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Show Thursday, March Chamiae Tack For Demoerafls By HELEN THOMAS UPI White House Reporter WASHINGTON (UPI) -P- resident Reagan is not changing his strategy now that the Democratic contest has turned into "a real horse race" between Walter Mondale and Sen. Gary Hart, according to aides. Deputy White House press secretary Larry Speakes told reporters last week that Reagan will be pursuing his own campaign goals, running on his record. Nevertheless, some insiders believe there may have to be some adjustment if Hart heads the Democratic ticket espousing his "new ideas." They indicate that Reagan will be forced into more rigorous campaigning than the two days a month on the road that has been currently set aside. Chief of staff James Baker said in an interview with Cable News Network that the Reagan campaign will not be "totally unhappy" if Mondale emerges as the winner of a bloody Democratic primary race. There is "a real horse race over there on the Democratic side," he said, in assessing the Super Tuesday political contests. "So far, the results do seem to be inconclusive," Baker said. "I don't know at what point during the process the attention of the press and the nation will focus on delegates as opposed to the beauty contest, the primaries themselves. But I suppose at some point in the near future we'll see that happen, and then I would suspect that it might become even more of a horse race." Asked if the White House prefers "a long bloody primary" with Mondale capturing the No. 1 spot on the ticket, he said: "Well, I wouldn't say that we would be totally unhappy if that happened. You know that happened in reverse back in 1976 when you had a long bloody primary between Governor (Ronald) Reagan and President Ford. ... While President Ford was able nevertheless to make a pretty good race in the general election, he was defeated in that race." As for whether Hart might be the stronger Democratic candidate, Baker said, "We really are the worst people in the country to judge" who would be toughest to beat. "I'm reminded of what happened in 1980 when the Carter people were saying: 'Give us Ronald Reagan. He's way over here on one side of the political spectrum. Don't give us George Bush. Don't give us Howard Baker, " the White House aide Said. He noted Jimmy Carter's got its wish to run against Reagan and won only six states and the District of campaign Reagan-Bus- h Hart's new surge "doesn't bother us at all," adding, "This is a guy whose burst of support has a faddish element to it. The balloon could be punctured as Mondale and the media focus on his record." Berry's World r It seems some coun- cilmen in Provo are determined to impose a city bed tax on motel operators whether it makes much sense or not. Motel and hotel operators already pay a three percent tax on room rentals to fund the local chapter of the Utah Travel Council. Last year, a similar plan ran into considera- ble opposition and was dropped. Proponents of the plan want to establish a city tourist promotion arm. That's not a par 1984 "YUCK! Female body builders! Who wants to see THAT?!" About Letters "Feedback" is intended to provide Daily Herald readers with an open forum in which they can discuss issues of broad community interest and importance in that spirit. The Daily Herald welcomes letters "Feedback" on any subject of broad community interest. Letters should be typewritwith capiten, double-space- d tals and lower case letters and should not exceed 400 about one and a half words double-space- d pages of typewritten, copy. Without exception, every letter must be signed in Ink with the writer's full name, home address and telephone number. Phone numbers will not be published. Names can be withheld for good reason, but only $fter personal consultation with the editor. The Herald will not accept for publication letters which argue a specific religious doctrine. The Herald does not like to publish letters which give the appearance of being a mass mailing; which attempt a personal debate with a previous contributor rather than expressing issues, or letters which are addressed to individuals or institutions other than the Herald. However, the Herald does make exceptions to the above rules when interest warrants such exceptions. The editor reserves the right to edit any letter to remove potentially libelous material, material in poor taste and to make letters conform to the length limit. t Last year's floods numa great frightened ber of people away from Utah and they cut Highway 6, the primary route to southeast Utah. All of that resulted in a poor year for tourists and visitors. No one wanted to drive through a state awash in raging streams and bulging lakes. State tourism officials are convinced this year could result in a similar decrease in tourism. Imposing taxes on struggling business does not make good financial sense. Councilman City Keith Roos, who has been the most vocal opponent on the city council against the Heritage Mountain ski resort proposal, is not letting principle get in the way of filling the city's