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[08/16/1995 – 12/11/1996]
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[08/16/1995 – 12/11/1996]
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Presidential Electronic Mail from the Automated Records Management System (ARMS)
Automated Records Management System (ARMS) Email from the White House Office (WHO) Bucket
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RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Kyle M. Baker (BAKER_K) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:16-AUG-1995 13:34:11.62
SUBJECT: ALL STORIES
--- Wednesday --- August 16, 1995 ---
TO: Remote Addressee
(
822JIMWIESEME(A)IX.NETCOM.COM@MRX@EOPMRX)
READ:NOT READ
TEXT:
--- Wednesday -- August 16, 1995 ---
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THE DAILY BRIEFING ON AMERICAN POLITICS
Updated Each Morning At 11:50
(c) The American Political Network, Inc.
3129 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA 22305 703-518-4600
EYE ON IOWA
SPOTLIGHT
The IA straw poll may be
AFTER THREE TERMS, BILL
a flawed event, as Specter
BRADLEY BENCHES HIMSELF
claims, but if you can
organize a good effort this
At 12:00n (EDT) today in
Sat., it means you've got
Newark, Sen. BILL BRADLEY
a good organization. (#1)
(D-NJ) will announce his
DOLE: Taking no risks, he
I
retirement. No WH worries:
recruits MN & IL fans for a
The ex-Rhodes Scholar and
road trip to Ames. (#1)
hoops star is not going to
GRAMM: Buchanan camp says
I
run for president.
Phil's IBP meat packing of
WHAT IT MEANS: As if it
event is a "crass example"
I
needs repeating, Dem hopes
of big $$ corruption. (#3)
I
I
for winning back the Senate
move another step backward.
I
There are now 7 open Senate
POLITICAL SHOP OF HORRORS
seats for '96 and the Dems
DNC & RNC launch Medicare ads
I
hold six -- that is without
in targeted states & CDs. Who I adding a near-certain Pell
can frighten more? (#8)
(RI) retirement or a maybe
from Nunn (GA). Potential
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
GOP retirees are Hatfield
TX Gov. Bush (R) won't
(OR), Kassebaum (KS) &
tolerate Buchanan isolationism.
I
Simpson (WY).
Levels warning, don't pick on
IN NJ: Rep. Dick Zimmer
our Mexican neighbors. (#4)
(R) already has a powerful
warchest, but he'll have a
THE COLOR OF MONEY
GOP primary for sure. Look
HUD Sec. Cisneros says he
for "The Torch," Rep. Bob
will step down after '96. Says
Torricelli (D) to quickly
it's been "rewarding," but also
move on the Dem side.
a "financial burden." (#10)
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Then what you're saying is that if I kissed women 25 years ago,
and for 25 years they don't say anything, and then 25 years later
they complain, for that I should be thrown out of office?"
-- Sen. Bob Packwood (R-OR), "GMA," ABC, 8/16
(c) 1995 by the American Political Network, Inc. Any
reproduction by photocopy, FAX, or other form in whole
or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly
prohibited without the consent of APN. This prohibition
extends to sharing this publication with clients and/or
affiliate companies. All rights reserved.
APN Founders: Doug Bailey, Roger Craver
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief: Robert Balkin
Managing Editor: Ken Rudin
Deputy Managing Editor: Jessica Barrows
TV Editor: Vincent Fusco
Staff Writers: James Kaleigh, Benjamin White,
Ronald Eckstein, Sally Buffalo
Editorial Assistants: Mike McGill, Mike Sachs, Andrea Short
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WHITE HOUSE '96: Iowa Straw Poll (#1); Keyes (#2);
Gramm (#3); Buchanan (#4); "Race for the Presidency" (#5);
Campaign Thoughts (#6); Taylor (#7)
NATIONAL BRIEFING: Medicare (#8); Packwood (#9); Cisneros (#10);
Whitewater (#11); Rolodex (#12)
CAMPAIGNS OF '95: San Francisco Mayor (#13)
SENATE WATCH: Delaware (#14); Nebraska (#15)
ON THE HOUSE: Georgia (#16); CO 01 (#17); IL 02 (#18);
NC 03 (#19); PA 13 (#20)
50 STATE REPORT: Beyond '96 (#21)
TV MONITOR (#22)
LOOKING FOR A CHANGE OF PACE? The HOTLINE has immediate openings
for a staff writer and an editorial asst. Interested? FAX
resumes to Ken Rudin at (703) 518-8701. No phone calls, please.
JOIN THE WEEKLY TEAM! Our HOTLINE Weekly marketing staff is
looking for an asst. to participate in direct sales and marketing
efforts. FAX resumes to Alisha Borde at (703) 518-8705.
???? OVERLOOKED ????
SENATE OPEN SEATS
Bill Bradley's departure means six Dems and one GOPer are
retiring in '96. In '94, there were nine Senate retirements (6D,
3R) and the GOP picked up all six Dem openings. In '92, there
were also nine open seats (5D, 4R) and the Dems picked up one of
the GOP openings.
WHITE HOUSE '96
* IA STRAW POLL: MORE YEP-SPIN FROM OUR PAL, DAVE
DES MOINES REGISTER's Dave Yepsen appeared on CNN's "IP"
yesterday. Asked about the importance of this weekend: "This
straw poll is different for two reasons. It's larger than most
straw polls and it's a reflection of what's happening in
lowa, which is where this process begins. It's a test of
their organizational skill, even if you're busing people in from
out of state. If you have the ability to do that, that does
reflect somewhat on your organization.
All
of
the
campaigns
are hoping that they can use this straw poll as an organizational
test for what they're doing, so that all of us will stand up and
take notice."
SPECTER: On Arlen Specter's pullout: "Specter pulling out
of this straw poll is a little like me saying I'm going to pull
out of the Olympics. There was never really any chance that
Senator Specter was going to do very well here. He was not
competing and his campaign has had trouble taking off, but he
does raise a question about the legality of some of the things
that are going on here." On Specter's complaint that votes are
being bought: "Candidates all figure that they'll blow the cap in
Iowa because there is no penalty for doing it. A year from now
when they [at the FEC] get around to ruling on the legality of
things that go on here, they are little two and three paragraph
stories buried in the back of the newspapers, and if you're a
campaign trying to win Iowa, you're better off to blow the cap,
take the legal heat later, than obey the law now and maybe lose
an election by a few votes. It has happened in past caucuses and
I expect it will happen in this one."
GRAMM: On the impact of the Wall St. Journal's IBP story on
Phil Gramm (see HOTLINE 8/15): "I don't think it's going to make
any difference. I talked to Senator Gramm this afternoon about
this story. He says it's true. He says he's contacting all the
people he knows asking them to help out and I don't think that
there will be that many people who will be here wearing IBP
stickers
for
Phil
Gramm.
Frankly, a lot of campaigns are
doing this. They're working every network they can find in an
effort to get people to this event."
DOLE: On the high expectations for Bob Dole: "Some of
Senator Dole's people who I've talked to here are a little bit
worried about their expectations being so high, and in fact, it
wouldn't hurt them at all to have a weak, first place finish,
maybe to have some of these candidates finish a little closer to
them I don't know that he can finish 20 to 30 percentage
points ahead of his nearest challenger, either in the caucuses or
in this straw poll. If he should lose the straw poll, I think
that would be a bad sign for his campaign." Yepsen, asked if
Dole could lose: "If his people don't execute their organization
well, I really do think there's a chance that could happen
because many of the activists here are in other camps" ("Inside
Politics," CNN, 8/15).
DOLE WORKS THE BORDERS: Bob Dole is working the states
surrounding Iowa, perhaps to include them in the straw voting
this weekend. Today he campaigns in IL, visiting the state fair
in Springfield with Gov. Jim Edgar (R). Meanwhile, a Dole flier
from MN recruits supporters to get on buses in St. Paul for a
long day trip to Ames and back. From the flier: "Join bus loads
of Minnesotans as we travel to Ames, Iowa to deliver an early
victory for Bob Dole" (Dole release, 8/15). Lamar Alexander said
of Gramm and the straw poll: "We hope to make a respectable
showing, but I have no illusions about trying to outdo caravans
from Kansas or the buses of Senator Gramm, wherever they might be
coming from" (Yepsen, DES MOINES REGISTER, 8/16).
*2 KEYES: TRYING TO KEEP THE PRO-LIFE BANNER ALL TO HIMSELF
Alan Keyes is "seeking to claim the anti-abortion banner"
from Pat Buchanan. At an 8/14 press conference in Des Moines,
Keyes said Buchanan did not use Ross Perot's Dallas conference to
push his pro-life views. Keyes: "Pat Buchanan dropped the ball
this weekend. He didn't do the job." Keyes charged Buchanan
caved to "pressure" from Perot: "Unhappily, Pat Buchanan's
willingness to pander to Ross Perot and to kowtow and to abandon
the pro-life position was a sad confession that, in point of
fact, he does not have the grit that it takes to bear the pro-
life banner in this campaign." The comments "amounted to a
squabble" between the two vehemently pro-life candidates. He
added that Buchanan "does not have the guts it takes to do the
job." Keyes' comments came after his booth was ejected from the
conference for showing a graphic pro-life video, "The Harder
Truth." Keyes said he will have a similar booth set up at the IA
straw poll this weekend. IA GOP chair Brian Kennedy said party
officials had no objection to the display (Glover, AP, 8/14).
Keyes has asked for a Justice Dept. investigation into "illegal
interference" of his campaign by Perot officials for getting
Dallas police to shut down his booth (Keyes release, 8/13).
*3 GRAMM: DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST IBP CRITICISM
Phil Gramm, campaigning at the IA State Fair, said there is
"nothing illegal about his asking friends and contacts to help
him win the poll" because "other campaigns are doing the same
thing." Gramm was reacting to a W.S. JOURNAL report of a IBP
meatpacking firm memo to executives urging them to attend the
straw poll and vote for Gramm and saying that the Gramm campaign
was taking care of the tickets and expenses (see HOTLINE 8/15).
The JOURNAL also reported that two dozen illegal aliens were
arrested at an IBP plant earlier this year, and that the firm has
had "periodic labor troubles," while drawing fines from the OSHA.
More Gramm: "We're trying to use every contact we have. If I
owed anybody money in Iowa, I'd contact them saying I'd be more
likely to pay it back if you come to this straw poll. I hope
we've got similar letters being sent around to dozens and dozens
of companies and farm groups. We're trying to activate everybody
who is for us and we're trying to use every contact we have."
Gramm's wife, Wendy Lee, serves on the IBP board. Gramm said
"she's got her own career" as an economist. If he is elected,
Gramm said his wife "would have to leave all her corporate boards
and business interests." Responding to the charges of poor
treatments of workers and the use of illegal immigrants, Gramm
said he and his wife "have instituted major efforts to improve
worker safety" and "I'm the person who has been a strong
proponent of stiff penalties for using illegal aliens" (Yepsen,
DES MOINES REGISTER, 8/16).
BUCHANAN BLAST: Bay Buchanan: "The Wall Street Journal's
revelation that IBP's management is pressuring its employees and
workers to go to Saturday's lowa Straw Poll at Ames to vote for
Phil Gramm is a crass example of how big money and corporate
power are corrupting American politics. One would
have
thought this kind of pressure tactic went out with the Robber
Barons. It was the sort of tactic that was used against union
members in an earlier and discredited era" (Buchanan release,
8/15).
MORE FROM WENDY LEE: CONCORD MONITOR's Timberg writes that
Wendy Gramm is in "full campaign mode, taking to the road three
or four days each week, touting her husband's positions and
shopping around her own remarkable family history." Despite her
active role on the trail, she plays down any future role as first
lady: "Hey, folks, he's the one who wants the job, not me. I've
been retired from government. Been there, done that. Don't want
to do it again." Putting wives of candidates on the campaign
trail "is a common way to spread a thin, but precious resource:
one-on-one time with the candidate. Gramm may not have won any
votes for her husband" at a Rotary Club meeting in IA 8/14, but
she "brought a message of goodwill. The Rotarians clearly liked
her. Compared to other candidate's wives, Gramm is surely the
most aerobic. Aside from stumping, smiling, schmoozing, shaking
hands and posing by her husband's side, Gramm has taken to in-
line skating on behalf of the campaign." Wendy Lee recently
spent two days in the hospital following a roller-blade trek
through MD (see HOTLINE 7/27) (8/16).
*4 BUCHANAN: GETS A STRONG WARNING FROM GEORGE W. BUSH
TX Gov. George W. Bush (R), in his "harshest warning yet,"
said Texans should be "indignant" over remarks made by Pat
Buchanan at Ross Perot's UWSA conference this past weekend
regarding dumping NAFTA, building a wall along the border and
never against offering Mexico a bail-out plan. Bush: "I don't
want anybody, any race, to be used as a political issue in the
1996 campaign. It is easy for me to pick on our friends from the
south
to pick out a group of people and to campaign against
them.
I don't like it." Bush said attacks like those leveled
by Buchanan against Mexico "will only serve to hurt relations
with Mexico, most likely resulting in negative economic effects
on Texas." More Bush: "I will speak out strongly at the [GOP
nat'l] convention and any chance I get if the Republican Party
chooses to bash Mexico." Bush, on Buchanan: "He wants to be an
isolationist, and I'm not. I doubt I would have been the
emotional favorite of the crowd with my position, except I did
manage to win the governorship of Texas. It's a little different
from where he's coming from" (Tolley, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS,
8/15). Buchanan "framed his response" to Bush, "not in terms of
trade but of defense": "The defense and protection of America's
southern border is the duty of the federal, not the state
government. It is a duty that is written into the constitution
itself, to defend the states against foreign invasion" (Stephens,
AP/HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 8/15).
CATCH-22? W. TIMES' Hallow writes Buchanan is "riding high
by every measure but money." Even some "prominent supporters"
said that despite encouraging poll numbers, Buchanan can needs to
"get potential donors to believe he is a credible candidate." If
not, "he won't have the cash to run a winning campaign for the
nomination." American Family Assn's Donald Wildmon: "He's in a
Catch-22. Without money he can't win, and if people think he
can't win, they won't give him money." Wildmon added that if
Buchanan continues to connect with voters like he did at the UWSA
conference, "the money will be forthcoming." GOP pollster Ed
Goeas: "The rap on Buchanan continues to be: Right message, wrong
messenger" (8/16).
*5 "RACE FOR THE PRESIDENCY": FREE AIR TIME FOR CANDIDATES
Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), the country's largest cable
operator, is launching a weekly hour-long television program
called "The Race for the Presidency." It will provide free air-
time to candidates and will be distributed free to cable
operators and to all 340 public television stations. The show,
premiering 9/5, will feature four "unedited, 8-minute campaign
messages" by all the major candidates, and analysis and
commentary by ex-CO Gov. Dick Lamm (D) and ex-Sen. Bill Armstrong
(R-CO). The program will be hosted by ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS assoc.
editor Clifford May, who "described [the program] as a show
produced from America's heartland, a world away from the media-
heavy environs of the Washington Beltway": "This is not a Ken and
Barbie approach to the news." It was introduced as an
"alternative to the 'sound-bite journalism' offered by the TV
networks in past political campaigns." TCI CEO Brendan Clouston:
"We believe that providing all major, qualified candidates a
regular opportunity to reach the American people with their
messages -- free of charge and in their own, uncut segments --
will make a real contribution to the political process in
America." TCI will also begin airing another politically
oriented program called "Damn Right," 10/95. The daily half-hour
program will be hosted by W.S. JOURNAL columnist David Asman and
will take a "look at the issues from Main Street perspective"
(Accola, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 8/15). Managing director of TCI
News John Andrews, on "Race": "It responds to a rising concern in
recent years about negative sound bites and campaigning (and)
the increasingly money-driven aspect of all our elections." The
8-minute slots will be rotated between the candidates, with the
first one reserved for Pres. Clinton. Clinton has not yet
committed to appear on the program (AP/ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/15).
The show will also feature a segment of commentary on the media
coverage of the campaign by Media Research Center's Brent Bozell
and American University's Sanford Ungar. It will be broadcast on
TV! Network, and also be distributed to junior and high school
classes and have a home page on the Wold Wide Web beginning 8/16
(address: www.TCInc.com/presidency) (INSIDE MEDIA ONLINE, 8/14).
*6 CAMPAIGN THOUGHTS: IS THIS ONLY A LONG "DC PRIMARY"?
BOSTON GLOBE's Oliphant writes the '96 campaign isn't taking
place in IA, NH or even Dallas. It is a DC thing "and it will
stay right here at least through the end of the year. There has
already been a Henry Foster primary, a Bosnia primary, a welfare
primary, a balanced budget primary, a lobbying and campaign
finance primary, an environment primary, a school lunch primary,
an abortion primary, a tax cut primary and a term limits primary.
Still to come, at the very least, are a Medicare primary, a
Medicaid primary, a foreign trade primary, and an ethics
primary." The above, "essentially positioning contests," all
have something in common: "None of them [with the exception of
Foster] has resolved a single, major governmental policy
issue vexing and dividing the country. [and]
none
of
these
Washington primaries has touched on the topic that has been at
the core of nearly all presidential elections in this century --
the condition of the economy and of its working families" (8/15).
ON COLIN POWELL: U.S. NEWS' Steve Roberts, on a third
party: "The opening is there for someone else. I'm not sure that
Powell is going run. But he clearly is the real Ross Perot, in
terms of the potential for really leading that movement." Dem
strategist Frank Mankiewicz: "I think the general and his time
have come and gone" ("FOX Morning News," 8/16).
*7 TAYLOR: MEDIA BLITZ BEGINS IN NEW ENGLAND
The campaign of Morry Taylor on 8/15 began a five-week
"advertising blitz" of media markets in NH and three weeks in ME.
TV ads began 8/15 on broadcast TV in both states. The current TV
ad schedule totals $250,000, which is "equal to the amount
Taylor's campaign spent for a recent five-week blitz in IA,
according to campaign manager Bill Kenyon (release, 8/15).
DETROIT NEWS' Weeks writes that while Taylor "will not become the
Republican nominee," he "got in some good licks" at the UWSA
conference by explaining "who he is not." Taylor: "I'm not a
politician, I'm a businessman. Politicians are absolutely the
worst people to manage our government." Denouncing PACs as "the
crack cocaine of political campaigns," Taylor will refuse all
PAC, lobbyist, and federal matching funds. He "has committed his
own millions" to a "massive" mail effort, a month's worth of TV,
radio, and print ads, and a "five-week tour of Iowa's 99
counties." Weeks concludes: "Although pols and pundits haven't
taken him seriously, Taylor is running a serious campaign."
Header: "With his money and brains, Morry figures he's Taylor-
made for the presidency" (8/14).
NATIONAL BRIEFING
*8 MEDICARE: DNC AND RNC, PLAYING THE FEAR GAME, LAUNCH ADS
Both parties are taking the Medicare debate onto TV, "with
the Democrats buying television ads in 13 states and the
Republicans purchasing radio spots in 11 Congressional districts"
(N.Y. TIMES, 8/16). CNN's Woodruff: "The [DNC] ads portray
Republicans as Medicare cutters, and Democrats as the program's
saviors. The Republicans are fighting fire with fire. The
spots claim the Democrats are doing nothing to reform Medicare
and they urge voters to take action" (8/15). W. TIMES' Roman
reports the "dueling" ads on Medicare "begin airing across the
country today as Democrats and Republicans scramble to persuade
seniors that their party's approach is best." Analyst Stu
Rothenberg: "This is a battle about who can frighten the public
more -- Republicans with their message that the system will go
broke or Democrats with their message that we are going to cut
your benefits immediately" (8/16).
DNC ADS: The DNC's $850,000 TV ad campaign features two ads
which will air in AR, FL, IA, MD, ME, MO, NY, NM, OR RI, SD, TN &
VT through 8/30 (DNC release, 8/15). According to DNC Co-chair
Don Fowler, those states were targeted because of their high
concentration of elderly and "for their vulnerable Republicans"
(Roman, W. TIMES, 8/16). The ads were produced by Squier, Knapp,
Ochs, Hank Sheinkopf and Marius Penszner. FULL TEXT ("Protect,"
30 secs.): "There is a way to protect Medicare benefits and
balance the budget. President Clinton. Cut government waste.
Reduce excess spending. Slow medical inflation. The Republicans
disagree. They want to cut Medicare $270 billion. Charging
elderly $600 more a year for medical care. $1,700 more for home
care. Protect Medicare benefits or cut them? A decision that
touches us all." SECOND AD TEXT ("Moral," 30 secs.): "As
Americans, there are some things we do simply and solely because
they're moral. Right. And good. Treating our elderly with
dignity is one of those things. We created Medicare not because
it was cheap or easy. But because it was the right thing to do.
The Republicans are wrong to want to cut Medicare benefits. And
President Clinton is right to protect Medicare right to
defend our decision, as a nation, to do what's moral, good and
right by our elderly" (DNC release, 8/15).
RNC ADS: The RNC is running their :60 radio ads in the CDs
of Dem Reps. Bonior (MI 10), Brown, Jr. (CA 42), DeLauro (CT 03),
Fazio (CA 03), Frost (TX 24), Gejdenson (CT 02), Gephardt (MO
03), Gibbons (FL 11), Hamilton (IN 09), Ward (KY 03) Williams (MT
AL). The ads will air for the next week. FULL TEXT (each ads
custom tailored for the CD in which it airs): "Attention (city or
state) citizens. The U.S. Congress is in a great debate about
Medicare. Some politicians like (name of Congressman) -- are
ignoring Medicare's looming bankruptcy. But the experts -- who
aren't politicians - say there's big trouble ahead. Like
economist Nancy Mitchell: 'Millions of seniors depend on
Medicare, but few of them know just how much trouble the system
is in. Only Congress can deal with this Medicare crisis.'
Robert Betz, health care expert: 'Medicare will be bankrupt in
seven years. That's not just my opinion, that's what the
Medicare Board of Trustees said recently. And three of President
Clinton's own Cabinet members sit on this board.' Medicare's
survival is ate stake -- and Congressman (name) refuses to face
this danger. Congress is taking a break and (Congressman's name)
is home. Call him now at his local district office. Tell
him to stop playing politics with Medicare. If we don't do
something now Medicare will be gone" (RNC release, 8/15).
*9 PACKWOOD: TAKES OFFENSIVE IN TWO NETWORK INTERVIEWS
Sen. Bob Packwood was interviewed by Jane Pauley for NBC's
"Dateline." He appeared today on ABC's "GMA." Packwood, asked
about the new charge by the woman who was 17 at the time of the
alleged incident: "I know her very well and I totally deny that
charge and the story she has told is not true. This did not
happen." Pauley noted that Packwood confirmed he did go to her
house, but he will only tell his version of the incident to the
Ethics Cmte. Pauley: "However, as evidence, he showed us a
letter the young woman had sent him six months later." Packwood,
reading from the letter, which is dated 6/1/84: "Any words I
might write would not convey the gratitude I feel towards you.
With you, I took my first steps in politics, and unlike many
other interns I was not disillusioned, but inspired. Thank you
again Senator Packwood, for everything. I hope all goes well
with you. Fondly, Packwood: "Why do you write a letter
like that if you felt you had been so abused? I remember her.
She was a good intern, she was a good worker, didn't complain,
would do any tasks that we gave her, but I'll say again Jane,
would you send a letter like this to somebody that had totally
disgusted and offended you." Pauley then recounted that the
woman's attorney responded late in the afternoon of 8/15, telling
"Dateline" that "she gave her evidence under oath in a deposition
to the Ethics Committee. She told about this evidence in
enormous detail. If Senator Packwood is going to be disputing
what this person and the other 20 or so women say, he should do
so through public hearings, not through press releases or vague
denials through the press." Packwood, asked about public
hearings: "There's nothing more I have to say. I'm sure there's
nothing more the accusers have to say, and I guess, again, my
overwhelming desire now is just to get this over with and get on
with life. My desire is to get it over and not have another,
who knows -- two months, four months, six months, eight months.
The Ethics Committee says there were 264 witnesses they
interviewed. Can you conceive how long a trial this would be? I
mean the O.J. Simpson trial would pale in comparison." Packwood,
asked if he agreed with Sen. Alan Simpson's (R-WY) statement that
Packwood's accusers are "going to have their lives examined as
they never had before. If you bring another person down you
subject yourself to the same scrutiny": "We're not trying to make
somebody drop out of the case, but, heavens, are we prohibited,
are we going to be accused of intimidating people if we ask them,
'Is this the complete story?" Packwood, asked if he would
resign: "I'm not going to resign. Not on this program, not
tomorrow, not next week and not next year." Packwood, asked what
the chances are that he would be expelled: "Let me ask you to
weigh one incident in the last twelve years, six of these a
quarter of a century or more old, and the only time we have
expelled people from the Senate is for treason. Are they
comparable? I don't think so" ("Dateline NBC," 8/15).
AM TV: Packwood, was interviewed on "Good Morning America"
by ABC's Forrest Sawyer. Under questioning from Sawyer about
some of the charges against him, Packwood emotionally responded:
"Then what you're saying is that if I kissed women 25 years ago,
and for 25 years they don't say anything, and then 25 years later
they complain, for that I should be thrown out of office?"
Packwood, asked about a more recent charge against him, stemming
from '90, replied that the OR media isn't reporting some other
circumstances of that situation: "If this woman isn't in the
case, there is no charge for the last decade, and they want her
in the case desperately" (8/16).
*10 CISNEROS: TO STEP DOWN AFTER '96, CITING DINERO
HUD Sec. Henry Cisneros told the editors of the SAN ANTONIO
EXPRESS-NEWS he will step down from his Cabinet post and return
to private business after 1996, even if Pres. Clinton is re-
elected. Cisneros said the job has been "intellectually and
professionally rewarding," but it has been a "financial burden":
"I have no regrets about this, but (federal service) has been
more costly than I thought, in every respect." He said it has
been a "financial sacrifice" to stay in public service. Cisneros
said he has "resolved to stay and fight" for the survival of HUD,
and will remain in this Cabinet as long as Clinton wants him
(Gonzalez, EXPRESS-NEWS, 8/15). HUD issued a statement that
read: "The secretary set out to serve as HUD secretary for
the entire first term of the Clinton administration and hoped
to return to San Antonio after that. However, he has no
specific plans following the end of his term." A 5/95 financial
disclosure statement showed Cisneros was "essentially broke, with
assets of $130,000 to $300,000 and liabilities of $340,000 to
$765,000." Meanwhile, an independent counsel is continuing an
investigation begun by the DoJ last year about statements of
Cisneros to the FBI "regarding the size of payments he made to
former mistress Linda Medlar from 1990-93" (W. POST, 8/16).
*11 WHITEWATER: STARR'S ARKANSAS GRAND JURY GETS 6-MO. EXTENSION
Independent counsel Ken Starr won a six-month extension of
the term of the special Little Rock grand jury investigating
Whitewater. The term was set to adjourn 9/23 after 18 months; it
can now continue until 3/23/96. U.S. District Judge Stephen
Reasoner said Starr "made a compelling showing that the
additional grand jury continues to be engaged in serious and
important work. Without an extension, another grand jury would
have to pursue this work, and it would be most difficult and
duplicative for a subsequent grand jury." For the six-month
period 10/94-3/95, the probe has cost $1.7 million. Starr and
his predecessor Robert Fiske have won indictments or guilty pleas
from 12 people, including AR Gov. Jim Guy Tucker (D) (Stumpe,
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, 8/16).
*12 HOTLINE ROLODEX: MCWHERTER TO BE DELIVERED
Ex-Gov. Ned McWherter (D-TN) last week was appointed to a
seat on the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors by Pres.
Clinton. The nine-member Board of Governors controls the postal
budget, makes recommendations on the price of stamps, gives final
approval to rate increases, and hires and fires the postmaster
general. A confirmation hearing has not yet been set. McWherter
aide Billy Stair, on his boss, "a man so cheap he salts his own
peanuts": "Ned McWherter will be the last person to vote for an
increase in stamp prices" (Bender, Nashville TENNESSEAN, 8/10).
CUTLER NAMED TO DELEGATION: The WH named Kamber Group Sr.
VP Lynn Cutler to serve on the U.S. Delegation to the U.N.
Conference on Women. Cutler served as vice-chair of the DNC for
12 years and "has long been active in the women's movement in
this country." The meeting will be held in Beijing 9/4-15; U.S.
Ambassador to the U.N. Madeline Albright is the chair of the
delegation. EPA Admin. Carol Browner and HHS Sec. Donna Shalala
are co-chairs (release, 8/15). Still no word on whether Hillary
Rodham Clinton will attend.
SHEPHERD TO FEC: Pres. Clinton "plans to name" ex-Rep.
Karen Shepherd (D-UT) to a $115,700-a-year job at the FEC, a six-
year position. She had led a bipartisan group of frosh campaign
reformers in the House. Shepherd "blames Clinton's unpopularity"
for her defeat in '94 (BUSINESS WEEK, 8/21 issue).
DEE DEE BACK ON NBC: CNBC's "Equal Time" co-host Dee Dee
Myers has booked an appearance tonight on NBC's "Tonight Show"
with Jay Leno. Myers was scheduled to appear on the "Tonight
Show" on 6/27, but "backed out" because she was charged with DUI
and wanted to "wait until the legal issues in her arrest were
resolved." Leno will appear on "Equal Time" on 8/17 (CHICAGO
TRIBUNE, 8/12).
JFK, JR.: What does John F. Kennedy, Jr. have in common
with GOP Sens. Bob Dole (KS), Orrin Hatch (UT) and Alan Simpson
(WY), Connie Chung, Walter Cronkite and Larry King? All have
made guest appearances on CBS' "Murphy Brown." Kennedy "set off
ripples of delirium" at the show's taping 8/11. He plays himself
on assignment for his new magazine GEORGE and stops by the set of
the fictitious "FYI" newsroom with a wedding present for Murphy
Brown, played by Candice Bergen (Greppi, N.Y. POST, 8/14). The
show is scheduled to air on 9/18 (BOSTON HERALD, 8/14).
CAMPAIGNS OF '95
*13 S.F. MAYOR: BROWN PICKS UP "PROMINENT" LIBERAL ENDORSEMENTS
CA Dem Assembly Leader Willie Brown (D) "easily captured"
endorsements 8/14 from four "prominent political organizations" -
- the S.F. Labor Council, the Democratic Women's Forum, the Alice
B. Toklas Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club and the board of the
Greater Mission Democratic Club who cited his "connections,
experience, and political savvy" as setting him apart from the
rest of the field. Brown: "I'm very proud of these endorsements.
