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Press Conference of Stanley M. Smoot, Commissioner, Davis County, Utah, and Ralph G. Caso, County Executive, Nassau County, New York, and Alfred B. Del Bello, County Executive, Westchester County, New York
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7335696
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Press Conference of Stanley M. Smoot, Commissioner, Davis County, Utah, and Ralph G. Caso, County Executive, Nassau County, New York, and Alfred B. Del Bello, County Executive, Westchester County, New York
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Digitized from Box 1 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 15, 1974
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
PRESS CONFERENCE
OF
STANLEY M. SMOOT
COMMISSIONER, DAVIS COUNTY, UTAH
AND
RALPH G. CASO
COUNTY EXECUTIVE, NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK
AND
ALFRED B. DEL BELLO
COUNTY EXECUTIVE, WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK
THE BRIEFING ROOM
12:15 P.M. EDT
MR. ROBERTS: The President met with the leaders of
the National Association of County Officials for approximately
one hour this `morning, and three persons from that association
are here to brief you on that meeting. In order, from right to
left, Commissioner Stanley Smoot of Davis County, Utah, who is
President of the Association; County Executive Ralph Caso, of
Nassau County in New York; and Mr. Alfred Del Bello, Chairman
of the Urban Affairs Committee of the National Association,
and County Executive, Westchester County, New York.
Mr. Smoot, will you take over? I assume you will
take
questions.
MR. SMOOT: Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of 200
million people that the counties of NACO represent, it is a
real privilege to be invited by the President to sit with him
and discuss and hear his analogies and his concerns of those
problems out in those some 3,100 counties across the Nation.
Needless to say, we were impressed with the invitation
but we were more impressed with what he said in the answers
that he gave. He did not give us yes to all of the concerns;
he did not give us the panacea of all the county problems
across the Nation.
We talked about some specifics. County government,
city government and State government are concerned with. the
extension of general revenue sharing. A national campaign to
help our Congressmen has been launched by the National Associa-
tion of Counties to help them understand really what general
revenue sharing is doing out in the counties of America. The
President indicated his support of a continuation of general
revenue sharing.
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We feel that it is the first time in the history
of America that part of the Federal income tax has been
given back to counties, cities and States for the caring
of Government problems. We are, in most of our counties
across the Nation, on a property tax. It is a regressive
kind of tax.
The only way we can cope with inflation in our
counties is to take a political act of raising property
tax. It has no normal increase, as does sales tax and
income tax, but it takes a political act, and it is most
difficult to make those acts annually to try and cope
with the problem.
We are pleased with the President's position
and his recommendations and his position concerning
general revenue sharing. We have been invited as the new
coalition. I am a member of that coalition. There will
be three Governors, three mayors and three county
commissioners and three legislators, and we will meet on
the 10th and 11th with the staff and with our officials
here to discuss the Federal budget before it is enacted.
The President has lent his support to this
concept because we say many of the laws that are passed,
local governments are the creators of those laws, and we
feel that there would be better Federal legislation and
State legislation if the officials who have to administer
the law were involved in the writing of the law, at least
to give guidance to our policy in legislative bodies.
These other fine representatives of county
government will discuss, I am sure, other aspects of the
discussion with the President, but in behalf of 200 million
people, representatives of those counties who belong to
NACO, we think that the door has been opened for improved
and increased communication between the Federal bodies and
local officials.
Remember that county government is the closest
government to all of the people for every citizen in America,
with the exception of one or two States, that listens and
has policy decisions made at a county level, and we are
appreciative of this invitation to Washington and to be a
part in formulating the new concepts of this Administration.
MR. CASO: Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to
just underscore what the President of the National Asso-
ciation of County Officials has said. We were very pleased
with the reaction that we received from President Ford,
his recognition of county government, where he indicated
that they are an extremely important element in the structure
of government, and that the counties have a vital role to
play.
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He indicated that there would be an open door
policy relative to counties working through Ken Cole of
the Domestic Council, and I recall that he said if Ken
Cole is not responsive, then you can see me, and this
is the President speaking.
He did indicate his support for revenue sharing.
