brown.
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Roll Call, January 13, 1992
In spite of a total lack of any substantiation of any Clinton rumors,
however, his supporters are terrified that something will surface. At parties,
they huddle together and fret. The fears are based partly on the rumors, partly
on the Gary Hart disaster in 1988, and partly on Clinton's own admissions: that
his marriage has "had difficulties" but is solid now and that "if the standard
is perfection, I can't pass."
In October, Donald Baer of U.S. News and World Report reported Clinton as
saying that his parents' divorce caused him to act "40 at the age of 16," and
the discovery of his brother's drug addiction caused him to act like a
16-year-old at the age of 40.
So, what's there? It is not up to Clinton to say any more. He's perfectly
right to stick to governance issues and let others try and find out what they
can. But, should the press print whatever it finds about a presidential
candidate's sex life? If not, what is appropriate for the public to know? And,
for the public, what kind of conduct is disqualifying?
Libertarians and liberals may say that somebody's sex life is none of the
public's damn business, but Gary Hart's was - because it suggested compulsive
and reckless behavior. John F. Kennedy's certainly would have been, had anyone
known about it, because it was compulsive, reckless and - involving a Mafia moll
- might have opened the President up to blackmail.
Aides who say they have discussed the subject with Clinton have the
impression that whatever infidelity he engaged in dates to the period just after
his 1980 defeat for re-election as governor. They say they do not know when it
stopped but have the impression it was years ago, rather than months, and they
say Clinton has assured them that there will be "no Gary Hart" embarrassments
during the campaign.
Media specialist Frank Green says that Clinton "is a warm guy. He flirts spant
harmlessly, I mean."
My guess is that in the 1990s, when half of all marriages end in divorce,
voters are not going to disqualify a presidential candidate if his indiscretions
were reasonably few in number, occurred some time ago, and have stopped - and if
they were not attended by any illegal or otherwise outrageous activity.
If a newspaper finds out that Clinton's indiscretions were of this mild
variety, should it print the facts with names, dates, and places? I think so;
the public is grown up enough to accept it. If it finds out that Clinton was a
wastrel, should it print that? Absolutely.
And, the sooner, the better. Bill Clinton is the Democratic front-runner,
without question. And he deserves to be, even if no votes have been cast yet.
Of all the Democratic candidates now in the field, he stands the best chance of
beating George Bush. As Democratic activist Mark Siegel points out in his latest
newsletter, a non-liberal like Clinton has the potential of winning 20 states in
the East, North, and Far West, for a total of 202 electoral votes, against a
Bush base of 25 states and 214 electoral votes in the South, Midwest, and
Mountain West.
Siegel figures that six states with 119 votes, including California,
Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Delaware, and Maine, would be the battleground and
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Roll Call, January 13, 1992
that Clinton would be in good shape to contest them. If David Duke runs as a
third-party candidate and takes white votes away from Bush in the South, Clinton
could carry six Southern states, including Texas, with a total of 84 electoral
votes.
Clinton's electability accounts for the fact that usually-liberal unions like
AFSCME are supporting the former head of the Democratic Leadership Council. And
Clinton's DLCism - his new-ideas stances on welfare, education and the economy -
is what makes him electable.
But before the Democratic party talks itself into an early marriage to
Clinton, the press and Clinton's opponents need to look at him -hard - to make
sure that whatever Flaws the Republicans are likely to uncover later are
exposed.
For instance, Republicans likely will say that Clinton is soft on crime
because he has commuted the life sentences of 42 murderers. It turns out that 38
of these were in his first term. The putative Willie Horton of Arkansas, one
Larry Dean Robertson, committed a murder after early release From prison - but
it turns out he would have been released later anyway.
Republicans also will say that Clinton is a big taxer, but, per capita,
Arkansas still has the second-lowest state and local taxes in the country. A
fairer rap is that he has given too-large tax breaks to business ($400 million
worth) and has been soft on the natural gas, lumber, and poultry industries.
In 1988, with a large number of able candidates to choose from, the
Democratic party nominated Michael Dukakis and only later found out that his
Massachusetts Miracle wasn't so miraculous. This year, the field is a lot
thinner. So if Clinton has clay feet, or hyperactive glands, Democrats ought to
find it out soon, while there's still time to saddle up another horse.
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September 18, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR STEVE PROVOST
FROM:
JENNIFER GROSSMAN
SUBJECT:
NEW STUMP SPEECH
MESSAGE
When Joe S. Pack leaves the rally, here are the items he
should have in his goody bag:
1)
a general good feeling about himself and his country.
2)
a context that names the chaos of change at home and
abroad, that diagnoses this discomfort as growing pains
-- not mortal symptoms.
3)
a sense that the two candidates are fundamentally
different: they may argue towards the same ends, but
start with two radically different premises, each
dictating a different approach on any given issue.
4)
a grounding in the values we all share, a feeling that
all is within our reach
if we--only reach within
ourselves.
TONE
We must be an optimism superpower: naming uncomfortable
things, but saying they will get better; naming differences,
but saying how ours isn't just smarter or cheaper, but is
more optimistic, more filled with faith in the American
people.
Humor must be his own: gentle, grandfatherly, self-
deprecating.
No angry man. Honest, simple, Texan.
OUTLINE
I.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Clinton calls for change, but change is here, it is all
around us.
A. As we attend to the moment we must not forget the hour.
1. At long last the world is moving ahead in our
direction
why would we go back in theirs. The world
is turning toward democracy, turning toward free
markets, turning toward free trade. Should we now turn
to world and say: Just kidding?
2) We are witnessing one of the greatest economic
transformations in our history. No nation is an
island. We must be an economic and export superpower.
B.
You don't diagnose the growing pains and advise the
patient to stop growing: IT'S GOING TO GET BETTER
1) He's a pessimist, I'm an optimist. He looks backward,
I look forward.
II. TWO VISIONS
Intellectual context: throughout history there have been two
ways of looking at the world: one says that government will
do great things, if only it is given enough power and money.
The other says that people can do great things, if only they
are set free.
Emotional context: It all started out real innocent,
government wanted to hold your hand while you were crossing
the street -- now they won't let go. The look down on you.
They think they're better than you.
III. THE THINGS THAT MUST GUIDE CHANGE ARE THE THINGS THAT MUST
NEVER CHANGE
Change: the sea surges and the wind blows
you've got to
give them something to hold on to.
The
answers
are
not
so
much behind us nor ahead of us
they're within us.
THE STAR
Department of Justice
REMARKS MADE BY
WILLIAM P. BARR
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES
AT THE OCDETF CONFERENCE
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
SEPTEMBER 2, 1992
GOOD MORNING. IT IS A GREAT PLEASURE FOR ME TO BE HERE THIS
MORNING. AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO PLAY A PART IN THE ORGANIZED
CRIME DRUG ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE (OCDETF) PROGRAM, YOU ARE THE
LEADERS AND THE WARRIORS IN OUR NATION'S GREATEST STRUGGLE -- THE
WAR ON DRUGS. THIS YEAR IS OCDETF'S TENTH ANNIVERSARY. AND THIS
WEEK IN SAN ANTONIO WE ARE TRULY MARKING A DECADE OF EXCELLENCE,
AND A DECADE OF ACHIEVEMENT. AND so I'D LIKE TO BEGIN BY
THANKING EVERYONE HERE FOR THE OUTSTANDING WORK THAT YOU HAVE
DONE OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS.
ALTHOUGH WE STILL HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO IN THE WAR ON DRUGS,
A GREAT DEAL HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED AND MUCH OF THE CREDIT MUST GO
TO THE MEN AND WOMEN IN THIS ROOM, AND I THANK YOU.
AS ATTORNEY GENERAL I'VE TRIED TO SET FORTH A CLEAR SET OF
PRIORITIES. STARTING WITH MY CONFIRMATION HEARINGS AND
REPEATEDLY SINCE THAT TIME I'VE MADE IT CLEAR THAT THIS
ADMINISTRATION'S FIRST AND HIGHEST LAW ENFORCEMENT PRIORITY IS
THE ALL-OUT PROSECUTION OF THE WAR ON DRUGS. AND THIS REFLECTS
OUR PRESIDENT'S UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO RIDDING OUR COUNTRY OF
THE SCOURGE OF DRUGS. ILLEGAL DRUG TRAFFICKING AND THE ADDICTION
AND VIOLENCE IT SPAWNS ARE THE MOST INSIDIOUS THREATS THAT OUR
NATION HAS FACED. I DON'T THINK WE CONFRONTED A GREATER
CHALLENGE AS A PEOPLE IN OUR HISTORY. AND WE TRULY ARE ENGAGED
IN A WAR. THE COSTS OF THIS WAR IN BLOOD, TREASURE AND SPIRIT,
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RIVAL THE COST OF ANY OTHER CONFLICT WE HAVE WAGED. IN ONE WAY
OR ANOTHER, ALL AMERICANS ARE VICTIMS OF ILLEGAL DRUGS. DRUGS
AFFECT EVERY CITIZEN OF OUR COUNTRY, FROM CRACK ADDICTED BABIES
TO SENIOR CITIZENS BEATEN AND ROBBED BY DRUG USERS TO LOVED ONES
WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN POISONED BY DRUGS. NO PART OF SOCIETY IS
UNTOUCHED BY THE MISERY AND SUFFERING CAUSED BY DRUGS AND DRUG
TRAFFICKERS. THEY WREAK HAVOC ON OUR NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS, IN
OUR SCHOOLS, IN OUR WORKPLACES. DRUG ADDICTION TAKES AN ENORMOUS
TOLL ON OUR SOCIETY:
THE COST OF JUST ONE ASPECT OF ADDICTION IS STAGGERING.
EVERY YEAR MORE THAN 375,000 INFANTS ARE BORN WITH SOME TYPE OF
DRUG RELATED PROBLEM. AND THESE KIDS FACE A LIFETIME OF SERIOUS
HEALTH AND LEARNING DISABILITIES. OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS WE
WILL SPEND $100 BILLION ON MEDICAL CARE AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
TO TREAT THOSE INFANTS EXPOSED TO COCAINE. AND THAT IS JUST ONE
ASPECT OF THE ADDICTION PROBLEM.
ILLEGAL DRUG USE ALSO PLACES HUGE BURDENS ON THE AMERICAN
ECONOMY AND OUR BUSINESSES IN THE FORM OF ABSENTEEISM, INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENTS, HIGHER INSURANCE PREMIUMS AND LOSS OF PRODUCTIVITY AND
COMPETITIVENESS IN THE WORLD. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT DRUG ABUSE
COSTS THE AMERICAN BUSINESS COMMUNITY BETWEEN $60 AND $100
BILLION A YEAR.
OF COURSE THE CRIPPLING FINANCIAL STRAIN CAUSED BY DRUGS IS
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ONLY PART OF THE STORY. ANOTHER MORE TRAGIC ASPECT, AS WE ALL
KNOW, IS THE VIOLENT TRAUMA THAT GOES HAND IN HAND WITH DRUG
TRADING. WE KNOW THAT VIOLENT CRIME IS AT INTOLERABLY HIGH
LEVELS IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY AND WE KNOW THAT DRUG TRAFFICKING AND
DRUG ABUSE IS THE SINGLE GREATEST CAUSE OF THIS EPIDEMIC OF
VIOLENCE. WE KNOW THAT PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS COMMIT A
DISPROPORTIONATELY HIGH PERCENTAGE OF VIOLENT CRIMES WE SEE ABOUT
US. NOW IT'S HARD TO PUT A PRECISE PRICE TAG ON THE DAMAGE DONE
BY THIS DRUG-RELATED VIOLENCE THAT PLAGUES OUR CITIES, SUBURBS,
AND NOW OUR RURAL AREAS. THE DIRECT ECONOMIC LOSS MIGHT EXCEED
$100 BILLION A YEAR. AND THEN THERE ARE MORE INTANGIBLE -- BUT
NO LESS PALPABLE -- COSTS OF VIOLENT CRIME:
-- THE PERVASIVE ANXIETY AND FEAR THAT COSTS THE LIVES OF
OUR CITIZENS.
-- THE FEAR THAT FORCES MANY IN OUR INNER CITIES TO LIVE
BEHIND BARS AS PRISONERS IN THEIR OWN HOMES.
-- THE FEAR THAT DESTROYS COMMUNITIES AND THE FEAR THAT
DRIVES HOPE AND OPPORTUNITY AWAY.
NOW WE DIDN'T GET TO THIS SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS OVERNIGHT.
IT TOOK US AT LEAST 25 YEARS -- SINCE THE MID-1960'S -- TO DIG
OURSELVES INTO THIS HOLE. AND DURING MUCH OF THIS TIME, MANY
INFLUENTIAL SEGMENTS OF OUR SOCIETY TOOK AN EXTREMELY PERMISSIVE
ATTITUDE TOWARD DRUG USE. FOR TOO LONG, OUR YOUNG PEOPLE WERE
SENT EXACTLY THE WRONG MESSAGES: THAT MARIJUANA WAS NOT HARMFUL;
THAT COCAINE WAS NOT ADDICTIVE; THAT THERE WAS SUCH A THING AS A
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RECREATIONAL USE OF DRUGS. AND WELL INTO THE 1980'S, THE MOVIE
INDUSTRY AND THE POPULAR CULTURE GLAMORIZED DRUG USE. THIS
PERMISSIVENESS HAD A DEVASTATING IMPACT. AND BY THE EARLY 1980'S
THERE WERE OVER 25 MILLION USERS OF ILLEGAL DRUGS IN THIS
COUNTRY.
FINALLY IN THE 1980'S WE WOKE UP. WE DECLARED OUR WAR ON
DRUGS.
BUT NOW TODAY, THERE ARE SOME CRITICS WHO STAND ON THE
SIDELINES HOLDING A STOPWATCH ASKING WHY THE WAR ON DRUGS ISN'T
OVER YET -- AS IF 25 YEARS OF ADDICTION IS SUPPOSED TO DISAPPEAR
OVERNIGHT; AS IF, AFTER DECLARING THE WAR ON DRUGS, WE WERE
SUPPOSED TO WAKE UP THE NEXT MORNING AND FIND THAT OUR DRUG
PROBLEM HAD VANISHED. FRANKLY, MANY OF THESE CRITICS WERE
HOLDING A STOPWATCH ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WHO, BY ADVOCATING THE
PERMISSIVENESS DURING THE 60'S AND 70'S, DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF THE DRUG CULTURE WE NOW FIND so
DIFFICULT TO ERADICATE. CRITICS OF THE DRUG WAR WANT INSTANT
GRATIFICATION, NOW, JUST LIKE THEY WANTED INSTANT GRATIFICATION
IN THE 60'S AND 70'S
AT THE FIRST SIGN OF ADVERSITY -- AT THE FIRST SIGN THAT
THIS IS GOING TO BE A HARD, AND LONG FIGHT -- THEY ARE READY TO
DECLARE DEFEAT AND THROW IN THE TOWEL.