I've spent my life fighting for the rights of working people,
women and gays and lesbians. Together we can make this city work
again." One of the more "unusual" endorsements was from the
Alice B. Toklas Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club which "snubbed"
lesbian candidate, ex-HUD official/ex-S.F. Supervisor Roberta
Achtenberg (D), in favor of Brown, 95-31. Club chair Gerry
Schulter: "We know that in the gay community it's not going to be
a popular decision, but we strongly feel that we had to vote for
the best candidate and that was Brown." Achtenberg spokesperson
Darren Seaton commented that he was not "surprised" by the
decision because the club favored an "entrenched" system of
government represented by Brown": "The group is part of the
status quo and Roberta has a reform message." He added that
Achtenberg "still enjoyed strong support among the gay
community." The Democratic Women's Forum snubbed Achtenberg in
favor of Brown, 33-8. Forum spokesperson Jane Morrison: "The
members thought (Brown) is more energetic and has had much more
government experience that will help him get the things done that
we're concerned about." The Labor Council endorsement marks the
first time since '83 that a mayoral candidate garnered the two-
thirds vote needed to win the backing of the 80,000-member
organization, comprising 104 local unions. The Board of the
Greater Mission Democratic Club voted unanimously to endorse
Brown; the full Club will vote in 9/95 (Delgado, S.F. EXAMINER,
8/15).
INCUMBENCY HAS ITS REWARDS: The Dem candidates for mayor
all are taking advantage of their respective current positions to
campaign for another post. Consultant Scott Shafer: "I don't
think there's any question the power of incumbency is worth any
disadvantages that being an incumbent might bring. There are
many things you can do as an officeholder that bring free
benefits you cannot buy as a non-officeholder." Brown, according
to campaign spending reports, has disbursed "tens of thousands of
dollars" to S.F.-area groups from his Assembly and Democratic
Victory cmtes, which Achtenberg argues will help his mayoral
campaign. Mayor Frank Jordan (D) has the ability to place
measures on the 11/95 ballot, as he did with a youth curfew
measure, to bring him a "windfall of publicity." Supervisor
Angela Alioto (D) is pushing a homeless program before the Board,
"addressing a hot-button issue" in the mayoral race (McCormick,
S.F. EXAMINER, 8/14).
BROWN'S "GOODWILL": Achtenberg and Jordan have called on
Brown to "freeze" his Assembly account during the mayoral
campaign. But Brown's actions are legal, and he insists, "If I
wanted to cheat, I could funnel all that money to the Democratic
party in San Francisco. That would be legal, but highly
improper. I won't do it." Brown already has the endorsement of
the Dem Central Cmte, so it will already spend "plenty of money"
on his behalf for the election. In the last six months, Brown
has contributed $34,000 to S.F. organizations, including many
small donations to political groups. But that's standard for
Brown -- last year, he made $45,000 in contributions and many of
his Assembly colleagues make such "goodwill" donations as well.
The organizations receiving small amounts "scoffed at the notion"
that the donations would influence them. But Jordan spokesperson
Phil Perry said that those donations put Brown "at a definite
advantage. He gets credit for the largess of contributing (to
these groups) without having to use his campaign funds to pay for
it." Brown called Jordan's concern over the donations "a clear
display of great ignorance or a demonstration that he has nothing
else to talk about." Shafer also pointed out that Jordan can use
"some of the same types of fundraising advantages" as Brown:
"Frank Jordan fought campaign spending limits for this election
tooth and nail. For him to stand up and complain that Willie
Brown has an unfair advantage is ridiculous." Jordan "benefits
financially" through those seeking business with City Hall who
enlist his support through contributions. Meanwhile, Alioto and
Achtenberg have not benefited financially from their positions,
but they "are betting that more than money matters in the
election." Alioto spokesperson Jerry Austin: "We have never
envisioned being able to compete with these guys in fund-raising.
It's not how much money you raise, it's how you spend it"
(McCormick, S.F. EXAMINER, 8/14). Election: 11/7. Runoff:
12/12.
SENATE WATCH
*14 DELAWARE: WATCH OUT JOE, HERE COMES GENERATION X
Frosh state Sen. Colin Bonini (R), who recently announced
his challenge to Sen. Joe Biden (D), has hired 22-year old Paul
Doell to run his campaign. Doell -- fresh out of Wesley College
(also Bonini's alma-mater) with a poli-sci degree -- has
volunteered for DE GOPers Sen. William Roth and Rep. Michael
Castle (R-At Large). Bonini and Doell "are trying to pull off
the biggest upset in state politics since Biden out-hustled J.
Caleb Boggs, the legendary late Republican, for the Senate in
1972." The 30-year-old Bonini said of his new manager: "Paul
represents a new generation of Republican activism." If the pair
wins, they will be "lauded as a kiddie crusade," and if they lose
"they were cannon fodder." Doell currently is working out of
Bonini's apartment because official campaign headquarters have
yet to be established. Doell "won't say what his salary is, even
though it must be disclosed when the campaign files its first
financial report, due next January. One eerie note for
numerologists: Doell was born Nov. 20, 1972. That was Biden's
30th birthday, the day he became old enough to assume the Senate
seat he claimed from Boggs two weeks earlier" (Cohen, Wilmington
NEWS JOURNAL, 8/14). Other GOP possibles: Sussex Co. farmer
Vance Phillips, Dover businessman Raymond Clatworthy.
*15 NEBRASKA: NELSON LABORING OVER A "TIP OF THE HAND"
Gov. Ben Nelson (D) recently said that "the day or two after
Labor Day will be soon enough" to announce whether he will seek
the seat of retiring Sen. Jim Exon (D). Nelson added, however,
that he may not make a formal announcement, but instead make a
"kind of a tip of the hand." The governor said, "I know there
are some people who think we are being coy, but I think it is in
how you approach it. I think you can tip your hand. Maybe you
can give a sign, if you are going to do it." Nelson previously
pledged to announce by Labor Day: "I intended to meet that
deadline." At a NE Dem fundraising dinner, Exon "openly urged"
Nelson to take the challenge, and although "there was a sense of
optimism that Nelson would run," no one is sure. Exon: "If
he's made up his mind, he's fooled me." If he does run, Nelson
will not "immediately launch" into campaign mode, "as have the
two announced GOP candidates," AG Don Stenberg and businessman
Chuck Hagel. Whether FEC rules would permit Nelson to use his
gubernatorial monies is "among his considerations" about running
(Kotok, OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 8/15). Under the header, "Nelson
waffling on pledge, Senate bid damages credibility," an NRSC
release contends "Nelson is stalling and waffling because he's
still attempting to fabricate a means of transferring his
gubernatorial and 'Governor's Council' accounts for use in a
Senate bid." NRSC exec. dir. John Heubusch: "What we have here
is a self-styled 'non-politician' engaging in all of the
political double talk associated with professional politicians"
(release, 8/15). Other possible GOP cand.: ex-NE GOP Chair Jerry
Schenken. Other possible Dems: atty/Kerrey cmp mgr Mike Fahey
and ex-Rep. John Cavanaugh.
ON THE HOUSE
*16 GEORGIA: GINGRICH & LEWIS OFFER "INCUMBENT-FRIENDLY" PLAN
Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-06) and Rep. John Lewis (D-05),
"the unlikeliest of allies," submitted a proposed congressional
district map to a federal judge on 8/15 that is "designed to
protect Georgia's 11 incumbent House members. On 8/22, U.S.
District Court Judge Dudley Bowen will hold a hearing to map out
new CD lines in GA. The Supreme Court "tossed out" GA's CD map
in June, saying that race could not be the predominant factor in
drawing the districts. GA Speaker Tom Murphy (D) predicted that
a new map would not be adopted until after the hearing. Some GA
legislators "have speculated that Bowen and two other federal
judges intend to redraw the districts themselves." Currently,
GA's 11 CDs are represented by eight white GOPers and three black
Dems. The Gingrich-Lewis plan proposes two "mostly black" CDs
and a third "with a significant black population. The most
substantial alterations" would be in the 11th CD, now held by
Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D), which was ruled unconstitutional.
Lewis, on the proposal: "There wasn't any movement in the [GA]
Legislature and we wanted to see some movement. I wanted to see
incumbents' seats protected." Murphy, however, called the
Gingrich-Lewis map "as bad as any I've seen" (Sherman, ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 8/16). He warned: "You can't take the politics out
of politics, I don't think. And when you've got 11 Congressional
districts, you've got a lot of politics in it. It will get
mean before it's over. That I can promise you" (Sack, N.Y.
TIMES, 8/15).
THE CHALLENGE: In drawing new CDs, lawmakers are trying to
"balance the requirements of the Voting Rights Act, which makes
it illegal to diminish minority voting strength, against demands
of a vague Supreme Court decision that makes it unconstitutional
to use race as the predominant factor." In addition to GA, race
based districts are being "scrutinized" in FL, LA, NC, OH and TX.
Univ./GA's Charles Bullock: "Other states are watching this
because it's certainly not clear where you draw the line between
a situation where race is the dominant factor, which the Court
says is not constitutional, and where race is one of several
factors, in which case it's acceptable" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/15).
SPECIAL SESSION: The GA General Assembly opened a special
session on redistricting on 8/14. Murphy told GA House members
that he has asked Bowen to give lawmakers time to come up with a
plan "before the court imposes one of its own," after the 8/22
hearing. The "quest for an acceptable congressional plan brought
at least five U.S. House members to Atlanta" on 8/14 to "lobby
state lawmakers for districts they could defend in the 1996
elections" (Sherman/Alexander, ATLANTA JOURNAL, 8/15). While the
state legislative districts have not been challenged by the
courts, they are also being questioned. "Redrawing Georgia's
strange-shaped House and Senate districts is providing a golden
opportunity for white Democrats to take aim at the districts of
Republicans and some black Democratic colleagues" (Alexander/
Sherman, ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 8/16).
*17 CO 01: GOP SERIOUS ABOUT GOING AFTER SCHROEDER
Though past GOP contenders for the seat of 12-term Rep. Pat
Schroeder (D-01) have "fared poorly and had trouble raising
money," she is "near the top of the [GOP] hit list" for '96 and
is "expected to throw a lot of resources at the race." Denver
atty Joe Rogers (R), who "plans to challenge" Schroeder, has
raised close to $75,000, according to mid-year FEC reports, with
the assistance of "some well-heeled" GOP contributors. But,
Schroeder "isn't exactly lacking support." The reports show that
she "pulled in" more than $93,000 in the first half of '95, and
has more than $450,000 cash-on-hand. Schroeder is also keeping
up her national profile: She guest-hosted "CNN & Company" 8/8,
examining why "Americans are so cynical about the government"
(DENVER POST, 8/13).
*18 IL 02: STAN ON THE STAND, DAY TWO
Embattled Rep. Mel Reynolds (D) endured four hours of cross
examination on 8/15. Reynolds once again stated that the taped
conversations he had with his accuser, Beverly Heard, depicted
"fantasy sex," and did not indicate that he had a physical
relationship with Heard. However, "despite his iterations of
innocence, Reynolds was hard-pressed to explain how one sentence
of the conversations was 'phone sex' and the next sentence was
'talking about reality." When confronted with "embarrassing or
potentially damaging conversation," Reynolds "professed a memory
loss, saying more than a dozen times 'I can't recall' or 'I don't
remember if I said that, I may have." Assistant Cook Co.
State's Atty Colleen Hyland "painstakingly led Reynolds through
virtually every sentence of the two recorded conversations,
asking Reynolds to read aloud his words -- many of them graphic
references to sexual acts as well as portions of the male and
female anatomy." After each sentence Hyland asked: "Was that
part of the fantasy sex or was that reality?" Reynolds was
"steady on the stand, at times showing his polish as a
politician. On one occasion he took Hyland to task for raising
her voice. During a brief recess during he afternoon session,
Reynolds strode from the courtroom past the media and commented
sarcastically: 'So this is the dramatic cross (examination) we've
been waiting for. Oh, boy." Hyland's line of questioning
"managed to signal at least a part of the prosection's strategy:
She confronted Reynolds with summaries of his conversations with
top law-enforcement officials last summer when he was attempting
to find out if he was under investigation." Reynolds' "most
difficult" moments on the stand came when he was asked about
conversations with Heard regarding sex with a 15-year-old girl,
whom Heard had concocted for the call. Hyland suggested that
Reynolds "couldn't have been fantasizing" about the 15-year-old,
whom Heard called Theresa, because when Heard said she would tell
the girl that she and Reynolds had sex when she was 16, the
Congressman asked her not to mention "the age thing that would
screw me. That would cost you" (Possley/Kendall, CHICAGO
TRIBUNE, 8/16). Reynolds "stumbled a few times but seemed calm
and confident" during the questioning (AP/W. POST, 8/16).
YEAH, RIGHT: Judge Fred Suria refused a defense request to
dismiss the charges against Reynolds, but he did acquit the other
defendant, Eddie McIntyre, of obstruction of justice charges
(AP/N.Y. TIMES, 8/16). Suria said there was "no evidence" that
McIntyre tried to take Heard out of state so she couldn't aid
investigators. McIntyre's girlfriend is Heard's mother (USA
TODAY, 8/16).
*19 NC 03: COMMON CAUSE PULLS JONES OFF ITS LIST
Common Cause blamed an "indexing error by the Clerk of the
House" on its inclusion of frosh Rep. Walter Jones (R) as the
most reliant recipient of PAC money among House froshies this
year. Jones was put at the top of list of 14 House froshies who
have received 60% or more of their money from PACs in the first
half of '95. In reality, Common Cause said Jones had received
48% of his money from PACs, just above the 45% average for the
group (CC release, 8/16). Jones' office issued the following
statement: "Far from being in Common Cause's reported 'Fab
Fourteen' Jones has raised the majority of his funds from
individuals." Jones: "I would hope that in the future Common
Cause would do a more comprehensive job in the preparation of
published reports. They need to check with the individuals they
are reporting about to insure that their facts are complete and
indeed reflect the whole story" (Jones release, 8/16).
*20 PA 13: FOX SAYS HE'S PRO-CHOICE, BUT CHOICERS DISAGREE
Frosh Rep. Jon Fox (R-13) claims that he is pro-choice, but
pro-choice groups say that his votes in Congress show that he is
not. NARAL political dir. Jo Blum: "We do not consider him pro-
choice. He's cast mostly anti-choice votes." Planned Parenthood
spokeswoman Mona Miller: "Across the board, he's been very
disappointing until last week." But Fox argues that his voting
record is consistent with his pro-choice stance. Blum and Miller
note his votes to gut funding for U.N. family-planning programs,
to ban federal funding to non-profit groups that provide
abortions, to ban abortions at overseas military hospitals and to
eliminate health insurance coverage of abortions for federal
employees. The Nat'l Right-To-Life Cmte contends that it is
"generally pleased" with Fox's record. Fox did recently vote
pro-choice on two issues: he opposed allowing states to deny
Medicaid funds to pay for abortions for poor women in cases of
rape or incest and he voted to restore Title X federal funding
for family planning. But Fox "appeared to flip-flop" on the
issue of Title X. Before supporting an amendment to restore the
funds, he voted for another amendment that would dismantle Title
X. The next day he corrected his vote to support Title X. Fox
spokesperson Jan Friis: "The machine operated incorrectly or he
hit the wrong button" (Foster, STATES NEWS/PHILA. DAILY NEWS,
8/14).
FACING THE CONSEQUENCES: PA NARAL exec. dir. Sandi Vito
contended that Fox won the seat in '94 over pro-choice ex-Rep.
Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D) partly because he promised to be
a pro-choice GOPer. Vito warned that pro-choice activists would
field a candidate to oppose him in '96 if his abortion record did
not change. But Fox maintains that he is pro-choice: "I support
a woman's right to choose. I support family planning. But I
don't believe the government should pay for abortions except
through Medicaid in cases of rape, incest or when the mother's
life is in danger." Fox added that he is not intimidated by
threats of a pro-choice challenge (STATES NEWS/PHILA. DAILY NEWS,
8/14).
50 STATE
*21 BEYOND '96: CELESTE HAS NO PLANS YET
CALIFORNIA: '94 GOP Sen. nominee Mike Huffington (R) "said
he expects to be a candidate in 1998 but hasn't decided what
office to seek." He has expressed interest previously in both
Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D) seat and the governorship. In a gov.
race, he'd likely face a primary battle with AG Dan Lundgren (R)
(Robinson, RIVERSIDE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/W. TIMES, 6/15).
COLORADO: Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R) returned more
than $5,700 to contributors who disapproved of his 3/95 switch to
the GOP. At the time of the switch, Campbell said he would
refund any of his '92 election contributors who asked. His FEC
report shows that 27 individuals were paid back. But larger
groups have not been so lucky. The Bakery, Confectionary and
Tobacco Workers PAC wants its $3,500 back, "but Campbell refused"
(Brinkley, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 8/11).
OHIO: Ex-Gov. Dick Celeste (D), who could not seek a third
term in '90, is "downplaying suggestions that he may be angling
for a political comeback." He was limited to two successive
terms. Both Dem and GOP operatives have "suspicions" that
Celeste is eying either a '98 gov. or Senate bid -- current Gov.
George Voinovich (R) is term-limited; Sen. John Glenn (D) is
rumored to be a retiree. Celeste told a reporter that a report
in "Campaigns and Elections" that said he was "testing the
waters" for a '98 bid was bunk: "They must be pretty hard up for
news. If I got interested down the line -- and that is pretty
far down the line -- I'd want to let you know." Celeste, who
chaired the DNC's ill-fated Health Care campaign in '93, was
granted a divorce from his wife of 32 years, Dagmar two months
ago (Suddes, Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 8/11). One person who is
making plans for a '98 gov. bid is Sec/State Bob Taft, who
recently changed the name of his campaign cmte from "Taft for
Secretary of State" to "Taft for Ohio" (Theis, CINCINNATI
ENQUIRER, 8/11).
TV MONITOR
*22 THIS MORNING: ABC's "GMA" hosted Sen. Bob Packwood (R-OR).
"FOX Morning News" hosted U.S. NEWS' Steve Roberts, the
STANDARD's John Podhoretz and Dem strategist Frank Mankiewicz.
LAST NIGHT: "MacNeil/Lehrer" led with Japan's apology for WW
II. ABC and NBC led with O.J. CBS led with Hurricane Felix.
CNBC's "Russert" hosted N.Y. TIMES' Bill Carter and N.Y. POST's
Michele Greppi. CNN's "Inside Politics" hosted Dave Yepsen and
Citizens' Research Foundation's Herb Alexander. ABC's "Nightline"
examined O.J. Frosh Rep. Sonny Bono (R-CA) was on Letterman.
TONIGHT: CBS' "Reality Check" examines campaign funds for
politicians' personal use. CNN's "Inside Politics" hosts Gramm
adviser Charlie Black. NBC's "Tonight Show" hosts Dee Dee Myers.
WHITEWATER: Appearing with Letterman, Sonny Bono was asked
about Whitewater. Bono: "There was some sort of a cover-up
there." Asked if it was obstruction of justice, Bono said yes
and then added, "I guess it's not illegal because he's still a
president." Bono also did an "impomptu" rendition of "I Got You,
Babe" with Larry "Bud" Melman playing the role of Cher ("Late
Show," CBS, 8/16).
LAUGHS: Jay Leno, on Mike Tyson saying you should abstain
from sex before a big event if you want to win: "So I guess that
means the '96 election could be the toughest decision of Bill
Clinton's life." Leno, on the Mark Fuhrman tapes: "On one hand,
these tapes kind of expose him as being anti-women and anti-
minority. But, on the other hand, he's been asked to be Pat
Buchanan's running mate" ("Tonight," NBC, 8/15). Letterman, on
the money the Clintons owe for their legal fees: "Apparently,
Bill is so desperate for money he's thinking about selling ad
space on his thighs" (CBS, 8/15).
TOP TEN ANNA NICOLE SMITH DATING TIPS
10. Forget the personal ads -- try the intensive care unit.
9. Wear something that, even to failing eyes, will look slutty.
8. Always carry "mad money" for the paramedics.
7. Make sure the valet parkers understand, if he dies in the
restaurant, you get the car.
6. When he wants sex, hide his glasses and put him in bed with
a car battery.
5. Remind him, "Hey, when you're 160, I'll be 101."
4. Prepare candlelit dinner. If he can blow out candle, you
don't want him.
3. To convincingly fake excitement during sex, just think about
his stock portfolio.
2. Good pick-up line: "Can I pre-chew that for you?"
1. Three words: bring extra plasma ("Late Show," CBS, 8/15).
TV SOUNDBITE
"Senator Specter pulling out of this straw poll is a
little like me saying I'm going to pull out of the Olympics."
-- DES MOINES REGISTER's David Yepsen, on this weekend's
IA straw poll, "Inside Politics," CNN, 8/15
####
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Carol H. Rasco (RASCO_C) (OPD)
CREATION DATE/TIME:16-AUG-1995 13:16:05.55
SUBJECT: September event
TO: Margo L. Spiritus
(SPIRITUS_M) (WHO)
READ:16-AUG-1995 14:27:03.16
TO: Stephanie Streett
(STREETT_S) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TEXT:
I understand the President has possibly been invited to come at
some point to a Sept. 8-11 Academy on Mental Retardation sponsored
by the Pres. Comm. on Mental Retardation (PCMR). If this is the
case I want to recommend against acceptance. It is a worthy cause
but not an appropriate use of POTUS time. I understand there may
be a real push as JFK, Jr. goes on the PCMR as a new appointee of
ours at this meeting but that does not in my opinion mean the
POTUS has to go far better ways to use his time.
Thank you for reading this unsolicited advice!
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (EXTERNAL MAIL)
CREATOR: [email protected]@INET@EOPMRX
CREATION DATE/TIME: 7-SEP-1995 22:57:00.00
SUBJECT: TV TRACK 09 07
TO: 73030.21
([email protected]@INET@EOPMRX)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Amy Murrell
([email protected]@INET@EOPMRX)
READ:NOT READ
TO: defenders
([email protected]@INET@EOPMRX)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Jay Stanley
([email protected]@INET@EOPMRX)
READ:NOT READ
TO: rauh
(rauh_d@A1@CD) (WHO)
READ: 7-SEP-1995 23:05:23.03
TEXT:
TV TRACK -- Network TV Headlines From Thursday, September 7, 1995
To: Television Writer
Contact: U.S. Newswire, 202-347-2770
WASHINGTON, September 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following headline summary
of evening network news programs for September 7 was prepared by U.S.
Newswire. Headlines are in the order that stories appeared on the broadcast
and include the name of the correspondent, dateline and running time.
TVTRACK HEADLINES
Copyright US Newswire 1995
Thursday September 7, 1995
ABC World News Tonight
1 Sen. Packwood Resigns; Ethics Committee Releases Evidence
John Cochran
Washington
4:30
2 Many Oregonians Have Called For Packwood To Quit
Brian Rooney
Portland, OR
1:30
3 Ito Rules Fuhrman Can't Be Called Back To The Stand
Aaron Brown
Los Angeles
2:00
4 Simpson & His Lawyers Agree He Won't Testify
Cynthia McFadden
Los Angeles
3:00
5 NATO Air Raids Intensify But Serbs Remain Defiant
Mike Lee
Pale, Bosnia
1:55
6 Yeltsin Says Russia May Lift Economic Embargo Against Serbia
Peter Jennings
New York
0:20
7 France Sends Troops To Tahiti After Nuke Protests Worsen
Garrick Utley
Paris
1:25
8 First Lady Spends Day In Mongolia; China Criticizes Her Remarks
Peter Jennings
New York
0:25
9 ATF Agents Testify At Congressional Hearings About Idaho Siege
Peter Jennings
New York
0:25
10 Study Says Drug Can Stop Stroke-Causing Clots
George Strait
Washington
1:30
11 Space Shuttle Endeavor Takes Off From Cape Canaveral
Peter Jennings
New York
0:15
12 Woman Unifies Neighborhood By Using Voodoo To Fight Crime
Dean Reynolds
New Orleans
2:05
CBS Evening News
13 Veteran Senator Bob Packwood Resigns From The Senate
Phil Jones
Washington
2:45
14 Interview With Packwood
Dan Rather
New York
1:30
15 Ito Tells Jury End Is In Sight, Denies Bid To Call Fuhrman
Bill Whitaker
Los Angeles
2:30
16 Hurricane Luis Back In Open Seas, Not Expected To Hit US
Art Rascon
St. Martin
1:50
17 Brain Breathing Center Defect May Be Clue To Crib Death
Bob Arnot
New York
2:05
18 Law Enforcement Tells Its Side Of Story On Ruby Ridge
Jim Stewart
Washington
2:00
19 US Bombers Step Up Assault On Bosnian Serbs
Dan Rather
New York
0:20
20 French Nuke Tests Spur Violent Protests In Tahiti
Mark Phillips
Paris
1:45
21 Space Shuttle Endeavor Lifts Off After Month Of Delays
Dan Rather
New York
0:15
22 Ripken Celebrated At Record-Breaking Game
Dan Rather
New York
1:40
23 Texas Officials Allow Hunting Of Wild Monkeys
Bob McNamara
Dilley, TX
2:40
NBC Nightly News
24 Oregon Senator Bob Packwood Resigns, Claiming Duty And Honor
Lisa Myers
Washington
3:55
25 Ito Denies OJ Defense Request To Put Fuhrman Back On Stand
David Bloom
Los Angeles
2:40
26 Serbs Defiant Despite Most-Punishing NATO Airstrikes Yet
Keith Miller
Pale
2:00
27 Space Shuttle Endeavor Lifts Off
Tom Brokaw
New York
0:15
28 Evaluation Of Performance Of OJ Simpson's Lawyers
George Lewis
Los Angeles
3:40
29 Legal Experts Jack Ford and Ira Reiner Discuss OJ Trial
Tom Brokaw
New York
1:45
30 Outrage Over French Nuclear Testing Turns Violent In Tahiti
Richard Roth
London
1:30
31 Which Groups Are Most And Least Likely To Use Computers
Tom Brokaw
New York
0:25
32 JFK Jr. Unveils New Magazine, Deflects Personal Questions
Tom Brokaw
New York
0:30
33 Brain Defect May Be New Clue In Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Robert Bazell
Boston
2:35
**Summaries are available for 30 days from date of broadcast**
Call U.S. Newswire at 202-347-2770 for information
ATTACHMENT 1
ATT CREATION TIME/DATE: 7-SEP-1995 22:55:00.00
ATT BODYPART TYPE:D
TEXT:
RFC-822-headers:
Received: from gatekeeper.eop.gov by PMDF.EOP.GOV (PMDF V5.0-4 #6879)
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07 Sep 1995 22:57:15 -0400 (EDT)
Received: by gatekeeper.eop.gov (5.65/fma-120691); id AA03775; Thu,
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END ATTACHMENT 1
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Marlene A. MacDonald (MACDONALD_M) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:28-MAR-1996 17:21:14.58
SUBJECT: (INTERNAL) CABINET MEMO
TO: Donald A. Baer
(BAER_D) Autoforward to: Kristin Leight
(LEIGHT_K) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Kris Balderston
(BALDERSTON_K) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:24:20.57
TO: David S. Beaubaire
(BEAUBAIRE_D) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:24:52.61
TO: Phillip M. Caplan
(CAPLAN_P) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:40:14.10
TO: Ann M. Cattalini
(CATTALINI_A) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:24:12.22
TO: Joseph W. Cerrell
(CERREL_J) Autoforward to: Remote Addressee
(Joseph W.
Cerrell@LNGATE@EOPMRX)(VPO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Steven A. Cohen
(COHEN_SA) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Amanda Crumley
(CRUMLEY_A) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Rahm Emanuel
(EMANUEL_R) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Janice A. Enright
(ENRIGHT_J) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:34:38.55
TO: Mary Ellen Glynn
(GLYNN_M) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Jason S. Goldberg
(GOLDBERG_JS) (OPD)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Julia R. Green
(GREEN_J) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:32:53.17
TO: Kathryn Higgins
(HIGGINS_K) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 18:59:36.96
TO: Heidi Kukis
(Heidi Kukis@EOP_OVP@CCGATE@EOPMRX)
READ:NOT READ
TO: LeeAnn Inadomi
(INADOMI_L) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:35:12.49
TO: Payne, Julia M.
(Julia M. Payne@EOP_OVP@CCGATE@EOPMRX)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Yusuf A. Khapra
(KHAPRA_Y) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Angus S. King
(KING_A) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:39:44.75
TO: Evelyn S. Lieberman
(LIEBERMAN_E) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 18:00:14.01
TO: Julie E. Mason
(MASON_J) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Michael McCurry
(MCCURRY_M) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Lorraine McHugh
(MCHUGH_L) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:24:02.39
TO: Kathy McKiernan
(MCKIERNAN_K) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:27:24.21
TO: APRIL K. MELLODY
(MELLODY_A) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:30:35.68
TO: Jennifer M. O'Connor
(OCONNOR_J) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:21:55.75
TO: A. Victoria Rivas-Vazquez
(RIVASVAZQU_A) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Christa T. Robinson
(ROBINSON_C) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:22:36.56
TO: Laura D. Schwartz
(SCHWARTZ_L) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Stephen B. Silverman
(SILVERMAN_S) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:40:56.11
TO: Joshua Silverman
(SILVERMAN_J) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Virginia M. Terzano
(TERZANO_V) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Barry J. Toiv
(TOIV_B) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 18:13:09.09
TO: Lorraine A. Voles
(VOLES_L) Autoforward to: Remote Addressee
(Lorraine A.
Voles@LNGATE@EOPMRX ). (VPO)
READ:NOT READ
TO: Teresa Wildman
(WILDMAN_T) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:53:53.45
TO: Allison Wilkie
(WILKIE_A) (WHO)
READ:28-MAR-1996 17:26:21.81
TEXT:
PRINTER FONT 12_POINT_ROMAN
CABINET MEMO
TO:
MIKE MCCURRY
FROM: MARLENE MACDONALD & KATHY MCKIERNAN
DATE: THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1996
AIDS
Tomorrow the Director is in NY for a private meeting with Norman
Lear. He wants to once again offer to create an awards system
for anyone finding a cure for AIDS.
COMMERCE
The Secretary's testimony today has been postponed.
He will brief their key reporters on his upcoming trip to Bosnia,
Croatia and France.
DRUG
The Director comes back from Mexico today.
EDUCATION
The Secretary attends a school to work event with Reich and JFK,
Jr.
EPA
The Administrator is in Sacramento today for a Brownsfield event.
On Friday she is in San Francisco to attend an environmental
health protection forum at the Commonwealth Club.
HHS
The Secretary interviews with ITN on political issues.
She will announce approval of "Oregon Option" a statewide welfare
demonstration project for Oregon.
She will do tobacco radio calls.
FYI: Senator Grassley is expected to make a floor statement
denouncing the CDC's participation in the "Harm Reduction
Conference" which advocated drug legalization and needle
exchange. CDC was inappropriately cited as a "sponsor" of
the conference. No federal funds were used to support this
conference.
HUD
The Secretary does Fox Morning news and attends housing event
with POTUS.