purse. He noticed in some financial data provided by Heritage Mountain that developers included a line item in their budget for a bed tax. "It appears they fully intend on paying a bed tax, "It's reasons Roos. substantial a amount of money. If we don't take advantage of it, we're crazy." Eventually, bandwagon that isn't yet hitched to a horse. Until Provo has a ski resort to promote, enthusiastic city fathers should not jump the gun to form an organization to promote it. at Waste Kepri first thing that needs saying is that despite the doubters and cynics, the CBO-GAanalysis proves that nearly $100 billion can be slashed from the deficit over the next three years without raising taxes. Second, there are some big differences between the budget methodologies applied by the Grace Commission and those auditors -applied by CBO-GAnot to mention a lot of savings that the congressional auditors left out of their totals. HOW THE POOR DIFFER O Women are largest subgroup " v s V s 1 $ S i, .. s I , V s' sO?!s ' i, ' if s' 'VtRC Allfl CSrt " H . ELDERLY n p$i"J V'"-- fEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS YOUNG SINGLES ' O I J Si EH OTHER ,CJ ADULTS i Donald Lambro For example, President's Private No sooner WASHINGTON Sechad the tor Survey on Cost Control issued its final report exposing tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending than Washington's wolves were trying to discredit it. The trashing of businessman Peter Grace's "War on Waste" report is a textbook case in how like an antibody attacking a foreign microbe this city quickly mobilizes itself against any outsiders who dare to assault its budgetary sacred cows. The Grace Commission identified budget savings of $424 billion over three years. Its recommendations, nearly 2,500 in all, would save $19 billion a year alone simply by reforming defense spending practices, and billions more by bringing government pensions into line with the private sector's. For more than a year, the survey probed the bureaucracy and, in Grace's words, found "waste, waste, waste." To wit: The Pentagon could close dozens of unneeded, inefficient military bases, but Congress forbids closing even the most useless and dilapidated facilities; d of the namore than tion's post offices serve fewer than 100 customers and could be closed; 70 percent of the recipients of Farmers Home Administration loans are not farmers; and it costs the Veterans Administration $61,250 per bed to four build nursing homes times that of the private sector. Yet as soon as the report was 32 0 11.29) , '32 8 ' I CBO-GA- O looked at only 396 out of the 2,478 recommendations the commission made. Moreover, GAO was unable to calculate dollar savings for 122 of the 396 recommendations they examined. More important, CBO-GAanalysts concentrated only on proposals that would yield immediate three-yea- r savings. The biggest dollar share of Grace's projected budget savings stem O from POVERTY NUMBER OF POOR (millions) (Source SHARE OF POOR RATE NEA GRAPHIC Office of Management and Budget) Marilyn Post Poverty affects different groups with varying needs, all of which Washington must consider in shaping economic policy. Female household heads, for example, are strongly affected by changes in food stamps or other benefits, while the elderly are concerned with social insurance and young singles are more dependent on future economic growth. made public in January, articles began appearing quoting government and former government officials who charged that the commission's numbers were inflated. Recently, Congress came out with a analysis by its Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the General Accounting Office (GAO) which sharply questioned the commission's findings. But consider some of the sources of the sniping. Reports like this "purport to save huge amounts that don't materialize," snorted Herbert Stein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Nixon during which time spending increased significantly, without much opposition from Stein. Frank Carlucci, former deputy secretary of defense under 397-pa- Reagan, insisting that he had cleaned up Pentagon procurement practices, reponded, "I don't know how you can get much more out of it." Has Carlucci heard of the military spare-part- s overpricing scandal which showed that millions of dollars were still being wasted after he left? And Budget Director David Stockman "thinks some of the (commission's) numbers are perfect," a spokesman says. This from the man whose 1981 budget estimates on tax less-tha- n cuts and spending projections were also "less than perfect." Then came the CBO-GA- O analysis which challenged many of the commission's findings, saying it could verify no more than $98 billion in immediate (1985-198three-yea- r spending reductions. 