5
WELL, I THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL IGNORE THESE
DEFEATISTS AND WILL SHOW -- IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS -- THE
SAME STAMINA, MATURITY, AND STEADY DETERMINATION THAT THEY DID IN
WAGING AND WINNING THE LONG COLD WAR.
AND I THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THAT A PROBLEM AS
DEEP AS THE DRUG PROBLEM CANNOT BE SOLVED QUICKLY OR EASILY. IT
WILL TAKE NATIONAL POLITICAL WILL AND COMMITMENT, AS WELL AS THE
LONG-TERM SUSTAINED EFFORT BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AND BY EVERY
SEGMENT OF SOCIETY, TO RESCUE OUR NATION FROM THE SCOURGE OF
DRUGS.
ALMOST THREE YEARS AGO, PRESIDENT BUSH SET FORTH THE FIRST
COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY FOR FIGHTING THE WAR ON DRUGS. AND THE
PRESIDENT HAS BACKED UP HIS PLAN WITH UNPRECEDENTED RESOURCES TO
CARRY IT OUT. WITH THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET REQUEST THIS YEAR,
FUNDING FOR ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS WILL HAVE DOUBLED SINCE 1989.
I BELIEVE OUR EXPERIENCE OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS HAS SHOWN
THAT THE PRESIDENT'S STRATEGY IS A SOUND ONE -- AND THAT, IF WE
PURSUE IT WITH UNRELENTING TENACITY, IT WILL ULTIMATELY LEAD TO
VICTORY. THIS STRATEGY RECOGNIZES THAT WE MUST FIGHT THE DRUG
WAR ON TWO FRONTS -- BOTH THE SUPPLY SIDE AND THE DEMAND SIDE.
THIS STRATEGY RECOGNIZES THAT THE WAR CANNOT BE WON WITHOUT
VICTORY ON THE DEMAND SIDE. AT BOTTOM, THIS IS A STRUGGLE FOR
THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF OUR YOUNG PEOPLE.
6
AND so THE STRATEGY CALLS FOR A REDUCTION IN THE DEMAND FOR
-- AND THE USE OF -- ILLEGAL DRUGS BY EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN
ABOUT DRUGS, BY DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE TREATMENT PROGRAMS FOR
ADDICTS, AND BY HOLDING DRUG USERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS.
NOW AT THE SAME TIME, THE PRESIDENT'S STRATEGY CALLS FOR
VIGOROUS ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS TO REDUCE THE SUPPLY OF DRUGS. IT
CONTEMPLATES A CONTINUOUS AND UNRELENTING FIGHT ACROSS A BROAD
FRONT -- PUTTING AS MUCH PRESSURE AS POSSIBLE ON ALL LEVELS OF
DRUG PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION -- EXPLOITING EVERY POTENTIAL
VULNERABILITY OF OUR ADVERSARY.
AND so WE ARE ATTACKING THE DRUG PROBLEM IN THREE THEATERS
OF OPERATION:
-- THROUGH AGGRESSIVE DOMESTIC ENFORCEMENT WE ARE ATTACKING
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRAFFICKERS IN THE UNITED STATES.
-- THROUGH VIGOROUS INTERDICTION EFFORTS WE ARE ATTACKING
THE FLOW OF DRUGS INTO THE UNITED STATES AT OUR BORDERS, IN
INTERNATIONAL WATERS AND AIRSPACE, AND IN TRANSIT COUNTRIES.
-- AND THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE EFFORTS OVERSEAS WE
ARE SEEKING TO ATTACK THE DRUG SUPPLY AT ITS SOURCE AND DRUG
TRAFFICKERS IN THEIR LAIRS.
THERE ARE THOSE WHO DISPARAGE THE NEED FOR VIGOROUS LAW
ENFORCEMENT IN FIGHTING DRUGS. BUT I THINK THAT THE PRESIDENT'S
7
STRATEGY IS EXTREMELY WISE IN CALLING FOR STRONG ACTION TO REDUCE
SUPPLY.
IN MY VIEW, STRONG SUPPLY-SIDE ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS ARE
INDISPENSABLE TO REDUCING DEMAND. NO COUNTRY HAS BEEN ABLE TO
REDUCE DEMAND WITHOUT AGGRESSIVE ACTION AGAINST SUPPLY. LAW
ENFORCEMENT DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTES TO DEMAND REDUCTION.
STRONG ENFORCEMENT DEMONSTRATES SOCIETY'S CONDEMNATION OF
DRUGS AND THUS SENDS YOUNG PEOPLE THE RIGHT MORAL MESSAGE ABOUT
DRUG USE. IT DETERS MANY FROM TRYING DRUGS. IT CAN DIRECTLY
REDUCE CONSUMPTION BY MAKING DRUGS MORE EXPENSIVE AND HARDER TO
GET. AND IT DIRECTLY REDUCES DEMAND BY DIVERTING ADDICTS INTO
DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAMS.
AND so WE HAVE A SOUND AND BALANCED STRATEGY. AND THE FACT
IS THAT, IN PURSUING THIS STRATEGY OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS,
AND FOR OCDETF OVER THE PAST DECADE, WE HAVE MADE SUBSTANTIAL AND
IMPRESSIVE PROGRESS IN THE WAR ON DRUGS.
OUR GAINS ON THE DEMAND SIDE ARE INDEED HEARTENING. YOU
KNOW THAT:
-- OVERALL DRUG USE IS DOWN 50% SINCE 1985.
-- IT IS DOWN 15% SINCE 1988.
-- AND MOST PROMISING OF ALL, THERE HAS BEEN A SHARP DECLINE
OF DRUG USE AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE.
8
-- ADOLESCENT DRUG USE IS DOWN 26%.
-- ADOLESCENT COCAINE USE IS DOWN 63%.
THIS BODES WELL FOR THE FUTURE. PROGRESS ON THE DEMAND REDUCTION
FRONT HAS BEEN GREATER AND FASTER THAN MANY SKEPTICS THOUGHT
POSSIBLE.
AS IN ANY LONG AND COMPLEX WAR, WE WILL HAVE OCCASIONAL
SETBACKS AND PERIODS OF FRUSTRATION. PROGRESS ON THE DEMAND SIDE
WILL BECOME SLOWER AS WE ENCOUNTER THE HARD-CORE ADDICT
POPULATION. BUT WE CANNOT LET THE NEWS OF THE DAY OBSCURE THE
BIG PICTURE -- AND HERE THE BIG PICTURE IS BROAD AND UNMISTAKABLE
PROGRESS.
AND LIKEWISE THERE HAS BEEN IMPRESSIVE GAINS ON THE SUPPLY
SIDE. IT IS HARDER TO MEASURE PROGRESS ON THE SUPPLY SIDE. AND,
IN THE FOG OF WAR, IT IS SOMETIMES HARD TO DISCERN THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF DEVELOPMENTS. BUT, AGAIN, I THINK THE BIG
PICTURE IS ONE OF CLEAR FORWARD MOVEMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT.
I DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED ON
THE DOMESTIC FRONT. OCDETF IS OUR FLAGSHIP PROGRAM.
PERHAPS OUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT HAS BEEN THE HONING OF
OCDETF INTO THE EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE WEAPON IT HAS BECOME IN
ATTACKING MAJOR DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATIONS. OCDETF WEAVES
TOGETHER THE SPECIAL SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE OF 9 FEDERAL AGENCIES
9
AS WELL AS THE STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND FOCUSES THEM
ON A SINGLE PROBLEM -- DISMANTLING LARGE-SCALE DRUG ENTERPRISES.
THE HALLMARK OF THIS EFFORT HAS BEEN COOPERATION BETWEEN
FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT. AND THANKS TO THOSE
OF YOU IN THIS ROOM WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ACHIEVE AN UNPRECEDENTED
COOPERATION.
OCDETF'S PRIMARY STRENGTH IS THE DIVERSITY OF ITS
PARTICIPANTS AND ITS FLEXIBLE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE. ON ANY
GIVEN CASE WE CAN BRING TO BEAR AN IMPRESSIVE ARRAY OF SPECIAL
SKILLS AND RESOURCES:
- THE STREET SMARTS AND DRUG SPECIFIC EXPERTISE OF DEA
- THE METHODICAL RACKETEERING -- ENTERPRISE TYPE OF
INVESTIGATION PERFECTED BY THE FBI
- THE SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE OF ALIEN AND ETHNIC GROUPS POSSESSED
BY INS AND THE BORDER PATROL
- THE DECADES OF EXPERIENCE DEALING WITH TRACKING SMUGGLERS
AND INTERDICTION METHODS OF CUSTOMS
- THE SPECIAL MARITIME AND SHIPPING EXPERTISE OF THE COAST
GUARD
- THE UNIQUE BATF KNOWLEDGE OF THE WEAPONS TRADE AND VIOLENT
GANG ACTIVITY
- THE VITAL LOCAL INTELLIGENCE AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE LOCAL
CRIMINAL COMMUNITY POSSESSED BY OUR STATE AND LOCAL COLLEAGUES
- THE ASSET SEIZURE AND MANAGEMENT EXPERTISE AND THE MYRIAD
10
OF OTHER SERVICES BY THE MARSHALS SERVICE
- LAST, BUT FAR FROM LEAST, THE INSTITUTIONAL EXPERTISE IN
FINANCIAL INVESTIGATIONS BY IRS.
THE RECORD ACHIEVED BY OCDETF HAS TRULY BEEN IMPRESSIVE.
THERE HAVE BEEN:
- OVER 23,000 CONVICTIONS
- ABOUT 20,000 PRISON SENTENCES
- A LIFE SENTENCE METED OUT EVERY 10 DAYS
- OVER $2 BILLION IN PROPERTY TAKEN AWAY FROM DRUG
TRAFFICKERS.
IT IS CLEAR THAT, AT AN ACCELERATING PACE, OCDETF IS CUTTING
DEEP INTO THE DRUG TRAFFICKING NETWORK WITHIN THE UNITED STATES.
OCDETF'S WORK IS PIVOTAL TO OUR OVERALL SUPPLY REDUCTION EFFORT,
AND I CONGRATULATE YOU ON THE GREAT PROGRESS YOU HAVE MADE AND
KNOW YOU WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE IN THE FUTURE.
OUR INTERDICTION EFFORTS HAVE ALSO BEEN MOVING FORWARD.
THESE INTERDICTION EFFORTS LIKEWISE REQUIRE A HIGH DEGREE OF
COOPERATION: THE MILITARY, THE COAST GUARD, CUSTOMS, DEA, AND
INS, MUST WORK CLOSELY TOGETHER.
WE MUST ALSO WORK WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO TRANSLATE
DETECTION AND MONITORING INFORMATION INTO DRUG SEIZURES, FOLLOW-
UP INVESTIGATIONS OF TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATIONS, ASSET SEIZURES,
11
ARRESTS AND PROSECUTIONS.
THESE EFFORTS ARE PAYING BIG DIVIDENDS.
LAST YEAR, COCAINE SEIZURES IN THE SOURCE AND TRANSIT
NATIONS BROKE ALL RECORDS, EXCEEDING 200 METRIC TONS. ANOTHER
100 METRIC TONS WERE SEIZED THROUGH OUR DOMESTIC EFFORTS. THAT
IS OVER 300 METRIC TONS THAT DIDN'T REACH OUR CITIES AND TOWNS.
NOW, INTERDICTION, IS A HIGHLY DYNAMIC EFFORT. AND LIKE ALL
SUCH EFFORTS THERE IS GOING TO BE TRIAL AND ERROR, LEARNING WHAT
WORKS AND WHAT DOESN'T WORK, IMPROVING OUR INTELLIGENCE AND OUR
TECHNIQUES.
WHILE THERE WILL BE FRUSTRATIONS AND SETBACKS, ONCE AGAIN
THE BIG PICTURE IS THAT WE ARE MOVING FORWARD AND BECOMING
INCREASINGLY EFFECTIVE.
THE MOST DIFFICULT ASPECT OF THE DRUG WAR IS, IN A SENSE,
ITS INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION. AND IN MANY WAYS, THE MOST
FRUSTRATING.
IF DRUGS WERE PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED WHOLLY WITHIN THE
U.S. AND BY DOMESTIC ORGANIZATIONS, THE DRUG WAR WOULD BE MUCH
EASIER. WHERE THE UNITED STATES HAS DIRECT CONTROL OVER THE
AREAS WHERE DRUGS ARE PRODUCED AND FROM WHICH THEY ARE
12
DISTRIBUTED, OUR ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS CAN BE DEVASTATINGLY
EFFECTIVE.
AND WE HAVE SEEN THIS IN THE GREAT PROGRESS WE HAVE MADE IN
DEALING WITH MARIJUANA AND METHAMPHETAMINES. BUT THE TWO
GREATEST DRUG THREATS TODAY -- COCAINE AND HEROINE -- ARE
PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED OVERSEAS. AND THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT
ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION ARE BASED
OVERSEAS.
WE RESPECT THE SOVEREIGNTY OF OTHER NATIONS, AND THUS THE
SUCCESS OF OUR EFFORTS TO ATTACK SUPPLY ULTIMATELY DEPENDS ON
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION. AND so, MUCH OF OUR EFFORTS IN RECENT
YEARS HAS BEEN PUTTING INTO PLACE THE BUILDING BLOCKS NECESSARY
FOR SUCCESSFUL, COORDINATED INTERNATIONAL ACTION AGAINST DRUG
TRAFFICKERS. THIS HAS MEANT PUTTING INTO PLACE MULTI-LATERAL AND
BI-LATERAL ENFORCEMENT STRUCTURES AND LEGAL FRAMEWORKS. IT HAS
MEANT PUTTING IN PLACE INTELLIGENCE AND INTELLIGENCE-SHARING
MECHANISMS. IT HAS MEANT ENCOURAGING OTHER COUNTRIES TO REFORM
THEIR OWN DOMESTIC LAW TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN COMBATTING DRUG
TRAFFICKING.