Later he flys to Newark to meet with the housing authority on one
strike you're out.
He will do NY Fox morning news tomorrow and tape the Montel
Williams show on crime in public housing.
JUSTICE
The AG's testimony on the Hill on the budget has been postponed.
Eldie Acheson of DOJ will interview with the WSJ on judges issue.
Bonnie Campbell is in NH for a family violence event.
A former NY Times reporter is setting up a Web site critical of
the DOJ prosecutions of tax evaders.
LABOR
The Secretary did Fox Morning news today on minimum wage.
He meets with the a Canadian minister and tapes CNBC on pensions
(Steve Downing).
He also does some minimum wage radio today.
SBA
The Administrator did an event with Senator Kennedy on Small
Business Innovative Research grants to Massachusetts.
TRANSPORTATION
The Secretary participates in an event with the VP on FAA's new
procurement and personnel issues.
He also participates in a VP event on the directive on global
positioning for civilian use.
TREASURY
The Secretary testifies before House Banking on electronic
transfers.
Summers will brief on Mexico
There will be a signing ceremony of the Turkey Tax and Customs
Treaty.
On Friday he attends a savings bond annual kick
-off luncheon.
He will meet with Frank Rich and Walter Issacson.
VETERANS
The Secretary will testify before House Approps. on VA programs
The Undersecretary will testify on the Hill on the health of Gulf
War veterans.
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Allison Wilkie (WILKIE_A) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME: 7-MAY-1996 17:27:55.42
SUBJECT: kennedy school forum
TO: Julie E. Mason
(MASON_J) (WHO)
READ: 7-MAY-1996 17:50:30.12
TEXT:
Here's the scoop:
Each year, the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics holds a panel discussion
on the same day that the Kennedy Library gives out its "Profiles in Courage"
award. [Note: the Library has not announced this year's recipient.]
This year's panel discussion, which will be moderated by JFK Jr., will focus on
the internet's influence on campaigns. Panelists include Sen. Kennedy, Sandy
Vanocur, Lisa McCormick (RNC's on-line expert) and a Democrat tbd (McCurry?). I
was told that this discussion won't turn into a debate but will focus on the
importance of on-line communication. The panel will start at 4pm at the Kennedy
School, then there'll be a black-tie dinner at the Library.
Let me know if McCurry's interested. If so, I'll have them send a formal
invitation.
Thanks!
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Tracy F. Sisser (SISSER_T) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:16-MAY-1996 15:25:06.90
SUBJECT: Questions on Ron Brown Peace Memorial
TO: Robert W. Schroeder III
(SCHROEDER_R) (WHO)
READ:16-MAY-1996 15:35:55.88
TEXT:
John Garamendi, Deputy Secretary of the Dept. of the Interior, has asked the
President to help raise money to build a "National Peace Garden" in Hains Point
in D.C. in honor of Ron Brown and the other Americans who died with him in
Croatia.
He specifically asks the President to:
- encourage Lew Wasserman and John F. Kennedy, Jr. to play leading roles in the
capital campaign for the monument
- contact 10 key people who could become major contributors
- talk about the Garden and the fund-raising effort
The initiative will be led by the National Peace Garden Foundation and the
National Peace Corps Association.
Before we draft a response and refer it to members of the Administration, Jim
Dorskind has asked me to find out how likely the President is to do any of
things listed above. This will help us provide a responsive letter back to the
Deputy Secretary.
Thanks very much for your help.
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Robert W. Schroeder III (SCHROEDER_R) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:20-MAY-1996 12:16:14.64
SUBJECT: ron brown memorial
TO: Kathleen M. Whalen
(WHALEN_K) (WHO)
READ:20-MAY-1996 12:40:49.04
TEXT:
would you mind looking at this? i think her question is easily
answered but the more important (and unasked) question is which of
these things he can do.
ATTACHMENT 1
ATT CREATION TIME/DATE:16-MAY-1996 15:08:00.00
ATT BODYPART TYPE:B
ATT CREATOR: Tracy F. Sisser
ATT SUBJECT: Questions on Ron Brown Peace Memorial
ATT TO: Robert W. Schroeder III
(SCHROEDER_R)
TEXT:
John Garamendi, Deputy Secretary of the Dept. of the Interior, has asked the
President to help raise money to build a "National Peace Garden" in Hains Point
in D.C. in honor of Ron Brown and the other Americans who died with him in
Croatia.
He specifically asks the President to:
- encourage Lew Wasserman and John F. Kennedy, Jr. to play leading roles in the
capital campaign for the monument
- contact 10 key people who could become major contributors
- talk about the Garden and the fund-raising effort
The initiative will be led by the National Peace Garden Foundation and the
National Peace Corps Association.
Before we draft a response and refer it to members of the Administration, Jim
Dorskind has asked me to find out how likely the President is to do any of
things listed above. This will help us provide a responsive letter back to the
Deputy Secretary.
Thanks very much for your help.
END ATTACHMENT
1
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Tracy F. Sisser (SISSER_T) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:30-MAY-1996 09:35:31.19
SUBJECT: Follow-up on Ron Brown Peace Memorial
TO: Robert W. Schroeder III
(SCHROEDER_R) (WHO)
READ:30-MAY-1996 10:41:21.32
CC: Jack R. Shock
(SHOCK_J) (WHO)
READ:30-MAY-1996 10:24:53.02
TEXT:
Have you had a chance to review the information regarding the Ron Brown Peace
Garden? I still am holding the letter from the Deputy Secretary of the Interior
on the subject.
He wanted to know if the President could:
1)Ask Lew Wasserman and John F. Kennedy, Jr. to play leading roles in the
capital campaign for the monument.
2) Contact 10 key people who could become major contributors.
3) Talk about the Garden and the fund-raising effort.
Please let me know how to proceed on this letter.
Thanks very much.
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Julia F. Bator (BATOR_J) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME: 8-JUL-1996 10:03:31.63
SUBJECT: George
TO: Lori L. Anderson
(ANDERSON_L) (WHO)
READ:10-JUL-1996 08:01:15.45
TEXT:
I know that Jim has been talking to Lorrie McHugh about a request
we got from JFK, Jr., for POTUS to do an interview with George
magazine. Jim tells me that you all will take care of this
request, but I am still holding the letter at my desk. Do you
want it, or should I continue to hang onto it?
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (EXTERNAL MAIL)
CREATOR: [email protected]@INET@EOPMRX
CREATION DATE/TIME:12-JUL-1996 08:46:00.00
SUBJECT: Articles - 7/12/96
TO: Yandura_P
(Yandura_P@A1@CD)(WHO)
READ:12-JUL-1996 18:55:17.27
TO: Socarides_R
(Socarides_R@A1@CD)( (WHO)
READ:12-JUL-1996 09:08:25.30
TEXT:
CONTENTS:
1. THE BOSTON GLOBE: Massachusetts congressmen denounce ban on homosexual
marriage
2. USA TODAY:
a. House vote nears on creating federal definition of marriage
b. Gay films vie for Hollywood's attention at OutFest '96
c. Book examines crazy quilt of America's sex laws
d. JFK Jr. tangles with tabloid over alleged gay photos
3. THE DETROIT NEWS: Deb Price column - Defender of Hawaiian same-sex
marriages has a long history of doing the right thing
THE BOSTON GLOBE
July 11, 1996
MASS. CONGRESSMEN DENOUNCE BAN ON HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE
BY CHRIS BLACK, Boston Globe
WASHINGTON -- Massachusetts' two gay congressmen transformed a routine
procedural debate Thursday on the House floor into a deeply personal
testament, citing theimportance of longterm relationships, to denounce a
proposed ban on homosexual marriages.
In pointed language, U.S. Reps. Gerry E. Studds and Barney Frank, both
Democrats, appealed to their colleagues to permit them to have the same right
to wed that heterosexuals possess, an argument that ignited a firestorm on
the House floor and laid bare unusual emotion for a congressional debate.
``I have served in this House for 24 years," said Studds, who is retiring
at the end of this term. ``I have been elected 12 times, the last six times
as an openly gay man, and for the last six years I have been in a
relationship as loving, as caring, as committed, as nurtured and celebrated
and sustained by our extended families as that of any member of this House."
Proponents of the Defense of Marriage Act said the legislation was needed
to protect the institution. The issue emerged following a preliminary state
court finding in Hawaii suggested that denying the right to marriage to a
lesbian couple could constitute denial of equal protection under the law. The
case is pending.
The bill would bar federal recognition of gay marriage and allow states to
refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Both
Democratic President Clinton and Republican opponent Bob Dole oppose
legalizing gay marriage.
"The family is the cornerstone of our society, and at the core of that
cornerstone is the institution of marriage," said Rep. Steve Largent, a
Republican from Oklahoma. ``Nothing is more important than protecting the
institution of marriage."
Rep. Bob Barr, a Georgia Republican who is the chief sponsor of the bill,
said that the bill was needed because marriage is ``under direct assault by
homosexual extremists all across this country."
Only three openly gay men serve in the US House, and the debate Thursday,
a parliamentary skirmish that precedes House consideration of the bill
Friday, was believed to be the first time in House history that homosexual
members have spoken so openly on the House floor about a subject so deeply
personal.
Studds, one of the most private members of the Massachusetts delegation
and typically circumspect about personal matters, spoke emotively about his
partner of six years, Dean Hara.
``Not so long ago, women were denied the right to own property and people
of color were property," Studds said. "But things change, and they are
changing now. We can embrace that change or we can resist that change but
`thank God almighty,' as Dr. King would have said, that you do not have the
power to stop it."
Frank demanded that supporters of the bill tell him how his longstanding
relationship with his partner Herb Moses threatened their marriages.
"How does the fact that I love another man and live in a committed
relationship with him threaten your marriage?" he asked. ``Are your
relations with your spouses of such fragility that the fact that I have a
committed, loving relationship with another man jeopardizes them? My God,
what do you do when the lights go out?" The remark was a veiled jab at Barr,
who has been married three times.
Largent replied, ``Mr. Frank's relationship with another man does not
threaten my marriage whatsoever."
"Whose marriage does it threaten?" demanded Frank.
``It threatens the institution of marriage," said Largent.
"That argument ought to be made by someone in an institution because it
has no logical basis whatsoever," said. Frank. "This is a desperate search
for a political issue against people who are unpopular. People say this is
not political. Now we understand why we do not speak here under oath. No one
in the world believes this is not political."
Studds said that his partner, unlike the spouses of House members, was not
eligible for spousal health insurance or pension benefits.
``I have paid every single penny as much as every single member for that
pension, but my partner, should he survive me, is not eligible for one single
penny of that pension," he said. ``I don't think that is fair. I don't think
most Americans think that is fair.
"I'm a very private person," reflected Studds later in the day in his
office. "But this was an occasion to quietly and with dignity make a
terribly important point. I'm not trying to embarrass other members but put
the spotlight on the absurdity of this position and put some historical
perspective on it. This is the last chapter of the civil rights movement."
USA TODAY
1000 Wilson Blvd.,Arlington,VA,22229
FAX: 703-247-3108, E-MAIL: [email protected]
Friday, July 12, 1996
HOUSE VOTE NEARS ON CREATING FEDERAL DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE
WASHINGTON - The House is nearing a vote on a hotly contested bill that
would create the first federal definition of marriage and outlaw same-sex
unions in federal law even if a state decides to legalize them.
The bill is expected to pass easily, and conservatives say they can't
believe some Democrats are opposing legislation that would define marriage as
a legal union between one man and one woman.
But opponents have denounced the Defense of Marriage Act as thinly
disguised bigotry designed to provoke anti-gay feelings among voters during
this year's presidential campaign.
"This bill is an absolute outrage," said Rep. Patricia Schroeder
(D-Colo.) on the House floor Thursday. "If you think there isn't enough hate
and polarization in America, you're going to love this bill."
Debate was scheduled to resume Friday.
The federal government traditionally leaves regulation of marriage to the
states, but supporters said the legislation is needed to blunt the effects of
a court case that could lead Hawaii to become the first state to grant gays
the right to marry.
If that happens, the Constitution may require other states to recognize gay
marriages performed in Hawaii, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.)
The case is scheduled to go to trial in September.
Marriage is "under direct assault by homosexual extremists all across this
country," Barr said.
President Clinton joined the fray Thursday by repeating assurances that he
opposes discrimination against any group of Americans. But he nevertheless
will sign the bill, the White House said, because he "has long opposed
same-sex marriage."
Barr said the bill wouldn't block any state from legalizing gay marriages,
but other states would have the authority to reject their validity.
Married gay couples would remain ineligible for spousal benefits under the
Social Security and Medicare programs and any other federal benefit reserved
for heterosexual couples.
Some opponents believe states already have the power to reject gay
marriages performed in other states. And Democrats have said the bill was
timed for maximum Republican political advantage.
"How does the fact that I love another man
threaten your marriage?"
asked Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of Congress' three openly gay members.
Rep. Steve Largent (R-Okla.) contended history shows that gay marriage
would hasten the decline of American culture. "No culture that has ever
embraced homosexuality has ever survived," he said.
Critics of an identical bill introduced in the Senate by Sen. Don Nickles
(R-Okla.) called it mean-spirited gay bashing during a public hearing before
the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
"The bill before us is called the Defense of Marriage Act, but a more
accurate title would be the Defense of Intolerance Act - or even more
accurately, the Defense of Endangered Republican Candidates Act," said Sen.
Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)
Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) denied suggestions that
the bill was politically motivated. "There are some values that deserve
protection," he said. "It's a very important family values issue."
Kennedy and Sens. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and James Jeffords
(R-Vermont) plan to offer an amendment that would prohibit job discrimination
against gays.
*
GAY FILMS VIE FOR HOLLYWOOD'S ATTENTION AT OUTFEST '96
LOS ANGELES - The last of the three big U.S. gay and lesbian film
festivals opened Thursday in Hollywood, expecting to WOO distributors because
of its location at the heart of the film business.
"You get a distributor to come to your film with a gay audience and it's a
great way to create heat," says John Cooper, programmer of Outfest '96: The
Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
"And," says Cooper, also a programmer at the Sundance Film Festival,
"these people don't have to travel far to do it. They just drive down out of
the hills."
Films these distributors select could wind up in multiplexes all over the
country. Though Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was first shown at Cannes, it
was a sneak at the L.A. festival that launched it.
Outfest is one of three major gay and lesbian film festivals clustered
loosely around Gay Pride festivities. The 20-year-old San Francisco festival
in June is the oldest and biggest. New York gets premieres. The L.A. event
runs through July 21 at the Director's Guild of America.
Besides being an easy way for specialized divisions of the major film
studios to find product, the 14-year-old Outfest is also "a good way for
Hollywood to look for talent for other projects," Cooper says.
"It's a lot easier now for gay and lesbian films to get picked up," says
Patricia Morris, co-director of the San Francisco festival, "especially
when you look at the success of films like To Wong Foo and Jeffrey."
None of these festivals has trouble selling tickets. Last year Outfest
drew 20,000. "This year we've added 25% more screenings and expect 24,000 to
25,000," says Morgan Rumpf, executive director of Out on the Screen, the
group that organizes the L.A. festival.
Corporate and entertainment industry support has more than doubled over
last year, Rumpf says. "We've gotten our act together here," he says.
Prize money has been upped this year. The juried prize winners for best
feature and documentary will each receive $2,000. For small, independent
filmmakers, "you could go to three more festivals with that," Cooper says.
And there is no shortage of gay and lesbian film festivals in the world.
Morris says the San Francisco festival counted 80. There's even one in
Reykjavik, Iceland.
"And Hong Kong," she says, though with China taking over government
control, "I don't know about next year."
--By Tom Green, USA TODAY
*
FROM DOCUMENTARIES TO DRAMAS
The opening night film of Outfest '96 is Stonewall, a drama about lives
converging in the 1969 violence credited with sparking the gay movement.
Closing night offers the lesbian love story Late Bloomers.
The festival also includes a screening of Bound, a lesbian thriller
starring Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly, which will get a major release next
month.
Among 26 feature films and more than 175 documentaries and shorts, the
festival also includes the first major feature by a black lesbian (Watermelon
Woman), a Chinese documentary about gay life in China, two gay films from
Cuba, a Norwegian film about
a boy coming to grips with his sexuality, and a Cinderella fantasy (Celestial
Clockwork).
There is also plenty of sex.
"Sex sells," programmer John Cooper says. "Especially on date nights."
*
BOOK EXAMINES CRAZY QUILT OF USA'S SEX LAWS
CHICAGO - In Minnesota, adulterers can get off the hook if their spouses
are insane.
In Alabama, adultery is not a crime if a person "reasonably believes that
he and the other person are unmarried persons."
It takes only a few minutes with A Guide to Sex Laws in the United States
to realize that the nation's laws governing what two consenting adults can do
with one another are a crazed jumble.
That's one reason why Richard Posner, a federal judge in Chicago, and law
school professor Katharine Silbaugh wrote it.
"What surprises me most is the sheer complexity and verbal obscurity of
these laws," Posner, chief judge of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in
Chicago, said Tuesday. "It's extraordinary."
The book, to be published in October by the University of Chicago Press,
quotes each state's laws on 17 varieties of sexual behavior, with no attempt
to interpret them.
Silbaugh, who teaches at Boston University, said the nation's sex laws are
"wildly inconsistent from state to state and sometimes even within the same
state."
Louisiana has no statute against fornication, while Illinois deems it a
misdemeanor "to engage in sexual intercourse with a person to whom the
offender is not married if the behavior is open and notorious."
The laws' language is often quaint, full of references to "the crime
against nature" and "abominable" crimes.
Still, none tops South Carolina's sodomy law, which states, in simple
eloquence, "Buggery is a felony."
Brief and to the point, but as Posner points out, "you have to know what
buggery means."
"People may not even want the law enforced, but they like it as a
representation of their values," he said.
In Oklahoma, virtuous women can take heart from the fornication statute:
"It is a felony to seduce and have illicit connection with any unmarried
female of previous chaste character under promise of marriage." Cads,
however, can go free if they later marry the woman.
Elizabeth Mooney, who teaches human sexuality at Indiana University at
South Bend, noted that many of today's laws are remnants of an earlier era.
"There are still horse-thieving laws on the books that have never been
taken off," said Mooney, who used to work at the Institute for Sex Research.
Silbaugh, though, said the fact that the laws still exist is disturbing.
"It can always be grounds for arrest and release. In the gay community
that's very important. You can pull up in front of a gay bar and arrest
somebody on suspicion of sodomy," she said.
Inertia helps keep legislatures from changing out-dated laws, the authors
and experts said. And not many are willing to push to change laws that some
consider moral stanchions.
"The only people you hear who are real activists are people who have a
great deal to lose," said Judith Seifer, past president of the American
Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists.
Or as Posner put it, chuckling, "The abominable criminals, they don't
represent a vocal, influential pressure group."
*
JFK JR. TURNS TABLES ON TABLOID
JFK Jr. tangles with the National Enquirer in the August issue of his
George magazine. Kennedy gets personal with the tabloid's editor emeritus,
lain Calder, about tales that obviously left a bad taste with this
much-pursued son of American icons.
"Come on, lain. It's a lot more interesting to run a headline
like 'John Attacks Live-In Lover' than "Two People Had an Argument in Battery
Park,' Kennedy says in the interview, referring to a videotaped fight he
had with Carolyn Bessette in February.
Kennedy tells Calder that once in college he got a call from an unnamed
tabloid saying it had photos proving he was gay, "taken in a bar or
something." Kennedy denied it; the tabloid called Sen. Ted Kennedy, who was
told the photos wouldn't be printed
if the senator posed with his family for photos (doesn't sound as if Ted
agreed).
Calder, a Scot nicknamed "Ice Pick," says the Enquirer would never have
used such photos, even if the story were true. Why? "Because our readers
consider you a beloved figure." Kennedy responds: "You're too kind. But
wouldn't that be all the more reason?" No, says Calder, readers would have
"killed us for doing that. You're the little boy saluting his father."
THE DETROIT NEWS
Detroit, Michigan
Friday, July 12, 1996
DEB PRICE COLUMN
DEFENDER OF HAWAIIAN SAME-SEX MARRAIGES HAS A LONG HISTORY OF DOING
THE RIGHT THING
Within two years, Honolulu attorney Dan Foley could be the envy of every
right-minded lawyer in America: He's poised to win the biggest gay-rights
victory in history by securing the legal right of same-sex couples to marry
in Hawaii.
Foley's not gay. He's never before handled a major gay case. Yet life
began grooming him early to be exactly the right advocate for gay marriage
Foley grew up with a deep affection for his father's brother, Joe, who'd
opened a gay bar in Sausalito, Calif., after World War II as a safe haven
from the police harassment then common in San Francisco. "I always knew that
my uncle was gay. My mom would take us down to visit him. He would bring his
partner to our dinners," he recalls.
After Foley's parents split up, his mother continued treating Joe as a
dear brother-in-law. "In fact, she liked Uncle Joe a lot better than her
ex-husband," Foley says with a characteristic easy chuckle.
Later, as a University of San Francisco law student, Foley became
comfortably acquainted with his own generation of gay people, thanks to a gay
roommate.
After two Peace Corps stints, he eventually settled in Hawaii in 1983 as
a civil-rights lawyer dedicated to representing worthy clients others might
turn away. He successfully worked, for example, to free a young man serving a
life sentence for a murder he didn't commit.
"I realized," Foley says looking back, "that if I didn't take the case, no
one would." His first gay-rights case involved a hula carnival on the island
of Molokai. Male dancers were going to vie for the title "Miss Gay Molokai."
Outraged, religious extremists warned the island would be destroyed if the
carnival took place. The mayor revoked the carnival's permit. Foley got it
restored, and the carnival drew a record crowd.
But when three gay couples wanted to sue the state of Hawaii for refusing
to issue them marriage licenses in late 1990, they didn't immediately turn to
Foley. First, they approached every civil rights and gay group they knew
and got turned down. Their challenge was premature, not a top priority, a
loser. Or, so they were told.
"No one else would represent them. I took the case, not thinking it was a
winner at that time, but that the couples deserved their day in court," Foley
says. He'd never before thought of marriage laws as discriminatory. Yet his
first reaction was, "Who am I to say they can't have what I have?"
Foley's own marriage is interracial. He's a "haole," Hawaiian for
Caucasian. "My wife is Chinese-Japanese-Hawaiian. So in most states of the
union at one time, that would have been a crime," he notes.
Foley's personal life was a blank to the gay couples when they approached
him, though. "We didn't know if he was gay or straight. And we didn't care.
No one else was there to help us," says Joe Melillo, fighting for the right
to wed his partner of 13 years.
Foley, now 49, won a stunning preliminary victory in May 1993. The Hawaii
Supreme Court ruled marriage licenses must be issued without regard to gender
unless a "compelling" state interest justifies discriminating against
same-sex couples. The state must try to meet that tough standard when the
case goes to trial Sept. 10.
Right from the start, Evan Wolfson of the Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund had wanted his group to take the marriage case. But he now
says it was a lucky day "when all the movement organizations turned this case
down and Dan Foley was chosen. He is so enormously respected throughout
Hawaii that he brings tremendous credibility to the legal arguments and
the political arguments." (Wolfson joined the case as co-counsel after the
'93 ruling.)
The litigation's cost keeps rising. Foley, chuckling again, says, "I
charge for part of my time and they pay for part of my charge."
Dubbed "Best Man" by one gay paper and 1994 "Islander of the Year" by
Honolulu magazine, Foley isn't out to win a popularity contest. Yet he enjoys
mentioning that he draws more flak for representing Waikiki's Hare Krishna
T-shirt vendors than for advocating gay marriage. "Hawaii is a very tolerant
and loving state," he explains.
Dan Foley and Hawaii's gay marriage case just may be a match made in
heaven: A real winner.
* NOTE: Deb Price's e-mail address is [email protected]
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CREATOR: [email protected]@INET@EOPMRX
CREATION DATE/TIME:13-JUL-1996 04:24:00.00
SUBJECT: Public Service Rebroadcast - Daily Digest
TO: Channel_Q_Daily_Digest
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TEXT:
Channel Q Public Service Rebroadcast Facility - Daily Digest for Saturday,
July 13, 1996
1. Articles 7/12/96
2. Articles - - 7/12/96 (2)
3. Articles - 7/12/96 (3)
4. House of Representatives Passes Anti-Marriage Bill
5. House Passes Anti-Gay Marriage Bill
6. DOMA House Vote--NGLTF Statement
7. Articles - 7/12/96 (4)
Date: 12 Jul 1996 05:53:48 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: Articles - 7/12/96
CONTENTS:
1. THE BOSTON GLOBE: Massachusetts congressmen denounce ban on homosexual
marriage
2. USA TODAY:
a. House vote nears on creating federal definition of marriage
b. Gay films vie for Hollywood's attention at OutFest '96
c. Book examines crazy quilt of America's sex laws
d. JFK Jr. tangles with tabloid over alleged gay photos
3. THE DETROIT NEWS: Deb Price column - Defender of Hawaiian same-sex
marriages has a long history of doing the right thing
THE BOSTON GLOBE
July 11, 1996
MASS. CONGRESSMEN DENOUNCE BAN ON HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE
BY CHRIS BLACK, Boston Globe
WASHINGTON -- Massachusetts' two gay congressmen transformed a routine
procedural debate Thursday on the House floor into a deeply personal
testament, citing theimportance of longterm relationships, to denounce a
proposed ban on homosexual marriages.
In pointed language, U.S. Reps. Gerry E. Studds and Barney Frank, both
Democrats, appealed to their colleagues to permit them to have the same right
to wed that heterosexuals possess, an argument that ignited a firestorm on
the House floor and laid bare unusual emotion for a congressional debate.
``I have served in this House for 24 years," said Studds, who is retiring
at the end of this term. ``I have been elected 12 times, the last six times
as an openly gay man, and for the last six years I have been in a
relationship as loving, as caring, as committed, as nurtured and celebrated
and sustained by our extended families as that of any member of this House."
Proponents of the Defense of Marriage Act said the legislation was needed
to protect the institution. The issue emerged following a preliminary state
court finding in Hawaii suggested that denying the right to marriage to a
lesbian couple could constitute denial of equal protection under the law. The
case is pending.
The bill would bar federal recognition of gay marriage and allow states to
refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Both
Democratic President Clinton and Republican opponent Bob Dole oppose
legalizing gay marriage.
"The family is the cornerstone of our society, and at the core of that
cornerstone is the institution of marriage," said Rep. Steve Largent, a
Republican from Oklahoma. "Nothing is more important than protecting the
institution of marriage."
Rep. Bob Barr, a Georgia Republican who is the chief sponsor of the bill,
said that the bill was needed because marriage is ``under direct assault by
homosexual extremists all across this country."
Only three openly gay men serve in the US House, and the debate Thursday,
a parliamentary skirmish that precedes House consideration of the bill
Friday, was believed to be the first time in House history that homosexual
members have spoken so openly on the House floor about a subject so deeply
personal.
Studds, one of the most private members of the Massachusetts delegation
and typically circumspect about personal matters, spoke emotively about his
partner of six years, Dean Hara.
"Not so long ago, women were denied the right to own property and people
of color were property," Studds said. "But things change, and they are
changing now. We can embrace that change or we can resist that change but
`thank God almighty,' as Dr. King would have said, that you do not have the
power to stop it."
Frank demanded that supporters of the bill tell him how his longstanding
relationship with his partner Herb Moses threatened their marriages.
"How does the fact that I love another man and live in a committed
relationship with him threaten your marriage?" he asked. ``Are your
relations with your spouses of such fragility that the fact that I have a
committed, loving relationship with another man jeopardizes them? My God,
what do you do when the lights go out?" The remark was a veiled jab at Barr,
who has been married three times.
Largent replied, ``Mr. Frank's relationship with another man does not
threaten my marriage whatsoever."
"Whose marriage does it threaten?" demanded Frank.
``It threatens the institution of marriage," said Largent.
"That argument ought to be made by someone in an institution because it
has no logical basis whatsoever," said. Frank. "This is a desperate search
for a political issue against people who are unpopular. People say this is
not political. Now we understand why we do not speak here under oath. No one
in the world believes this is not political."
Studds said that his partner, unlike the spouses of House members, was not
eligible for spousal health insurance or pension benefits.
``I have paid every single penny as much as every single member for that
pension, but my partner, should he survive me, is not eligible for one single
penny of that pension," he said. ``I don't think that is fair. I don't think
most Americans think that is fair.
"I'm a very private person," reflected Studds later in the day in his
office. "But this was an occasion to quietly and with dignity make a
terribly important point. I'm not trying to embarrass other members but put
the spotlight on the absurdity of this position and put some historical
perspective on it. This is the last chapter of the civil rights movement."
USA TODAY
1000 Wilson Blvd,Arlington,VA,2229
FAX: 703-247-3108, E-MAIL: [email protected]
Friday, July 12, 1996
HOUSE VOTE NEARS ON CREATING FEDERAL DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE
WASHINGTON - The House is nearing a vote on a hotly contested bill that
would create the first federal definition of marriage and outlaw same-sex
unions in federal law even if a state decides to legalize them.
The bill is expected to pass easily, and conservatives say they can't
believe some Democrats are opposing legislation that would define marriage as
a legal union between one man and one woman.
But opponents have denounced the Defense of Marriage Act as thinly
disguised bigotry designed to provoke anti-gay feelings among voters during
this year's presidential campaign.
"This bill is an absolute outrage," said Rep. Patricia Schroeder
(D-Colo.) on the House floor Thursday. "If you think there isn't enough hate
and polarization in America, you're going to love this bill."
Debate was scheduled to resume Friday.
The federal government traditionally leaves regulation of marriage to the
states, but supporters said the legislation is needed to blunt the effects of
a court case that could lead Hawaii to become the first state to grant gays
the right to marry.
If that happens, the Constitution may require other states to recognize gay
marriages performed in Hawaii, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.)
The case is scheduled to go to trial in September.
Marriage is "under direct assault by homosexual extremists all across this
country," Barr said.
President Clinton joined the fray Thursday by repeating assurances that he
opposes discrimination against any group of Americans. But he nevertheless
will sign the bill, the White House said, because he "has long opposed
same-sex marriage."
Barr said the bill wouldn't block any state from legalizing gay marriages,
but other states would have the authority to reject their validity.
Married gay couples would remain ineligible for spousal benefits under the
Social Security and Medicare programs and any other federal benefit reserved
for heterosexual couples.
Some opponents believe states already have the power to reject gay
marriages performed in other states. And Democrats have said the bill was
timed for maximum Republican political advantage.
"How does the fact that I love another man threaten your marriage?"
asked Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of Congress' three openly gay members.
Rep. Steve Largent (R-Okla.) contended history shows that gay marriage
would hasten the decline of American culture. "No culture that has ever
embraced homosexuality has ever survived," he said.