He said it was landmark legislation. We are halfway
through the program, but he did stress that there was a
movement underway to scuttle Federal revenue sharing as we
know it today, and he indicated that we ought to get our
troops in order and not wait until the last minute because
we believe that we must have a continuation of the
general revenue sharing program, which has been literally,
in most instances, the survival of local county government.
I was particularly interested, being from New
York, about a mass transit bill which is presently, as
you know, being considered by the House, andI asked the
President what he foresaw as its chances of passage and
what would happen to it when it gets to the Senate side,
and what might happen to a bill when it lands on his desk.
I think he said without hesitation that the present
plan for a $20 billion allocation of money under a mass
transit bill which would provide for operating subsidies
would be vetoed by him if it passed both Houses and got to
his desk in that form.
He feels it is much too much money. He indicated
that he feels the problemsof inflation are such that this
would be contra to trying to hold the line on inflation
if such a bill were to pass both Houses. He indicated
that we should lobby on the Hill for a compromise, which
certainly is what I would intend to do, and hope that we
can make some accommodation relative to the amount of
money that would be made available.
I would stress again that we in New York are in
extremist when it comes to a question of money for mass
transit. I know Mayor Beamehas addressed himself to this
problem, when he was with the President yesterday, and I am
just as vitally concerned with it because in Nassau
County we have the Long Island Railroad, we have a bus
system which I have taken over, and the Government is
now operating through MTA and a subsidiary of MTA, and we simply
must have money for operating subsidies if the mass transit
system is to grow and develop in Nassau County together
with the buses and the subways that make up the whole
network of mass transit in the region which I represent.
There are no easy answers relative to this, and we
recognize that we will have to try to make our case as
best we can on the Hill, and I would certainly hope that
whatever the House does today with it that the Senate would
move with dispatch in order that we might hopefully get a
bill through the Congress by the end of this year and
certainly before that, if it is at all physically and feasibly
possible.
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So, I think those were the points that were
stressed, as I recall them. I made a few notes. He
indicated that the Better Communities Act, which is
something that the Congress is considering now, would be
a giant step forward and would give flexibility to
municipalities, which is so important because under the
terms of the Better Communities Act, New York, which has
differing needs from Utah, let us say -- using the
example of the President of the association, who is from
Salt Lake City, and myself and Mr. DelBello, who are from
New York -- that this would be a very important breakthrough
in getting everything into a single pot where flexibility
would prevail as to how you could decide to use the money
that would be made available under the Better
Communities Act.
Other than that, I think we had a very
productive, very fine session with the President, and I
am pleased with the open evidence of his support for county
government, which I think bodes well for the future
because the future of our country, I believe, lies in the
county government which, as you have heard already stated,
is very close to the people of this State, of New York
and other States and across the Nation.
We will be glad to answer any questions you
may have later.
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MR. DEL BELLO: My colleagues have covered most of
the subjects which were discussed, so I will be brief. I
think we were all extremely pleased to find the President is
an extremely good listener, but more importantly, he is very
understandable of the problems of the local governments.
In fact, in his opening remarks, he touched just
about every major subject that we had thought of bringing to
his attention and he did it with a great deal of sensitivity
and knowledge. We were concerned, obviously, with the inflation,
as he was, and he called the inflation "Enemy Number One" and
asked for the cooperation of local government in our fight
against inflationary spiral.
He has obviously dug his heels in on this issue and
hopes that we will do the same. My interest being in the
urban affairs, in the urban counties of this country, I was
curious as to whether the President understood the role that
we could play as the regional government closest to the people
in providing efficiency in the delivery of service on many
Federal programs, and I find that the President is extremely
sensitive to that, and recognizes the roles that counties have
played in the past and can play in the future in the deliverance
of many of the Federal programming in a fair and broad-based
fashion.
The Better Communities Act, the one that we are
interested in, he commented on and called it a giant step
forward, so along with revenue sharing and the communities
bill, we see ourselves in local government moving aggressively
forward with President Ford even though there will be some
very tight restrictions on the level of funds that are spent
this year.
He indicated to us that he had to stay within the
$305 billion. We still think that there will be sufficient
flexibility and mobility to provide the kind of support locally
that is needed to upgrade the service in our towns, villages,
cities and counties.