ONCE AGAIN, THE PRESIDENT HAS DONE AN EXCEPTIONAL JOB IN
MOBILIZING THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. THIS IS NO EASY TASK.
IT CAN'T BE DONE OVERNIGHT. BUT, SURELY AND STEADILY, THE
BUILDING BLOCKS NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL ACTION HAVE
13
BEEN PUT INTO PLACE.
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THOSE BUILDING BLOCKS IS THE
U.N. VIENNA CONVENTION WHICH BECAME EFFECTIVE IN NOVEMBER OF
1990. THIS TREATY IS A MILESTONE IN THE INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO
FIGHT DRUG TRAFFICKERS. IT PROVIDES THE INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK
FOR COMBATTING DRUG TRAFFICKING BY REQUIRING SIGNATORIES TO PASS
DOMESTIC LAWS PROVIDING FOR DRUG ASSET REMOVAL, THE CONTROL OF
ESSENTIAL AND PRECURSOR CHEMICALS, AND DRUG CONSPIRACY LAWS THAT
ALLOW DRUG KINGPINS, NOT JUST COURIERS, TO BE PROSECUTED.
SINCE DECEMBER 1988, 64 NATIONS, INCLUDING THE EUROPEAN
COMMUNITY, HAVE RATIFIED THE CONVENTION.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT MULTILATERAL INITIATIVES THE CREATION OF
THE FINANCIAL ACTION TASK FORCE. THIS GROUP WAS CONVENED BY THE
1989 G-7 ECONOMIC SUMMIT. THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THE TASK
FORCE HAS BEEN TO DEVISE WAYS TO PREVENT TRAFFICKERS FROM USING
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO LAUNDER THEIR ILLEGAL DRUG MONEY.
AS IMPORTANT AS MONEY IS TO TRAFFICKERS, CERTAIN CHEMICALS
ARE ALSO NECESSARY TO PROCESS RAW MATERIALS INTO MARKETABLE
DRUGS, SUCH AS COCAINE OR HEROIN.
IN 1988, WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE CHEMICAL DIVISION AND
TRAFFICKING ACT, THE UNITED STATES BECAME THE FIRST MAJOR
14
CHEMICAL-PRODUCING NATION TO ADOPT MANDATORY CONTROLS OVER
PRECURSOR AND ESSENTIAL CHEMICALS USED IN THE ILLEGAL PRODUCTION
OF DRUGS.
FROM 1989 TO 1990, WE SAW A 50% DROP IN THE SHIPMENT OF
CHEMICALS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COCAINE FROM THE UNITED
STATES TO LATIN AMERICA.
BUT OUR LAWS DO LITTLE GOOD IF EUROPEAN AND OTHER CHEMICAL
MANUFACTURERS, SUPPLIERS, AND BROKERS SIMPLY PICK UP THE SLACK.
so WE HAVE PUSHED TO ESTABLISH THE CHEMICAL ACTION TASK FORCE TO
ENCOURAGE AN EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL CONTROL PROGRAM.
AGAIN, PROGRESS IS BEING MADE. THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY HAS
PASSED A REGULATION REQUIRING ALL MEMBER COUNTRIES TO ESTABLISH A
BASIC SYSTEM OF CHEMICAL EXPORT CONTROL. IN APRIL OF THIS YEAR,
TEN ADDITIONAL CHEMICALS WERE ADDED TO THE CONTROL LIST OF THE
U.N. CONVENTION -- AT THE URGING, PRIMARILY, OF THE UNITED
STATES.
WE HAVE ALSO WORKED BILATERALLY WITH THOSE NATIONS AT THE
HEART OF THE DRUG TRADE TO ELEVATE THEIR COUNTER-NARCOTICS
EFFORTS. THE RECENT DRUG SUMMIT HERE IN SAN ANTONIO WAS AN
HISTORIC EVENT THAT FURTHER SOLIDIFIED INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS
AGAINST OUR COMMON GLOBAL ENEMY -- DRUGS AND THEIR TRAFFICKERS.
15
AS DRUG CONSUMPTION BECOMES NOT JUST A NORTH AMERICAN
PROBLEM, BUT A GLOBAL ONE, WE CAN BE PROUD OF THE LEADERSHIP ROLE
PLAYED BY THE U.S. IN MOBILIZING THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. AS
THESE INTERNATIONAL BUILDING BLOCKS ARE PUT IN PLACE, WE ARE
STARTING TO SEE SIGNS THAT THEY ARE TAKING HOLD AND THAT THEY ARE
HAVING AN IMPACT.
TAKE THE COLOMBIAN COCAINE KINGPINS, FOR EXAMPLE. FIVE
YEARS AGO, THEY SEEMED INVINCIBLE. TODAY, MANY OF THEM HAVE BEEN
TOPPLED; THEY ARE EITHER DEAD OR IN JAIL -- OR ON THE RUN.
CARLOS LEDER IS SERVING LIFE IN PRISON. JOSE RODRIGUEZ
GACHA IS DEAD. MANUEL NORIEGA IS CONVICTED AND SENTENCED TO 40
YEARS IN PRISON. THE MEDELLIN CARTEL HAS BEEN DECIMATED. AND
THE CALI CARTEL IS COMING INCREASINGLY UNDER PRESSURE.
WITH THE TOP MEDELLIN CARTEL REELING, OUR CURRENT EFFORTS
ARE FOCUSED ON THE CALI CARTEL. IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER OF LAST
YEAR, THE COLOMBIAN NATIONAL POLICE CONDUCTED THE FIRST RAIDS
EVER ON THE CARTEL IN CALI ITSELF. IMPORTANT FINANCIAL RECORDS
WERE SEIZED AND TRAFFICKER BANK ACCOUNTS IN COLOMBIA, MIAMI, AND
LONDON WERE FROZEN. AND IN APRIL, THE COLOMBIAN NATIONAL POLICE
ARRESTED IVAN URDINOLA, ONE OF THE MOST VIOLENT LEADERS OF THE
CALI CARTEL.
SINCE MARCH, WITH OUR ASSISTANCE, BOLIVIA HAS MOUNTED AN
16
AGGRESSIVE ENFORCEMENT OPERATION CALLED GHOST ZONE, DESIGNED TO
SHUT OFF THE CALI CARTEL'S ACCESS TO THE CHAPARE REGION, THE
SOURCE OF ONE-THIRD OF THE WORLD'S COCAINE.
WE ARE MATCHING THOSE COOPERATIVE EFFORTS ABROAD WITH A
FULL-COURT PRESS AT HOME. LAST NOVEMBER, WE DESTROYED A MAJOR
CALI DISTRIBUTION ORGANIZATION IN NEW YORK CITY, ARRESTING THE
HEAD OF THE NEW YORK BRANCH, AND OVER 100 MEMBERS OF THAT
ORGANIZATION. MORE THAN $20 MILLION IN CASH AND ASSETS WERE
SEIZED IN THIS RAID AND OVER 14 METRIC TONS OF COCAINE WERE TAKEN
OFF THE STREETS.
IN DECEMBER, DEA AND U.S. CUSTOMS SEIZED 15 TONS OF CALI
COCAINE HIDDEN IN CEMENT FENCE POSTS IN MIAMI AND TEXAS.
AND IN APRIL, AS A FOLLOW-UP TO THAT INVESTIGATION, A MAJOR
CALI CARTEL LEASER WAS ARRESTED IN MIAMI WHEN DEA AND CUSTOMS
SEIZED 7 1/2 TONS OF CALI COCAINE.
THESE COLLECTIVE EFFORTS DISRUPTED THE CALI CARTEL. AND
BOTH OF THESE EFFORTS AS WELL AS OUR GROWING SUCCESSES AT
INTERDICTION AND DOMESTIC ENFORCEMENT HAVE RESULTED IN ONLY THE
SECOND RISE EVER IN THE PRICE OF COCAINE IN THE U.S. IN THE
SECOND QUARTER OF THIS YEAR, THE WHOLESALE PRICE OF COCAINE IN
OUR FOUR MAJOR GATEWAY CITIES ROSE BY AS MUCH AS 50 PERCENT. BY
SUSTAINING ALL THESE EFFORTS PURSUANT TO OUR STRATEGY WE CAN
17
DRASTICALLY REDUCE THE AVAILABILITY OF COCAINE IN THE U.S.
AS I HAVE TRIED TO MAKE CLEAR, WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A LOT
AND REAL PROGRESS IS BEING MADE. THROUGH OCDETF WE HAVE
ASSEMBLED A FIRST-RATE LAW ENFORCEMENT TEAM. DEMAND IS FALLING.
I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT, IN THIS WAR ON DRUGS THAT WE ARE WAGING,
THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
WE CANNOT FALL PREY TO THE DEFEATIST ATTITUDE OF SOME OF OUR
CRITICS. A PERVASIVE AND DANGEROUS DRUG CULTURE IN THE UNITED
STATES IS NOT INEVITABLE. SEEN IN PROPER PERSPECTIVE, THE LAST
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ARE AN ABERRATION IN OUR NATION'S HISTORY.
THIS IS A WAR THAT CAN BE WON. IT WILL BE WON.
ONCE AGAIN, I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR THE TREMENDOUS WORK YOU
ARE DOING. YOU HAVE MY GRATITUDE AND APPRECIATION -- AND MY
HIGHEST EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FUTURE.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
18
At
Crime.
0
White Bob
D
of
0
Clinton
Z
W []ot
OC
attn createl News
C
S peecles
336-7080
1.) positive new news
David Tell
2.) Clinton :i]-> if
22 pages
on crimet
3.) Big come
Clinton
"Mosition
If Congren mores
research
Crime bill on Wed.
- Brief statement.
or
to asst.
11-11
in Research -Concention-
11
11.11
Arhansas record
- Unbelievable
Big pictine one
- book : accomplish ments of Prez.
4- pt. attack
Key issues
fact sheets
- Stung speech"
New stuff
Cime Bill
Biden- Barr
Cloture note
Kill crime bill
Biden would intro new crime bill
-
carjackings
-
drive-by
- Habens
- Deadbeat dads
- Brady attached.
aw
was
Crime
1.
Security : #1 goit job.
2.
The record:
-policies
t appointments
more convictions + in carcerations
#5- good.
3.
Victims'risate Victims 'rigate
4.
Crime Bill
habeas corpus reform
increased penalties onfinearms
etc.
Drugs 1.
Working.
- use down
- more convictions
- 14 interdiction
- neighborhood reclamation
of
- rehabilitation
Crime creates Jobs
- highest achi evenue Total
About Recreational abortions
Chinese - official hanguge
Mormonism- - official rel. George Romney as Pope
DHI - 28th Amendment
Billy Graham on Trisca- Nut'l currency.
Draconian drug policy. Death is no trial. Inms
to caffienne And hourly drug tests on eng
citizen
Replace L OC
13
Nixon Library
Speech Card
July 30, 1992
CRIME
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY
GETTING TOUGH ON CRIME
"When we ask what kind of society the American people
deserve, our goal must be a nation in which law-abiding
citizens are safe and feel safe."
President Bush
May 15, 1992
President Bush believes that government's first
responsibility is to make sure Americans are safe and secure in
their homes and communities. The vast majority of Americans work
hard and obey the law. Those who do not deserve the toughest
penalties. Our neighborhoods will not be strong and our children
safe until violent criminals are put where they belong -- behind
bars.
President Bush's war on crime and drugs is getting results.
Because of Bush anti-crime policies and appointment of tough
law-and-order judges and prosecutors, more criminals than ever
are being convicted and sentenced to prison.
Thanks to Reagan and Bush law and order prosecutors,
the number of criminals convicted of federal crimes
jumped 63% from 1980 to 1990. Of those convicted, more
than twice as many were sentenced to prison in 1990
than were sentenced in 1980. Tough Reagan and Bush
judges sentenced criminals to prison for 30% more time
than criminals sentenced in 1980.
Even more impressive progress has been made in getting
drug criminals off the streets. Comparing 1990 to
1980, the number of drug traffickers convicted tripled;
of those convicted, the number sent to prison more than
tripled; and the average sentence was 74% longer.
Under President Bush, those convicted of federal drug
crimes serve, on average, 40% more time in prison than
criminals sentenced before 1989. Drug criminals now
spend on average of six and a half years in prison.
In fiscal years 1990-91, federal law enforcement
agencies seized more than $5 billion in cash and assets
from drug dealers, money launderers and racketeers. Of
this amount, more than $500 million went to building
new prisons to hold other criminals.
[CRIME - Page 1]
President Bush believes prison terms must be determined by the
severity of crimes, not by the availability of prison space.
Under President Bush, more than twice as many
criminals, once convicted of federal crimes, were sent
to prison, with average sentences increasing by almost
one-third.
President Bush wants secure families in safe neighborhoods.
President Bush:
Is doubling federal prison capacity so murderers, drug
kingpins and other violent criminals receive and serve
longer prison sentences.
Fought for a new law stiffening punishment for
criminals who use guns in committing crimes. Now,
instead of negotiated light sentences too often
received in state courts, these felons receive tougher
mandatory federal sentences. As a result, more than
500 gun-toting criminals are behind bars for a total of
2,500 years.
Fought for and won enactment of a new law
requiring mandatory sentences for drug traffickers
and other violent criminals. President Bush has
encouraged state mandatory sentencing of murderers
and rapists.
Assigned 2,400 F.B.I. agents to attack violent crime
and problems with street gangs - including reassignment
of 300 who had been working in counterintelligence.
Opened the first federal "boot camp" prisons for first-
time offenders, one for men in Pennsylvania in February
1991, and another for women in Texas in July 1992.
Established Safe Street Task Forces in 38 cities.
Moved aggressively to fight government corruption.
During his term, federal prosecutors brought 2,216
corrupt state and local officials to justice for fraud,
bribe-taking and other crimes.
President Bush believes in protecting the rights of the victim
instead of the criminal.
President Bush:
Won a landmark Supreme Court victory to give relatives
of murder victims the right to testify during
sentencing about the crime's impact on them.
[CRIME - Page 2]
Has expanded the $144-million federal program to help
victims of violent crime overcome their pain and
suffering.