Critics of an identical bill introduced in the Senate by Sen. Don Nickles
(R-Okla.) called it mean-spirited gay bashing during a public hearing before
the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
"The bill before us is called the Defense of Marriage Act, but a more
accurate title would be the Defense of Intolerance Act - or even more
accurately, the Defense of Endangered Republican Candidates Act," said Sen.
Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)
Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) denied suggestions that
the bill was politically motivated. "There are some values that deserve
protection," he said. "It's a very important family values issue."
Kennedy and Sens. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and James Jeffords
(R-Vermont) plan to offer an amendment that would prohibit job discrimination
against gays.
*
GAY FILMS VIE FOR HOLLYWOOD'S ATTENTION AT OUTFEST '96
LOS ANGELES - The last of the three big U.S. gay and lesbian film
festivals opened Thursday in Hollywood, expecting to WOO distributors because
of its location at the heart of the film business.
"You get a distributor to come to your film with a gay audience and it's a
great way to create heat," says John Cooper, programmer of Outfest '96: The
Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
"And," says Cooper, also a programmer at the Sundance Film Festival,
"these people don't have to travel far to do it. They just drive down out of
the hills."
Films these distributors select could wind up in multiplexes all over the
country. Though Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was first shown at Cannes, it
was a sneak at the L.A. festival that launched it.
Outfest is one of three major gay and lesbian film festivals clustered
loosely around Gay Pride festivities. The 20-year-old San Francisco festival
in June is the oldest and biggest. New York gets premieres. The L.A. event
runs through July 21 at the Director's Guild of America.
Besides being an easy way for specialized divisions of the major film
studios to find product, the 14-year-old Outfest is also "a good way for
Hollywood to look for talent for other projects," Cooper says.
"It's a lot easier now for gay and lesbian films to get picked up," says
Patricia Morris, co-director of the San Francisco festival, "especially
when you look at the success of films like To Wong Foo and Jeffrey."
None of these festivals has trouble selling tickets. Last year Outfest
drew 20,000. "This year we've added 25% more screenings and expect 24,000 to
25,000," says Morgan Rumpf, executive director of Out on the Screen, the
group that organizes the L.A. festival.
Corporate and entertainment industry support has more than doubled over
last year, Rumpf says. "We've gotten our act together here," he says.
Prize money has been upped this year. The juried prize winners for best
feature and documentary will each receive $2,000. For small, independent
filmmakers, "you could go to three more festivals with that," Cooper says.
And there is no shortage of gay and lesbian film festivals in the world.
Morris says the San Francisco festival counted 80. There's even one in
Reykjavik, Iceland.
"And Hong Kong," she says, though with China taking over government
control, "I don't know about next year."
--By Tom Green, USA TODAY
*
FROM DOCUMENTARIES TO DRAMAS
The opening night film of Outfest '96 is Stonewall, a drama about lives
converging in the 1969 violence credited with sparking the gay movement.
Closing night offers the lesbian love story Late Bloomers.
The festival also includes a screening of Bound, a lesbian thriller
starring Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly, which will get a major release next
month.
Among 26 feature films and more than 175 documentaries and shorts, the
festival also includes the first major feature by a black lesbian (Watermelon
Woman), a Chinese documentary about gay life in China, two gay films from
Cuba, a Norwegian film about
a boy coming to grips with his sexuality, and a Cinderella fantasy (Celestial
Clockwork).
There is also plenty of sex.
"Sex sells," programmer John Cooper says. "Especially on date nights."
*
BOOK EXAMINES CRAZY QUILT OF USA'S SEX LAWS
CHICAGO - In Minnesota, adulterers can get off the hook if their spouses
are insane.
In Alabama, adultery is not a crime if a person "reasonably believes that
he and the other person are unmarried persons."
It takes only a few minutes with A Guide to Sex Laws in the United States
to realize that the nation's laws governing what two consenting adults can do
with one another are a crazed jumble.
That's one reason why Richard Posner, a federal judge in Chicago, and law
school professor Katharine Silbaugh wrote it.
"What surprises me most is the sheer complexity and verbal obscurity of
these laws," Posner, chief judge of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in
Chicago, said Tuesday. "It's extraordinary."
The book, to be published in October by the University of Chicago Press,
quotes each state's laws on 17 varieties of sexual behavior, with no attempt
to interpret them.
Silbaugh, who teaches at Boston University, said the nation's sex laws are
"wildly inconsistent from state to state and sometimes even within the same
state."
Louisiana has no statute against fornication, while Illinois deems it a
misdemeanor "to engage in sexual intercourse with a person to whom the
offender is not married if the behavior is open and notorious."
The laws' language is often quaint, full of references to "the crime
against nature" and "abominable" crimes.
Still, none tops South Carolina's sodomy law, which states, in simple
eloquence, "Buggery is a felony."
Brief and to the point, but as Posner points out, "you have to know what
buggery means."
"People may not even want the law enforced, but they like it as a
representation of their values," he said.
In Oklahoma, virtuous women can take heart from the fornication statute:
"It is a felony to seduce and have illicit connection with any unmarried
female of previous chaste character under promise of marriage." Cads,
however, can go free if they later marry the woman.
Elizabeth Mooney, who teaches human sexuality at Indiana University at
South Bend, noted that many of today's laws are remnants of an earlier era.
"There are still horse-thieving laws on the books that have never been
taken off," said Mooney, who used to work at the Institute for Sex Research.
Silbaugh, though, said the fact that the laws still exist is disturbing.
"It can always be grounds for arrest and release. In the gay community
that's very important. You can pull up in front of a gay bar and arrest
somebody on suspicion of sodomy," she said.
Inertia helps keep legislatures from changing out-dated laws, the authors
and experts said. And not many are willing to push to change laws that some
consider moral stanchions.
"The only people you hear who are real activists are people who have a
great deal to lose," said Judith Seifer, past president of the American
Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists.
Or as Posner put it, chuckling, "The abominable criminals, they don't
represent a vocal, influential pressure group."
*
JFK JR. TURNS TABLES ON TABLOID
JFK Jr. tangles with the National Enquirer in the August issue of his
George magazine. Kennedy gets personal with the tabloid's editor emeritus,
lain Calder, about tales that obviously left a bad taste with this
much-pursued son of American icons.
"Come on, lain. It's a lot more interesting to run a headline
like 'John Attacks Live-In Lover' than 'Two People Had an Argument in Battery
Park," Kennedy says in the interview, referring to a videotaped fight he
had with Carolyn Bessette in February.
Kennedy tells Calder that once in college he got a call from an unnamed
tabloid saying it had photos proving he was gay, "taken in a bar or
something." Kennedy denied it; the tabloid called Sen. Ted Kennedy, who was
told the photos wouldn't be printed
if the senator posed with his family for photos (doesn't sound as if Ted
agreed).
Calder, a Scot nicknamed "Ice Pick," says the Enquirer would never have
used such photos, even if the story were true. Why? "Because our readers
consider you a beloved figure." Kennedy responds: "You're too kind. But
wouldn't that be all the more reason?" No, says Calder, readers would have
"killed us for doing that. You're the little boy saluting his father."
THE DETROIT NEWS
Detroit, Michigan
Friday, July 12, 1996
DEB PRICE COLUMN
DEFENDER OF HAWAIIAN SAME-SEX MARRAIGES HAS A LONG HISTORY OF DOING
THE RIGHT THING
Within two years, Honolulu attorney Dan Foley could be the envy of every
right-minded lawyer in America: He's poised to win the biggest gay-rights
victory in history by securing the legal right of same-sex couples to marry
in Hawaii.
Foley's not gay. He's never before handled a major gay case. Yet life
began grooming him early to be exactly the right advocate for gay marriage
Foley grew up with a deep affection for his father's brother, Joe, who'd
opened a gay bar in Sausalito, Calif., after World War II as a safe haven
from the police harassment then common in San Francisco. "I always knew that
my uncle was gay. My mom would take us down to visit him. He would bring his
partner to our dinners," he recalls.
After Foley's parents split up, his mother continued treating Joe as a
dear brother-in-law. "In fact, she liked Uncle Joe a lot better than her
ex-husband," Foley says with a characteristic easy chuckle.
Later, as a University of San Francisco law student, Foley became
comfortably acquainted with his own generation of gay people, thanks to a gay
roommate.
After two Peace Corps stints, he eventually settled in Hawaii in 1983 as
a civil-rights lawyer dedicated to representing worthy clients others might
turn away. He successfully worked, for example, to free a young man serving a
life sentence for a murder he didn't commit.
"I realized," Foley says looking back, "that if I didn't take the case, no
one would." His first gay-rights case involved a hula carnival on the island
of Molokai. Male dancers were going to vie for the title "Miss Gay Molokai."
Outraged, religious extremists warned the island would be destroyed if the
carnival took place. The mayor revoked the carnival's permit. Foley got it
restored, and the carnival drew a record crowd.
But when three gay couples wanted to sue the state of Hawaii for refusing
to issue them marriage licenses in late 1990, they didn't immediately turn to
Foley. First, they approached every civil rights and gay group they knew -
and got turned down. Their challenge was premature, not a top priority, a
loser. Or, so they were told.
"No one else would represent them. I took the case, not thinking it was a
winner at that time, but that the couples deserved their day in court," Foley
says. He'd never before thought of marriage laws as discriminatory. Yet his
first reaction was, "Who am I to say they can't have what I have?"
Foley's own marriage is interracial. He's a "haole," Hawaiian for
Caucasian. "My wife is Chinese-Japanese-Hawaiian So in most states of the
union at one time, that would have been a crime," he notes.
Foley's personal life was a blank to the gay couples when they approached
him, though. "We didn't know if he was gay or straight. And we didn't care.
No one else was there to help us," says Joe Melillo, fighting for the right
to wed his partner of 13 years.
Foley, now 49, won a stunning preliminary victory in May 1993. The Hawaii
Supreme Court ruled marriage licenses must be issued without regard to gender
unless a "compelling" state interest justifies discriminating against
same-sex couples. The state must try to meet that tough standard when the
case goes to trial Sept. 10.
Right from the start, Evan Wolfson of the Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund had wanted his group to take the marriage case. But he now
says it was a lucky day "when all the movement organizations turned this case
down and Dan Foley was chosen. He is so enormously respected throughout
Hawaii
that he brings tremendous credibility to the legal arguments and
the political arguments." (Wolfson joined the case as co-counsel after the
'93 ruling.)
The litigation's cost keeps rising. Foley, chuckling again, says, "I
charge for part of my time and they pay for part of my charge."
Dubbed "Best Man" by one gay paper and 1994 "Islander of the Year" by
Honolulu magazine, Foley isn't out to win a popularity contest. Yet he enjoys
mentioning that he draws more flak for representing Waikiki's Hare Krishna
T-shirt vendors than for advocating gay marriage. "Hawaii is a very tolerant
and loving state," he explains.
Dan Foley and Hawaii's gay marriage case just may be a match made in
heaven: A real winner.
* NOTE: Deb Price's e-mail address is [email protected]
Date: 12 Jul 1996 06:07:53 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: Articles - 7/12/96 (2)
CONTENTS:
1. THE NEW YORK TIMES: Democratic platform drafted Thursday avoids the
questions of same-sex marriages and homosexuals in the military - advocates
of gay rights do not complain
2. (PHOENIX) ARIZONA REPUBLIC: Excellent article - Religions grapple with
sexual ethics
3. BELLINGHAM (WA) HERALD: Professors at Western Washington University now
can post stickers declaring their offices safe zones for gay, lesbian and
bisexual students
4. DAYTON (OH) DAILY NEWS: On-duty policeman arrested for public indecency
at park
5. DALLAS MORNING NEWS Letter: Anti-gay Rev. Lou Sheldon's arguments make no
sense
6. PENSACOLA (FL) NEWS JOURNAL Letters: If sexual orientation is so easy to
change, why couldn't our gay son become heterosexual when he wanted to?
THE NEW YORK TIMES
229 W. 43rd Street, New York,NY, 10036
FAX: 212-556-3622, E-MAIL: [email protected]
Friday, July 12, 1996
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM DRAFTED WITH NARY A FIGHT (excerpt)
By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Ostentatiously unified, a group of Democratic Party
officials Thursday finished the first stage of drafting a party platform that
reflects President Clinton's policies across a range of issues but tries to
remain broad enough so that Democrats who disagree with the president on
particular points will not be antagonized.
Not one voice of dissent was raised in the two days that the party's
Platform Drafting Committee met here
Advocates of gay rights did not complain that the rough draft under
discussion Thursday completely avoided the questions of same-sex marriages
and homosexuals in the military
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
Box 1950,Phoenix,AZ,85001
FAX: 602-271-8933, E-MAIL: [email protected]
July 10, 1996
RELIGIONS GRAPPLE WITH SEXUAL ETHICS - EVOLVING THEOLOGY ON
SEXUALITY
By Deborah Kovach Caldwell, Knight Ridder News Service
DALLAS - The ruffled curtains and blue wallpaper in the bedroom, a
teen-age son's tortured expression - these are images from an October night
30 years ago that Jane Loflin will never forget.
At 16, Glenn Loflin was a senior at Kimball High School, drum major in the
marching band. The family, which included two other sons, lived in the Oak
Cliff section of Dallas. On Sundays they worshiped at a nearby Presbyterian
church.
Glenn had something urgent and private to tell his mother that October
night: "Mother, I think I have homosexual tendencies."
Jane Loflin still remembers her feelings. "It was like something molten
in my body."
For the next 28 years, Jane Loflin told few people, particularly in the
church. She feared the family would be shunned; later, she figured it would
just make people uncomfortable.
But these days, homosexuality - along with many other sexuality issues -
is no longer a taboo topic in places of worship. Instead, many Christians are
doing battle over abortion, contraception, divorce, gay rights, women's
roles, the men's movement, assisted fertility, inclusive language, domestic
abuse and premarital sex.
The core of all the sexual ethics discussions, experts say, is the
changing power relations between men and women and, by extension, the
definition of marriage.
"When we talk about gentle men and strong women, those are very clear
signs of changes in the culture," said Joretta Marshall, a pastoral care
professor at Iliff School of Theology in Denver and an expert on sexuality
and religion. "We're in a movement back and forth at the moment. To me, it
articulates the way the culture discerns things. The culture moves very
slowly. But I think the sexual ethic is changing."
She said people are polarized over sexuality because, like it or not, sex
is everywhere.
"Sexual issues are central to many things about our lives: our partners,
our marriages, our children, what we do for a living, how we teach girls to
be girls and boys to be boys," Marshall said.
Those on the liberal end say that although they believe traditional
heterosexual marriage is an important standard, they also believe Christians
must come up with a broader theology, one that is adequate to deal with what
people actually do and what science says.
Those on the conservative side say Christians should be compassionate
toward people who are, for instance, homsexual or divorced or living
together. But they say the church must uphold traditional moral standards -
particularly about heterosexual marriage - or risk destroying society.
Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, which has 2,900 members,
recently held a three-week seminar on homosexuality. Sitting in a semicircle
of folding chairs one Sunday night, about 100 people listened to the stories
of four parents of adult gay men and lesbians. Jane Loflin was one of those
parents.
Some people held their faces in rigid control and drew their arms close to
their chests in poses of discomfort. Others nodded and brushed away tears.
They asked questions: How do you deal with AIDS? How do you talk with a
gay child about safe sex? What do other faiths believe about homosexuality?
Afterward, the Rev. Blair Monie said he was proud of his members. While
the meetings didn't unify the congregation on the topic, Monie said, that
wasn't the purpose. "It was an experience that drove us past the
superficialities and made us all think," he said.
But most congregations don't wrestle with any sexual questions, gay or
otherwise.
Joseph Hough says that must change.
Hough is dean of Vanderbilt University's Divinity School, which is
treading where few divinity schools have dared. This year the
nondenominational, liberal-leaning school launched a program aimed at helping
religious people think through controversial sexuality issues.
"All the disputes in the church go back to the sexual revolution," Hough
said. "What had been a kind of public consensus on sexual morality in the
church began to break apart then."
He said the crux of the debate for Christians is how people view
Scripture. Conservatives point out that the Bible clearly forbids homosexual
relations; many also note that St. Paul told women to submit to their
husbands and keep quiet at worship. But liberals say that the Bible also
scorns getting a divorce and eating pork, and describes people smashing
baby's heads and canceling debts every 50 years.
"We're selective in our literalism," Hough said.
Hough prefers to view sexuality in shades of gray.
"The whole question of sexuality has to do with what is the moral context
for such activities," he said. "I would argue that a fully human
relationship between two people requires some common history and projected
history. At a minimum, it's caring for the basic needs of a person. Since sex
is the most intimate relationship, it should be subjected to the most
rigorous of these tests."
Until recently, most everyone believed that heterosexual marriage was the
only context for moral love and commitment. The only problem was, this wasn't
true, he said.
"There were questionable activities going on in marriage, such as abuse,
so marriage became a cloak," Hough said. Meanwhile, some gay and lesbian
people had loving, committed sexual relations and straight people were
sleeping together before marriage.
"That's not saying let's change the theology because of what people do,"
he said. "It's saying monogamy isn't adequate. It's a very high priority.
It's a very powerful moral symbol. And there are homosexual relations in
which people fall within the boundaries of the moral relationships I'm
talking about."
Hough, who has been married 36 years, had to face these questions when his
children moved in with their lovers. Within a few years, they were all
married.
"When I got married, either you didn't talk about sex or you thought you
had to have the Communion cup on the bed and take Communion before you had
sex," he said.
But is Hough's all-embracing approach such a good thing? Stanley Grenz
says no.
An evangelical who has written widely on sexuality and contemporary life,
Grenz said that if we pitch out the old ideals about marriage, we're
perilously close to destroying our civilization.
"It's one of the last structures to be called into question," said
Grenz, professor of theology and ethics at Carey/Regent College in Vancouver,
British Columbia. "Even in the '60s when we were going through the sexual
revolution, we still knew what marriage was. Now the question is: Is there
any difference between marriage and cohabiting? The line is very fuzzy."
Grenz said evangelicals feel strongly about the need to uphold monogamous
heterosexual marriage because it is a symbol echoed in the Bible.
"God has chosen human sexual relations to be a mirror of God's
relationship to us," he said. "That's picked up in the Old Testament, where
Israel is referred to as the spouse of Yahweh. In the prophets, there's an
interesting drama in talking about God and Israel, with the prophets talking
about how God wanted Israel to be a faithful bride and Israel was unfaithful
and committed adultery, but God remained faithful. In the New Testament, it's
picked up in the idea of the church as the bride of Christ.
"Most evangelicals would talk that kind of language and say it's
important that we don't efface this divinely chosen metaphor," Grenz said.
"One thing that is happening in the West, especially now, is the loss of
any common narrative, or set of beliefs, which gives social cohesion," Grenz
said. "The Bible has a historic function as providing an overarching
narrative from which people could gain identity. So people who were not
avowedly Christian would at least have the narrative in mind. But that
narrative is dying."
Many liberal Christians bemoan that loss, too. But they say they want to
read the Bible in a more tolerant and contemporary way.
Jane Loflin said she always did and so always supported her son. A couple
of years ago, she decided it was time to help other parents do the same
thing.
In 1994, she formed Presbyterian Parents of Gays and Lesbians, which has
four chapters in Texas.
"With other sexual issues, there is not this "hate the sinner' kind of
mentality," she said. "And then for parents in the church who have believed
the principles the church has stood for, the moral principles, and have heard
in some institutions from their pulpits and in their Sunday school classes
that their children are sinners because of their orientation. And to struggle
through that is really, really tough
"The church seems to be trailing behind in so many ways, when I wish the
church would lead."
THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
Bellingham, Washington
Wednesday, July 10, 1996
PROFS WARY OF GAY 'SAFE ZONE' STICKERS
* EDUCATION: They don't want to send wrong message.
By LISA GAUMNITZ
Professors at Western Washington University now can post stickers
declaring their offices safe zones for gay, lesbian and bisexual students.
Supporters say the stickers send a message that the students can find an
understanding listener.
"It is symbolic of a willingness and a commitment for open discussion
about anything.
"But there's a big difference between being willing to talk to people and
treat people as people regardless of whether your values match theirs, and
signing on," Nelson said. "I'm not going to put a sticker up for that
reason."
Other professors worry that the stickers will cast them in a counseling
role they're not trained for. Still others wonder if people will assume they
don't accept homosexuals if they decide not to display the stickers.
The stickers first were available four years ago and are being
reintroduced by the campus Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns Committee.
The first round of distribution didn't reach everyone, and some students
still find the campus hostile, said Matt Pearcey, a WWU graduate student who
co-chairs the committee and led efforts to get the stickers.
The committee sent memos to department heads and student affairs
administrators in late May telling them about the stickers. Since then,
faculty and staff members have requested about 50 of the 500 stickers.
The stickers are intended to identify people who support gay, lesbian and
bisexual students and who can refer them to others better able to address
their needs and concerns, Pearcey said.
An example, he said: "A gay male coming in to talk to his professor about
why a paper was late would be much better able to explain the reason if he
could say he had just broken up with his partner."
The student would know the professor would "be as lenient or not as
lenient with the gay person as with the heterosexual male who had just broken
up with his girlfriend," Pearcey said.
Another example: A lesbian would know she could speak openly with a
financial aid officer about any financial obligations she had to her
partner's child.
Psychology professor George Cvetkovich, president of the Faculty Senate,
said he regards the stickers as a positive effort and understands why the
committee thinks they are needed, given anti-gay rights initiatives in
several states, among other things.
But when asked whether he would display a sticker, he said his first
reaction was "no."
"It's sort of claiming something about me in terms of what I can provide
in terms of counseling," he said.
But Cvetkovich said he would be willing to refer students to the
appropriate campus and community agencies to seek help with personal
problems.
Marie Eaton, dean of Fairhaven College, supports the sticker program. She
still has a sticker from the previous distribution, which she helped engineer
when she was WWU's vice president for student affairs.
Then, she and other student affairs administrators saw the stickers as a
response to surveys showing that gay, lesbian and bisexual students felt
invisible on campus or felt hostility from others.
"The safe zone stickers are one small way to help shift that climate,"
Eaton said.
"We're not going to change anybody's mind who believes homosexuality is
perverted."
The stickers aren't an invitation for students to always talk about their
sexual orientation, backers said. The students should talk about appropriate
personal issues that affect their academic lives, they said.
Nelson thinks the stickers unnecessarily single out a group for special
treatment.
"Why shouldn't we have a sticker that's up there for African Americans and
for Jews?" he asked. "Why pick this one thing out and make a big deal out of
it with a sticker?"
Pearcey and Eaton said other minority student groups already have many
university programs to make them feel more at home.
Such efforts are important for homosexual students if the university wants
to diversify its student body, Eaton said.
"When you create a diverse campus, you need to create a climate in which
those diverse students feel comfortable," she said.
DAYTON DAILY NEWS
45 S. Ludlow Street,Dayton,OH,45402
FAX: 513-225-7302, E-MAIL: [email protected]
Thursday, July 11, 1996
ON-DUTY POLICEMAN ARRESTED FOR PUBLIC INDECENCY IN PARK'S GAY
CRUISE AREA
* Dayton Cop Transferred
by Janice Haidet Morse
A Dayton police detective has been temporarily transferred to another post
after being accused of conduct unbecoming an officer, his attorney, Terry
Posey, said.
Posey declined to comment further on behalf of his client, Detective Donald
C. Piper, who is scheduled to begin working in the communications bureau
today.
Piper, 40, had been placed on administrative leave with pay Tuesday, said
police Lt. John Huber, who served as hearing officer in the case Wednesday.
A Five Rivers MetroParks ranger/detective charged Piper with public
indecency, a fourth-degree misdemeanor allegedly committed at 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday at Huffman MetroPark in Greene County, said Chief Ranger Tim Klagge.
He declined to release further information on the allegations.
Huber said Piper was on duty at the time of the alleged offense.
"All I can tell you is it's an allegation at this point, and he's
innocent until proven guilty," Huber said.
Huber, who acted as a hearing officer in the case, said Piper is a 16-year,
highly decorated veteran of the force, and the allegations are "totally out
of character."
Piper is scheduled for a hearing in Fairborn Municipal Court on Friday.
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Thursday, July 11, 1996
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
SAME-SEX MARRIAGES -- A CHOICE?
As a former resident of Dallas, I was glad to hear that you gave equal
coverage of the same-sex marriage issue in your paper recently. I am somewhat
dismayed and confused by a few of Louis P. Sheldon's comments (Sunday Reader,
"Same-sex marriages: Con--Two sides debate issue before Congress and the
courts," June 23). First, he states that homosexuality is a choice and bases
this on the fact that there has been no indisputable evidence of a genetic
cause. On what authority, I wonder, does he base his assumption? There is no
doubt that homosexual, like heterosexual, activity
is a choice, but unless he has personally chosen to be homosexual or
heterosexual then I would say that his argument does not make sense.
He also cites a study showing that 25.9 percent of junior-senior high
school students are unsure of their sexual orientation. I'd be interested in
who conducted this "study." Certainly if it is true and that many young
people are uncertain of their orientation, then they should be given all the
information available on the subject. Does Mr. Sheldon agree?
Third, he says that gays don't want to get married. There is a big
difference between domestic partnership registration and marriage. How can he
possibly make such a broad assumption based on San Francisco domestic partner
registration?
Sadly, there are many people, and Mr. Sheldon is at the top of the list,
who use the name of the One who came to teach love and acceptance to preach
hate, intolerance, bigotry and to advance their own agenda.
--JANE CARBIENER, Springfield, Illinois
PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL
Pensacola, Florida
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Thursday, July 11, 1996
STOP PERSECUTION
Southern Baptists are boycotting Disney for supporting same-sex partners
at its parks. They say it promotes homosexuality. If sexual orientation is
so easy to change, why couldn't our gay son become heterosexual when he
wanted to?
He attempted suicide twice when he was 17, turned himself in to a mental
hospital to be changed. They couldn't help him. Then he went to bed with
numerous women but he could not sexually function. He was strictly gay.
Don't suggest religion. He was kicked out of churches when they learned he
was gay.
Since 1974, I've been meeting with thousands of gays throughout Florida,
Alabama, and Texas. They all say they considered suicide and some tried it.
Their friends and families say some succeeded as a means of ridding
themselves of homosexuality.
I am convinced that those who claim they changed due to religion are
merely abstaining from the type of sex that is natural for them. I hope I
live long enough to see Christ's return and reaction to those who have
persecuted gays.
-- Bonnie Jean Smith-Bryant, Pensacola, FL
*
SAVE THE BAPTISTS
The Southern Baptist Convention went to New Orleans and while they were
there decided to save the Jews.
Who's going to save the Baptists?
-- Walter J. Scallan, Pensacola, FL
Date: 12 Jul 1996 08:51:30 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: Articles - 7/12/96 (3)
CONTENTS:
1. LOUISVILLE (KY) COURIER JOURNAL: Poll finds many in Louisville would
welcome homosexuals as neighbors
2. FEEDBACK:
a. Concerned Women for America claiming false victory
b. An account of today's Defense of Marriage Act debate
LOUISVILLE COURIER JOURNAL
Louisville, Kentucky
THE COURIER-JOURNAL'S BLUEGRASS STATE POLL
MANY WOULD WELCOME HOMOSEXUALS AS NEIGHBORS
* Gay-rights law backed in metro-area survey
by Rick McDonough, Staff Writer
Otis Lauderdale, a married heterosexual, says he would be happy to see a
gay or lesbian couple move next door to his famiily's home in Louisville's
Chickasaw neighborhood [an Africa-American neighborhood].
"I don't necessarily agree with what they do," he said. "But I can't tell
them where to live."
Lauderdale, a 29-year-old housekeeping aide at the Veterans Affairs
Medical Center, apparently represents the views of most people in the
seven-county Louisville metropolitan area.
According to The Courier-Journal's latest Bluegrass State Poll, a majority
of the area's adults--56 percent--would welcome homosexuals as neighbors.
The poll also found that a solid majority of Louisville residents--65
percent--favor passing a law to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination
in housing and employment. Two attempts have been made in recent years to
pass such a law in Louisville, but the Board of Aldermen voted down the
proposals after strong protests from gay-rights opponents.
Beechmont [a white neighborhood] resident Em Mayhew, a retired U.S. Postal
Service supervisor, said she thinks a local gay-rights ordinance is needed to
protect homosexuals from work-related discrimination. "People tend to treat
them like second-class citizens," said Mayhew, who agreed to a follow-up
interview.
The finding that most Louisvillians favor gay-rights legislation "is
astounding to me," said Aldermen Tom Owen. A supporter of the legislation
himself, Owen said he's glad to hear that opponents apparently were wrong
when they claimed to speak for the majority.
But Alderman Dan Jonson, who twice voted against gay-rights legislation,
questioned the poll's finding on the issue, suggesting that too few
Louisville residents were interviewed for it to be accurate.
However, the poll was conducted according to standard statistical
practices. The poll of 800 adults in the seven-county metro area, including
242 adults in Louisville, was conducted by The Courier-Journal June 14-22.
The full sample has a margine of error of 3.5 percentage points; the margin
for the 242 adults in Louisville is 6.3 points.
Although support for passing a gay-rights law was particularly high in
Louisville, a majority--52 percent--of all those polled in the metro area
said they favored such a law for their communities.
"I don't like a lot of government but, on the other hand, a person's right
to make a living should be protected," said Pleasure Ridge Park [working
class white neighborhood] resident Stephen Whiteside, 46.
Local gay-rights advocates took credit for swaying opinions in favor of an
anti-discrimination law. They said they had drawn attention to the issue in
the past few years, and even campaigned door-to-door in Louisville
neighborhoods.
Jeff Rodgers, co-coordinator of the Fairness Campaign, which has lobbied
Louisville aldermen on the issue since 1991, said the poll results prove that
the group's work "has really moved this community."
Rodgers said the Fairness Campaign will try again next year to persuade
the aldermen to pass a gay-rights ordinance.
A key opponent, Alderman Bill Wilson, was defeated in the May Democratic
primary by political newcomer Denise Bentley. Bentley, who won with the help
of Fairness Campaign members, is unopposed in the November election.
But even with Wilson out of the picture next year, a gay-rights ordinance
will not pass unless at least two former opponents change their stand on the
issue. Assuming that none of the other incumbents are upset in November,
seven of the 11 returning aldermen have previously voted against gay-rights
legislation.
Rodgers said he and other Fairness Campaign leaders now think their
opponents on the Board of Aldermen would like to support their cause. But he
said they shied awy from gay rights because they thought that most of their
constituents opposed it. The poll results may help them feel comfortable
switching sides, he said.
But Dr. FrankSimon, a leading opponent of gay-rights laws, said he doesn't
expect any aldermen to be influenced by the poll.