Q
Mr. Caso, did the President suggest a compromise
figure on the mass transit that he would support?
MR. CASO: He didn't give an exact figure but I would
have interpreted it as meaning somewhere between the $10 billion
which is the Administration figure, and the $20 billion which is
being considered by the House now. That is not to say you just
chop it in half and say $15 billion. I really don't know. But
I would think that there could be an accommodation somewhere
within that range relative to the House bill that is being
debated today and will then go to the Senate.
Q
Did he state a position on the operating fund
issue?
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MR. CASO: My recollection is that he said there
should be an option and that if a State or municipality wants
to use money that is available through a mass transit bill
for operating subsidy that they should have a right to do
so, using their option and their discretion relative to the
bill.
Q
Did he talk about tapping the highway trust fund?
MR. CASO: No, we didn't get into the highway trust
fund at all.
Q
Who is trying to cut revenue sharing?
MR. CASO: There were no specific names mentioned. I
think that indications are that those Congressmen who voted
against it when it was first presented are still against it,
and they may very well be the ones who are now leading the
opposition, but no one was pinpointed on it other than the
indications are that there may be difficulty with the continuation
of Federal revenue sharing as we know it. In that sense it is so
vital and important to us as counties that we ought to marshal
our forces and work now in anticipation of that to prevent that
from happening.
Q Was there no mention of OMB in that regard?
MR. CASO: No.
Q
What about OEO, sir? Did any of you speak for it
or did the President mention it?
MR. CASO: The question of OEO did not come up.
Q Was there any discussion of a new Vice President
at all?
MR. CASO: No.
Q
Was there a discussion of the problem caused to
you and the economy by high interest rates and any indication
that the President would make an effort in that direction?
MR. CASO: I think the President made reference, and
of course my colleagues here are free to comment on this as
well--I don't mean to monopolize this conference-but he did
say that he has been reading very lengthy and heavy documents
relative to the economy from economists who, as he put it, as
I recall it, don't agree with each other what should be done, but
he feels that inflation is something that must be attacked head on
and that the way to do it primarily is to stay within the budget
of $305 billion which has already been referred to and to start
now to cut back on programs thatmay jeopardize that figure, and
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he talked specifically about vetoing a couple of bills.
While he indicated -- I think he said it was peanuts -- he felt
he had to use these as examples of holding the line where he
vetoed a couple of bills; I think the marshals' bill which
was a pittance when it comes to what it would have done rela-
tive to salary increases for marshals and another bill which was
in the Department of Agriculture for some $23 million which
he vetoed as well.
But I think his thinking is that relative to
inflation there is going to have to be a hold-the-line attitude
and that you may not be able to do everything that you want
to do at this particular time. But it was not discussed
specifically other than to be included in the overall handling
of the problem of inflation.
Q
What other bills did he indicate he might veto?
MR. CASO: I don't recall any other bills being
mentioned other than the one specifically I was interested in,
and that was the mass transit bill.
Q
Was there any discussion of prior consultation
before budget cuts were instituted such as he promised the
mayors yesterday?
MR. CASO: Yes, I would say that was inherent in what
he said, that this new coalition, particularly which President
Smoot has referred to, would be working with OMB relative to
how these items will be handled in the future and there will
be an input from counties which is important to us and we are
very pleased that we are being recognized now to be a part of
this coalition.
Q
Is it envisioned that this coalition is going
to be able to comment on the entire budget or just the domestic
part?
MR. CASO: I don't know the answer. I would think
specifically on the domestic part of it, but if it does impact
county government, I think they would have a wide range within
which they could comment.
Q
Could I ask each of you to give us your personal
preference for Vice President? Who is your choice or favorite?
Who would be the best man?
MR. CASO: My preference for Vice President would be
Nelson Rockefeller.
Q
And the gentleman from Utah?
MR. SMOOT: I don't know a lot of this applicants as
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well as some of these gentlemen back east, but I favor Elliot
Richardson.
MR. DEL BELLO: I don't think I have taken a
position on that. They haven't mentioned the Democrats yet
that I would be favoring. I would rather not comment on it
at this time.
THE PRESS: Thank you, gentlemen.
(END at 12:36 P.M. EDT)