Demands that Congress pass his proposed Comprehensive
Violent Crime Control Act to reform criminal justice
and require new penalties for life-threatening crimes.
Key elements of his proposal are:
-
A federal death penalty for drug kingpins; those
involved in drug-related murders; terrorists who
commit executions abroad; and contract killers.
-
An end to repetitive, frivolous appeals -- so-
called "habeas corpus appeals" -- that delay
justice.
-
An end to legal loopholes that prevent evidence
seized by good cops acting in good faith from
being used in court.
-
Increased penalties for firearms offenses,
including a 10-year mandatory prison term for use
of semi-automatic firearms in drug offenses or
violent felonies; a five-year mandatory sentence
for possession of firearms by dangerous felons;
and a ban on rifle magazines that permit the
firing of more than 15 rounds without reloading.
-
Stiffer penalties, including mandatory sentences,
will keep criminals who use guns behind bars for
longer periods. They will stop potential
criminals from getting their hands on guns
without requiring federal registration.
[CRIME - Page 3]
CLINTON: SOFT ON CRIME
Clinton practices revolving-door justice.
Very few Arkansas prisoners serve full sentences.
According to The Associated Press, a 1991 state study
found that most served only between 6 and 18 months
even though their sentences were much longer than that.
-
"Judges, prosecutors, even a parole board member
could not tell you today when a prisoner would be
able to come out. There is no longer any
confidence in the system". [Mike Gaines, chairman
of the Arkansas Board of Parole and Community
Rehabilitation, quoted by The Associated Press,
8/13/91]
Clinton has a prison furlough program.
Clinton has suspended Arkansas' prison furlough program, but
only after a convicted contract murderer on furlough from an
Arkansas prison hijacked an airplane and fled. [The Associated
Press, 4/10/92]
The convict is Charles Lloyd Patterson, who in 1988 was
sentenced to serve 40 years in prison after he was
convicted of hiring someone to murder a prominent
lawyer, intimidating a witness, burglary, and
terroristic threatening. [The Wall Street Journal,
4/14/92]
Last April 9, while on his third furlough, Patterson
chartered a single-engine airplane and, about 15
minutes after takeoff, pulled a gun on the pilot and
put a bag over his head, and then flew the plane to
Carlisle, Arkansas, where he pushed the pilot out.
Patterson continued on to Batesville, Arkansas, where
he allegedly stole a car and drove to the home of a
former business associate, from whom he stole cash and
a firearm. [United Press International, 4/14/92]
On June 19, Patterson was arrested by FBI agents in
Texas and charged with two counts of air piracy, one
for the airplane theft in Arkansas and the other for
later stealing a second plane in Erie, Colorado. [The
Associated Press, 6/20/92]
Under Clinton, Arkansas crime is up.
Arkansas' violent crime nearly doubled in the last
decade. Between 1986 and 1991, violent crime increased
by almost half. [The Associated Press, 9/19/91]
[CRIME - Page 4]
Clinton goes easy on drug criminals.
In May 1985, Clinton refused to grant the extradition
of a Little Rock native to New York on felony cocaine
charges, saying that New York's mandatory sentencing
for first time offenders was too harsh.
-
"I made the decision," Clinton said, "and I'm the
governor, and it was my decision to make. "
-
The Queens County, New York, district attorney,
however, was puzzled "that the laws of New York
and Arkansas treat such serious drug offenses SO
differently."
[The Arkansas Gazette, 6/1/85]
Under Clinton, Arkansas has the lowest spending on crime control.
With Clinton as governor, Arkansas ranked at or near the
bottom among the 50 states in terms of state funds spent on its
justice system.
50th in total state and local justice system per capita
expenditures.
50th in per capita spending on police protection.
48th in per capita corrections spending.
[Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1990,
U.S. Department of Justice, fiscal 1988 figures]
Who interviews Arkansas' judicial candidates?
Arkansas judicial candidates are not interviewed by
Gov. Clinton or his staff. Instead, Mrs. Clinton
interviews them. Arkansas attorneys predict she would
do the same should her husband become president. [The
New York Times, 4/3/92]
Gore is soft on crime.
Gore has voted against the death penalty, for gun
control, against a ban on flag burning, and
against a ban on federal funding of obscenity.
In 1990, The National Journal rated Gore on social
issues as 81 percent liberal and 0 percent
conservative.
Gore introduced the world to Willie Horton.
Gore attacked Michael Dukakis in April 1988 for
granting "weekend passes" to first-degree
murderers ineligible for parole.
[CRIME - Page 5]
BACKGROUNDER
BUSH
QUAYLE
Issues Office
92
July 29, 1992
PRESIDENT BUSH IS STRONG ON CRIME
Achieving results in the war on crime and drugs: Because of
Bush anti-crime policies and appointment of tough law-and-
order judges and prosecutors, more criminals than ever are
being convicted, and of those convicted, more are being
sentenced to prison for longer periods.
-- The number of criminals convicted of federal crimes
jumped 63% from 1980 to 1990. Of those convicted, more
than twice as many were sentenced to prison in 1990 than
were sentenced in 1980. Tough Reagan and Bush judges
sentenced criminals to prison for 30% more time than
criminals sentenced in 1980.
-- Even more impressive progress has been made in getting
drug criminals off the streets. Comparing 1990 to 1980,
the number of drug traffickers convicted tripled; of
those convicted, the number sent to prison more than
tripled; and the average sentence was 74% longer.
Making sure criminals serve their time: Under President Bush,
those convicted of federal drug crimes serve, on average, 40%
more time in prison than criminals sentenced before 1989.
Drug criminals now spend on average six and a half years in
prison. Under Clinton, however, Arkansas state inmates serve,
on average, between six and eighteen months in prison
regardless of their original sentence. Almost no inmate
serves a full sentence.
Appointing Law and Order Judges and Prosecutors: President
Bush has appointed 228 law and order prosecutors and judges.
To back them up, under President Bush, the Department of
Justice has added 813 FBI agents, 735 DEA agents, and 1,237
assistant Federal prosecutors.
Funding of State and Local Law Enforcement: Under President
Bush, aid to state and local law enforcement for anti-drug
activities has tripled to $496 million. Under Clinton,
Arkansas ranks 50th in total state and local justice system
expenditures per capita.
Clinton is all bark and no bite: Clinton says that he
"want [s] to be tough on crime. " But, under his stewardship,
Arkansas ranks 50th in per capita spending on police
protection, and 48th in per capita corrections spending.
All rankings are for 1988, the latest year for which data are
available.
Paid for by Bush Quayle '92 Primary Committee, Inc.
1030 15th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005
Speech Card
July 30, 1992
DRUGS
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY
WINNING THE WAR ON DRUGS
"Success in the drug war depends crucially on our
churches and synagogues, our schools, our service
clubs, and young peoples' organizations. Most
important: American families strengthened by the
virtues and bonds of love and honor and just plain
strength. American families - that's the key.
President Bush
January 27, 1992
President Bush recognizes that the scourge of drugs - more
than anything else - threatens law and order in America. Drugs
ravage children's minds, tear communities apart, destroy
families, and menace our American culture.
President Bush is winning the war on drugs. More illegal
drugs are being seized than ever before. More criminals are being
put behind bars for longer periods. More resources are being
invested in stopping drugs from entering our country. Drug users
are being held accountable for their actions, while treatment
programs have been expanded to get young Americans off drugs for
good.
Drug prevention and education programs have been stepped up,
their activities evaluated on the basis of results. Drug testing
is required for federal prison inmates and parolees.
Communities have been mobilized to combat drugs. Schools and
workplaces must be drug-free zones. To qualify for federal funds,
colleges and universities must implement anti-drug programs.
President Bush's anti-drug program is working.
President Bush's National Drug Control Strategy -
interdiction, enforcement, prevention, education,
treatment and international efforts - has cut overall
drug use by 13 percent for all Americans, and by 27
percent for adolescents, the most important group in
the fight against drugs.
-
"Occasional" cocaine use has dropped by 29
percent, and adolescent cocaine use fell by more
than 60 percent. [Source: Office of National Drug
Control Policy]
[DRUGS - Page 1]
Under President Bush's orders, federal authorities are seizing
more illegal drugs.
President Bush more than tripled seizures of cocaine in
the Western Hemisphere - from 98 metric tons in fiscal
1990 to 300 metric tons during 1991.
President Bush's policies are putting more drug criminals behind
bars for longer periods.
Tougher Reagan-Bush crime policies are catching and
convicting more drug criminals than ever. Federal drug
convictions rose during the 1980s from 29,943 to
48,730, and, of those convicted, the number sent to
prison nearly doubled, from 13,766 to 29,430.
Because of President Bush's tough law-and-order
policies and appointment of tough prosecutors and
judges, the average sentence for federally convicted
drug dealers has nearly tripled - from about 57 to 78
months.
President Bush used more than half a billion dollars
produced from property seized from drug dealers and
other criminals to build new prisons for other
convicts.
President Bush is stopping drugs at our borders.
President Bush organized new coalitions with Latin
American countries to wage war on drugs to where
narcotics traffickers live, investing $768 million this
year alone to support international drug enforcement.
President Bush has invested major new resources to
eliminate drugs at their source. The President wants
next year to invest 2.5 times what was spent in 1989 --
from $304 million to $768 million.
President Bush convened the first-ever drug summit in
Cartagena with leaders of Colombia, Bolivia and Peru,
and another this year in San Antonio, to coordinate
eradication of drugs at their source.
Destroyed drug crops in the fields and enlisted our
best intelligence resources to detect and interdict
smugglers.
[DRUGS - Page 2]
President Bush is reclaiming our neighborhoods.
President Bush is using new ways to tackle drug
traffickers at home. Last year, he launched "Weed and
Seed" projects in 20 cities, reclaiming crime-ravaged
neighborhoods by:
-
Using federal, state and local law enforcement to
"weed" out drug dealers, gang leaders and street
criminals.
-
"Seeding" the communities with school "dropout"
prevention programs, job training, programs to
improve conditions in public housing, new drug
prevention and treatment programs, and increased
government health programs, including prenatal
care and HIV testing and counseling.
President Bush is expanding drug rehabilitation.
President Bush proposed nearly doubled federal funding
for drug-related programs to $12.7 billion for fiscal
1993, including a near-doubling of federal drug
treatment to a proposed $2.3 billion in fiscal 1993.
Next year, the President's drug rehabilitation program
will treat more than 402,000 addicts.
Under President Bush, the federal government nearly
tripled federal anti-drug assistance to state and local
enforcement - from $334 million in fiscal 1989 to a
proposed $991 million in fiscal 1993.
[DRUGS - Page 3]
CLINTON: WHO NEEDS TO INHALE?
In Bill Clinton's Arkansas:
Marijuana was Arkansas' Number One cash crop in 1989.
[1990 annual report, National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), a Washington, D.C.,
lobby advocating the drug's legalization]
Serious drug and alcohol abuse among Arkansas' minority
population, among those receiving drug treatment at
state centers, more than doubled in a decade. It
affected 15 percent in 1979-81. Ten years later, it was
37 percent. [1979-80 and 1989-90 reports, Arkansas
Department of Human Services]
Arkansas was one of 12 states that, according to
Congressman Pete Stark, a California Democrat, were
"contributing to the country's failure to win its war
on illegal drugs. " In a 1989 congressional report,
Stark noted that Arkansas spends only $3.36 per capita
for drug and alcohol treatment, compared with the
national average of $8. [The Arkansas Gazette,
12/27/89]
In May 1985, Clinton refused to grant extradition of a
Little Rock native to New York on felony cocaine
charges. He said New York's mandatory sentencing for
first offenders was too harsh.
-
"I made the decision, and I'm the governor,"
Clinton said, "and it was my decision to make.' "
-
The New York district attorney was puzzled "that
the laws of New York and Arkansas treat such
serious drug offenses so differently. " [The
Arkansas Gazette, 6/1/85]
[DRUGS - Page 4]
Illicit Drugs
Campaign Trail
It is nearly impossible to point to any prioritizing on Clinton's behalf for the
drug issue -- simply put, he supports more law enforcement, more drug treatment,
more prevention, more everything. Clinton has not been asked many specifics on the
drug issue and has only offered rhetoric that seems almost bi-partisan. So generic are
Clinton's few drug policy opinions that they have even been compared to President
Bush's drug strategy.¹ While it is clear that Clinton's policies are different from the
President's, it does appear that Clinton is such a novice with drug policy that he is not
fully in touch with Democrat-pushed drug policies. While appearing conservative for
supporting boot camps, he liberally advocates treatment on demand. In general,
Clinton is a moderate and a big spender when it comes to drug issues.
As a presidential candidate, Clinton mainly calls for drug treatment on demand
and advocates "boot camps" for first time, non-violent drug offenders. Clinton also
supports community policing and more funding for community initiatives to rid
neighborhoods of drugs.² He says he "oppose[s] drug decriminalization and believe[s]
we need to take tougher steps in the war on drugs to decrease both supply and
demand." Clinton's experience dealing with the drug problem is relatively minor and
unsophisticated compared to that of other governors. An insight into his unfamiliarity
with this issue came during a tour of a Chicago public housing project Clinton took in
July 1991 under Democratic Leadership Council-auspices. The project had instituted
an anti-drug program for children. Clinton, who asked a group of children what they
were being taught, showed a shallower grasp of the problem than the children had:
"No drugs," answered one child to Clinton's question. "No gun shooting," said
another. "No gang-banging. No knives. No kicking. No cursing," added other
children. "No cursing," Clinton repeated, "That's a good one."
Another example of Clinton's drug policy naiveté is found in his assertions that
the crack epidemic is actually a racial problem. In July 1989, Clinton told a black
audience that crack was a black problem. Clinton claimed that blacks
disproportionately used crack cocaine. He also noted that perhaps a white person,
especially one seeking re-election, should not say that. Though this may have been the
easiest way to write off the problem, Clinton demonstrated his ignorance of who uses
cocaine nationally and in his own state.⁴ Minorities have never consistuted the majority
of cocaine drug users or traffickers nationally or in the state of Arkansas. According to
the National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NIDA) major drug indicator, Total Emergency
Room Drug Mentions, from 1989 to 1991 the vast majority of drug mentions were of
white individuals compared to the mentions of minorities (e.g., in 1991, there were
101,099 white drug mentions and only 45,569 black drug mentions).5 Though the
images of drug abuse and the crime associated with it are laden with inner cities and
minorities, the actual numbers of casual drug use and drug trafficking prove to be
largely white and suburban. The same is true in Arkansas; although while it is true that
minority drug use is rapidly increasing in Arkansas, in 1990 63 percent of drug
admissions at Benton Detoxification Center were white and 37 percent were minority.6
Clinton's rhetoric throughout the years has consisted mostly of ambiguous
fence-sitting statements (e.g., in 1989, he urged Democrats to not make deals with
drug dealers and also to offer treatment on demand.)⁷ Clinton is equally as ambiguous
on how he stands on the root causes theory -- he usually comes down in the middle.