"That poll is a joke" because it saksed the wrong question, said Simon, a
St. Matthews allergist who runs Freedom's Heritage Forum, a political-action
committee that contributes to socially conservative candidates and causes.
To make the poll fair, Simon said, the interviewers should have told the
people surveyed that "homosexuals already have more rights than anyone else
in America." He said "they can parade through major cities of America with
little or no clothes on and no one stops them." He acknowledged that he
didn't know of any such incidents in the Louisville area.
On the question of welcoming homosexual neighbors, the poll showed that
residents of the metro area's three Kentucky counties--Jefferson, Oldham, and
Bullitt--were more accepting of the idea than were their Indiana counterparts
in Clark, Floyd, Harrison, and Scott Counties.
"As long as they don't bother me, whatever they do is up to them," said
seamstress Margie Thomasson, 51, of Charlestown, Ind.
Jefferson County residents have shown a growing tolerance toward the idea
of gay and lesbian neighbors. Sixty-one percent of county adults now say
they would like homosexuals as neighbors. That's higher than in previous
Bluegrass polls in 1992 and 1990.
While tolerance toward homosexuals is growing, it remains very low for
members of religious cults. Only 27 percent of Jefferson County residents
wanted cult members as neighbors, which is unchanged from the 1992 poll.
The poll's margin of error means that, in theory, in 19 of 20 cases the
poll results would differ by no more than 3.5 percentage points from the
results that would have been obtained by questioning all adults with
telephones in the Louisville metropolitan area. The Bluegrass State Poll
asked the following:
"I'm going to read you a list of various groups of people. As I read each
one, please tell me whether you would or would not like to have them as
neighbors. Please tell me whether you would or would not like to have
Catholics, Protestants, Jews, blacks, Japanese, unmarried couples,
homosexuals, members of a religious cult, whites as neighbors.
"There has been debate in Louisville about passing a local law that would
protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in housing and employment.
Would you favor or oppose such a law for your community?"
FEEDBACK:
* From [email protected] (Chris Purdom)- Concerned Women for America is
using the Washington Times to claim that they beat the NEA by getting them to
replace language supporting GLBT History Month. While that is a small victory
for them, the NEA language replaces support for all specific months with
general anti-discrimination language, and support for GLBT History month was
read into the minutes.
Any time Concerned Women for America gets to claim a victory it adds to
their political muscle. If you have seen this story in your papers, please
let the papers know that the NEA says they still support GLBT History Month,
and that an extremely nasty, expensive, and time-consuming effort on the part
of the CWA only resulted in a change in wording.
* NOTE: The Washington Times, 3600 New York Avenue NE, Washington, DC,
20002 - Fax 202-832-2982, print run 92,205 - Faxed letters to the editor
must include signature.
* From [email protected] - There weren't too many surprises in the first
day of debate on same-sex marriage. We've all heard the pros and cons on same
sex marriage ad nauseaum by now. ;)
Only Democrats spoke against HR 3396, led by Barney Frank, and only
Republicans spoke in its favor, led by Charles Canady (R-FL), chair of the
Constitution subcommittee of Judiciary and a principal DOMA cosponsor.
"Marriage is a basic human right" Patrick Kennedy, D-RI
"We have nothing to fear but fear itself. this Hawaiian case won't be
decided for some time. There is no crisis" Maxine Waters, D-CA
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco held up an enlarged photo of a lesbian
couple from her district, to the audible snickers of some on the other side
of the aisle. Lynn Rivers from the Ann Arbor area in Michigan recalled the
words spoken in the typical church wedding and asked what part of the
marriage commitment was so important to keep exclusive to heterosexual
couples. John Lewis, an African American from Atlanta who has scars on his
head from beatings in the 60s civil rights marches, recalled the old laws
against interracial marriages and compared them to DOMA. (surprisingly the
GOP didn't trot out their pet black conservative, JC Watts, to refute this).
Rep. Gutierrez of Chicago surmised that the Republicans "must be joking" in
introducing the bill. Sam Farr, from the Santa Cruz area of California, noted
that this was the first time in American history that the federal government
was intervening in marriage law. Also speaking against DOMA were Reps. Studds
(MA) and Nadler (Manhattan area of NYC)
Rep. Coburn of Oklahoma, who replaced the much better Mike Synar in the
last election, said that most people in his district thought the Bible said
homosexuality was wrong and that it was important never to let homosexual
couples have the same sanction as heterosexuals, and said he was against "the
act" not gays and lesbians as people. As if same sex couples were about
nothing but sex. Coburn ominously hinted that this would be only the tip of
the iceberg as he would bring numerous other antigay bills up in the future.
Romer V Evans would seem to invalidate many of his proposals, however.
Another Oklahoman, former Seattle Seahawk Steve Largent (R-Tulsa), babbled
on and on about marriage had to be kept for men and women. Largent seems to
be the new Dan Quayle; nice looking sports hero, but dumb as a rock. Lots of
"uhs" and "duhs" in his speech.
The original sponsor, Bob Barr (R-GA), had a blown up paper from Lambda
Legal Defense Fund about how those awful homosexuals planned to come back
from Hawaii and expect their marriages to be recognized (gasp!). Barr, who
once was seen licking whipped cream off women's bosoms at a "charity event"
and has been married to three different women, spoke repeatedly of the need
to keep marriage sacred.
Partway through the debate, Canady complained that the Democrats were
calling DOMA's supporters names and said "70% of Americans are against gay
marriage, even in Hawaii. 70% of Americans aren't mean spirited, laughable,
and bigoted." Canady is known on the Hill as a real sore loser who holds
hearings regularly to criticize Supreme Court hearings that he doesn't like.
Canady, incidentally, is almost 50 and still single but apparently he still
considers himself an expert on marriage.
Other Republicans who spoke in favor of DOMA included Tim Hutchinson (NW
AR; running for open Senate seat) and Jim Talent (St Louis suburbs, MO).
Date: 12 Jul 1996 13:01:25 -0700
From: Channel Q News Desk <[email protected]>
Subject: House of Representatives Passes Anti-Marriage Bill
NEWS from the
Human Rights Campaign
1101 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
email: [email protected]
WWW: http://www.hrcusa.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 12, 1996
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES ANTI-MARRIAGE BILL
WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives hit a new low in gay-
bashing today when it passed an anti-marriage bill by a vote of
342-67.
"The House committed an ugly, cowardly and unconstitutional act
by passing this bill, and history will remember it as such," said
Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign. "It
is nothing more than gratuitous election-year gay-bashing and the
Human Rights Campaign intends to hold every member of Congress
accountable for this vote."
The so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" would allow states to
ignore gay marriages performed in other states, and would create an
unprecedented federal definition of marriage to exclude gay unions
from all federal benefits should any state decide to legalize
same-sex
marriage.
The House began debate late last night and resumed consideration
of the measure this morning. Amendments offered by Rep. Barney Frank,
D-Mass, -- which would have preserved federal benefits in states that
might allow same-sex marriages in the future -- were defeated
103-311.
Sens. James Jeffords, R-Vt., Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and
Edward Kennedy D-Mass, announced yesterday a plan to attach the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill to outlaw employment
discrimination based on sexual orientation, as an amendment to the
Defense of Marriage Act if it reaches the Senate floor.
"A gay person can't get married in any of the 50 states today,
and that's not likely to change for at least another two years,"
Birch
said. "Yet gay people can be fired from their jobs in 41 states
merely
because of their sexual orientation. Congress should quit wasting
time
on legislation to outlaw an institution that doesn't exist and pass a
bill to end discrimination that does."
Birch said the Human Rights Campaign will focus on passing the
ENDA amendment in the Senate and believes it has a solid chance of
passing. ENDA, reintroduced in June, 1995, currently has 30 co-
sponsors in the Senate and is supported by Govs. William Weld,
R-Mass., and Christine Todd Whitman, R - N.J.
The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and
gay
political organization, with members throughout the country. It
effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates
the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open,
honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.
- 30 -
Date: 12 Jul 1996 13:21:45
From: Channel Q News Desk <[email protected]>
Subject: House Passes Anti-Gay Marriage Bill
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
http://www.aclu.org
News from the ACLU
ACLU Condemns House Passage of the Anti-Gay Marriage Bill,
Says Measure is Unconstitutional and Bad Public Policy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Denny Lee
Friday, July 12, 1996
(212) 944-9800 ext. 424
WASHINGTON The American Civil Liberties Union today condemned many
of its traditional allies in House, including stalwart civil rights
leaders, for passing the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act," which
would deny recognition of marriages between lesbian and gay couples.
By a 342- to-67 vote, the House passed a bill that would redefine
marriage in Federal law as a "legal union between one man and one
woman," and allow states to ignore same-sex marriages performed in
other states.
In testimony submitted to the House and the Senate, which is
considering a similar measure, the ACLU called the proposed
legislation "unprecedented, discriminatory, and unconstitutional" and
said it would have the effect of treating legally married gay couples
as strangers under Federal laws and programs.
"The House today turned its back on a fundamental human right for
political expediency," said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU's
National Washington Office.
"This goes beyond legislators saying they are not ready to accept
same-sex marriages," she said. "This is an unnecessary and mean-spirited
attempt by some in Congress to select out lesbians and gay
men for discriminatory treatment." She added that the vote on the
same-sex marriage legislation will be included in the ACLU's biennial
civil liberties ratings for members of Congress.
Murphy termed unacceptable the silence from many traditional civil
libertarians, and, in contrast, pointed to a recent interview with
Rep. John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia. In comments published late last
month, Lewis said that African-Americans should not, and cannot,
legitimately draw a distinction between their struggle for equal
treatment before the law and that of gay men and lesbians.
"Certain rights are basic human rights," Lewis said. "You cannot
tell individuals they cannot fall in love. Dr. King used to say when
people talking about interracial marriage: Racists don't fall in love
and get married. Individuals fall in love and get married."
The ACLU agreed. "As long as our nation attaches a wealth of
economic and legal benefits to civil marriages, denying those same
benefits to lesbians and gay men is nothing short of outright
discrimination," said Matthew Coles, Director of the ACLU's National
Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.
In its testimony, which was signed by Murphy and Coles, the ACLU
said that a second provision of the bill would attempt to carve a "gay
exception" to the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause by
allowing states to ignore marriages performed in any other state.
That clause guarantees that the rights conferred to citizens in one
state will be honored by the other states.
The Full Faith and Credit Clause absolutely requires states to
honor the judgements of other state courts -- including divorce,
inheritance and commercial judgments -- which often take into account
marital status. To that extent, the bill is an "unmistakable
violation of the Constitution," Coles said.
The issue of same-sex marriage has been raised in response to a
Hawaii Supreme Court ruling in May 1993 that the denial of marriage
licenses to three lesbian and gay couples appears to violate the
state's Equal Rights Amendment. The Justices sent the case back to
the trial to decide if the state can prove a "compelling state
interest" in denying the marriage licenses.
The trial is now scheduled for September 10. Although legal
observers say the state will have difficulty meeting its burden, a
final decision from the Hawaii Supreme Court is not expected until at
least 1997.
"Our efforts now move to the Senate," said H. Alexander Robinson,
an ACLU legislative representative. "We challenge the Senate to stand
up for fundamental fairness and avoid the deplorable election-year
strategy of scapegoating lesbian and gay Americans for political
gain."
Robinson also noted that an amendment banning workplace
discrimination against gays will likely be introduced next week to the
anti-gay marriage bill. "The addition of the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act will give the Senate an opportunity to demonstrate
its support for fairness," Robinson added.
-- 30
Contact: Denny Lee, (212) 944-9800 ext. 424
National Office 132 W 43 Street NYC 10036 ACLU Freedom Network
(Keyword to: http://www.aclu.org)
Date: 12 Jul 1996 14:50:41 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: DOMA House Vote--NGLTF Statement
PRESS RELEASE
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
2320 17th St. NW; Washington, DC 20009
Contact: Elise Jimenez (202) 332-6483 ext. 3305
Pager (800) 757-6476
NGLTF BLASTS HOUSE VOTE SUPPORTING SAME-GENDER MARRIAGE BAN AS A VOTE IN
SUPPORT OF INTOLERANCE
Washington, D.C. July 12, 1996 The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
(NGLTF) denounced today's House vote in support of the ill-named Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA); the vote was 342 in favor of DOMA and 67 opposed. This
legislation is unnecessary, discriminatory and probably unconstitutional.
DOMA (1) attempts to give states the power to deny legal recognition to
public acts, records, or proceedings of any other state regarding same-gender
marriages that may, in the future, be legally sanctioned in another state -
in apparent violation of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S.
Constitution - and (2) tells the states that even if they choose to legalize
same gender marriages within their own borders, couples considered legally
married within their state will not be considered legally married by the
federal government and, thus, will be denied all the federal rights and
responsibilities now extended to heterosexual married couples.
The following statement from NGLTF on the House adoption of DOMA is
attributable to its Executive Director, Melinda Paras:
"It is a sad day indeed when the House of Representatives can so easily vote
in favor of legislation whose only goal is to pit its citizens against each
other. By adopting this legislation, the House of Representatives is caving
in to the emotional arguments raised by Right-wing extremists, for whom DOMA
stands as the centerpiece of their 1996 political agenda. These extremists
seek to isolate and demonize the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
communities and are using the marriage issue toward that end.
"DOMA is bogus legislation. It nether strengthens American families nor
marriages between men and women. Instead, it draws a circle around gays,
lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered individuals and proclaims that our
families do not deserve recognition. In the hands of the Right-wing
political extremists "family" serves as both a symbol and a weapon: a symbol
of an imaginary past when everything was fine, and a weapon to divide society
into good people and bad, the moral and the immoral, the productive citizen
and the social parasite.
"Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender family issues are here to stay
because they speak to the aspirations of same-gender couples, just as they do
for all committed couples. Most importantly, however, they reflect the real
circumstances of our lives. Passage of DOMA will not change this and
right-wing extremists know that. This is why DOMA is just one piece of their
larger agenda to attack and undermine millions of American families,
including gay and lesbian families, who do not meet the narrow definition of
family put forth by a small group of political extremists.
"Unfortunately the majority of the House of Representatives was not willing
to stand up for the principles for which this country stands: tolerance,
compassion and fairness. Instead, they fell into the trap set by the
political extremists and their supporters in Congress. These extremists
raised a false issue - same gender marriage, which is NOT legal in any state
- - in order to scare elected officials into endorsing their election year
agenda. And, the majority of Representatives were not courageous enough to
stand up and be counted in the fight against discrimination and intolerance,
as their counterparts were in 17 states where this same issue was considered
- - and defeated.
"We will not stand by silently and be used as scapegoats in this election
year. "
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is a progressive organization that
has supported grassroots organizing and pioneered in national advocacy since
1973. Since its inception, NGLTF has been at the forefront of virtually
every major initiative for lesbian and gay rights. In all its efforts, NGLTF
helps to strengthen the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender movement at
the state level while connecting these activities to a national vision for
change.
###
Date: 12 Jul 1996 15:13:24
From: [email protected]
Subject: Articles - 7/12/96 (4)
CONTENTS:
1. REUTERS: House overwhelmingly passes bill restricting gay marriage - Vote
is 342 to 67
2. OTTAWA CITIZEN: Don't get too friendly at Olympic games - Georgia has
draconian laws governing sexual conduct
3. THE NEW YORK TIMES: Anti-drug group agrees to re-edit TV commercials
4. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES: California representative writes guest commentary
-- " I believe homosexual couples should have all the rights enjoyed by
heterosexual couples. But I also believe the anti-marriage law is
appropriate."
REUTERS
July 12, 1996
HOUSE PASSES BILL RESTRICTING GAY MARRIAGE
WASHINGTON - After an emotional debate, the House overwhelmingly passed
a bill Friday to restrict same-sex marriages.
The bill was sent to the Senate on a 342-67 vote, with two members voting
``present." The Senate is expected to pass the measure in September or
October and President Clinton has said he will sign the bill when it reaches
his desk.
OTTAWA CITIZEN
Canada
Sunday, July 7, 1996
OLYMPIC GAMES
GEORGIA LAW MAY TRIP UP SEXUAL ATHLETES
By James Langton -- The Daily Telegraph
NEW YORK--They are calling them the Friendly Games. But the message for
the Olympics from the state of Georgia seems to be: "Mind y'all don't get too
friendly now!"
With the opening ceremony in Atlanta less than two weeks away, tens of
thousands of competitors and visitors who are heading for the capital of the
Old South are likely unaware that it has draconian laws governing sexual
conduct.
The severity of Southern morality has so alarmed some civil rights lawyers
that they have pressed for new legislation in time for the Games that would
require hotels to display a list of the sexual activities that Georgia law
regards as "abominable crimes not fit to be named among Christians."
Among the deviations frowned on in Georgia are, perhaps understandably,
necrophilia and bestiality. However, the full fury of Southern justice is
reserved for the crime of oral sex, which can incur a life sentence and a
prison category second only to death row for a subsequent conviction.
Those who doubt the state's willingness to protect its good name do not
include more than 30 prisoners in Georgia jails who have been found guilty of
oral sex and given long sentences.
These have included a British photographer who, perhaps unwisely, used the
self-timer on his camera to take pictures of himself and his girlfriend in
the heat of their passion. After the film was stolen in a burglary, the
photos were recovered by the local police.
To his astonishment and subsequent horror, the photographer found himself
not a witness, but the center of a prosecution that landed him with a 16 year
prison sentence. He was freed on appeal, after lawyers cited the Fourth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable intrusions
on privacy.
Even more shocking is the case of the 33-year-old former U.S. Navy captain
who began divorce proceedings against his wife on the grounds of her
adultery. Several weeks before the case was due to be heard, he was surprised
by an unexpected visit from his wife, in which she suddenly expressed a
desire for sexual experimentation previously absent from their marital bed.
This included bondage with silken cords and what she later described as
"putting his mouth on my private areas."
Instead of a happy reconciliation, however, the man found himself arrested
the next day and charged with rape, on the grounds that his wife had been
tied up. The case collapsed when the woman's sister confessed it had been a
plot to retain custody of the couple's two children. However, because the man
had admitted to to oral sex
in court, the jury had no alternative but to find him guilty on the
alternative charge.
He was freed on appeal after serving 18 months of a five-year prison term.
He fled the state and subsequently spent time in an Alabama mental hospital.
The most ambitious move, however, was an attempt to warn visitors to the
Olympic Games by posting a list of prohibited acts on the back of hotel
bedroom doors.
The maximum sentence for oral sex is life imprisonment. The offence is
classified as sodomy, suggesting a certain confusion in some quarters. Those
seeking clues to the Southern psyche should also note that necrophilia
carries a lesser sentence of 2 1/2 years, while bestiality is just 3 months."
NEW YORK TIMES
July 12, 1996
GROUP TO RE-EDIT TV COMMERCIALS
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America has agreed to re-edit television
commercials that had been labeled "patently homophobic" by the Gay and
Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
The commercials are part of a public-service campaign against heroin use
that was introduced last month. They featured a young addict describing how
after losing his job, he had to "have sex with men for money to support my
habit."
In a letter to the Partnership, the gay and lesbian organization, known
as GLAAD, urged the spots be withdrawn for suggesting that "if there is one
thing worse than being an addict, it's being a homosexual."
After initially declining that request, Richard Bonnette, president and
chief executive of the Partnership, said the spots would be re-edited to omit
the references to prostitution. "A perception of offense, however
unintended," he wrote in a letter to Glaad, may "dilute or interfere with our
basic message" of keeping children from drugs.
Alan Klein, news media director at Glaad in New York, said, "We're very
pleased that the Partnership has taken the concerns of the gay and lesbian
community seriously."
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Times Mirror Square, Angeles,CA,90053
FAX: 213-237-7679 or 213-237-5319, E-MAIL: [email protected]
Friday, July 12, 1996
COMMENTARY
PERSPECTIVE ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGES
* Each State Should Be Able to Make Its Own Decision - California public
policy should be decided by California voters and legislators, not by a judge
in Hawaii.
By TOM CAMPBELL
The House is expected to vote today on the Defense of Marriage Act, a
measure that would allow each state to decide for itself whether to recognize
same-sex marriages from other states. It doesn't ban same-sex marriages or
condemn them. It only says that each state should decide for itself.
I believe homosexual couples should have all the rights enjoyed by
heterosexual couples. But I also believe this law is appropriate.
Some have criticized this proposed statute as unconstitutional, under
Article IV, which states: "Full faith and credit shall be given in each state
to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state."
The second sentence of Article IV, however, adds: "And the Congress may by
general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings
shall be proved, and the effect thereof."
This second sentence was added at the Constitutional Convention. The
first sentence had appeared in the Articles of Confederation and compelled
all states to accept other states' decisions. The purpose of the second
sentence of Article IV was to give Congress discretion to create exceptions
to this mandate. One treatise on the Constitution, prepared by the Library of
Congress in 1987, states that Congress "may under the [full faith and credit]
clause describe a certain type of divorce and say that
it shall be granted recognition throughout the Union
and that no other
kind shall." Change the word "divorce" to "marriage" and the syllogism is
complete.
This power given to Congress was necessary to smooth out the difficulties
inherent in giving any one state the absolute power to dictate, through its
statutes and court decisions, conduct in other states. Rules about marriage
are a particularly appropriate subject matter for the exercise of this
congressional power. The normal rule in common law makes a marriage that was
legal where performed legal everywhere else. Yet the normal rule could lead
to results contrary to the rules of other states, on issues regarding bigamy
or age of adulthood, for example.
Some answer that despite the full faith and credit clause, these other
states could simply pass their own laws saying they won't recognize other
states' same-sex marriages, so no federal law is needed. Maybe. This is the
so-called "public policy" exception to the full faith and credit clause,
occasionally recognized by Supreme Court interpretation over the years.
Sometimes the court has allowed such an exception; sometimes it hasn't.
The framers of the Constitution, however, did not provide for this
state-by-state public policy exception. That evolved only through court
decisions. The framers provided another mechanism to solve the problem of
interstate friction over matters like this, and it can be found in the second
sentence of Article IV.
Congress has already used its power in the area of child support and
custody. The federal child support statute requires that each state enforce
the child support orders of other states. But under a 1994 statute, the
second state is not obliged to accept the first state's order if all the
parties have moved out of the original state.
The principle enunciated here is directly related to the issue of
same-sex marriages. When the couple is in Hawaii, only Hawaii should govern.
But, if the couple moves to California, Hawaii's interest terminates and
California law applies.
The three conclusions we can draw then are:
Congress has discretionary power under Article IV.
In family matters, when residence changes, Congress has considered it
good social policy to create an exception from the full faith and credit
clause to ensure that the law of the current residence controls, not the law
of the place that made the first decree.
Accordingly, decrees regarding marriage can also be exempted from the
full faith and credit clause to ensure that the law of the current residence
prevails, thus preventing one state's legal recognition of same-sex marriages
from automatically applying in another.
Committed relationships between adults should be encouraged in our
society. The desire to visit a loved one in a hospital is as valid for
same-sex couples as for opposite-sex couples. While California recognizes
opposite-sex marriages from Hawaii, the recognition of same-sex marriages is,
for better for worse, a more significant departure from California's existing
public policy. It should be adopted or not by vote of
California's Legislature or by the people directly through initiative, not by
the
action of a justice of the peace in another state.
* Rep. Tom Campbell (R-San Jose) Is Also a Professor of Law at Stanford
University
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END ATTACHMENT 1
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Lori L. Anderson ( ANDERSON_L) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:23-JUL-1996 16:19:29.83
SUBJECT: JFK/George
TO: Lorraine McHugh
(MCHUGH_L) (WHO)
READ:23-JUL-1996 16:25:04.08
TEXT:
I think that I have already asked you about this, but neverthless, if I did, I
can't remember your answer...
What do you want Correspondence to do with the JFK Jr. letter? Should they go
ahead and send something out?
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Kyle M. Baker (BAKER_K) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:22-AUG-1996 17:18:12.05
SUBJECT: DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION WILL BE CRAWLING WITH KENNEDYS
TO: Remote Addressee
(
DAVIDT_ta_PVAI_+lDavid_Tuckertr%[email protected]@INET@EOPMRX]
READ:NOT READ
TEXT:
Date: 08/22/96 Time: 16:41
KDemocratic Convention Will Be Crawling With Kennedys
BOSTON (AP) In at least one sense, it will be business as
usual at next week's Democratic National Convention. The place will
be packed with Kennedys.
The family patriarch, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, has a coveted
speaking slot Thursday night, kicking off the evening that will
culminate with President Clinton's nomination acceptance.
Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., could end up introducing his
father.
And the senator's nephew, Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, will get in
on the act by nominating Vice President Al Gore for a second term.
The high-profile role comes after a tumultuous legislative
session in which Sen. Kennedy shepherded a minimum wage increase
and health insurance portability legislation through a Republican
Congress.
"He's never been stronger. He's at the top of his game," Sen.
John F. Kerry, Kennedy's Massachusetts colleague, said Thursday.
Not enough Kennedys for you?
John F. Kennedy Jr. will be there, working as editor-in-chief
and co-founder of the political magazine George. He also attended
the GOP convention in San Diego.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Maryland's lieutenant governor,
daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy and sister of Joe II, is
expected along with ``quite a few of my other cousins," Patrick
Kennedy said.
Many of them will likely attend an event scheduled for Thursday
night highlighting the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation.
Clinton is among the expected guests.
The family's prominent role at Democratic conventions began in
1956, when then-Sen. John F. Kennedy lost his bid for the vice
presidential slot.
That was the only year a major candidate didn't choose his
running mate. Nominee Adlai Stevenson left it to the delegates.
Kennedy lost out to Tennessee Sen. Estes Kefauver. Tennessee's
other senator Vice President Gore's father, Albert Gore Sr.
pulled out of the contest and threw his support to Kefauver.
Four years later, Kennedy would receive the Democratic
nomination and then win the White House.
At the 1964 convention, Robert F. Kennedy introduced a 20-minute
film about his slain brother, and received a 22-minute standing
ovation. President Lyndon Johnson fumed that the Kennedys were
cutting in on his coronation. He was particularly distressed that
Jacqueline Kennedy's appearance drew huge crowds and attention.
The assassination of Robert Kennedy weeks before the 1968
Democratic convention in Chicago led to a failed bid to nominate
Edward Kennedy. The senator stayed in Hyannisport grieving over the
assassination of his brother.
Edward Kennedy's attempt to grab the 1980 Democratic nomination
from Jimmy Carter also failed, but he upstaged the president at
that year's convention with a stirring call to arms for the party's
liberals. Eight years later, he chided Vice President George Bush
with the taunt "Where was George?"
Not all the Kennedy convention appearances have been unalloyed
triumphs. There was the time in 1992 in New York when Joseph P.
Kennedy II's speech text came through the teleprompter upside down.
That year, with Clinton running as a ``new Democrat," the old
liberal warhorse Edward Kennedy was kept on the sidelines.
APNP-08-22-96 1650EDT
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Jennifer Senan (SENAN_J) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:23-SEP-1996 08:04:27.47
SUBJECT: T.V. News Analysis, 9/22/96
TEXT:
TV NEWS ANALYSIS
Monday, September 23, 199
Broadcast Date: Sunday, September 22, 1996
ABC WORLD NEWS SUNDAY
1. Ross Perot blames Bob Dole for debate snub.
2. President Clinton uses day to relax and attend church.
3. Bob Dole hits on core of his message on campaign trail.
4. Jack Kemp campaigning hard in traditionally Democratic areas.
5. Pope John Paul II returns to Vatican from trip to France.
6. Russian President Yeltsin's health worries medical experts.
7. Defense Secretary Perry says Gulf forces may be reduced.
8. West uneasy over Turkey's growing Islamic influence.
9. Astronaut Shannon Lucid will break record for time in space.
10. Gay representation on television is growing.
11. Younger generation speaks out on racial issues.
12. John F Kennedy Jr. married Calvin Klein executive.
CBS EVENING NEWS
1. Ross Perot will fight decision of Debate Commission.
2. Surgeons delay Russian President's heart operation.
3. Atlanta bombing suspect will appear on 60 Minutes.
4. John F. Kennedy Jr., weds Calvin Klein executive.
5. Defense Secretary Perry says Iraqi President Hussein backed
away.
6. Pope John Paul II's trip to France is a success.
7. Scotland's Anglican Church is plagued by scandal.
8. South Koreans search for infiltrators from North Korean
submarine.
9. Drug companies responsible for tainted blood in Japan.
10. Israel tightens security for observance of Yom Kippur.
11. E.P.A. reclamation program helps renew American cities.
12. Attorney General Reno defends the President's record against
drugs.
13. Death of Singer Topic Shakur is changing rap themes.
14. Italian scooter celebrates its 50th birthday.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
Not Available.
ABC:
Ross Perot blames Bob Dole for debate snub. (1st story)
Correspondent Jerry King reported that "the President was a clear
winner" in the negotiations over the Presidential debates.
(VISUAL 1) King said that Candidate Ross Perot blames Bob Dole
for being excluded from the debates. (VISUAL 2)
VISUALS:
1. Clip of the President Clinton, Ross Perot, and President Bush
debating in 1992.
2. Clip of Candidate Bob Dole: "We followed the recommendations
of the commission."
President Clinton uses day to relax and attend church. (2nd
story)
The substituting anchor said that the President went to church
and took the day off. (VISUAL)
VISUAL:
1. Clip of President Clinton waving to crowds as he exits from
church. No sound bytes were included in the report.
Bob Dole hits on core of his message on campaign trail. (3rd
story)
Correspondent Bob Zelnick reported that Candidate Bob Dole
stressed his key themes on the campaign trail. (VISUAL 1) He
added that Bob Dole emphasized the issues of taxes, President
Clinton's heath care plan, and teen drug use. "Even the Dole
advisors admit that unless that message gets through, they won't
win," said Zelnick. (VISUAL 2)
VISUALS:
1. Clip of Candidate Bob Dole speaking at campaign rally.
2. Clip of Bob Dole's television advertisment on teenage drug
use.
Jack Kemp is campaigning hard in traditional Democratic areas.
(4th story)
Correspondent Jack Smith said that Jack Kemp has been reaching
out to areas traditionally considered Democratic strongholds.
Smith pointed out that Kemp is focusing on African
-American
neighborhoods. He noted that Kemp might really be "positioning
for [the Presidential campaign of] 2000."
Defense Secretary Perry says Gulf forces may be reduced
(7th story)
The substituting anchor quoted Secretary Perry as saying
"tensions were easing in the Gulf" and forces there may be
reduced soon.
CBS:
Ross Perot will fight decision of Presidential Debate Commission.
(1st Story)
Anchor John Roberts reported that Presidential hopeful Ross Perot
plans to go to court Monday because the Presidential Commission
decided to exclude him from the upcoming Prdebates. Correspondent
Sandra Hughes then added that Bob Dole emerged the winner since
getting Perot excluded from the debates. (VISUAL 1) Hughes said
that Perot was "throwing punches" at Bob Dole. (VISUAL 2)
Correspondent Sandra Hughes then said that President Clinton
did not comment. (VISUAL 3) Hughes reported that the President
fought to include Ross Perot in the debates. Perot also accused
the Presidential Commission of trying to "muzzle" him and plans
to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission,
according to Hughs. She said that Perot plans to modify his
approach by running 30
-second TV ads. Hughes noted that a "CBS
News" poll showed only 43 percent of those surveyed want Perot to
be included in the debates.
VISUALS:
1. Clip of BobDole saying he is ready for the debates and, "We
will be there."
2. Clip of Ross Perot calling Bob Dole "rude and arrogant."
3. Clip of the President and First Lady leaving church.
Defense Secretary Perry says Iraqi President Hussein backed away.
(5th Story)
Correspondent Roberts briefly reported that Defense Secretary
William Perry said Iraq seems to be backing away from a
confrontation with the United States. According to Roberts, Perry
said that the United States may withdraw one of its aircraft
carriers from the area next month.
E.P.A. reclamation program helps renew American cities. (11th
Story)
In the Sunday Cover segment, Roberts reported on efforts to clean
up polluted areas of American cities. He said the federal
government wants to give private industry incentives to renew
these areas. (VISUAL 1) Roberts said the EPA has already cleaned
up 20,000 polluted sites, known as "brown fields," that were on
the federal "Superfund" list. (VISUAL 2)
VISUALS:
1. Clip of Environmental Protection Agency Director Carol Browner
saying it is important to clean up these sites.
2. Clip of Browner saying the federal government wants to say to
private industry, "Come on in there is a low level of
contamination...' at these sites.
Attorney General Reno defends the President's record against
drugs. (12th Story)
Correspondent Roberts reported that Attorney General Janet Reno
defended the Clinton Administration's record regarding illegal
drugs. According to Roberts, Reno, appearing on "Face the
Nation," said reforms in drug treatment programs have reduced
crime by 10 percent.
NBC:
Not Available
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Betty Currie (CURRIE_B) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:23-SEP-1996 10:11:42.82
SUBJECT: Wedding Letter
TO: Maureen F. Lewis
(LEWIS_M) (WHO)
READ:23-SEP-1996 10:12:05.25
TEXT:
Letter to JFK, Jr. and his new bride. Ask Carolyn Huber
to check w/HRC about sending a gift. Thanks
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Jennifer Senan (SENAN_J) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:24-SEP-1996 09:22:25.66
SUBJECT: TV NEWS ANALYSIS 9-23-96
TEXT:
TV NEWS ANALYSIS
Tuesday, September 24, 1996
Broadcast Date: Monday, September 23, 1996
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
1. President Clinton remains ahead in the polls.
2. The President will campaign in Michigan tomorrow.
3. Candidate Ross Perot files law suit over the debates.
4. Low unemployment shown in the Midwest.
5. Dow up 6 points; NASDAQ down 8 points.
6. Seventy
-five year anniversary of the Band
-Aid.
7. Russian President Yeltsin's health problems.
8. British foil IRA terrorist attack.
9. North Korea demands return of submarine.
10. Pentagon wastes money on needless warranties.
11. Astronaut Shannon Lucid says goodbye in space.
12. John F. Kennedy, Jr. is married.
CBS EVENING NEWS
1. Russian President's health problems continue.
2. Federal Reserve may raise interest rates.
3. Candidate Ross Perot files suit against debates.
4. Astronaut Shannon Lucid will return home soon.
5. Dow up 6 points; NASDAQ down 8 points.
6. Analysis: The CIA and drugs.
7. TWA Flight 800 investigation is stalled.
8. Additional Kuwait deployment almost complete.
9. Life for the troops in Kuwait VS. Kuwaitis.
10. John F. Kennedy Jr. weds Calvin Klein Executive.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
1. President Ross Perot files suit against debates.
2. President Clinton signs Defense Bill with wage hikes for
military.
3. The President signs anti
-stalking bill.
4. Fragile health of Yeltsin; political rumblings.
5. British prevent IRA attack.
6. North Koreans want submarine back.
7. Dow up six points in another record close.
8. Medical Report: Solutions to infertility uncovered.
9. Shannon Lucid is almost home.
10. John F. kennedy Jr. is married.
ABC:
President Clinton remains ahead in the polls. (1st Story)
Anchor Peter Jennings reported that the President continues to
maintain a 12 point lead over Candidate Bob Dole in a recent ABC
poll: President Clinton 52 percent, Bob Dole 40 percent.
Jennings then noted that there has been little change in the
polling numbers since Labor Day. He said that Bob Dole campaigned
in Virginia. Republicans do not usually have to worry about
Virginia's electoral votes, according to Jennings. (VISUAL 1 &
2)
Correspondent Britt Hume said that the President seems
unworried by Bob Dole's remarks. Hume added that the campaign
launched a new attack advertisement. (VISUAL 3)
VISUALS:
1. Clip of Candidate Bob Dole campaigning in Virginia:
"On July 6 Mrs. Clinton said that the basic model is still the
right model." [Bob Dole was referring to the proposed health care
plan.]
2. Clip of President Clinton: "He [Bob Dole] and I had
differences over the budget, but I don't think it qualifies me as
a liberal."
3. Excerpts of the President's campaign advertisement:
"Bob Dole: wrong in the past, wrong for the future."
President Clinton will campaign in Michigan. (2nd Story)
Correspondent Dean Reynolds said that President Clinton will
campaign in Michigan. Reynolds said that people in Michigan are
content with the economic situation, but cynical about politics.
Reynolds added that the cynicism means that most believe that Bob
Dole's 15 percent tax cut is a political gimmick.
Reynolds reported that many voters in the district blame
Speaker Newt Gingrich (GA
-R) for the Republican's problems.
Ross Perot files law suit over the debates. (3rd Story)
Anchor Peter Jennings reported that Ross Perot filed a law suit
in Federal Court over exclusion from the presidential debates.
Low unemployment in the Midwest. (4th Story)
Anchor Peter Jennings said that the Federal Reserve may raise
interest rates tomorrow because of low unemployment rates and
growing pressure on wages. A reporter in St. Louis described the
low level of unemployment there and noted that wages may soon
increase. A grocer was shown describing the difficulty of hiring
people.
CBS:
Russian President Yeltsin's health problems continue. (1st Story)
Anchor Dan Rather described Russian President Yeltsin's current
health problems. Rather said that President Clinton has noted
that the Russians have come a long way in developing
constitutional solutions to such problems.
NBC:
Perot files suit against debates. (1st Story)
Anchor Tom Brokaw said that Bob Dole and the President reached an
agreement to hold two debates during October and November. Brokaw
said that Ross Perot filed a suit attempting to prevent debates
without him. Brokaw said that President Clinton says that it was
Dole who refused to allow Ross Perot to debate. (VISUALS 1 & 2)
VISUALS:
1. Clip of President Clinton: "We signed an agreement with Dole;
it was Dole that would not debate if Perot were invited."
2. Clip of Candidate Bob Dole: "I was just following the
suggestion of the Commission."
The President signs Defense Bill with wage hikes for military.
(2nd Story)
Anchor Tom Brokaw said that President Clinton signed the Defense
Bill. It establishes a three percent pay raise for those in the
military, according to Brokaw.
President Clinton signs anti
-stalking bill. (3rd Story)
Anchor Tom Brokaw said that President Clinton signed an
anti
-stalking bill. (VISUAL 1) He reported that Republican
Senator Hutchinson took interest in the legislation because she
was a victim of stalking. (VISUAL 2)
VISUALS:
1. Clip of President Clinton: "We are signing a law today to
combat stalking."
2. Clip of Senator Hutchinson describing her experiences.
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Betty Currie (CURRIE_B) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:26-SEP-1996 09:30:44.24
SUBJECT: RE: Address for JFK, Jr.
TO: Maureen F. Lewis
(LEWIS_M) (WHO)
READ:26-SEP-1996 09:31:36.40
TEXT:
I don't - Social Office should have the best -
I sure hope he is happy - you would have been perfect!!!
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Maureen F. Lewis (LEWIS_M) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:26-SEP-1996 09:23:14.65
SUBJECT: Address for JFK, Jr.
TO: Betty Currie
(CURRIE_B) (WHO)
READ:26-SEP-1996 09:29:56.58
TEXT:
do you have a good one? I have so many on file that I can't
figure out which is for real. (sniff) thanks
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: William White (WHITE_WI) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:13-NOV-1996 10:32:43.17
SUBJECT: John Kennedy, Jr
TO: Lee A. Satterfield
(SATTERFIEL_L) (WHO)
READ:13-NOV-1996 18:53:39.33
TEXT:
The President's Committee on Mental Retardation has requested an opportunity to
present the President their annual report. I would have normally have said no,
but JFK Jr is on their board and would like to come with his new wife to the
ceremony. Do you think it makes sense to request a 15 minute photo op in the
Oval after APEC?
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (NOTES MAIL)
CREATOR: Kevin S. Moran ( CN=Kevin S. Moran/OU=WHO/O=EOP [ WHO D
CREATION DATE/TIME:22-NOV-1996 11:14:47.00
SUBJECT:
TO: DONALD (Pager) #BAER (DONALD (Pager) #BAER [ UNKNOWN])
READ:UNKNOWN
TEXT:
FYI: JFK Jr. called can be reached until 12:20 at (212) 767-5939 and also
btwn 2-3:30. k
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: William White (WHITE_WI) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:25-NOV-1996 18:21:16.11
SUBJECT: President's Committee on Mental Retardation
TO: Margo L. Spiritus
(SPIRITUS_M) Autoforward to: Remote Addressee
( Margo L.
Spiritus@eop@lngtwy@eopmrx (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
CC: Lee A. Satterfield
(SATTERFIEL_L) (WHO)
READ:25-NOV-1996 18:56:10.10
CC: Daniel Wexler
(WEXLER_D) (WHO)
READ: 2-DEC-1996 16:43:46.08
TEXT:
PRINTER FONT 12_POINT_ROMAN
SCHEDULE PROPOSAL
November 15, 1996
ACCEPT
REGRET
PENDING
TO:
Stephanie Streett and Anne Hawley
Directors of Scheduling and Advance
FROM:
Alexis Herman
Assistant to the President and Director,
Office of Public Liaison
REQUEST:
A photo opportunity with members of the
President's Committee on Mental
Retardation, including JFK, Jr.
PURPOSE:
To present the annual report of the
President's Committee on Mental
Retardation to the President.
BACKGROUND:
The President's Committee on Mental
Retardation is made up of twenty
-one
citizen appointees, and advises the
President on disability policy. The
Committee operates as part of the
Department of Health and Human Services.
The Committee is required by Executive
Order to submit an annual report to the
President. This document includes the
status of programs and services for
citizens with mental retardation, the
achievements of the Committee during the
past year, and their recommendations for
further action by the President.
PREVIOUS PARTICIPATION: None.
DATE AND TIME:
Anytime between December 2
-13, 1996.
BRIEFING TIME:
None required.
DURATION:
10 minutes
LOCATION:
Oval Office
PARTICIPANTS:
16 members of the President's Committee,
including John F. Kennedy, Jr.
OUTLINE OF EVENTS:
Short summary of the report by the Chair
of the President's Committee, followed
by a photo
-opportunity.
REMARKS:
None.
RECOMMENDED BY:
Alexis Herman
Bill White
CONTACT:
Bill White 6
-7032
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Kyle M. Baker (BAKER_K) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME: 2-DEC-1996 15:14:34.83
SUBJECT: WEB SPAWNS NEW CAREER FIELDS FOR THE TECHNOLOGICALLY SAVVY
TO: Remote Addressee
([email protected]@INET@EOPMRX)
READ:NOT READ
TEXT:
Date: 12/02/96 Time: 15:08
Web Spawns New Career Fields for the Technologically Savvy
By Jodi Mardesich, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Dec. 2--Marc Wade spent 12 years hunched in front of a
computer screen, tapping out arcane computer code for business software
applications. Now Wade spends his days co-directing a team of 20 people for
the "Star Trek Continuum" site on the graphically oriented World Wide Web,
where Trekkies can check out synopses of 400 "Star Trek" episodes or learn a
few words of Klingon.
Wade got his new job without any formal training or education. Welcome
to musical careers, Internet-style.
Programmers are becoming producers. Television and film producers are
taking their talents to the Web. A former Microsoft Windows product manager
is now publisher of Slate, Microsoft's online magazine. The former computer-
systems manager at an advertising agency is now that company's vice president
of interactive sales.
The intersection of technology and entertainment is creating so many new
types of jobs that there often is no set career path to get there. Companies
are competing fiercely to fill positions that, in some cases, have been
created so recently that schools have barely had time to offer courses in
those areas.
It is creating a vacuum of talent that is being filled in the only way
possible -- by the people who helped make the jobs necessary. These days, if
you are aggressive and have a good idea, with an understanding of technology,
the sky's the limit.
At the center of all this change is the Internet's World Wide Web, which
has brought sound, video and text onto millions of computer screens. Largely
forgotten in the hype is that the Web is only four years old and that with
each innovation, new job opportunities become available.
In building an ambitious Web site, there is often a team of people: a
technical leader, a producer, a human "interface designer," a sound person, a
video person and an editorial or content person.
"Often the technical person is counted on to integrate all the elements
by force of nature," said Randy Haykin, president of Interactive Minds LLC in
Pleasanton. Haykin, who got a computer-science degree from Brown University
and then used it to get into the computer business, said the technical people
need to understand and learn everyone's role in the process.
"That's where the jumps occur," he said. "The emergence of new media has
forced people to see their works in a different light. Whereas once a book
writer only had to worry about the written word, now they need to create
properties that cross boundaries. People are flip-flopping across
boundaries."
One thing these new media mavens have in common is creativity. In many
ways, it should not be surprising that programmers are becoming producers. As
Andy Hertzfeld, one of the designers of the Macintosh personal computer,
wrote in his book, "Programmers at Work," the people writing code are also
artists.
"There's an incredible, rigorous, technical element to it, which I like
because you have to do very precise thinking," Hertzfeld wrote. "On the other
hand, it has a wildly creative side where the boundaries of imagination are
the only real limitation."
Wade, executive producer at Paramount Digital Entertainment in Mountain
View, says there are similarities between programming and producing a Web
site.
"I like the fact that it's like a little universe you control," he said.
"You can make it do what you want it to do."
Before, when Wade was writing applications for a living, the end result
was providing a service people valued. Now, he says, he is creating something
that makes life more fun.
Some might say Wade's computer-science background is not the traditional
route to becoming a producer. But there is no "traditional" way in the new
world of new media.
Wade was always interested in entertainment. He and his wife met while
hanging around on the movie set of "Rollercoaster." But it wasn't until some
friends lured him to Paramount's Media Kitchen, a group formed in 1993 to
figure out how to take advantage of new technology, that his new career
began.
A casual request to proofread a proposal written by his future boss for
the first movie Web site Paramount constructed got his foot in the door.
Wade didn't know how to code in hypertext mark-up language (HTML), the
language used to create Web sites. So he downloaded some information from
Netscape's home page. Over a weekend he came up with the first version of the
Web site. "Coming from a software background prepared me for the rigors
involved, the care for detail,' Wade said. "It's not like doing TV. It's not
just what's on the screen. There's so much behind it."
On the site, besides writing about "Star Trek," Wade and his colleagues
created a chat room, based on Quark's Bar from "Deep Space Nine," where
people could meet and converse. They could even choose "avatars," or images
that represent their virtual selves on the site, from among the characters on
the television show.
The site's success laid out a new career path. Wade has since worked on
other film Web sites, as well as the site for the "Star Trek" spin-off
"Voyager" and the new "Star Trek" site on the Microsoft Network called
"Continuum."
Some career paths are clearer than others, but there are paths to
becoming a producer in new media, Haykin said. It helps to look for ways to
broaden experience across multiple media.
"Think of sound, graphics, multimedia. Now if you have more than two of
those areas in your background, like television production and publishing, or
advertising and a technical background, you could be great as a Web master,"
he said.
That is exactly what is happening on Microsoft's "Red West" campus, just
west of the main Microsoft compound in Redmond, Wash.
Microsoft may seem an unlikely site for a massive new media experiment,
but the world's largest software company has poured hundreds of millions of
dollars into revamping its online service, the Microsoft Network. Microsoft's
first attempt was similar to America Online, but the new MSN is more like a
television network, with 20 "shows" that run on six channels.
Microsoft has hired former television and film producers, directors,
writers, photographers, designers -- and programmers -- from other parts of
Microsoft.
You don't just read the articles: You hear music, watch flashing
graphics, and contribute. There are interactive game shows, like "15 Seconds
of Fame," where audience members share their experiences. For example, the
first episode of "15 Seconds," which should air by the end of November when
the new MSN debuts, is about first experiences of getting drunk.
John Kimmich, the producer of "15 Seconds of Fame," started out at
Microsoft seven years ago as a programmer, working on the team that developed
a programming language called Visual Cplusplus. He also co-designed the
ballpoint mouse, the Natural Keyboard, and even a pen-like device for an
early handheld personal computer Microsoft was working on.
Even in established media, the word "producer" is ambiguous. Sometimes a
producer is the manager who handles the schedules and budget and secures
funding. At times, the producer is the creative force behind the idea.
That is the case with William Flora, a five-year Microsoft veteran. His
experience is in design, and it shows on "Retrospect 360," an educational
look at history. "Retrospect 360" shows a panoramic time line of historical
events that users can delve into more deeply.
"I'm producer because I pitched this product," he said.
After working on "Encarta," Microsoft's successful multimedia
encyclopedia, he got frustrated with the limited amount of information that
could be shared on each topic. His aim was to make his program like an
interpretive museum exhibit. "I wanted to make the content come to life," he
said.
The pace is frenzied. Each show has a 12-week production cycle, and he's
working on six shows at a time. Shows in progress include one on monsters and
another on censorship and the media.
"If we were a TV show, we'd have a staff 10 times what we have, and a
budget of 10 times this," he said, declining to divulge his budget.
"We're experimenting all the time," said Renee Rusko, producer of
"UnderWire," an MSN show geared toward women with a "cheeky and irreverent
attitude."
"People think we have some magical formula, but we don't."
The new MSN is like a television studio, searching for hits. Rusko had
an old manual typewriter that she set outside her door. She typed a line on a
sheet of paper, and shut the door. Neighbors began adding lines, and soon
there was a story.
She took that idea and plans to move it to "UnderWire." Another feature
on "UnderWire" is "Diary of a Divorce," by an anonymous lesbian mom.
One challenge in producing a Web show is that there are no precedents.
"We don't speak the same language," said Rusko, who before producing
"UnderWire" was a journalist at Harper's. "If you talk about programming, to
a developer that means code; to a producer it means content."
But for all the challenges, there is an upside: Geeks who know how to
write computer programs are in great demand as Web sites spring up on the
Internet at a dizzying rate. So-called Web producers are in such demand that
people with little or no training are ending up in positions of power in this
new digital world.
An 18-year-old was hired at Digital Planet, an entertainment company in
Los Angeles, to work on Web pages. Straight out of trade school, she was
making about $26,000. A year later, she was hired away by a competitor for
twice that much.
Urban legend? Not so, said Paul Strand, chairman of Netcount, a
developer of Internet advertising software, who was a founder of Digital
Planet.
Entertainment people in Hollywood are in awe of these geeks, said
Strand, who before founding Netcount was a producer of "Sightings" and
"Encounters," two television shows on the Fox network about the paranormal.
His first foray into new media came when he helped create what he calls
the first online forum about a TV show on CompuServe.
Everyone is experimenting, and other types of boundary crossing are
occurring. "Madeline's Mind," first a Web show, is being shopped to
television. AOL and MSN are adopting the concept of channels to try to get
people into the mentality of having something they tune into regularly.
Even engineers are shifting into less-technical fields. At Digital
Planet, a computer programmer became the head of interactive sales. "Geeks
who grew up with technology are now unbelievably qualified for these jobs,"
Strand said.
The Web is lowering the barrier to entry for creative people with ideas
they want to share. John F. Kennedy Jr. spent $20 million creating a new
political magazine, "George." It takes a fraction of that to publish
something on the Web.
This has opened up opportunities for people who have the creativity but
may not have had the background or training, said John Eboli, executive
producer of PlanetSearch, a new search engine and Web site created by Philips
Electronics.
"The Web has proved there are thousands of people who are talented
enough," Eboli said.
FOR ONLINE SERVICES:
Visit Mercury Center, the World Wide Web site of the San Jose (Calif.)
Mercury News. Point your browser to http://www.sjmercury.com
(c) 1996, San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News. Distributed by
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News.
MSFT, AOL, CSRV,
KBviaNewsEDGE
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (NOTES MAIL)
CREATOR: Darby E. Stott ( CN=Darby E. Stott/OU=WHO/O=EOP [ WHO 1)
CREATION DATE/TIME: 4-DEC-1996 15:52:52.00
SUBJECT: 1996-12-4 McCurry Briefing
TO: *To: [email protected]@INET@LNGTWY (*To:
[email protected]@INET@LNGTWYL UNKNOWN ])
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UNKNOWN ])
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UNKNOWN D
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READ:UNKNOWN
TEXT:
Forwarded by Darby E. Stott/WHO/EOP on 12/04/96
03:53 PM
SUNTUM_M@A1
12/04/96 03:17:00 PM
Record Type: Record
To: See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
cc:
Subject: 1996-12-4 McCurry Briefing
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 4, 1996
PRESS BRIEFING BY
MIKE MCCURRY
The Briefing Room
1:35 P.M. EST
MR. MCCURRY: It's a pleasure to welcome you to our
White House today -- to your White House. I know, I failed miserably
-- I'm late, I'm sorry. I want to start -- I had meant to do this
earlier in the week, but I want to echo sentiments that my colleague,
Nick Burns, expressed earlier in the week over at the State
Department -- an expression of condolence and some measure of honor
to the late Ambassador Robert McCloskey.
Bob McCloskey was probably one of the finest people who
has ever briefed members of the press on behalf of the United States
government. He served as a chief spokesman of the U.S. State
Department for longer, I think, than any other individual through, on
and off for -- during the time that President Johnson, President
Nixon and President Ford served. A truly remarkable man. When I was
tutoring to take that job myself I saw one of his very distinguished
successors, Hodding Carter, and asked how best to prepare for the
job, and he said, go back and find any transcript you can locate of
Bob McCloskey briefing because it's a master of ambiguity and nuance,
a practiced art.
Q
And the country suffered because of it.
MR. MCCURRY: The country never suffered because of his
very fine service. He once said that not many are afforded the
privilege of serving the government and the press, the two greatest
states, at the same time. "Recognizing the responsibility of the
government to both perform and inform, and the right of the media to
question and comment, he or she seeks to find a tolerable area of
compatibility even though the two institutions are as separate as
church and state." A very fine and true commentary on the status of
the adversarial, though ought to be amicable relationship.
Anyhow, he is certainly a legend. He was paid tribute
to by many of the reporters who served at the State Department on
Monday. And our condolences go to his wife and his daughters.
Now, on to the present -- and back to the future.
Professor Stephanopoulos. I will read you a statement from the
President of the United States:
"From the snows of New Hampshire in 1991 until the
present day, no one has rendered me better advice, nor given more
loyal service to this nation than George Stephanopoulos. There's no
one in Washington who has a better understanding of the intersection
of politics, policy and the way those affect the American people.
His work here at the White House is evidence of his deep respect for
our country, its system of government and its people. He cannot be
replaced.
George will undoubtedly be a great teacher at
Columbia. His boundless intellectual curiosity will be put to
good use, shaping the leadership of the future."
Q
Who wrote that, Stephanopoulos? (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: No, his agent did. (Laughter.) The
President had assistance in that statement from my largely female
press office staff, which also included some language about --
with the recent marriage of John F. Kennedy, Jr., George now
becomes the most eligible stud muffin in New York. (Laughter.)
The President struck that for something more appropriately Ivy
League.
Q
Does the President think he's not the most
eligible -- (laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: I know of at least one person who
would challenge that, the question of eligibility. We will all
miss him very much here.
Q
Besides writing odes to George, what has the
President been doing today?
MR. MCCURRY: Not using his voice, which is my next
item. I had told you that Dr. Mariano had said that if his voice
was not getting any better she was going to take another look at
it.
She asked today for the assistance of Dr. James
Suen, who is the President's ENT doctor who participates in his
annual physical exam. He is a professor and chairman of the
Department of Otolaryngology, head and neck --
Q
Could you spell his name?
MR. MCCURRY: Dr. James Suen, S-u-e-n. And you'll
see him in the medical records we released. He made commentary
on the annual physical exam. He was assisted in examination
today by Captain David Thompson, Dr. Thompson, who is the chief
ENT guy at Bethesda and Walter Reed Naval Medical Center.
They did a fiberoptic probe of the President's vocal
cords, confirmed that they had been overused mightily, and their
diagnosis is the same one that Dr. Mariano made, that it's a
combination of his air travel, overuse of his vocal cords, his
reflux condition, which we reported to you in the past, and
perhaps also his allergies -- a multifactoral diagnosis of
overuse of his vocal cords, leading them to prescribe complete
vocal rest.
Q
For how long?
MR. MCCURRY: They would think a period of three to
four days would be sufficient, but there is at least some
evidence that the patient is not following doctors' orders
already.
Q
Did they do a biopsy, Mike?
MR. MCCURRY: No. This is a fiberoptic probe that
just examines the vocal cords.
Now, they've also made a slight adjustment in some
of the medication the President takes. He takes and antiacid
that we've reported to you in the past, omeprazole, which we've
reported to you in the past under the brand name, Prilasec.
They've also prescribed an additional drug, cisapride, which a
motility agent that controls the acid reflux in the President's
Q
What is a motility agent?
MR. MCCURRY: It means that it controls the level of
acid as it rises from the esophagus into the throat, I guess.
And what does omperazole do?
MR. MCCURRY: It's an antiacid. It's like big,
strong Maalox.
Q
So one of them controls the levels and the
other one dilutes the acid?
MR. MCCURRY: Right. One's an antiacid and one
controls where the acid is in the digestive system.
How many polyps does he have?
MR. MCCURRY: They believe -- they hope that that
will control the condition, and they also prescribe rest to the
President's vocal cords. One consequence of this is the
President is under instructions not to talk to people, which,
given his entertainment schedule over the next couple of days, is
going to be interesting. All of the members of Congress who are
here for the Congressional Ball tonight will get a handshake and
a smile, but not the cheerful words of welcome that the President
usually provides.
What's he going to do for the national
tree-lighting?
MR. MCCURRY: The good news is, it makes the
reception line go faster, probably.
What's he going to do for the national
tree-lighting?
MR. MCCURRY: Unknown. We'll have to check on that
tomorrow and we'll see how it is. He might elect to have someone
-- he might do, as he did yesterday, speak briefly and then have
someone else complete his remarks.
Mike, do you describe this condition that he
now has -- is it fair to say it's laryngitis? How would you
describe it?
MR. MCCURRY: I'd describe it as colloquially as the
President has lost his voice; it is missing in action.
You said they are adjusting his medication --
does this mean he's not taking his medications at all, or is he
taking less of them?
MR. MCCURRY: No, I think he's still taking the same
antiacid. I think they just prescribed a somewhat different
dosage for it. I didn't get the dosages.
Q
How does that affect the rest of his work? I
mean, Cabinet, the Inaugural, budget -- is he just completely --
MR. MCCURRY: He's still working on it. You have
some interest in that subject, do you?
Q
Well, I mean, it would seem to be hard for him
to conduct normal business if he can't talk.
MR. MCCURRY: He's conducting normal business, which
may be part of the problem. I mean, he is --
Is he writing things down and communicating
that way?
MR. MCCURRY: He is being encouraged to.
Should we give him an Etch-A-Sketch for
Christmas?
MR. MCCURRY: That's a great idea, do one of those
little think-pad things that you can draw on.
He's being encouraged to, but is he doing it?
Q
Any announcements to make?
MR. MCCURRY: Yes, you know, he kind of wrote all
over this statement, you know, doing stuff like that.
How long was the exam?
In meetings, is he --
MR. MCCURRY: He's been having -- I mean, he
whispers some audible comments, or barely audible comments. But
by and large he's --
Q
"It's a hoax." (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: He has been -- he will scratch a note
if he needs to. He's not completely laying off the voice.
Q
Where did the exam take place and how long was
it?
MR. MCCURRY: At the residence, in the medical
unit's clinic. It's an out patient exam. It took -- I didn't
get the exact time, but it was probably about 20, 25 minutes.
Q
-- pass the fiber optic probe through the nose
and down into the throat?
MR. MCCURRY: I didn't get those kinds of details.
They found nothing else, other than overuse?
MR. MCCURRY: No. No other evidence of any other
complicating viral infections or anything of that nature.
Q
Just for our own, as you say, intense interest,
does this mean that we should not expect him to have any oral or
written announcements, perhaps, of Cabinet choices for the next
three to five days?
MR. MCCURRY: On the question of Cabinet selections,
the President has made no final decisions. He is actively
considering that question. He will be meeting this afternoon
with the Vice President. He continues to be in the same advanced
state of deliberation that he was when I reported to you earlier
this week.
Well, what's the likelihood that you will have
an announcement?
MR. MCCURRY: The likelihood is that there is a
finish line that will be crossed at some point in the not too
distant future. But I don't want to speculate how soon.
Q
Has he gotten to the stage of actually
interviewing candidates, sitting down and talking to them about a
job?
MR. MCCURRY: Yes.
Well, he's not doing that this week, right, or
is he?
MR. MCCURRY: He's done some of that this week.
Well, are there FBI checks going on now?
MR. MCCURRY: There's, as you would expect, a
vetting process that has been underway for some time.
Q
Has there been a scenario where Vice President
Gore asked the question and the President whispered?
MR. MCCURRY: No, but he has been participating --
the Vice President has been participating in most of the
discussions the President has had, along with Chief of Staff Leon
Panetta and Chief of Staff designate Erskine Bowles.
Q
If they're already in the administration do
they have to be checked again?
MR. MCCURRY: They'd still be -- it's not exactly
the same process, but there would still be an effort to
anticipate issues that might arise during a confirmation hearing,
and anyone who has served in a high level in the government would
be subject to questions about his or her performance of duties
and that is the type of question that you would normally look at.
Q
But if they stay in the same job there's no
additional confirmation --
MR. MCCURRY: Correct, if someone is retaining the
current position there wouldn't be any change.
Q
Is there anybody else he wants to meet with
this week, Mike, to complete what he wants to do with the
national security team?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm sorry, say again.
Is there anyone else he wants to meet with or
talk to this week in terms of a candidate to complete the
national security positions?
MR. MCCURRY: I would not rule that out.