However, in 1989 Clinton claimed the following about the increase in crime: "And in
the 1980s young people without an education became much more economically
vulnerable, and people who are that vulnerable are more likely to commit crimes."
Also in September 1991, Clinton explained the allure of drug dealing by saying that
people "watch the same television news you and I do, and they know that the most
irresponsible people in the 1980s were the people on the top of the totem pole, not the
people on the bottom." As a solution to this understandable allure, Clinton suggested
that Democrats offer people more options.9 Clinton often speaks of drugs as a result of
poverty and a lack of opportunities. Clinton has made it clear that he believes the
demand of drugs must be addressed (to what cost of the supply side, he has not said).
In 1990 he said, "We cannot enforce our way out of this [drug] problem. "10 In fact,
Clinton originally opposed the state drug czar position because he believed that it would
favor law enforcement over demand-side remedies. 11 Clinton has managed to balance
these sort of statements with a "tough on drugs" image due to his support of boot
camps and quiet support of thedeath penalty for drug king-pins.
Mainly, Clinton has demonstrated that he underestimates the real threat of
drugs. An example of this was in 1989 when a Gallup poll discovered that most
Americans believed that drug addiction was the top problem, Clinton was saying that
drugs were not the problem -- he believed that deterioration of the traditional family
was the number one problem. 12 Clinton was equally insensitive to the public's opinion
of drugs when in 1977 he suggested that tough anti-marijuana laws may not be the best
deterrent for Arkansas youth. And again in the presidential campaign, after shocking
the public with his "didn't inhale" comment, he later told MTV that if he could do it
over again, he would try to inhale. 13 According to another major drug indicator, the
High School Senior Survey, even high school seniors increasingly disapprove of
occasional marijuana drug use (in 1991, 29 percent more students disapprove of casual
marijuana use than they did in 1988) -- Clinton has apparently not recognized these
indicators. 14
Demand
Drug Treatment: Throughout the campaign, Clinton has said that treatment
on demand "without delay" ought to be a national goal. 15 At the National Women's
Political Caucus in July 1991, Clinton said that the treatment on demand "works" and
treatment centers ought to be close to where people live. 16 Clinton believes that drug
addiction is "an illness." At the same time, he has tried to separate himself from those
who believe purely in root causes by using "tough" rhetoric: "Some people are dumb
enough to want to kill themselves with drug addiction. Most people are sick. "17
Clinton's strong call for drug treatment on demand during the presidential
campaign has not exactly been backed by strong action in Arkansas. In 1989, Clinton
believed that taxes should be substantially raised for a number of programs (including
drug treatment). He also called for a state policy of treatment on demand. 18 In this
controversial 1989 tax plan, Clinton proposed $1.1 million for outpatient treatment of
adolescent drug abusers to be implemented by the Arkansas Education Department's
regional cooperatives. 19 In 1989, Clinton's tried to pass a $33 million, two-year drug
package -- it failed. Within this package was $6 million for treatment units (estimated
to supply treatment for 500 adults and 1,500 youths) and funding for 40 spots in
treatment centers for addicted youth. In 1990, the state drug czar, Robert Shepard,
admitted, "Quite frankly, right now if you have a young person in the state of Arkansas
with a drug-addiction problem they are simply falling through the cracks. "20
Addicted youth were "falling through the cracks" because the state almost solely relies
on expensive private treatment centers. 21
In 1991, Hillary Clinton went on television boasting how Arkansas was taking
care of its addicted youth with a new program called "Fight Back!" This program,
funded by a $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and
administered by Blue Cross, provides treatment insurance for students of the Little
Rock School District. This grant only affects students in the Little Rock School
District and needs to be renewed in 1993.22
Since the failure of the 1989 drug package, Clinton passed three drug treatment
laws in 1991. One law mandates accreditation of treatment programs, another provides
a state board with voluntary treatment services for addicted pharmacists, and the last
law allows the court to place an addicted person in the Benton Detoxification Service
Center for treatment on an involuntary basis if a law enforcement officer requests it. 23
All considered, the availability of drug treatment in the state of Arkansas is not
very good - and not near the "treatment on demand" level. In October 1990, Clinton
agreed that Arkansas needed to provide more treatment. 24 As an example of the
inadequacy of drug treatment in Arkansas, in 1990 the largest non-profit drug and
alcohol treatment center, Decision Point, had only 107 beds and a total staff of 28
(only 15 of whom were counselors). 25 While the number of treatment centers has
increased from 19 in 1979 to 26 in 1991, the increase has been slow and the need of
treatment has not been met in the least. For example, the treatment centers are not
geographically accessible to many addicts -- DHS reports have listed this problem a
number one priority problem since at least 1989; the number of those treated has
fluctuated and often decreased since 1979; and the number of those treated is only a
fraction of those who are known to need treatment (e.g., in 1990-91, 2,791 were
treated but 18,695 went without treatment). 26
Efficacy of Treatment: Clinton has said that "appropriate treatment works."
Without going into any detail of what kind of drug treatment programs are more
efficient, he has only commented that, "All the serious studies show that
appropriate levels of treatment for appropriate lengths of time yield a success rate
slightly in excess of 60 percent. "27 While Arkansas has accreditation standards for
its drug treatment centers, as of 1989 they had not been updated since 1983 and
while they do have patient follow-up, it is not does not seem that the efficacy of the
treatment programs are reviewed as part of the accreditation -- they appear to be
simple paperwork requirements. 28 According to the National Drug Strategy, "a key
component of these plans is state estimates of service needs at the local level.
Given Arkansas' problem with drug treatment geographic imbalance, local drug
treatment needs are not met and the appropriateness of the existing treatment to the
given population is apparently not matched either. 29
Annual reports from the Arkansas Department of Human Services claim that the
success rate of treatment increased from 1979 to 1988 -- however, there is some
room for suspicion of these numbers: from 1983 to 1985, the department claims
that the success rate rose from 36 percent to 85 percent; in 1987 the format of the
report was changed; and these numbers are no longer included the annual reports
since 1988-89 (the year that the federal drug war was launched and funding has
increased to the state every year since). 30
Drug Prevention: In 1990, Clinton spoke about the need to stop the demand of
drugs: "We cannot enforce our way out of this problem. "31 On the stump in 1991,
Bill Clinton spoke of the necessity of drug prevention: "You've got to have
comprehensive drug education programs and every poor child in this country has got to
have available to them by the time they reach adolescence "32 Clinton has used this
kind of rhetoric when speaking about drug prevention and the importance of drug
education -- this is also as detailed as he gets on the issue. For being so supportive of
drug prevention efforts, Arkansas does not reflect it -- teachers do not have to be
formally trained in drug education in Arkansas:33 In fact, it is not at all clear that
every child in Arkansas is being offered drug education and prevention programs.
Clinton's drug prevention "policy" seems to be increasing funding -- in 1987 he
proposed $4.5 million for drug education and prevention "so that a quality program on
substance abuse will be presented to every school-age child in Arkansas. "34 Mostly
however, Clinton's idea of good drug prevention seems to be praising various private,
federal, or local plans: in 1988 Arkansas started to participate in the National Red
Ribbon campaign and initiated drug awareness week; in 1989 Clinton praised
Anheuser-Busch for their anti-drug videotape that a local prevention group, Project
ARK, was using; also in 1989 the Governor's Drug-Free Team added high school
athletes and spirit groups to the team. The Governor's Drug-Free Team, implemented
by the state drug czar, Robert Shepard, set the standards for the high schools: each
high school must have at least two drug awareness rallies each semester, appoint a drug
awareness coordinator and have students sign a drug-free pledge. If the schools do
these things, the school gets a trophy and the students get patches to wear. 35
While Clinton suggested giving drug-free students patches, the drop out rate due
to alcohol and drug abuse in Arkansas grew 29 percent from 1987 to 1989. 36 The
scourge of drug and alcohol abuse on teen-age drop outs in Arkansas has been known
for some time: in 1983-84, the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, using
Arkansas Department of Education data, discovered that "9 out of 10 students who
dropped out of school or were asked to leave had used or at least experimented with a
controlled substance, with most using more than one substance. "37
Drug Free School Zones: Following federal guidelines, Arkansas has established
increased penalties for "selling, delivering, dispensing, transporting, administering,
or distributing" controlled substances within 1,000 feet of public or private
elementary, secondary or vocational schools and universities. The punishment set
by the 1989 law was an extra two years of jail (beyond the sentence for the
violation itself) and a fine not less than $1,000.38 In 1991, the law was amended by
adding city and state parks, skating rinks, Boys Club, Girls Club, YMCA, and
YWCA to the list of drug-free zones; by changing the supplemental jail sentence to
10 years; by making early release or parole impossible for the extra jail sentence;
and by requiring drug-free zone notices. 39
Supply
Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement: In general, Bill Clinton has not displayed
a serious dedication to law enforcement or to tough laws against drugs. In 1985,
Clinton signed a law which authorized law enforcement officers to investigate and
arrest offenders of the Uniformed Controlled Substance Act of 1971.40 The 1971 law
remains the main law regarding punishments regarding illegal drugs in Arkansas -- it
has not been amended much since Clinton became governor. In terms of law
enforcement, in 1992, Clinton called for more federal aid for local law enforcement
(especially more cops on the beat) and also accused the President of cutting aid to
police and covering it by focusing attention on the death penalty. Clinton also called
for more community-based policing of neighborhoods.41 Clinton supports boot camps
and approves of U.S. military interdiction of drugs. In drug law enforcement, just as
in other drug issues, Clinton mostly calls for more funds as a solution.
In 1989 Clinton (usually quick with statistics) demonstrated his shakiness
regarding drug law enforcement: in August 1989 Clinton had a public feud with U.S.
Representative Tommy Robinson regarding drug statistics. Robinson claimed that
Clinton had lied about the numbers, saying that Clinton "told the biggest lie I ever
heard in my life" when he claimed that Arkansas led the nation in currency seized in
drug trafficking. Clinton claimed that Robinson just wanted to run for governor and did
not like how successful Arkansas had been and that is why Robinson "squealed like a
stuck hog.' Finally Clinton admitted that Arkansas had been number one in currency
seized for only one quarter in 1987 and that he was simply misinformed -- he had said
that Arkansas was the best in the nation in this category.⁴² A similar episode of
possibly using the drug war for political gain occurred with Clinton's television ads on
Arkansas' drug enforcement. The Arkansas Gazette discovered that the Clinton ads
"overstated by a half-billion dollars the drugs seized by the Criminal Apprehension
Patrol.' The police admitted that they had given Clinton the mistaken information:
"We regret that it took so long to catch the error. "43
Later in 1989, Clinton called for a special drug legislation session -- Robinson
called the session a fiasco and said that Clinton was a "Johnny-come-lately drug
fighter" and was holding the session only to capitalize on the political saliency of the
drug issue. Robinson also claimed that Clinton was "long on [drug] rhetoric" but did
not do his "homework."44 The 1989 drug war special session was heavily criticized
and the Arkansas Gazette wrote that some believed Clinton was late in creating his
proposals and failing to push his programs effectively with the legislators. An
important measure in the package was the replacement of all the state's police cars.
The plan was also laden with sin taxes and a temporary 2 percent surtax. 45 In the end,
Clinton had to veto the entire package due to a lack of appropriations. Simply put, it is
difficult to find if Clinton has ever done anything significant for drug law enforcement
in Arkansas.
Drug Law Enforcement and the Courts in Arkansas: In March 1988, a federal
court mandated that profiling was illegal (i.e., it was not due cause for the Arkansas
police to stop and search cars on the interstate simply because the driver and car
match a drug runner profile {i.e., Hispanic from Texas}). The Arkansas police
appealed the decision saying that the mandate was too restrictive. 46 By October
1990, the interstate interdiction policy was permitted once again. In a compromise,
a modified version of the original program is now allowed -- there are video
cameras in 15 cars to record these stops and searches. Searches are now to be
conducted with verbal agreements with the drivers. While this seems a reasonable
balance of tough law enforcement and upholding of civil rights, only 15 cars were
affected by this compromise Clinton worked out.⁴⁷ This compromise was
publicized about two weeks before the 1990 election. 48
Asset Forfeiture: Out of the two asset forfeiture laws that the national drug policy
suggests states have, Arkansas has one law only since the 1991 legislative session.
The asset forfeiture law of 1991 allows seizures of property from out of state or that
is non-drug related. 49 The biggest weakness in the asset forfeiture program in
Arkansas is that it lacks a law to require at least 90 percent of the seized proceeds to
be used for law enforcement. This 90 percent initiative has been almost universally
supported by local, state, and national law enforcement groups since the funds are
always desperately needed.⁵⁰ In Arkansas, only 20-40 percent of seized assets go
to law enforcement. 51 In 1989, Clinton signed a law that required that forfeited
property be first sold at a public sale before it goes to private sales. 52
Death Penalty for Drug King-Pins: Like the President, Clinton agrees that the
death penalty should be an option for drug king-pins. 53 Unlike the President,
Clinton does not mention this view frequently and the current death penalty law in
Arkansas (which Clinton signed) does not include drug king-pins.