You said he had met with --
MR. MCCURRY: So he's not using his voice, he is
going to use his back swing -- and he will golf in 10 minutes, so
the travel pool needs to assemble here at the door shortly.
When is this meeting with Gore going to occur?
MR. MCCURRY: Probably when he gets back. He told
me he was going to do it later today.
Wouldn't the cold air put some additional
strain on his vocal cords?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, back to that, the President has
reported in the past some aggravation of his allergies because of
Christmas evergreen decorations, but apparently that's under
control because of the shots that he's been taking. He has not
reported any additional problem related to allergies, and I'm not
aware that anything affecting the outside ambient temperature
affects this condition.
We should not expect -- you would rule out any
announcement today on the Cabinet?
MR. MCCURRY: I'd say given that, given this, given
that, go home. Maybe we can put a lid on.
Who is he going golfing with?
Any candidates?
How about Erskine?
MR. MCCURRY: A likely suspect. Why don't you go
find out who is in the foursome -- twosome?
You said he had met with candidates this week.
This is multiple candidates -- he's met with several people?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm only aware of one, but there may
have been others.
Well, just give us the initials, okay?
Q
Mike, getting back to the voice, some ENT
specialists have written about Clinton's voice in journals and so
forth. They've talked about the possibility that if this keeps
becoming such a chronic problem, he could actually have -- I
hesitate to use the term, but they used something like
"paralyzed" vocal cords. Is anything being applied locally to
his vocal cords to loosen it up or --
MR. MCCURRY: Only hot tea and the throat lozenges
that I've mentioned in the past. They've not prescribed any
other type of local anesthetic or anything of that nature that
I'm aware of.
Q
How long do they think this might last, now
that they've regulated the antacid?
MR. MCCURRY: The diagnosis was if the President did
refrain from using his voice for four days, that they would
expect it normally to start repairing after that length of time.
Is he taking anyone else along to yell "fore"
for him?
MR. MCCURRY: That's what we're going to go find
out.
Q
No herbal medicine or acupuncture?
Q
I wasn't clear what you said to Rita, though.
If he does finish up this selection process, I mean, he's going
to violate doctor's orders, right, to come out and tell us about
it? You're not saying that there's going to be no announcement
for four days.
MR. MCCURRY: I'm not ruling in, ruling out any
announcements. And how he would make them, given his vocal cord
condition, I just don't know. Maybe I'd stand up and make the
announcement -- read it for him.
Q
-- weekly radio address?
MR. MCCURRY: No --
You're going to pull out a sub?
MR. MCCURRY: We'll look ahead to that. There might
be a way of adjusting to taking into account that situation.
Q
You could use "the best of." (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: Are they going to do that with Inside
Politics Weekend on CNN during the holiday season, Wolf, kind of
do the Best of Wolf? It's a good idea.
You have to have some good ones in order to do
the best of.
MR. MCCURRY: Mr. Hume, what did you say, you have
to have some good ones to get a best of? (Laughter.) There will
be plenty of those.
Q
Mike, is this the worst episode of throat that
he's ever had?
MR. MCCURRY: Apparently not. I think the condition
that he suffered in 1992 during the campaign was worse, by the
memory of those who were present and available.
Q
Well, it was more episodic. It came and went
more often.
MR. MCCURRY: Kind of came and went.
This seems to be the longest sustained.
MR. MCCURRY: This has gone for a longer duration,
and it seemed to have gotten better over Thanksgiving when he
rested it a bit, but it seemed to have gotten worse when he
started yakking this week. So the doctors say, no more yak.
Q
Have all the Cabinet officers been informed now
as to whether they're staying or going? Like, Janet Reno -- you
people have been so ambiguous, or noncommittal.
MR. MCCURRY: The President has been focusing mostly
on these national security posts. I don't believe that he's
completed his meetings with individual Cabinet officers that he
hadn't seen prior to Thanksgiving.
Q
So they're still in limbo in the sense of
knowing?
MR. MCCURRY: No, they're hard at work and doing
good work for the President, just as they always have.
Q
Mike, can we get some White House comment on
the ruling yesterday in Hawaii on same-sex marriages?
MR. MCCURRY: I don't have anything on that. I'll
see if we've got anything on that.
Q
On the question of adjusting the CPI,
Republicans on the Hill are saying they'd like to think about it,
but they would like to see leadership from the White House on
this issue. What's the White House view on what the White House
is prepared to do?
MR. MCCURRY: The White House is prepared to do what
Dr. Stiglitz said in his statement, to carefully review the
Boskin report and other evidence regarding the most accurate cost
of living measure. The Bureau of Labor Statistics already has an
ongoing effort to improve the Consumer Price Index calculation.
It's already made several improvements over the last four years.
The process for improving this measure should not be politicized
and our goal should be to reach agreement based on the best
scientific and technical judgment possible.
Now, let me amend Dr. Stiglitz's statement with an
admonishment I've had from Professor Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who
tells me that statistical measurements cannot be a matter of
science because statistics cannot be replicated by a scientific
method. Therefore, this is a matter of estimation. And Senator
Moynihan has written essays about the act of estimation as being
a worthless exercise. So that should be the best statistical and
technical judgments possible, in my opinion, and in the opinion
of Daniel Patrick Moynihan. And I agree.
Can you do your impersonation for us now? How
would he actually say that?
MR. MCCURRY: "No, lad." (Laughter.)
Q
Can I follow up just on that? Would the
President be willing to see this issue discussed in the budget
negotiations with the Hill?
MR. MCCURRY: The issue of how to calculate the CPI
and the impact it has on federal spending has been an issue in
bipartisan budget deliberations in the past. The White House
expects it will be an issue in the future. Senator Moynihan
pointed out to me actually a good point, that the issue of the
CPI calculation is, itself, now in some ways, if you look at it
the way he looks at it, the fourth largest federal program after
Social Security, health and defense. And I forgot to ask the
Senator whether that would include interest on the federal debt.
Q
Therefore, the White House will view it how?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, therefore, the White House will
view it very carefully, because it has enormous impact,
otherwise, on the lives of millions of Americans, and has
enormous consequences for spending.
Q
Is there a large pole long enough in the world
with which you would touch this issue? (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: I rely on the help of strangers.
Q
Well, is there an internal debate? I noticed
in the paper this morning, Dr. Tyson was saying the
administration is willing to look at this. Secretary Rubin was
saying, well, there's not that much interest in this.
MR. MCCURRY: Oh, I think there is considerable
interest in what the calculation of cost of living increases does
in terms of budget policy, how it affects Americans. There has
been considerable debate on this in both the academic community
and certainly among those who are responsible for policy-making.
So, of course, there is considerable interest.
Q
Is President Clinton prepared to do what
Senator Moynihan wants, which is to take the leadership on this
issue?
MR. MCCURRY: The President will have to lead when
it comes to budget and any bipartisan agreement that would
balance the budget by a date certain. And certainly if this
issue enters into that calculation, leadership will be necessary
and will be provided.
Q
Mike, in the past when the Breaux-Chafee
alternative was raised you noted the administration's objections
to the CPI provision. Are you now saying that if that budget
alternative is brought forward down the line and there is
bipartisan support for it, the White House would be willing not
to oppose it?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm basically taking a what you would
call a wait-and-see attitude on that one there. I did not
pronounce myself on that.
Q
Who goes first, Mike, in this process? I mean,
everybody says it's enormously important --
MR. MCCURRY: Well, the President will start the
budget deliberations going by presenting a budget proposal to the
Congress, and then we will go from there.
Q
But on the CPI, though, what's the first step.
MR. MCCURRY: Our position on the issue of CPI
calculation is, it is in late in the budget process now for that
to be a calculation in the FY '98 budget submission. But whether
or not that becomes an issue as the budget is deliberated remains
to be seen.
Wolf has lost interest. He's now doing a crossword
puzzle.
What about the proposal by the retired general
to get rid of all nuclear weapons?
MR. MCCURRY: I turn the podium over to Dr. David
Johnson. Go.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you. As of, I believe, when we
started there, they had not finished their presentation, so I'm
unable to comment on exactly what they've said. A number of the
things that they suggested are ones that the administration
supports, in particular, the step-by-step approach that they have
recommended be taken to reduction of nuclear weapons.
The administration has made enormous strides in this
respect during its term of office START I implementation, the
negotiation and the Senate ratification of START II, the
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and several other steps,
including the complete denuclearization of Belarus, Kazakhstan
and Ukraine. But we continue to believe that nuclear weapons
will be part of the cornerstone of our deterrent strategy for
some time into the future. And so that there's not, of course,
complete agreement between us and the generals.
Q
There are some people in the Pentagon who don't
want to go on camera who think he's just completely lost it, to
be proposing it.
MR. JOHNSON: Well, the generals I think, given the
time that you've been here and the time that they've made their
presentation, whoever made that comment to you hadn't had the
benefit of the general making his statement. So I don't think
anybody has lost it, but I think that's a little unfair to go
about making those sorts of comments before the generals have
made their presentation at the National Press Club.
These ideas that they've put forward have merit and
the notion that we would have a step-by-step approach to this as
one that the administration has used and one that's been
profitable in improving the security of the American people.
But, as I said, we continue to believe that nuclear deterrence
will remain a cornerstone of our strategy in protecting America's
vital national interests.
Q
The guy's good. Positively McCloskeyan.
(Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: Thank you, David. How are you on
Riady? (Laughter.)
Q
A related question, Dave. The strike wave now
in Russia in the Kuzbass district is now taking on more of a
political character. They're calling now for the resignation of
Prime Minister Chernomyrdin and spreading also to St. Petersburg.
Is there concern in the White House about this, and have you any
recommendations to President Yeltsin as to how to deal with this
-- for instance, maybe paying some of the back wages?
MR. MCCURRY: To my knowledge, we have not rendered
any advice to President Yeltsin on a matter that is largely
within his own province to deal with as a domestic issue.
Obviously, the impact of that debate is one that we have followed
closely, and it does have enormous impact on the lives of many of
the Russian people.
Q
How about Stephanopoulous? Is somebody going
to fill an equivalent role, or is George's role so specialized to
him personally in his experience --
MR. MCCURRY: He's irreplacable.
Q
No, I'm serious, though. Does the President
envision putting somebody in a spot similar to that as a senior
advisor, doing sort of functions that George is now doing?
MR. MCCURRY: I would not be surprised if the
President attempts to replicate with another individual the role
of someone who really does have a broad portfolio on a wide
range, looking at both the political impact of policy-making and
how the President can best use his own resources to address the
most significant policy issues that are in the "in-box."
And George, I like to say, is the guy who makes sure
the right order exists in the Oval Office "in-box" and that
everything that comes out in the "out-box" is perfect. And he's
been unsurpassed in his ability to kind of manage that type flow
of issues and dialogue and he's been, quite literally,
indispensible to the President.
So it's conceivable to me the President will want,
somehow or other, to fill that role, and given his capabilities,
it might take more than one person to do so. But I think the
function itself, the marriage of politics and policy and how that
affects what we do here at the White House, is one that requires
someone with George's kind of talent.
That was a long way of saying "maybe yes." Okay,
back to sleep. See you all.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END
2:00 P.M. EST
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RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (NOTES MAIL)
CREATOR: Darby E. Stott ( CN=Darby E. Stott/OU=WHO/O=EOP [ WHO ])
CREATION DATE/TIME: 4-DEC-1996 18:01:38.00
SUBJECT: 1996-12-4 McCurry Briefing
TO: marcia_lee (marcia_ @ dpm.senate.com @ inet [ UNKNOWN
READ:UNKNOWN
TEXT:
Here's the Mccurry briefing. I haven't check for the Moynaimitation.
Forwarded by Darby E. Stott/WHO/EOP on 12/04/96
06:00 PM
SUNTUM_M@ A1
12/04/96 03:17:00 PM
Record Type: Record
To: See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
cc:
Subject: 1996-12-4 McCurry Briefing
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 4, 1996
PRESS BRIEFING BY
MIKE MCCURRY
The Briefing Room
1:35 P.M. EST
MR. MCCURRY: It's a pleasure to welcome you to our
White House today to your White House. I know, I failed miserably
-- I'm late, I'm sorry. I want to start -- I had meant to do this
earlier in the week, but I want to echo sentiments that my colleague,
Nick Burns, expressed earlier in the week over at the State
Department -- an expression of condolence and some measure of honor
to the late Ambassador Robert McCloskey.
Bob McCloskey was probably one of the finest people who
has ever briefed members of the press on behalf of the United States
government. He served as a chief spokesman of the U.S. State
Department for longer, I think, than any other individual through, on
and off for -- during the time that President Johnson, President
Nixon and President Ford served. A truly remarkable man. When I was
tutoring to take that job myself I saw one of his very distinguished
successors, Hodding Carter, and asked how best to prepare for the
job, and he said, go back and find any transcript you can locate of
Bob McCloskey briefing because it's a master of ambiguity and nuance,
a practiced art.
Q
And the country suffered because of it.
MR. MCCURRY: The country never suffered because of his
very fine service. He once said that not many are afforded the
privilege of serving the government and the press, the two greatest
states, at the same time. "Recognizing the responsibility of the
government to both perform and inform, and the right of the media to
question and comment, he or she seeks to find a tolerable area of
compatibility even though the two institutions are as separate as
church and state." A very fine and true commentary on the status of
the adversarial, though ought to be amicable relationship.
Anyhow, he is certainly a legend. He was paid tribute
to by many of the reporters who served at the State Department on
Monday. And our condolences go to his wife and his daughters.
Now, on to the present -- and back to the future.
Professor Stephanopoulos. I will read you a statement from the
President of the United States:
"From the snows of New Hampshire in 1991 until the
present day, no one has rendered me better advice, nor given more
loyal service to this nation than George Stephanopoulos. There's no
one in Washington who has a better understanding of the intersection
of politics, policy and the way those affect the American people.
His work here at the White House is evidence of his deep respect for
our country, its system of government and its people. He cannot be
replaced.
George will undoubtedly be a great teacher at
Columbia. His boundless intellectual curiosity will be put to
good use, shaping the leadership of the future."
Q
Who wrote that, Stephanopoulos? (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: No, his agent did. (Laughter.) The
President had assistance in that statement from my largely female
press office staff, which also included some language about --
with the recent marriage of John F. Kennedy, Jr., George now
becomes the most eligible stud muffin in New York. (Laughter.)
The President struck that for something more appropriately Ivy
League.
Q
Does the President think he's not the most
eligible (laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: I know of at least one person who
would challenge that, the question of eligibility. We will all
miss him very much here.
Q
Besides writing odes to George, what has the
President been doing today?
MR. MCCURRY: Not using his voice, which is my next
item. I had told you that Dr. Mariano had said that if his voice
was not getting any better she was going to take another look at
it.
She asked today for the assistance of Dr. James
Suen, who is the President's ENT doctor who participates in his
annual physical exam. He is a professor and chairman of the
Department of Otolaryngology, head and neck --
Q
Could you spell his name?
MR. MCCURRY: Dr. James Suen, S-u-e-n. And you'll
see him in the medical records we released. He made commentary
on the annual physical exam. He was assisted in examination
today by Captain David Thompson, Dr. Thompson, who is the chief
ENT guy at Bethesda and Walter Reed Naval Medical Center.
They did a fiberoptic probe of the President's vocal
cords, confirmed that they had been overused mightily, and their
diagnosis is the same one that Dr. Mariano made, that it's a
combination of his air travel, overuse of his vocal cords, his
reflux condition, which we reported to you in the past, and
perhaps also his allergies a multifactoral diagnosis of
overuse of his vocal cords, leading them to prescribe complete
vocal rest.
Q
For how long?
MR. MCCURRY: They would think a period of three to
four days would be sufficient, but there is at least some
evidence that the patient is not following doctors' orders
already.
Q
Did they do a biopsy, Mike?
MR. MCCURRY: No. This is a fiberoptic probe that
just examines the vocal cords.
Now, they've also made a slight adjustment in some
of the medication the President takes. He takes and antiacid
that we've reported to you in the past, omeprazole, which we've
reported to you in the past under the brand name, Prilasec.
They've also prescribed an additional drug, cisapride, which a
motility agent that controls the acid reflux in the President's
Q
What is a motility agent?
MR. MCCURRY: It means that it controls the level of
acid as it rises from the esophagus into the throat, I guess.
Q
And what does omperazole do?
MR. MCCURRY: It's an antiacid. It's like big,
strong Maalox.
So one of them controls the levels and the
other one dilutes the acid?
MR. MCCURRY: Right. One's an antiacid and one
controls where the acid is in the digestive system.
How many polyps does he have?
MR. MCCURRY: They believe -- they hope that that
will control the condition, and they also prescribe rest to the
President's vocal cords. One consequence of this is the
President is under instructions not to talk to people, which,
given his entertainment schedule over the next couple of days, is
going to be interesting. All of the members of Congress who are
here for the Congressional Ball tonight will get a handshake and
a smile, but not the cheerful words of welcome that the President
usually provides.
What's he going to do for the national
tree-lighting?
MR. MCCURRY: The good news is, it makes the
reception line go faster, probably.
What's he going to do for the national
tree-lighting?
MR. MCCURRY: Unknown. We'll have to check on that
tomorrow and we'll see how it is. He might elect to have someone
-- he might do, as he did yesterday, speak briefly and then have
someone else complete his remarks.
Q
Mike, do you describe this condition that he
now has -- is it fair to say it's laryngitis? How would you
describe it?
MR. MCCURRY: I'd describe it as colloquially as the
President has lost his voice; it is missing in action.
Q
You said they are adjusting his medication --
does this mean he's not taking his medications at all, or is he
taking less of them?
MR. MCCURRY: No, I think he's still taking the same
antiacid. I think they just prescribed a somewhat different
dosage for it. I didn't get the dosages.
How does that affect the rest of his work? I
mean, Cabinet, the Inaugural, budget -- is he just completely --
MR. MCCURRY: He's still working on it. You have
some interest in that subject, do you?
Q
Well, I mean, it would seem to be hard for him
to conduct normal business if he can't talk.
MR. MCCURRY: He's conducting normal business, which
may be part of the problem. I mean, he is --
Is he writing things down and communicating
that way?
MR. MCCURRY: He is being encouraged to.
Q
Should we give him an Etch-A-Sketch for
Christmas?
MR. MCCURRY: That's a great idea, do one of those
little think-pad things that you can draw on.
He's being encouraged to, but is he doing it?
Any announcements to make?
MR. MCCURRY: Yes, you know, he kind of wrote all
over this statement, you know, doing stuff like that.
How long was the exam?
Q
In meetings, is he --
MR. MCCURRY: He's been having -- I mean, he
whispers some audible comments, or barely audible comments. But
by and large he's --
"It's a hoax." (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: He has been -- he will scratch a note
if he needs to. He's not completely laying off the voice.
Where did the exam take place and how long was
it?
MR. MCCURRY: At the residence, in the medical
unit's clinic. It's an out patient exam. It took -- I didn't
get the exact time, but it was probably about 20, 25 minutes.
Q
-- pass the fiber optic probe through the nose
and down into the throat?
MR. MCCURRY: I didn't get those kinds of details.
They found nothing else, other than overuse?
MR. MCCURRY: No. No other evidence of any other
complicating viral infections or anything of that nature.
Q
Just for our own, as you say, intense interest,
does this mean that we should not expect him to have any oral or
written announcements, perhaps, of Cabinet choices for the next
three to five days?
MR. MCCURRY: On the question of Cabinet selections,
the President has made no final decisions. He is actively
considering that question. He will be meeting this afternoon
with the Vice President. He continues to be in the same advanced
state of deliberation that he was when I reported to you earlier
this week.
Q
Well, what's the likelihood that you will have
an announcement?
MR. MCCURRY: The likelihood is that there is a
finish line that will be crossed at some point in the not too
distant future. But I don't want to speculate how soon.
Q
Has he gotten to the stage of actually
interviewing candidates, sitting down and talking to them about a
job?
MR. MCCURRY: Yes.
Well, he's not doing that this week, right, or
is he?
MR. MCCURRY: He's done some of that this week.
Well, are there FBI checks going on now?
MR. MCCURRY: There's, as you would expect, a
vetting process that has been underway for some time.
Q
Has there been a scenario where Vice President
Gore asked the question and the President whispered?
MR. MCCURRY: No, but he has been participating --
the Vice President has been participating in most of the
discussions the President has had, along with Chief of Staff Leon
Panetta and Chief of Staff designate Erskine Bowles.
Q
If they're already in the administration do
they have to be checked again?
MR. MCCURRY: They'd still be -- it's not exactly
the same process, but there would still be an effort to
anticipate issues that might arise during a confirmation hearing,
and anyone who has served in a high level in the government would
be subject to questions about his or her performance of duties
and that is the type of question that you would normally look at.
Q
But if they stay in the same job there's no
additional confirmation --
MR. MCCURRY: Correct, if someone is retaining the
current position there wouldn't be any change.
Q
Is there anybody else he wants to meet with
this week, Mike, to complete what he wants to do with the
national security team?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm sorry, say again.
Q
Is there anyone else he wants to meet with or
talk to this week in terms of a candidate to complete the
national security positions?
MR. MCCURRY: I would not rule that out.
You said he had met with --
MR. MCCURRY: So he's not using his voice, he is
going to use his back swing -- and he will golf in 10 minutes, so
the travel pool needs to assemble here at the door shortly.
Q
When is this meeting with Gore going to occur?
MR. MCCURRY: Probably when he gets back. He told
me he was going to do it later today.
Q
Wouldn't the cold air put some additional
strain on his vocal cords?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, back to that, the President has
reported in the past some aggravation of his allergies because of
Christmas evergreen decorations, but apparently that's under
control because of the shots that he's been taking. He has not
reported any additional problem related to allergies, and I'm not
aware that anything affecting the outside ambient temperature
affects this condition.
We should not expect -- you would rule out any
announcement today on the Cabinet?
MR. MCCURRY: I'd say given that, given this, given
that, go home. Maybe we can put a lid on.
Who is he going golfing with?
Any candidates?
How about Erskine?
MR. MCCURRY: A likely suspect. Why don't you go
find out who is in the foursome -- twosome?
Q
You said he had met with candidates this week.
This is multiple candidates -- he's met with several people?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm only aware of one, but there may
have been others.
Well, just give us the initials, okay?
Mike, getting back to the voice, some ENT
specialists have written about Clinton's voice in journals and so
forth. They've talked about the possibility that if this keeps
becoming such a chronic problem, he could actually have -- I
hesitate to use the term, but they used something like
"paralyzed" vocal cords. Is anything being applied locally to
his vocal cords to loosen it up or --
MR. MCCURRY: Only hot tea and the throat lozenges
that I've mentioned in the past. They've not prescribed any
other type of local anesthetic or anything of that nature that
I'm aware of.
Q
How long do they think this might last, now
that they've regulated the antacid?
MR. MCCURRY: The diagnosis was if the President did
refrain from using his voice for four days, that they would
expect it normally to start repairing after that length of time.
Q
Is he taking anyone else along to yell "fore"
for him?
MR. MCCURRY: That's what we're going to go find
out.
Q
No herbal medicine or acupuncture?
Q
I wasn't clear what you said to Rita, though.
If he does finish up this selection process, I mean, he's going
to violate doctor's orders, right, to come out and tell us about
it? You're not saying that there's going to be no announcement
for four days.
MR. MCCURRY: I'm not ruling in, ruling out any
announcements. And how he would make them, given his vocal cord
condition, I just don't know. Maybe I'd stand up and make the
announcement -- read it for him.
Q
-- weekly radio address?
MR. MCCURRY: No --
You're going to pull out a sub?
MR. MCCURRY: We'll look ahead to that. There might
be a way of adjusting to taking into account that situation.
You could use "the best of." (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: Are they going to do that with Inside
Politics Weekend on CNN during the holiday season, Wolf, kind of
do the Best of Wolf? It's a good idea.
Q
You have to have some good ones in order to do
the best of.
MR. MCCURRY: Mr. Hume, what did you say, you have
to have some good ones to get a best of? (Laughter.) There will
be plenty of those.
Q
Mike, is this the worst episode of throat that
he's ever had?
MR. MCCURRY: Apparently not. I think the condition
that he suffered in 1992 during the campaign was worse, by the
memory of those who were present and available.
Q
Well, it was more episodic. It came and went
more often.
MR. MCCURRY: Kind of came and went.
Q
This seems to be the longest sustained.
MR. MCCURRY: This has gone for a longer duration,
and it seemed to have gotten better over Thanksgiving when he
rested it a bit, but it seemed to have gotten worse when he
started yakking this week. So the doctors say, no more yak.
Q
Have all the Cabinet officers been informed now
as to whether they're staying or going? Like, Janet Reno -- you
people have been so ambiguous, or noncommittal.
MR. MCCURRY: The President has been focusing mostly
on these national security posts. I don't believe that he's
completed his meetings with individual Cabinet officers that he
hadn't seen prior to Thanksgiving.
So they're still in limbo in the sense of
knowing?
MR. MCCURRY: No, they're hard at work and doing
good work for the President, just as they always have.
Q
Mike, can we get some White House comment on
the ruling yesterday in Hawaii on same-sex marriages?
MR. MCCURRY: I don't have anything on that. I'll
see if we've got anything on that.
Q
On the question of adjusting the CPI,
Republicans on the Hill are saying they'd like to think about it,
but they would like to see leadership from the White House on
this issue. What's the White House view on what the White House
is prepared to do?
MR. MCCURRY: The White House is prepared to do what
Dr. Stiglitz said in his statement, to carefully review the
Boskin report and other evidence regarding the most accurate cost
of living measure. The Bureau of Labor Statistics already has an
ongoing effort to improve the Consumer Price Index calculation.
It's already made several improvements over the last four years.
The process for improving this measure should not be politicized
and our goal should be to reach agreement based on the best
scientific and technical judgment possible.
Now, let me amend Dr. Stiglitz's statement with an
admonishment I've had from Professor Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who
tells me that statistical measurements cannot be a matter of
science because statistics cannot be replicated by a scientific
method. Therefore, this is a matter of estimation. And Senator
Moynihan has written essays about the act of estimation as being
a worthless exercise. So that should be the best statistical and
technical judgments possible, in my opinion, and in the opinion
of Daniel Patrick Moynihan. And I agree.
Q
Can you do your impersonation for us now? How
would he actually say that?
MR. MCCURRY: "No, lad." (Laughter.)
Q
Can I follow up just on that? Would the
President be willing to see this issue discussed in the budget
negotiations with the Hill?
MR. MCCURRY: The issue of how to calculate the CPI
and the impact it has on federal spending has been an issue in
bipartisan budget deliberations in the past. The White House
expects it will be an issue in the future. Senator Moynihan
pointed out to me actually a good point, that the issue of the
CPI calculation is, itself, now in some ways, if you look at it
the way he looks at it, the fourth largest federal program after
Social Security, health and defense. And I forgot to ask the
Senator whether that would include interest on the federal debt.
Q
Therefore, the White House will view it how?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, therefore, the White House will
view it very carefully, because it has enormous impact,
otherwise, on the lives of millions of Americans, and has
enormous consequences for spending.
Q
Is there a large pole long enough in the world
with which you would touch this issue? (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: I rely on the help of strangers.
Q
Well, is there an internal debate? I noticed
in the paper this morning, Dr. Tyson was saying the
administration is willing to look at this. Secretary Rubin was
saying, well, there's not that much interest in this.
MR. MCCURRY: Oh, I think there is considerable
interest in what the calculation of cost of living increases does
in terms of budget policy, how it affects Americans. There has
been considerable debate on this in both the academic community
and certainly among those who are responsible for policy-making.
So, of course, there is considerable interest.
Q
Is President Clinton prepared to do what
Senator Moynihan wants, which is to take the leadership on this
issue?
MR. MCCURRY: The President will have to lead when
it comes to budget and any bipartisan agreement that would
balance the budget by a date certain. And certainly if this
issue enters into that calculation, leadership will be necessary
and will be provided.
Q
Mike, in the past when the Breaux-Chafee
alternative was raised you noted the administration's objections
to the CPI provision. Are you now saying that if that budget
alternative is brought forward down the line and there is
bipartisan support for it, the White House would be willing not
to oppose it?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm basically taking a what you would
call a wait-and-see attitude on that one there. I did not
pronounce myself on that.
Q
Who goes first, Mike, in this process? I mean,
everybody says it's enormously important --
MR. MCCURRY: Well, the President will start the
budget deliberations going by presenting a budget proposal to the
Congress, and then we will go from there.
Q
But on the CPI, though, what's the first step.
MR. MCCURRY: Our position on the issue of CPI
calculation is, it is in late in the budget process now for that
to be a calculation in the FY '98 budget submission. But whether
or not that becomes an issue as the budget is deliberated remains
to be seen.
Wolf has lost interest. He's now doing a crossword
puzzle.
Q
What about the proposal by the retired general
to get rid of all nuclear weapons?
MR. MCCURRY: I turn the podium over to Dr. David
Johnson. Go.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you. As of, I believe, when we
started there, they had not finished their presentation, so I'm
unable to comment on exactly what they've said. A number of the
things that they suggested are ones that the administration
supports, in particular, the step-by-step approach that they have
recommended be taken to reduction of nuclear weapons.
The administration has made enormous strides in this
respect during its term of office START I implementation, the
negotiation and the Senate ratification of START II, the
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and several other steps,
including the complete denuclearization of Belarus, Kazakhstan
and Ukraine. But we continue to believe that nuclear weapons
will be part of the cornerstone of our deterrent strategy for
some time into the future. And so that there's not, of course,
complete agreement between us and the generals.
Q
There are some people in the Pentagon who don't
want to go on camera who think he's just completely lost it, to
be proposing it.
MR. JOHNSON: Well, the generals I think, given the
time that you've been here and the time that they've made their
presentation, whoever made that comment to you hadn't had the
benefit of the general making his statement. So I don't think
anybody has lost it, but I think that's a little unfair to go
about making those sorts of comments before the generals have
made their presentation at the National Press Club.
These ideas that they've put forward have merit and
the notion that we would have a step-by-step approach to this as
one that the administration has used and one that's been
profitable in improving the security of the American people.
But, as I said, we continue to believe that nuclear deterrence
will remain a cornerstone of our strategy in protecting America's
vital national interests.
Q
The guy's good. Positively McCloskeyan.
(Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: Thank you, David. How are you on
Riady? (Laughter.)
A related question, Dave. The strike wave now
in Russia in the Kuzbass district is now taking on more of a
political character. They're calling now for the resignation of
Prime Minister Chernomyrdin and spreading also to St. Petersburg.
Is there concern in the White House about this, and have you any
recommendations to President Yeltsin as to how to deal with this
-- for instance, maybe paying some of the back wages?
MR. MCCURRY: To my knowledge, we have not rendered
any advice to President Yeltsin on a matter that is largely
within his own province to deal with as a domestic issue.
Obviously, the impact of that debate is one that we have followed
closely, and it does have enormous impact on the lives of many of
the Russian people.
Q
How about Stephanopoulous? Is somebody going
to fill an equivalent role, or is George's role so specialized to
him personally in his experience --
MR. MCCURRY: He's irreplacable.
Q
No, I'm serious, though. Does the President
envision putting somebody in a spot similar to that as a senior
advisor, doing sort of functions that George is now doing?
MR. MCCURRY: I would not be surprised if the
President attempts to replicate with another individual the role
of someone who really does have a broad portfolio on a wide
range, looking at both the political impact of policy-making and
how the President can best use his own resources to address the
most significant policy issues that are in the "in-box."
And George, I like to say, is the guy who makes sure
the right order exists in the Oval Office "in-box" and that
everything that comes out in the "out-box" is perfect. And he's
been unsurpassed in his ability to kind of manage that type flow
of issues and dialogue and he's been, quite literally,
indispensible to the President.
So it's conceivable to me the President will want,
somehow or other, to fill that role, and given his capabilities,
it might take more than one person to do so. But I think the
function itself, the marriage of politics and policy and how that
affects what we do here at the White House, is one that requires
someone with George's kind of talent.
That was a long way of saying "maybe yes." Okay,
back to sleep. See you all.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END
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CREATOR: Douglas S. Sheorn ( CN=Douglas S. Sheorn/OU=WHO/O=EOP [ WHO
CREATION DATE/TIME: 4-DEC-1996 17:10:13.00
SUBJECT: Re: 1996-12-4 McCurry Briefing
TO: SUNTUM_M (SUNTUM_M @ A1 @ CD @ LNGTWY [ EOP ]) (WHO)
READ:UNKNOWN
TEXT:
This is the format that I prefer.
SUNTUM_M @ A1
12/04/96 03:17:00 PM
Record Type: Record
To: See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
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Subject: 1996-12-4 McCurry Briefing
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 4, 1996
PRESS BRIEFING BY
MIKE MCCURRY
The Briefing Room
1:35 P.M. EST
MR. MCCURRY: It's a pleasure to welcome you to our
White House today -- to your White House. I know, I failed miserably
-- I'm late, I'm sorry. I want to start -- I had meant to do this
earlier in the week, but I want to echo sentiments that my colleague,
Nick Burns, expressed earlier in the week over at the State
Department -- an expression of condolence and some measure of honor
to the late Ambassador Robert McCloskey.
Bob McCloskey was probably one of the finest people who
has ever briefed members of the press on behalf of the United States
government. He served as a chief spokesman of the U.S. State
Department for longer, I think, than any other individual through, on
and off for -- during the time that President Johnson, President
Nixon and President Ford served. A truly remarkable man. When I was
tutoring to take that job myself I saw one of his very distinguished
successors, Hodding Carter, and asked how best to prepare for the
job, and he said, go back and find any transcript you can locate of
Bob McCloskey briefing because it's a master of ambiguity and nuance,
a practiced art.
Q
And the country suffered because of it.
MR. MCCURRY: The country never suffered because of his
very fine service. He once said that not many are afforded the
privilege of serving the government and the press, the two greatest
states, at the same time. "Recognizing the responsibility of the
government to both perform and inform, and the right of the media to
question and comment, he or she seeks to find a tolerable area of
compatibility even though the two institutions are as separate as
church and state." A very fine and true commentary on the status of
the adversarial, though ought to be amicable relationship.
Anyhow, he is certainly a legend. He was paid tribute
to by many of the reporters who served at the State Department on
Monday. And our condolences go to his wife and his daughters.
Now, on to the present -- and back to the future.
Professor Stephanopoulos. I will read you a statement from the
President of the United States:
"From the snows of New Hampshire in 1991 until the
present day, no one has rendered me better advice, nor given more
loyal service to this nation than George Stephanopoulos. There's no
one in Washington who has a better understanding of the intersection
of politics, policy and the way those affect the American people.
His work here at the White House is evidence of his deep respect for
our country, its system of government and its people. He cannot be
replaced.
George will undoubtedly be a great teacher at
Columbia. His boundless intellectual curiosity will be put to
good use, shaping the leadership of the future."
Q
Who wrote that, Stephanopoulos? (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: No, his agent did. (Laughter.) The
President had assistance in that statement from my largely female
press office staff, which also included some language about --
with the recent marriage of John F. Kennedy, Jr., George now
becomes the most eligible stud muffin in New York. (Laughter.)
The President struck that for something more appropriately Ivy
League.
Q
Does the President think he's not the most
eligible -- (laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: I know of at least one person who
would challenge that, the question of eligibility. We will all
miss him very much here.
Q
Besides writing odes to George, what has the
President been doing today?
MR. MCCURRY: Not using his voice, which is my next
item. I had told you that Dr. Mariano had said that if his voice
was not getting any better she was going to take another look at
it.
She asked today for the assistance of Dr. James
Suen, who is the President's ENT doctor who participates in his
annual physical exam. He is a professor and chairman of the
Department of Otolaryngology, head and neck --
Q
Could you spell his name?
MR. MCCURRY: Dr. James Suen, S-u-e-n. And you'll
see him in the medical records we released. He made commentary
on the annual physical exam. He was assisted in examination
today by Captain David Thompson, Dr. Thompson, who is the chief
ENT guy at Bethesda and Walter Reed Naval Medical Center.
They did a fiberoptic probe of the President's vocal
cords, confirmed that they had been overused mightily, and their
diagnosis is the same one that Dr. Mariano made, that it's a
combination of his air travel, overuse of his vocal cords, his
reflux condition, which we reported to you in the past, and
perhaps also his allergies -- a multifactoral diagnosis of
overuse of his vocal cords, leading them to prescribe complete
vocal rest.
Q
For how long?
MR. MCCURRY: They would think a period of three to
four days would be sufficient, but there is at least some
evidence that the patient is not following doctors' orders
already.
Q
Did they do a biopsy, Mike?
MR. MCCURRY: No. This is a fiberoptic probe that
just examines the vocal cords.
Now, they've also made a slight adjustment in some
of the medication the President takes. He takes and antiacid
that we've reported to you in the past, omeprazole, which we've
reported to you in the past under the brand name, Prilasec.
They've also prescribed an additional drug, cisapride, which a
motility agent that controls the acid reflux in the President's
Q
What is a motility agent?
MR. MCCURRY: It means that it controls the level of
acid as it rises from the esophagus into the throat, I guess.
And what does omperazole do?
MR. MCCURRY: It's an antiacid. It's like big,
strong Maalox.
So one of them controls the levels and the
other one dilutes the acid?
MR. MCCURRY: Right. One's an antiacid and one
controls where the acid is in the digestive system.
How many polyps does he have?
MR. MCCURRY: They believe -- they hope that that
will control the condition, and they also prescribe rest to the
President's vocal cords. One consequence of this is the
President is under instructions not to talk to people, which,
given his entertainment schedule over the next couple of days, is
going to be interesting. All of the members of Congress who are
here for the Congressional Ball tonight will get a handshake and
a smile, but not the cheerful words of welcome that the President
usually provides.
Q
What's he going to do for the national
tree-lighting?
MR. MCCURRY: The good news is, it makes the
reception line go faster, probably.
What's he going to do for the national
tree-lighting?
MR. MCCURRY: Unknown. We'll have to check on that
tomorrow and we'll see how it is. He might elect to have someone
-- he might do, as he did yesterday, speak briefly and then have
someone else complete his remarks.
Mike, do you describe this condition that he
now has -- is it fair to say it's laryngitis? How would you
describe it?
MR. MCCURRY: I'd describe it as colloquially as the
President has lost his voice; it is missing in action.
You said they are adjusting his medication --
does this mean he's not taking his medications at all, or is he
taking less of them?
MR. MCCURRY: No, I think he's still taking the same
antiacid. I think they just prescribed a somewhat different
dosage for it. I didn't get the dosages.
How does that affect the rest of his work? I
mean, Cabinet, the Inaugural, budget -- is he just completely --
MR. MCCURRY: He's still working on it. You have
some interest in that subject, do you?
Well, I mean, it would seem to be hard for him
to conduct normal business if he can't talk.
MR. MCCURRY: He's conducting normal business, which
may be part of the problem. I mean, he is --
Is he writing things down and communicating
that way?
MR. MCCURRY: He is being encouraged to.
Should we give him an Etch-A-Sketch for
Christmas?
MR. MCCURRY: That's a great idea, do one of those
little think-pad things that you can draw on.
He's being encouraged to, but is he doing it?
Any announcements to make?
MR. MCCURRY: Yes, you know, he kind of wrote all
over this statement, you know, doing stuff like that.
How long was the exam?
In meetings, is he --
MR. MCCURRY: He's been having -- I mean, he
whispers some audible comments, or barely audible comments. But
by and large he's -
"It's a hoax." (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: He has been -- he will scratch a note
if he needs to. He's not completely laying off the voice.
Where did the exam take place and how long was
it?
MR. MCCURRY: At the residence, in the medical
unit's clinic. It's an out patient exam. It took -- I didn't
get the exact time, but it was probably about 20, 25 minutes.
Q
-- pass the fiber optic probe through the nose
and down into the throat?
MR. MCCURRY: I didn't get those kinds of details.
Q
They found nothing else, other than overuse?
MR. MCCURRY: No. No other evidence of any other
complicating viral infections or anything of that nature.
Q
Just for our own, as you say, intense interest,
does this mean that we should not expect him to have any oral or
written announcements, perhaps, of Cabinet choices for the next
three to five days?
MR. MCCURRY: On the question of Cabinet selections,
the President has made no final decisions. He is actively
considering that question. He will be meeting this afternoon
with the Vice President. He continues to be in the same advanced
state of deliberation that he was when I reported to you earlier
this week.
Q
Well, what's the likelihood that you will have
an announcement?
MR. MCCURRY: The likelihood is that there is a
finish line that will be crossed at some point in the not too
distant future. But I don't want to speculate how soon.
Q
Has he gotten to the stage of actually
interviewing candidates, sitting down and talking to them about a
job?
MR. MCCURRY: Yes.
Q
Well, he's not doing that this week, right, or
is he?
MR. MCCURRY: He's done some of that this week.
Q
Well, are there FBI checks going on now?
MR. MCCURRY: There's, as you would expect, a
vetting process that has been underway for some time.
Has there been a scenario where Vice President
Gore asked the question and the President whispered?
MR. MCCURRY: No, but he has been participating --
the Vice President has been participating in most of the
discussions the President has had, along with Chief of Staff Leon
Panetta and Chief of Staff designate Erskine Bowles.
Q
If they're already in the administration do
they have to be checked again?
MR. MCCURRY: They'd still be -- it's not exactly
the same process, but there would still be an effort to
anticipate issues that might arise during a confirmation hearing,
and anyone who has served in a high level in the government would
be subject to questions about his or her performance of duties
and that is the type of question that you would normally look at.
Q
But if they stay in the same job there's no
additional confirmation --
MR. MCCURRY: Correct, if someone is retaining the
current position there wouldn't be any change.
Q
Is there anybody else he wants to meet with
this week, Mike, to complete what he wants to do with the
national security team?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm sorry, say again.
Q
Is there anyone else he wants to meet with or
talk to this week in terms of a candidate to complete the
national security positions?
MR. MCCURRY: I would not rule that out.
You said he had met with --
MR. MCCURRY: So he's not using his voice, he is
going to use his back swing -- and he will golf in 10 minutes, so
the travel pool needs to assemble here at the door shortly.
Q
When is this meeting with Gore going to occur?
MR. MCCURRY: Probably when he gets back. He told
me he was going to do it later today.
Wouldn't the cold air put some additional
strain on his vocal cords?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, back to that, the President has
reported in the past some aggravation of his allergies because of
Christmas evergreen decorations, but apparently that's under
control because of the shots that he's been taking. He has not
reported any additional problem related to allergies, and I'm not
aware that anything affecting the outside ambient temperature
affects this condition.
Q
We should not expect -- you would rule out any
announcement today on the Cabinet?
MR. MCCURRY: I'd say given that, given this, given
that, go home. Maybe we can put a lid on.
Who is he going golfing with?
Any candidates?
How about Erskine?
MR. MCCURRY: A likely suspect. Why don't you go
find out who is in the foursome -- twosome?
Q
You said he had met with candidates this week.
This is multiple candidates -- he's met with several people?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm only aware of one, but there may
have been others.
Q
Well, just give us the initials, okay?
Mike, getting back to the voice, some ENT
specialists have written about Clinton's voice in journals and so
forth. They've talked about the possibility that if this keeps
becoming such a chronic problem, he could actually have -- I
hesitate to use the term, but they used something like
"paralyzed" vocal cords. Is anything being applied locally to
his vocal cords to loosen it up or --
MR. MCCURRY: Only hot tea and the throat lozenges
that I've mentioned in the past. They've not prescribed any
other type of local anesthetic or anything of that nature that
I'm aware of.
Q
How long do they think this might last, now
that they've regulated the antacid?
MR. MCCURRY: The diagnosis was if the President did
refrain from using his voice for four days, that they would
expect it normally to start repairing after that length of time.
Q
Is he taking anyone else along to yell "fore"
for him?
MR. MCCURRY: That's what we're going to go find
out.
Q
No herbal medicine or acupuncture?
Q
I wasn't clear what you said to Rita, though.
If he does finish up this selection process, I mean, he's going
to violate doctor's orders, right, to come out and tell us about
it? You're not saying that there's going to be no announcement
for four days.
MR. MCCURRY: I'm not ruling in, ruling out any
announcements. And how he would make them, given his vocal cord
condition, I just don't know. Maybe I'd stand up and make the
announcement read it for him.
Q
-- weekly radio address?
MR. MCCURRY: No --
Q
You're going to pull out a sub?
MR. MCCURRY: We'll look ahead to that. There might
be a way of adjusting to taking into account that situation.
Q
You could use "the best of." (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: Are they going to do that with Inside
Politics Weekend on CNN during the holiday season, Wolf, kind of
do the Best of Wolf? It's a good idea.
Q
You have to have some good ones in order to do
the best of.
MR. MCCURRY: Mr. Hume, what did you say, you have
to have some good ones to get a best of? (Laughter.) There will
be plenty of those.
Q
Mike, is this the worst episode of throat that
he's ever had?
MR. MCCURRY: Apparently not. I think the condition
that he suffered in 1992 during the campaign was worse, by the
memory of those who were present and available.
Q
Well, it was more episodic. It came and went
more often.
MR. MCCURRY: Kind of came and went.
Q
This seems to be the longest sustained.
MR. MCCURRY: This has gone for a longer duration,
and it seemed to have gotten better over Thanksgiving when he
rested it a bit, but it seemed to have gotten worse when he
started yakking this week. So the doctors say, no more yak.
Q
Have all the Cabinet officers been informed now
as to whether they're staying or going? Like, Janet Reno -- you
people have been so ambiguous, or noncommittal.
MR. MCCURRY: The President has been focusing mostly
on these national security posts. I don't believe that he's
completed his meetings with individual Cabinet officers that he
hadn't seen prior to Thanksgiving.
Q
So they're still in limbo in the sense of
knowing?
MR. MCCURRY: No, they're hard at work and doing
good work for the President, just as they always have.
Q
Mike, can we get some White House comment on
the ruling yesterday in Hawaii on same-sex marriages?
MR. MCCURRY: I don't have anything on that. I'll
see if we've got anything on that.
Q
On the question of adjusting the CPI,
Republicans on the Hill are saying they'd like to think about it,
but they would like to see leadership from the White House on
this issue. What's the White House view on what the White House
is prepared to do?
MR. MCCURRY: The White House is prepared to do what
Dr. Stiglitz said in his statement, to carefully review the
Boskin report and other evidence regarding the most accurate cost
of living measure. The Bureau of Labor Statistics already has an
ongoing effort to improve the Consumer Price Index calculation.
It's already made several improvements over the last four years.
The process for improving this measure should not be politicized
and our goal should be to reach agreement based on the best
scientific and technical judgment possible.
Now, let me amend Dr. Stiglitz's statement with an
admonishment I've had from Professor Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who
tells me that statistical measurements cannot be a matter of
science because statistics cannot be replicated by a scientific
method. Therefore, this is a matter of estimation. And Senator
Moynihan has written essays about the act of estimation as being
a worthless exercise. So that should be the best statistical and
technical judgments possible, in my opinion, and in the opinion
of Daniel Patrick Moynihan. And I agree.
Q
Can you do your impersonation for us now? How
would he actually say that?
MR. MCCURRY: "No, lad." (Laughter.)
Q
Can I follow up just on that? Would the
President be willing to see this issue discussed in the budget
negotiations with the Hill?
MR. MCCURRY: The issue of how to calculate the CPI
and the impact it has on federal spending has been an issue in
bipartisan budget deliberations in the past. The White House
expects it will be an issue in the future. Senator Moynihan
pointed out to me actually a good point, that the issue of the
CPI calculation is, itself, now in some ways, if you look at it
the way he looks at it, the fourth largest federal program after
Social Security, health and defense. And I forgot to ask the
Senator whether that would include interest on the federal debt.
Q
Therefore, the White House will view it how?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, therefore, the White House will
view it very carefully, because it has enormous impact,
otherwise, on the lives of millions of Americans, and has
enormous consequences for spending.
Q
Is there a large pole long enough in the world
with which you would touch this issue? (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: I rely on the help of strangers.
Q
Well, is there an internal debate? I noticed
in the paper this morning, Dr. Tyson was saying the
administration is willing to look at this. Secretary Rubin was
saying, well, there's not that much interest in this.
MR. MCCURRY: Oh, I think there is considerable
interest in what the calculation of cost of living increases does
in terms of budget policy, how it affects Americans. There has
been considerable debate on this in both the academic community
and certainly among those who are responsible for policy-making.
So, of course, there is considerable interest.
Q
Is President Clinton prepared to do what
Senator Moynihan wants, which is to take the leadership on this
issue?
MR. MCCURRY: The President will have to lead when
it comes to budget and any bipartisan agreement that would
balance the budget by a date certain. And certainly if this
issue enters into that calculation, leadership will be necessary
and will be provided.
Q
Mike, in the past when the Breaux-Chafee
alternative was raised you noted the administration's objections
to the CPI provision. Are you now saying that if that budget
alternative is brought forward down the line and there is
bipartisan support for it, the White House would be willing not
to oppose it?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm basically taking a what you would
call a wait-and-see attitude on that one there. I did not
pronounce myself on that.
Q
Who goes first, Mike, in this process? I mean,
everybody says it's enormously important --
MR. MCCURRY: Well, the President will start the
budget deliberations going by presenting a budget proposal to the
Congress, and then we will go from there.
Q
But on the CPI, though, what's the first step.
MR. MCCURRY: Our position on the issue of CPI
calculation is, it is in late in the budget process now for that
to be a calculation in the FY '98 budget submission. But whether
or not that becomes an issue as the budget is deliberated remains
to be seen.
Wolf has lost interest. He's now doing a crossword
puzzle.
Q
What about the proposal by the retired general
to get rid of all nuclear weapons?
MR. MCCURRY: I turn the podium over to Dr. David
Johnson. Go.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you. As of, I believe, when we
started there, they had not finished their presentation, so I'm
unable to comment on exactly what they've said. A number of the
things that they suggested are ones that the administration
supports, in particular, the step-by-step approach that they have
recommended be taken to reduction of nuclear weapons.
The administration has made enormous strides in this
respect during its term of office -- START I implementation, the
negotiation and the Senate ratification of START II, the
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and several other steps,
including the complete denuclearization of Belarus, Kazakhstan
and Ukraine. But we continue to believe that nuclear weapons
will be part of the cornerstone of our deterrent strategy for
some time into the future. And so that there's not, of course,
complete agreement between us and the generals.
Q
There are some people in the Pentagon who don't
want to go on camera who think he's just completely lost it, to
be proposing it.
MR. JOHNSON: Well, the generals I think, given the
time that you've been here and the time that they've made their
presentation, whoever made that comment to you hadn't had the
benefit of the general making his statement. So I don't think
anybody has lost it, but I think that's a little unfair to go
about making those sorts of comments before the generals have
made their presentation at the National Press Club.
These ideas that they've put forward have merit and
the notion that we would have a step-by-step approach to this as
one that the administration has used and one that's been
profitable in improving the security of the American people.
But, as I said, we continue to believe that nuclear deterrence
will remain a cornerstone of our strategy in protecting America's
vital national interests.
Q
The guy's good. Positively McCloskeyan.
(Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: Thank you, David. How are you on
Riady? (Laughter.)
A related question, Dave. The strike wave now
in Russia in the Kuzbass district is now taking on more of a
political character. They're calling now for the resignation of
Prime Minister Chernomyrdin and spreading also to St. Petersburg.
Is there concern in the White House about this, and have you any
recommendations to President Yeltsin as to how to deal with this
-- for instance, maybe paying some of the back wages?
MR. MCCURRY: To my knowledge, we have not rendered
any advice to President Yeltsin on a matter that is largely
within his own province to deal with as a domestic issue.
Obviously, the impact of that debate is one that we have followed
closely, and it does have enormous impact on the lives of many of
the Russian people.
Q
How about Stephanopoulous? Is somebody going
to fill an equivalent role, or is George's role so specialized to
him personally in his experience --
MR. MCCURRY: He's irreplacable.
Q
No, I'm serious, though. Does the President
envision putting somebody in a spot similar to that as a senior
advisor, doing sort of functions that George is now doing?
MR. MCCURRY: I would not be surprised if the
President attempts to replicate with another individual the role
of someone who really does have a broad portfolio on a wide
range, looking at both the political impact of policy-making and
how the President can best use his own resources to address the
most significant policy issues that are in the "in-box."
And George, I like to say, is the guy who makes sure
the right order exists in the Oval Office "in-box" and that
everything that comes out in the "out-box" is perfect. And he's
been unsurpassed in his ability to kind of manage that type flow
of issues and dialogue and he's been, quite literally,
indispensible to the President.
So it's conceivable to me the President will want,
somehow or other, to fill that role, and given his capabilities,
it might take more than one person to do so. But I think the
function itself, the marriage of politics and policy and how that
affects what we do here at the White House, is one that requires
someone with George's kind of talent.
That was a long way of saying "maybe yes." Okay,
back to sleep. See you all.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END
2:00 P.M. EST
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RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Diana M. Fortuna (FORTUNA_D) (OPD)
CREATION DATE/TIME: 4-DEC-1996 17:43:21.66
SUBJECT: President's Committee on Mental Retardation
TO: Carol H. Rasco
(RASCO_C) (WHO)
READ: 4-DEC-1996 17:44:39.37
TEXT:
FYI, I just heard that PCMR asked Bill White for a photo op with
the President so that they can present their annual report to him,
and he has put in a scheduling request for it. Apparently JFK Jr,
who is on their board, wants to come. Scheduling is interested.
It could be as soon as next week. Bill is trying to figure out
how large a crowd it could be; PCMR wants their board and some
advisory group to come.
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: William White (WHITE_WI) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME: 5-DEC-1996 18:47:39.21
SUBJECT: FYI
TO: Diana M. Fortuna
(FORTUNA_D) (OPD)
READ: 5-DEC-1996 18:48:35.54
TEXT:
PRINTER FONT 12_POINT_ROMAN
SCHEDULE PROPOSAL
November 15, 1996
ACCEPT
REGRET
PENDING
-
TO:
Stephanie Streett and Anne Hawley
Directors of Scheduling and Advance
FROM:
Alexis Herman
Assistant to the President and Director,
Office of Public Liaison
REQUEST:
A photo opportunity with members of the
President's Committee on Mental
Retardation, including JFK, Jr.
PURPOSE:
To present the annual report of the
President's Committee on Mental
Retardation to the President.
BACKGROUND:
The President's Committee on Mental
Retardation is made up of twenty
-one
citizen appointees, and advises the
President on disability policy. The
Committee operates as part of the
Department of Health and Human Services.
The Committee is required by Executive
Order to submit an annual report to the
President. This document includes the
status of programs and services for
citizens with mental retardation, the
achievements of the Committee during the
past year, and their recommendations for
further action by the President.
PREVIOUS PARTICIPATION: None.
DATE AND TIME:
Anytime between December 2
-13, 1996.
BRIEFING TIME:
None required.
DURATION:
10 minutes
LOCATION:
Oval Office
PARTICIPANTS:
16 members of the President's Committee,
including John F. Kennedy, Jr.
OUTLINE OF EVENTS:
Short summary of the report by the Chair
of the President's Committee, followed
by a photo
-opportunity.
REMARKS:
None.
RECOMMENDED BY:
Alexis Herman
Bill White
CONTACT:
Bill White 6
-7032
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: William White (WHITE_WI) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME: 6-DEC-1996 17:15:14.00
SUBJECT: PCMR
TO: Carol H. Rasco
(RASCO_C) (WHO)
READ: 6-DEC-1996 17:20:48.18
TO: Diana M. Fortuna
(FORTUNA_D) (OPD)
READ: 6-DEC-1996 17:15:28.23
CC: Jill Pizzuto
(PIZZUTO_J) (OPD)
READ: 9-DEC-1996 09:39:44.21
TEXT:
A brief update on the POSSIBILITY of doing a Presidential photo-op with members
of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation:
Scheduling is trying to identify 15 minutes during the next 2 weeks in which to
bring in the PCMR to present its annual report to the President. No date or
time has been set.
Regarding the concerns raised with total invitees, that was my mistake. I will
make sure we invite all members, but I was assuming that with short notice, and
members from around the country, that we would only end with 15. Also, Gary
(ED) wants to invite many others, but I have put the brakes on those requests.
I just had a pleasant conversation with Jean Browning, and gave her a complete
status report.
Sorry for any confusion. I'll contact your office when/if I get a firm date.
P.S. Should we let JFK, Jr. bring his bride?
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Jill Pizzuto (PIZZUTO_J) (OPD)
CREATION DATE/TIME:10-DEC-1996 14:50:23.65
SUBJECT: Bill White
TO: Carol H. Rasco
(RASCO_C) (WHO)
READ:10-DEC-1996 15:04:22.04
TO: Diana M. Fortuna
(FORTUNA_D) (OPD)
READ:10-DEC-1996 17:06:28.12
TEXT:
he just called me and asked if Carol would/could attend b/c CHR knows most of
these people. He was hoping that CHR could come to the lobby upon their arrival
or shortly thereafter to meet / be with them before the photo. Bill will be
there too.
I said that I'd leave CHR an email, but that she currently had an outside
meeting and wasn't expected to be here.
please let me know what you'd like to do.
thanks.
ATTACHMENT 1
ATT CREATION TIME/DATE:10-DEC-1996 14:35:00.00
ATT BODYPART TYPE:B
ATT CREATOR: Diana M. Fortuna
ATT SUBJECT: PCMR Board drop-by in Oval Office
ATT TO: Carol H. Rasco
(RASCO_C)
ATT CC: Jill Pizzuto
(PIZZUTO_J)
TEXT:
FYI, in case you want to go, Bill White just told me the PCMR
board drop-by with the President (and JFK Jr.) is tomorrow morning
at 10:30. Guests are arriving at 10.
END ATTACHMENT
1
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Diana M. Fortuna (FORTUNA_D) (OPD)
CREATION DATE/TIME:10-DEC-1996 14:37:22.70
SUBJECT: PCMR Board drop-by in Oval Office
TO: Carol H. Rasco
(RASCO_C) (WHO)
READ:10-DEC-1996 15:03:03.61
CC: Jill Pizzuto
(PIZZUTO_J) (OPD)
READ:10-DEC-1996 14:47:30.23
TEXT:
FYI, in case you want to go, Bill White just told me the PCMR
board drop-by with the President (and JFK Jr.) is tomorrow morning
at 10:30. Guests are arriving at 10.
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: Jill Pizzuto (PIZZUTO_J) (OPD)
CREATION DATE/TIME:10-DEC-1996 15:57:11.97
SUBJECT: tomorrow / PCMR
TO: William White
(WHITE_WI) (WHO)
READ:10-DEC-1996 16:15:07.90
CC: Diana M. Fortuna
(FORTUNA_D) (OPD)
READ:10-DEC-1996 17:07:14.77
TEXT:
Bill:
I called and left you a voice mail that Carol is able to meet/greet folks as
they are beginning to arrive tomorrow a.m., but can only give 15 min and must
depart by 10:15a.
Do you have a list of attendee's you can get to me TODAY BY 5:00P???? for her
briefing book? (our fax number is: 6-2878 or just have someone drop it off).
I'm assuming that you will be in the West Lobby as well tomorrow at 10:00?
Please let me know if different - otherwise, this is what I'll list on her
schedule.
thanks. call if you need to: 6-2249.
ATTACHMENT 1
ATT CREATION TIME/DATE: 6-DEC-1996 16:56:00.00
ATT BODYPART TYPE:B
ATT CREATOR: William White
ATT SUBJECT: PCMR
ATT TO: Carol H. Rasco
(RASCO_C)
ATT TO: Diana M. Fortuna
(FORTUNA_D)
ATT CC: Jill Pizzuto
(PIZZUTO_J)
TEXT:
A brief update on the POSSIBILITY of doing a Presidential photo-op with members
of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation:
Scheduling is trying to identify 15 minutes during the next 2 weeks in which to
bring in the PCMR to present its annual report to the President. No date or
time has been set.
Regarding the concerns raised with total invitees, that was my mistake. I will
make sure we invite all members, but I was assuming that with short notice, and
members from around the country, that we would only end with 15. Also, Gary
(ED) wants to invite many others, but I have put the brakes on those requests.
I just had a pleasant conversation with Jean Browning, and gave her a complete
status report.
Sorry for any confusion. I'll contact your office when/if I get a firm date.
P.S. Should we let JFK, Jr. bring his bride?
END ATTACHMENT 1
RECORD TYPE: PRESIDENTIAL (ALL-IN-1 MAIL)
CREATOR: William White (WHITE_WI) (WHO)
CREATION DATE/TIME:11-DEC-1996 09:08:09.60
SUBJECT: JFK Photo OP
TO: Lorraine McHugh
(MCHUGH_L) (WHO)
READ:11-DEC-1996 09:09:22.34
TO: Mary Ellen Glynn
(GLYNN_M) Autoforward to: Remote Addressee
(Mary E.
Glynn@eop@Ingtwy@eopmrx ) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
CC: Patricia F. Lewis
(LEWIS_PF) Autoforward to: Remote Addressee
( Patricia F.
Lewis@eop@lngtwy@eopmrx ) (WHO)
READ:NOT READ
TEXT:
The President's Committee on Mental Retardation will be presenting its annual
report to the President this morning in the Oval at 10:30. JFK, Jr is a member.
Do you want to consider bringing some photographers to cover the event?