Drugs in Public Housing: Though Clinton has mentioned that he favors community
action and empowerment programs as a solution to the drug problems in public
housing, he has not mentioned much more about how to stop drug use and sales in
public housing (such as barricades, etc.). Arkansas did not have a law mandating
eviction of drug offenders from public housing projects in 1990.54
In 1990, North Little Rock Housing Authority Director William Clements, and
North Little Rock Housing Board Chairman Bob Lyon, asked Clinton to send in the
state police and/or the National Guard to help rid the public housing projects of
drugs. Lyon added Clements believed that the public housing projects were out of
control with drug problems. According to the Arkansas Gazette, the city police
made a number of busts and eventually Clements decided to hire private
investigators to help identify drug suspects in the projects. This one-year contract
was estimated to cost $105,820. It is not clear what Clinton has ever done to
alleviate this problem. 55
Bootcamps: One of Clinton's favorite prison reform ideas is boot camps for first-
time, non-violent offenders. He is advocating them in his presidential stump
speeches and he has instituted a program in Arkansas. While opening a boot camp
in August 1991, the Arkansas Gazette reported that Clinton said the boot camp
offered "a way to combat prison overcrowding. "56 Also in the summer of 1991, the
commander of the state Department of Corrections boot camp program resigned. "I
quit because the program is going backwards and I wasn't going to be a part of
that. It is slowly being chipped away," boot camp program director Captain Tom
Matthews asserted. Matthews cited infighting within the Department of
Corrections, saying some want the boot camp program to fail: "I think the senior
staff looks at it like a threat because this place takes prisoners and rehabilitates them
and puts them back on the street. "57
Not everyone is sold on the success of the boot camps, however. "There's no
evidence anywhere that the boot camps work," says Jerry Miller, director of the
National Center on Institutions and Alternatives. The Center advocates prison
reform and runs correctional programs in Maryland. Dale Parent, a policy
consultant with Abt Associates in Cambridge, Mass., conducted a 1987-88 Justice
Department study of prison boot camps in eight states. He said, "My general
understanding is that so far, we haven't really shown that the boot camps are
effective in changing post-release behavior. "58 Yet, as Arkansas Corrections
Department spokesman David White pointed out in 1991, "The cost per prisoner
per day is higher for boot camp than the $26.60 average for the entire prison
system. "59
Beyond the efficacy questions of the boot camps, there has also been some
scandal regarding the employees of the boot camps. In one case, an ex-drill
sergeant, Jimmie Armstrong, was indicted for counterfeiting along side of his three
partners in crime who had been boot camp inmates. Planning of the counterfeiting
started while the men where in the boot camp and while Armstrong was a drill
sergeant there. David White, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections
said, "And on occasion we do have employees that get involved in crimes. That is
a fact of life. "60
Drug Paraphernalia: In 1981, a law was created in Arkansas to establish penalties
for selling or being in the drug paraphernalia business. 61 In 1988, revenues were
created through a $.25 tax per package on rolling papers -- the law was also
intended to discourage people from buying them. 62 In 1991, State Revenue
Commissioner, Tim Leathers, claimed that the rolling papers tax had brought in
$1.3 million from 1988 to 1991. This increase in revenues was Clinton's defense
in not banning rolling papers when activists in the state asked him to. 63 However,
Clinton supported a group, DIGNITY, which protested the businesses they believed
were selling drug paraphernalia. In July 1991, their protests became lawless and
several members were arrested for trespassing.64 Clinton said he was "very
sympathetic with what they're trying to do. In August 1991, DIGNITY
threatened Kmart with civil disobedience and Clinton gave the group $5,000 in state
money.⁶⁶
Precursor Chemicals: In 1989, Clinton signed a law which requires record keeping
of precursor chemical transactions. 67 The National Drug Control Strategy suggests
that the states "regulate" these chemicals in order to crack down on ICE
production.
68
Interdiction Efforts (International and Domestic):
Use of the Military: One area where Clinton is definitely out of step with most
Democrats is in the use of the military in attacking the supply of drugs into the
U.S. In October 1986, Clinton said that he did not know if he would go so far as
to use the military to stop the drug supply into the U.S., but he said that it was
good the U.S. House of Representatives was considering this as an option. 69 - By
November 1986, however, Clinton said that he favored the "practice of popular
protectionism" in the area of using federal troops to stop drug trafficking. Clinton
noted that he disagreed with some of the proposed methods to use the troops, but
agreed with the principle. "We'd be a lot better off if the only drugs we had to
worry about were those manufactured or grown in America. "70
On the campaign trail, Clinton has commented on the positive role of the
military in the fight against drugs -- he has become more vigilant in the use of the
military. While not mentioning the Andean Plan, Clinton seems to support many of
President Bush's initiatives in this area -- though he may deny it. In March 1992,
Clinton said he favored "expanded use of the military, especially for purposes of
tracking and stopping small planes coming into this country.' "71 At the Bronx
Democratic presidential debate in March 1992, Clinton was asked if the U.S.
should boycott commodities of drug producing countries, he responded:
"I think the problem with that is that even those countries which try to contain the
illegal drugs on their own are having limited success, and we've had many good
people in the government of Colombia actually be killed for their efforts to try to
contain the export of drugs. What I think we need to do is to beef up the
traditional sources of restraint, the Coast Guard, the border patrols, the Customs
Service. We need to become much better at monitoring the flights into this
country, and then we need to work much more closely with those governments that
are making a good faith effort. I wouldn't be opposed to taking action against a
government that obviously was not trying, but those which are we have to try to
deal with. "72
In April 1992, Clinton was asked what kind of supply strategy he would use, he
replied: "I do support utilizing the U.S. military in drug interdiction. Furthermore, I
recognize that many Latin American governments have provided invaluable assistance in
the war on drugs. As President, I will work to improve U.S. cooperation with the Latin
American governments involved in containing the smuggling into the United States of
cocaine, marijuana, and other addictive drugs manufactured or harvested in Latin
America. "73
Money Laundering: Though it appears that Clinton has not addressed the issue of
money laundering, he has down-played the insinuations that money laundering and
drug trafficking were taking place at the Mena airport in Arkansas. [For more
information on the Mena/Iran-Contra scandal, refer to the Mena paper.]
Extradition of Drug Criminals: As a governor, Clinton has not had much
experience with the extradition of drug criminals. However, in 1985, Clinton did
go out of his way to ensure that Nicole Cowan, a 19 year-old girl, was not
extradited to New York to stand trial for drug running. [For more details of the
Cowan scandal, see Cowan paper.]
Marijuana Eradication: In 1989, Clinton received almost $400;000 from the
Defense Department for helicopter-led marijuana surveillance to be done by the
Arkansas National Guard. With this federal assistance, crews were to fly 1,027
hours compared to the previous 400 hours Clinton had dedicated for marijuana
surveillance -- this was paid by the federal government as well. 74
In terms of marijuana eradication, Clinton boasts of Arkansas' successful
program that has destroyed large numbers of costly plants. However, there are two
things which discredit his claims of success. First, the number of plants destroyed
has not increased every year -- the number declined 12 percent from 1990 to 1991,
and declined from 1988 to 1989 as well.⁷⁵ Second, Arkansas has received an
extremely large portion of federal funds for marijuana eradication compared to the
number of plants seized. As an example, in 1990 Arkansas seized 125,420 plants
and received $125,000 from the DEA in surveillance money; Missouri seized
1,141,687 plants and received $200,000 from the DEA in surveillance money. 76
Like Missouri, many other states are getting a much bigger bang for the federal
buck compared to Arkansas.
Despite Arkansas' federally-paid marijuana eradication effort, NORMAL still
estimates that Arkansas' number one cash crop is marijuana. In fact, according to
the 1990 estimate, Arkansas ranked ninth in the top-grossing crop value. It also
ranked an incredible fifth in estimated harvest value (which indicates that many of
the expensive plants are being harvested and not eradicated - Hawaii ranked sixth).
For being a mid-size producer of marijuana, Arkansas ranks remarkably high in
these cultivation numbers - it joins the likes of major marijuana-producing states
such as Tennessee, California, Oregon, etc.⁷⁷
Public Lands: In 1985, Clinton signed a law which made it illegal to "install or
maintain" booby traps on one's own property or on any other property punishable
by a Class D felony.⁷⁸ The purpose of the law was to crack down on drug
traffickers who use public lands to grow marijuana or who set up drug labs (such as
methampehtamine labs). The drug traffickers often set up booby traps to keep their
actions clandestine and this problem plagues states which have large rural areas or
public lands. How effective this law has been is questionable -- as an example,
only one year later in 1986, two turkey hunters stepped on a trap that exploded and
police believed that it was a mine that marijuana growers had set.79
Stand on Particular Drugs
Marijuana: Beyond his personal confrontation with marijuana, Clinton also
possesses a legislative small record regarding marijuana. In Clinton's early years, he
was considered to be weak on marijuana laws. In 1977, Attorney General Clinton
claimed that it was difficult for youth to have respect for the law when their friends are
being imprisoned for marijuana offenses. Clinton said that he did not support the
decriminalization of marijuana, but jailing youth for marijuana offenses was too costly
and a waste of law enforcement funds that could be spent on more serious crimes. 80 A
1977 Arkansas Gazette editorial claimed that Clinton was not in favor of
decriminalization but that the penalties were simply too harsh for the crime. 81 The
penalty for marijuana possession at that time was a misdemeanor punishable by up to
one year in jail and a $250 fine. 82 In 1985, Clinton signed a law which provided
imprisonment for marijuana traffickers and growers. 83
In June 1992, while participating on CBS's National Town Meeting, Clinton
answered a question about marijuana legalization: "All medical evidence is that
marijuana now in use is now more than three times as toxic as it was a generation ago.
I just think it would be a mistake to legalize it, and I am opposed to it. "84 Even though
Clinton opposes decriminalization, some of the counties in Arkansas are having
difficulty dealing with marijuana arrests. In 1990, the District Attorney of the 16th
Judicial District (Batesville), Don McSpadden, testified that "80 percent or more of our
arrests are marijuana related 11 David Butler, the prosecutor for the 13th Judicial
District (Magnolia), claimed that there was a real marijuana problem in his part of the
state but, "we don't have time to deal with marijuana" given the threat of other drugs
like ICE and crack. 85 Marijuana use in Arkansas has decreased since 1979, but the
drug that these addicts moved to is much dangerous. 86
Cocaine and Crack: Cocaine and crack have become a raging problem in
Arkansas. In 1979 and the early 1980s, cocaine use in Arkansas was minuscule (3-7
percent of all drugs used); however in the mid- to late 1980s, cocaine use sky rocketed.
From 1989-91, cocaine use in Arkansas stabilized, but is still increasing (in 1989-90,
cocaine use was 55 percent of all drugs used; in 1990-91, cocaine use was 60 percent
of all illicit drug use). 87 Steve Sargent, Executive Director of the largest non-profit
treatment center in Arkansas, Decision Point, testified that his center saw a 347 percent
increase of crack and cocaine use from 1988 to 1989. 88
In July 1989, Clinton told a black audience that crack was a racial problem --
that it was a black problem. Clinton claimed that blacks disproportionately used crack
cocaine. He also noted that perhaps a white person, especially one seeking re-election
should not say that. "I'm glad to see a group of black leaders treat this as a racila
issue." Though this may have been the easiest way to write off the problem, Clinton
demonstrated his ignorance of who uses cocaine nationally and in his own state. 89
Minorities have never comprised the majority of drug users or traffickers nationally or
in the state of Arkansas. According to NIDA's major drug indicator, Total Emergency
Room Drug Mentions, from 1989 to 1991 the vast majority of drug mentions were of
white individuals compared to the mentions of minorities (e.g., in 1991, there were
101,099 white drug mentions and only 45,569 black drug mentions). 90 Though the
images of drug abuse and the crime associated with it are laden with inner cities and
minorities, the actual numbers of casual drug use and drug trafficking prove to be
largely white and suburban. The same is true in Arkansas: while it is true that
minority drug use is rapidly increasing in Arkansas, in 1990 63 percent of drug
admissions at Benton Detoxification Center were white and 37 percent were minority. 91
In the same month Clinton was saying that crack was simply a black problem,
the Arkansas Legislative Council and 75 sheriffs both expressed great concern about the
rising cocaine problem in Arkansas and asked Clinton to do something. 92 Besides
comments about the horrors of crack, Clinton has not offered a policy to work
specifically against the tide of crack problems in Arkansas. Little Rock and El Dorado
are besieged with crack houses and dealing; District Attorneys and sheriffs from all
around the state testified in front of the Senate Government Operations committee in
1990 about the severe, unmanageable problems resulting from crack cocaine in
Arkansas.
Another area which Clinton does not seem to have addressed in the least is that
of crack babies and drug-addicted pregnant women.
Heroin: Though Arkansas has a relatively small heroin problem, Clinton
appears to have never addressed the issue of heroin. Heroin use in Arkansas decreased
in the early 1980s and then it significantly increased in the late 1980s. The number of
heroin users in Arkansas is growing: in 1989-90, heroin use was at 17 percent and in
1990-91, heroin use was at 18.4 percent. 93
Ice (also known as Crank or Methamphetamine): In 1989, Clinton proposed
that tougher penalties be created in order to discourage Methamphetamine labs which
are abundant in the rural parts of the state. 94 Since that time, however, Clinton does not
seem to have addressed the national growing crisis of ICE. In 1990, several witnesses
at a congressional hearing Senator David Pryor held on the drug problems in Arkansas
testified that ICE is tremendous growing problem in several parts of the state --
especially in the northern sections. Steve Sargent, Executive Director of the largest
non-profit treatment center in Arkansas, Decision Point, testified that his center saw a
195 percent increase of ICE use from 1988 to 1989.9
Alcohol Abuse/DUI: Alcohol abuse in Arkansas is a very serious problem.
The most telling statistic about alcohol abuse in Arkansas is that in 1979-1980 the
Arkansas Human Services Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention estimated
that there were 130,406 alcohol abusers and only 1,135 were treated. From 1982 to
1989, the Arkansas Department of Human Services maintained that the number of
estimated abusers remained exactly at 130,406 while the number of those treated rose
to 9,314 in 1989. Since 1989, the number of those given treatment is no longer in the
state reports alcohol abuse admissions is the new statistic. From 1988 to 1989,
alcohol admissions grew from 6,104 to 6,524. Even though it appears that more
individuals are receiving alcohol abuse treatment, it is also clear that alcohol abuse is a
growing problem in Arkansas -- despite the static number of abusers the Human
Services department has offered throughout the 1980s.
In 1989, arrests for drunkenness comprised 12.9 percent of all arrests in
Arkansas. After years of alcohol and drug arrests decreasing from 50 percent of all
arrests in 1979, total arrests due to alcohol and drugs appear to be increasing once
again: rising 7 percent from 1988 to 1990-1991. Another problem regarding alcohol
abuse in Arkansas is that alcohol abuse has been increasing specifically for minorities
since 1985 -- alcohol use decreased for Caucasians in the same time period.
In 1981, Arkansas started creating penalties and regulations for DUI. While
out of office in 1982, Clinton suggested that Arkansas should consider shaming drunk
drivers by giving them special license plates for several months -- once he became
governor again, it appears that he never signed such a bill.97 A 1985 law creates
penalties for DUI focusing on suspension of the driver's license for different time
periods depending upon the number of offenses (the maximum penalty being
"revocation for the fourth or subsequent offense occurring within a three year period of
the first offense. Revocation shall continue for a period of three-years"). 98 Despite the
Arkansas laws, DUI has been steadily increasing: in 1989 DUIs comprised 12.7
percent of all arrests; from 1990-1991, DUIs increased 8.3 percent from 1988.
The 1991 Arkansas legislative session produced two laws on alcohol abuse.
One law allows those found guilty of offenses and forced to take alcohol treatment
and/or education to pay fees to offset the costs of the program.⁹ The second law
outlaws the manufacturing or selling of fake I.D.s for minors it appears that this may
have been Arkansas' first law to punish the use and creation of fake I.D.s. 100
Steroid Abuse: In 1991, Clinton signed two steroid laws. These laws define
"anabolic steroid," make it a misdemeanor to sell steroids or to distribute them to
minors.¹⁰¹
Drugs in Jail
While Clinton speaks of the need for treatment for criminals in boot camps and
jails, he has had problems offering treatment to criminals in Arkansas jails. In 1987,
Clinton told the Arkansas Department of Corrections to comply with circuit court
orders that inmates have drug and alcohol treatment and education programs "insofar as
possible." Circuit Judge Jack Lessenberry believed that treatment orders were being
"ignored" by the Corrections Department. The Corrections Department claimed that
treatment was not being provided because of a lack of funds - Clinton said he would
investigate. Circuit Judges Lessenberry and Loften had tried to use the Alternative
Service Act (Act 378 of 1975) which offered more flexibility in sentencing first-time,
nonviolent criminals, in order to get treatment to those who needed it. Unfortunately,
the judges claimed that the Corrections Department was not abiding by this law (and
offering treatment) either. 102 It is not clear what Clinton did to resolve this problem.
In 1986, Arkansas prisons were exposed for having many problems, one of
which was drug trafficking in prisons -- two correctional officers at the Tucker Unit
were arrested for trafficking that year. 103 In 1988, Bill Clinton was beginning to
realize that the surge in prison population was due mainly to drug arrests. He proposed
to the state legislature that more money be spent on drug prevention and that prisoners
be offered more drug education (even though the law currently stated that prisoners
could get up to 90 days off their sentence for taking drug education courses). 104
Drugs and AIDS
According to the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention of the
Arkansas Human Services Department, there were 23 IV drug users with AIDS from
1985 to 1989. From 1985 to 1990, there were 31 IV drug user AIDS cases in
Arkansas (there was a significant proportionate rise in IV drug user AIDS cases from
1989-1990). 105 While Clinton often speaks of the scourge of AIDS on the homosexual
community and the growing threat to the heterosexuals, he has barely discussed a
policy for AIDS and IV drug users. In fact, in Clinton's campaign AIDS policy paper,
IV drug users are not even mentioned. Clinton has said that he favors an expanded
clinical definition of AIDS in order to include more IV drug users. 106 As of May
1992, Clinton had not taken a public position on needle-exchange programs. 107
Drug Testing and Drug-Free Workplace
In August 1986, Clinton remarked that he would take a drug test just as
President Reagan and then-Vice President Bush did. However, Clinton said that he had
not thought about asking his staff to be drug tested. 108 By September 1986, Clinton
and his campaign manager, Betsey Wright, had taken drug tests and he challenged his
gubernatorial opponents to do the same. 109 This set off what became known in
Arkansas as "Jar Wars," (i.e., all the candidates and their wives took drug tests).
When asked if state employees should have to take drug tests in 1986, Clinton said, "I
don't know that I think every state employee should have to do it. [Drug testing is] a
whole new area and we're feeling our way along. "110 The Arkansas Gazette reported
that Clinton believed drug testing should only be done "on a case by case basis 'and
there should be some reason to ask a person to take a test' 'Before we act like taking
a drug test' will solve the country's drug abuse problems, 'we need to think it through
and ask some tough questions'. "111 Even though it was estimated that drug and alcohol
abuse had cost Arkansas $310 million in 1984 due to crime, lost productivity, and
medical bills, Clinton said that there were "some grounds" to test security-related jobs
but wanted to see what the federal government wanted to do first. "Before we just start
throwing the net over people, saying that, because you're a state employee or federal
employee or journalist or whatever, you have to take a drug test, I think we've got to
have a clear rationale. "112
By May 1989, Clinton complied with new federal laws requiring all state
agencies with federal contracts meet drug-free standards (i.e., possession or use of
controlled substances at the workplace is illegal and subject to termination or
discipline). While Clinton decided to apply this policy to all Arkansas state workers,
no drug testing was required. 113 Despite Clinton's clear hesitancy of flatly endorsing
drug testing, the people of Arkansas went forward in their quests for drug testing. In
September 1989, the police chief of Forrest City, Joe Goff, mandated random drug
testing of his employees and subjected himself to the same at the request of the
mayor. 114 In October 1989, Arkansas' legislative drug study committee recommended
drug testing in the workplace. 115 In the 1989 legislative session, Clinton proposed the
Workplace Drug Testing Act which would have stopped unemployment benefits for
workers fired because of drug use and also would have required state employees to
submit to drug testing. 116 Because of funding problems, Clinton ended up vetoing all of
his proposed drug legislation.
By February 1990, Clinton was saying: "A lot of people have been all bent out
of shape about drug testing, and frankly I don't see why. We have to be tested or
vaccinated for all kinds of diseases and problems that our chances of being troubled
with are far less than drugs. "117 Though Clinton has not spoken about the issue of drug
testing on the campaign trail, his spokesman did say that Clinton had no position on
mandatory drug testing for federal employees. 118
Arkansas only has one of the three federally-suggested drug testing laws. As of
1991, Arkansas has a law requiring drug testing as a condition of parole for drug
offenders. It does not have a law requiring drug testing for specific public sector
employees nor does it possess guidelines for random drug testing in the private
sector. 119
Drugs in Arkansas
Numbers: The actual number of drug users in Arkansas is not offered in the
Department of Human Services' drug office's (ADAP) biennial reports. Estimates of
abusers were offered until 1989 and then only drug admissions at Benton Detoxification
Center were offered. From 1979 to 1987 the estimated number of drug abusers oddly
remained exactly at 18,578. In 1987 the number suddenly sky-rocketed to 101,828. In
1989 to 1991, estimated numbers of drug users were no longer figured, only a drug
admission number from Benton was offered: in 1989-90 ADAP says there were 3,090
drug admissions and in 1990-1991, there were 3,308. Beyond the obvious ambiguity
in these reports, it should also be noted that the number of drug abusers "served" each
year is extremely low - in 1979-81 it was 1,135 served; it maximized at 5,307 served
in 1987-89. Even if the number of estimated drug abusers did remain at 18,578 for
eight years, the number actually served by the state is fractional. It is also important to
note that drug-induced crimes has always accounted for a significant amount of the total
arrests in Arkansas -- this indicates that there is a significant amount of abusers in
Arkansas and not only that there are more addicts in treatment.
Race and Substance Abuse: One very serious trend in drug and alcohol abuse
in Arkansas is that minority drug and alcohol abuse has increased from 15 percent in
1979-81 to 37 percent in 1990-91. Caucasian drug and alcohol abuse, however, has
decreased from 85 percent in 1979-81 to 63 percent in 1990-91.120 This data
demonstrates that drug and alcohol abuse in Arkansas is dominated by its white
population -- however, it also indicates that as time progresses an increasing percentage
of Arkansas' minority population is becoming drug dependent [Arkansas's minority
population was 17.7 percent in 1990]. [Note: ADAP's biennial reports only offer
drug abuse numbers with racial characteristics of those receiving drug treatment. The
reports do not offer exact number of drug abusers in Arkansas].
State Drug Offices: The main source of drug services in Arkansas is the
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Office which is located in the Department of
Human Services. Besides the Deputy Director, the head of the ADAP office, Arkansas
has two other peers in the drug war: the Director of the Governor's Partnership of
Substance Abuse Prevention and the state Drug Czar. Under the Deputy Director of
ADAP are three Assistant Deputy Directors, two handling administration and one
overseeing the medical services at Benton Detoxification Center (the 80-bed treatment
center that the state runs). Beyond this there is only the state coordinator of Drug-Free
Schools in the Arkansas Department of Education and there is local representation of
federal agencies such as DEA and FBI. 121 On the supply side, the Arkansas corrections
Forces. department and local and state police are involved. Clinton also created Drug Task
Arkansas Drug Task Forces: Corruption within the state's drug task forces,
which were set up at Clinton's urging, has been exposed. Proposed cuts of 15 percent
for the 26 drug task forces have been officially explained by saying that only waste and
excessive overhead in these programs will be cut. 122 A report in July 1991 by the
Arkansas First Judicial District Drug Task Force showed that, "[d]uring six months of
operation in 1990, the task force resolved 13 drug cases. But all of the defendants
avoided prison sentences by handing over more money and cars. "123 This same task
force, and others, have now become the subject of controversy for junket-taking and
other corruption. The task forces were created by the state but paid for with federal
funding. Press accounts described one example: nine members of the First Judicial
District Task Force and the Crittenden County Drug Task Force went on a training
mission on a cruise boat to the Bahamas. State Drug Czar Robert Shepherd countered
the charges, saying the cost of the Bahamas cruise trip for the drug task forces wasn't
"out of line" while noting the course, held by the Broward County Sheriff's Office of
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is considered "one of the best. "124 In another case of alleged
corruption, a former coordinator of the Seventh Judicial District Task Force, for whom
an arrest warrant (for failing to appear as a witness in a burglary trial) was issued in
February 1991, is also wanted for questioning in the disappearance of about $4,000 in
task force money. Three members of the Twentieth Judicial District were charged with
tampering with evidence; they are accused of putting cocaine into baking soda to nail
suspected drug dealers. 125 Reports in the March 1992 Arkansas Times describe this
blunder:
Crossett, where officers from the Southeast Arkansas Delta Drug Task
Force
and the State Police burst into the home of Pete Dawkins, a
paper mill worker and volunteer basketball coach, knocked Dawkins to
the floor, forced his mother-in-law to the floor at gun point, and shoved
his son against a wall before realizing they had targeted the wrong house
for a drug raid. Meanwhile, a suspect who lived a block away escaped
in a pickup truck.
National War on Drugs: When President Bush announced his war on drugs in
1989, Clinton was quite optimistic about President Bush's plan. The State Drug Czar,
Robert Shepherd was pleased as well: "I think that's what the president's game plan is,
and I think a big portion of the funds will go up front to street level activities in law
enforcement. I think a good portion will go to treatment and education, too, and that's
in line with what the people in Arkansas are thinking." Various Arkansas department
directors praised the new funding in the plan. Clinton hoped that the federal strategy
would include "everything [Bush] can do to help cut off the supply" from other
countries. 126 "It's a question of whether we're going to control our own destiny,"
Clinton said, while advocating the use of the military "where appropriate" to fight drug
trafficking. In keeping with his general theme of responsibility in return for
government programs, Clinton exhorts, "the American people [who] are going to have
to help, too Our culture has also failed, and we've got to take responsibility for
it. "127
Though Clinton was optimistic about the national drug strategy in 1989, on the
campaign trail Clinton curiously commented: "What we need is a national drug policy
"128 Perhaps Clinton does not know that the Bush Administration has offered four
comprehensive National Drug Control Strategies since 1989.
State Drug Czar: On the idea of having a state drug czar, Clinton said the
following in February 1989: "We don't want to create someone who has any
jurisdictional authority over state and local officials, I don't think. We may need a
spokesman, someone who could be a more visible advocate for the education,
prevention and treatment programs than we now have." The post was to be an
appointment of the state's attorney general. 129 Clinton originally opposed the state drug
czar position because he believed that it would favor law enforcement over demand side
remedies. 130 By August 1989, Clinton had appointed the state's first drug czar, Robert
Shepherd (a former Grant County sheriff). Shepherd was the third individual and the
first law enforcement expert to be offered the job by Clinton. The position is paid with
funds from Clinton's office budget. Clinton was also allowed to define what the job
would be: "coordinating, cajoling, and persuading" and acting as chairman of
Clinton's new Drug Abuse Coordinating Council. Technically, the state drug czar also
distributes the federal money. Shepherd admitted in 1989 that he "wasn't appointed
because I have all the answers" but because he had "the ability to listen and work with
people. "131 In August 1989 Clinton introduced the new state drug czar as "the
Arkansas drug dealer. "132
Funding: Arkansas has received ample federal funds for fighting the war
against illicit drugs. Since George Bush has been President, Arkansas has received
significantly more federal drug grant funds -- in FY89 Arkansas received $5.9 million,
in FY90 the state received $11.1 million, and in FY91, Arkansas received $12
million. 133 Arkansas received $6.1 million in federal funding for anti-drug purposes in
1989 alone. 134 While Arkansas has received much federal money, it has had a problem
contributing its own share. In December 1989, the Arkansas Gazette reported that
U.S. Representative Pete Stark said that Arkansas was one of 12 states that was
"contributing to the country's failure to win its war on illegal drugs." Rep. Stark
released a report, "War on Drugs Failure Blamed on Arkansas' Neglect," that pointed
out that Arkansas only spends $3.36 per capita for drug and alcohol abuse treatment --
compared to the national average of $8. 135
Throughout the years, Clinton has proposed increasing the state budget to fight
drugs many times. In 1989 Clinton offered his first and most encompassing drug
package to the state legislature. He proposed spending $15-16 million on law
enforcement and treatment within the drug package. 136 He proposed that most of the
money for this package come from taxes (sin taxes, a two-year 2 percent income
surtax, taxes on trusts and estates, and on corporate incomes of $100,000 or more,
etc.). 137 The taxes for the drug package were contained under a general "Item 98:"
"To increase various excise taxes and permit fees. "138 Arkansas Representative William
Walker called the tax for the package a $17 million tax increase. 139 Clinton sought
funds for this package from almost every source: in 1989 he even originally supported
a measure to raise $2.3 million in tax revenues for drugs from a $200 income tax credit
for all retirees. 140 Clinton told the legislature that he was against paying for the drug
war with the revenue growth (with which he wanted to fund education). 141 Clinton
claimed that drug war expenses would not be made at the expense of education or the
human services budget. 142
In the end, most of the revenue measures for the package were voted down and
thus, Clinton ended up vetoing the drug package due to a lack of funding because the
legislature failed Clinton's 2 percent surtax on income tax bills. 143 The fallout from
this drug package failure was expected to be fatal for the state's matching funds.
Clinton had wanted $3.2 million for the state's matching funds -- but the entire package
was simply too loaded with taxes for the state legislature to accept. The state even
considered using its Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund (which is used for natural
disasters, etc.) to make its drug matching funds that year. Clinton's spokesman said,
"It looks like most of the federal money will go unused." The state drug czar said he
was "at a loss" for what to do. 144
Beyond many offering proposals to increase funding for both supply and
demand programs, starting around 1986, Clinton seems to have not been very effective
-- most of them were never passed. Many of the state's drug programs have also been
plagued by waste and corruption. One example of this is the state's 26 drug task forces
which are to be cut 15 percent in 1992. 145 State Rep. Tim Hutchinson said shortly after
his legislation creating the Arkansas drug czar's office was passed, "[M]uch of the
money in past federal assistance programs was used up in administration and
bureaucracy. "146 The recent funding cuts were announced by Drug Czar Robert
Shepherd, who also hinted at the waste involved: "It will just force them to cut the fat
out of their budgets. "147 Given Clinton's inclination to pay for programs by increased
taxation and given the waste and corruption found in many of the state's drug
programs, it appears that the Arkansas legislature may not be confident in increasing
funding for drug programs under Clinton.
Arkansas Drug Legislation: The main drug law in Arkansas is Act 590 of
1971, the Uniformed Controlled Substances Act. The act has barely been amended
(usually to redefine definitions or to clarify) since 1971 (only in 1985 and 1987). 148
Since Act 590, it is fair to say that Arkansas has not legislated on drugs very much and
when laws were passed they were often to meet a pressing need (e.g., in 1983 booby
trap laws were passed to meet the immediate threat on public lands). Drug legislation
in Arkansas from 1979 is marked by two things: much DUI legislation starting in 1981
and a surplus of more substantial drug legislation in 1991.
According to the State Drug Control Status Summary of 1990, Arkansas was a
below average state in possessing the best drug laws. In 1990, Arkansas possessed
only six of the possible 18 federally-recommended laws. Since 1990, Arkansas added
four new federally-recommended laws (the most important drug legislation ever passed
in Arkansas was passed in the 1991 session). 149
Various Legislation: In 1989 Clinton proposed and signed into law the prohibition
of students carrying beepers. Beepers are often used by drug dealers. 150 In March
1989, the drug hotline was created to field questions about drug treatment and to
report drug crimes. 151 In 1991, a law was created to suspend the drivers' licenses
of drug criminals for six months. 152
Clinton's 1989 Drug Package: In October 1989, Clinton held a special session
to address his drug package. On October 11, 1989, Clinton told the Arkansas Gazette
that he had not figured out how much the entire package would cost. 153 Clinton's drug
package consisted of the following items: increasing Arkansas' funds to match federal
grants for law enforcement; increasing funding for drug treatment; increasing penalties
for Drug Free Zones; increasing penalties for use of minors in drug crimes;
"organizing activity to commit drug crimes and to make such an offense punishable by
death or by imprisonment for life without parole;" increasing penalties for drug labs;
increasing penalties for the use or threatening of force while committing drug crimes or
conspiracy; revoking drivers' licenses for drug criminals who are minors; hiring more
undercover police officers; hiring more staff for boot camps; revising involuntary drug
treatment admission law; increasing penalties for distribution and for public officials
who do drug crimes; authorizing women's bootcamps; and funding provisions for these
bills (taxes). 154
After being stalled in committee, funding became a problem: "Governor Bill
Clinton and legislators beat a disorderly retreat in their war against illegal drugs.
They agreed to scale back spending on the drug war from $20 million to $10 million,
but they still couldn't reach a consensus on a tax increase to pay for those [drug]
programs. "155 Clinton's efforts to increase taxes for new revenue had been on "shaky
grounds" with his effort to increase education funds (much less to fund the drug
war). 156 By early November 1989 the bill (HB 1023 to primarily fund the drug war
with a two-year personal and corporate income surtax) failed and Clinton promised to
veto the drug package without its $16 million funding. 157 Clinton said that this package
would have only "contained" the drug problem, not stopped it. 158
June 1992
¹Drug war faces re-evaluation in campaign, 4/27/92, Oregonian.
2 Clinton calls for expansion of community-based policing, 4/22/92, LA Times.
³The issue: drug decriminalization, 2/25/92, AP.
4Don't expect drug liberator, meeting told 7/15/89, AG.
⁵1992 Drug Strategy, p. 7.
⁶DHS report, 1991.
⁷Governor lists strong stands for platform, 5/21/88, AG.
⁸Jail crisis a vicious cycle, 4/24/89, AG.
⁹Clinton honing message, 9/16/91, AG.
10 Students show up in force 10/23/90, AG.
11 Legislative Digest, 2/18/89, AG.
12 Loss of family values is nation's biggest problem, 8/11/89, AG.
¹³MTV show, 6/16/92, p. 36.
¹⁴¹⁹92 Drug Strategy, p. 28.
15 Clinton urges black nurses to stress internal reform... 8/17/91, AD.
16 National Women's Political Caucus, 7/91.
17 Georgetown Speech, 12/12/91.
18 Clinton ready to fight, seeks school aid, 10/24/89, AG.
19 Clinton details his plan for financing programs, 10/25/89, AG.
20Drug czar seeks more centers, 11/1/90, AG.
21Drug czar seeks more centers, 11/1/90, AG.
22Hillary Clinton takes anti-drug pitch to national TV, 7/24/91, AG.
23 AR Acts 25, 741, and 150 of 1991.
2⁴Grant to boost state's social services, 10/19/90, AG.
25 Senate Gov. Ops. Cmte testimony, 1/17/90.
26DHS reports, 1979-1991.
27 Georgetown Speech, 12/12/91.
2⁸DHS accreditation program, 1989.
291992 Drug Strategy, p. 63.
³⁰DHS annual reports, 1979-1991.
31 Students show up in force, 10/23/90, AG.
32 Georgetown University speech, 12/12/91.
33 ONDCP State Drug Control Status Report, 1990.
34 Officials study cost of clinton program for schools in state, 1/25/87, AG.
35 Red ribbons to be tied, 8/4/88, AG; Local drug education program goes nationwide, 9/22/89, AG;
Anti-drug effort to include athletes. 9/20/89, AG.
36 AR Dept of ED in Diability Reports.
37 Arkansas' High School Dropouts report from the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families in
1983-84, p. 45.
38 AR Act 612 of 1989.
39 AR Act 864 of 1991.
40 AR Act 675 of 1985.
41 Clinton calls for expansion of community-based policing, 4/22/92, LA Times.
42 Robingosn and Clinton at it again, 8/19/89, AG.
43 Police had part in drug ad error, 4/10/90, AG.
⁴⁴Robinson calls special session a fiasco, 10/30/89, AG.
45 Session left Clinton a loser, 11/26/89, AG.
⁴⁶Brakes applied to drug arrests on interstates, 9/1/89, AG.
47 Videos allow drug stops, protect citizens and police, 10/20/90, AG.
48 Clinton's timing on plans perfect, 10/24/90, AG.
49 ONDCP State Drug Control Status Report or AR Act 1050 of 1991.
⁵⁰ONDCP State Drug Control Status Report, 1990.
⁵¹AR Act 1074 of 1985.
⁵²AR Act 252 of 1989.
⁵³The Issue: The Death Penalty, 2/24/92, AP.
⁵⁴ONDCP State Drug Control Status Report, 1990.
⁵⁵NRL war on drugs-war strategy, housing board hires two investigations, 6/18/91, AG.
56 Clinton opens prison boot camp building, 8/3/91, AG.
⁵⁷The Boot Camp Flap, 8/7/91, Harrison Daily Times.
⁵⁸Jury Not in Yet on Boot Camps, 11/5/91, AP.
59 State's boot camps get mixed reviews, 11/4/91, ADG.
⁶⁰Ex-sergeant at boot camp; 3 former inmates indicted, 1/23/92, ADG.
61 AR Act 946 of 1981.
⁶²Sin taxes reach point of low return, 10/9/89, AG.
63 Ban cigarette papers, activist urges, 7/25/91, AP.
64 Clinton visits Gregory in hospital, defends group, 7/25/91, AG.
⁶⁵Taking to the streets, 7/27/91, AD.
66 Lead expected after 8:30 am arraignment, 8/25/91, AP.
67 AR Act 518 of 1989.
1992 Drug Strategy, p. 150.
Witness to urine sample needed to ensure test accurate, doctor says, 10/1/86, AG.
70Favors AG. protectionism on drugs, Clinton says using forces at border sound idea, he thinks, 11/19/86,
71 Nation Alexander Cockburn, 3/23/92.
72 Bronx dem. pres. debate, March 31, 1992.
73 Notimex Questionnaire, April 29, 1992.
74National Guard drafted in drug war, 5/3/89, AG.
75Marijuana farmers hiding work better, confiscations drop, ADG, 1991 and DOJ Marijuana Erad
reports.
⁷⁶DOJ Marijuana Erad. reports.
⁷⁷1990 NORMAL report based on many sources including DEA and Ag. reports.
7⁸AR Act 399 of 1985.
79The week in review: state and local, 10/26/86, AG.
⁸⁰Pot law revision urged by Clinton , 11/9/77, AD.
81 A rising debate over state commissions, 11/20/77. AG.
82 Pot law revision urged by Clinton, AD, 11/9/77.
83 AR Act 982 of 1985.
84CBS's National Town Meeting, June 2, 1992.
85 Senate Committe for Governmental Affairs testimony from 1/17/90.
⁸⁶DHS annual reports, 1979-1991.
87 DHS annual reports, 1979-91.
88 Senate Committe for Governmental Affairs testimony from 1/17/90.
89 Don't expect drug liberator, meeting told 7/15/89, AG.
90 1992 Drug Strategy, p. 7.
91 DHS report, 1991.
92 Concern over crack spreads, 7/29/89, AG.
⁹³DHS reports, 1979-91.
94 State is losing drug war, but there is a plan, 8/30/89, AG.
95 Senate Committe for Governmental Affairs testimony from 1/17/90.
⁹⁶DHS reports.
98 AR Act 113 of 1985.
97 Clinton : State Should consider special tags for drunk drivers, 3/28/82, Pine Bluff Commercial.
99 AR Act 486 of 1991.
100 AR Act 567 of 1991.
101 AR Act 569 and 570 of 1991.
102 Prisons should try to obet courts on inmates' treatment, 11/13/87.
103 Several probes target prison system, long source of rumors, 4/13/86, AG.
104 Clinton outlines several ways to reduce prison overcrowding, 11/20/88, AG.
105 Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention 1989-1990 and 1990-1991 reports.
106 Dem candidates' views on urban issues, 4/1/92, New York Times.
107 On the issues, 5/26/92, AP.
108 Prison staff applicants should agree to lie detector tests, Clinton says, 8/09/86, AG.
109 Glascock takes drug test; says White, wife to do so, 9/8/86, AG.
110 White predicts Clinton tax rise, 979786, AG.
111 White's free of drugs, results of tests show Clinton's wife agrees..., 9/12/86, AG.
112 Mandatory drug testing a real possibility for state's workers, 9/14/86, AG.
113 Work places free of drugs is goal, 5/19/89, AG.
114 Crash probe focuses on oil line, 9/14/89, AG.
115 Juvenile Code would toughen with proposals, 10/19/89, AG.
116 Session gets new tax item at last minute, 10/24/89, AG.
117 Batesville High School joins group saying no to drugs, 2/11/90, AG.
¹¹⁸The issue: federal drug testing, 5/8/92, AP.
119 ONDCP State Drug Control Status Report, November 1990.
12°DHS annual reports, 1979-91.
121 ADAP reports and DOJ state drug resouces.
122 AR times, March 1992.
123 AP, "Arkansas Today," July 5, 1991.
124 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "Task force trips need OK, drug czar says," October 19, 1991.
125 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, editorial, "Enough is Enough," October 20, 1991.
126 State Hopes are riding on Bush plan, 9/3/89, AG.
127 Arkansas Gazette, September 3, 1989.
128 Breathless, 4/13/92, New York.
129 Clinton, clark dispute possibility that there's friction between them 2/4/89, AG.
130 Legislative Digest, 2/18/89, AG.
131 State's first drug czar appointed by Clinton, 8/5/89, AG.
132It's drug czar, not drug dealer, 8/30/89, AG.
133 Federal Drug Grants to states -- appendix D.
134 Arkansas Gazette, September 3, 1989.
135 Failure in war on drugs, low spending list includes Arkansas, 12/27/89, AG.
136 Clinton wants to raise 15 million, 10/18/89, AG.
137 Clinton wants to raise 15 million, 10/18/89, AG.
138 Session gets new tax item at last minute, 10/24/89, AG.
139 Community leaders at odds on policy to fight drug war, 12/9/89, AG.
140 Senate passed bill equalizes taxes for retired, 10/26/89, AG.
141 Clinton ready to fight, 10/24/89, AG.
142 Only discriminating vetoes, 11/7/89, AG.
143 Clinton vetoes all, 11/18/89, AG.
144 Matching money lacking, 11/7/89, AG.
145 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 12, 1991.
146 Arkansas Gazette, September 3, 1989.
147 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 12, 1991.
148 AR Act 590 of 1971.
149 State Drug Control Status Summary, 1990.
150 AR Act 146 of 1989.
1512 new efforts announced in drug fight, 5/25/89, AG.
152 AR Act 1109 of 1991.
153 Clinton draws support at fair, 10/11/89, AG.
154 Contents of call for session, 10/18/89, AG and Officials face tough drug penalties, 10/27/89, AG.
155Drug war soldiers fall back, 10/27/89, AG.
156 Committee stalls drug, education money, 10/27/89; AG.
157 Surtax dies in bitter finale, 11/4/89, AG.
158 A tired Clinton blasts drug plan defeat, 11/6/89, AG.