7) long-ter- spending m such as pension rechanges forms that will yield big savings, but not until the 1990s. The Washington Post quoted an unnamed bureaucrat who criticized Grace's recommendations for having "a dream-worl- d quality" to them. "You couldn't screw up your courage to propose it," he said. True, some of Grace's proposals are very controversial such as taxing Social Security and other benefit payments and obviously aren't going anywhere. But the report is loaded with hundreds of other recommendations that can save taxpayers billions now and in future years. In a bureaucracy in which it costs the Army $4.20 to process a payroll check, in sharp contrast to an average of $1 in the private sector, the Grace Com- mission's recommendations make a lot of sense. It's time to stop criticizing this report and start implementing its best proposals. FOOTNOTE: The commission's final report is being sold to the public by the Government Printing Office for the inflated price of $19. It is also being n brought out this month by Mac-milla- Publishers for $9.95. on Pool Chemical Plunge Delaying - More than a million swimming pools throughout the United States contain a chemical that has been linked to kidney damage in several scientific studies. This is no secret to top officials of the Environmental Protection Agency, who were warned of the danger five years ago. But they have yet to take any action. The chemical is cyanuric acid. About 50 million pounds of the stuff are poured into residential and commercial swimming pools each year to make the chlorine in the water last longer. My associate Indy Badhwar has obtained internal EPA documents that show the level of the chemical is as high as 200 parts per million in many swimming pools. It enters the body through swallowing the water or by absorption through the skin. In April 1979, a memo from senior staff scientists to EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator Edwin L. Johnson urged him to take action on cyanuric acid. "A substantial body of information is being developed which suggests a conspiracy to cover up the toxic effects and under-repo- rt of this compound," the memo stated. ' The staff recommended that the WASHINGTON f"'' A? Provo probably should get into the tourist and convention promotion business the same way other cities are doing, but it is premature to jump on a Well, the EPA by NEA Inr ticularly bad idea, but the timing is bad. Provo business has had a very tough year. Critics Aim one-thir- () 39 Idea a Bad One Bed-Ta- x '84 Commitee, said "Mondale is the man to beat" when his continued delegate lead is considered. "We're looking forward to the protracted fight the Democrats seem to have on their hands," he said. "There's no question we're better off now than we were a week ago." A campaign official, who asked not to be identified, said - Page The Herald Comments Columbia. "So I'm not sure the party in power, particularly those who work in the White House on a daily basis, are the best judges of who would be their easiest or strongest opponents would be," he said. John Buckley, a press aide in the THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, The Herald, its readers, syndicated columnists and cartoonists discuss vital issues Opinions Reagan Won't a, 1984 manufacturers ot tne chemical be asked to withdraw it voluntarily for swimming pool use, pending further safety studies. "Corporate officers may be swayed more by ... criminal liability than they are by the health arguments," the memo' added pointedly. A government scientific advisory panel's draft report warned that studies of cyanuric acid showed it caused changes in the livers as well as the kidneys of laboratory animals. The panel reported that kidney damage had occurred in five different vertebrate species. "Human exposure to this chemical is extensive during ... swimming," the panel reported. "Furthermore, there is a significant population of Americans with renal diseases using these facili- EBB Jack Anderson not reported to the EPA. Pathologists were "misdirected" from the kidney to the liver in subsequent studies, despite the extensive kidney dam- age associated with cyanuric ties ...." acid. staff briefing paper suggested that the chemical industry's toxicity studies may have EPA auditors found that the laboratory's 'selection of animals for the study of tissue changes "was not random, and in some instances selective choice was apparent." An EPA been fraudulent and, therefore, may have played down the danger. The document cited the following evidence: EPA audits showed that two studies of mice and rats were aborted after seven months "apparently due to excess mortality resulting from kidney failure." Tne results of these studies were An independent review concluded that a significant number of lesions were not reported by the industry studies. Rabbits that were rubbed with a cyanuric acid solution over 10 percent of their bodies devel oped kidney damage, "thus show ing evidence of skin absorption and systemic toxicity." One EPA scientist who investigated the industry's questionable testing pointed out that the chemical has been used in swimming pools for 20 years, so any toxic effects should have shown up by now. But the National Academy of Sciences maintains that risks can be accurately assessed through studies of laboratory animals. Footnote: EPA asked the industry to repeat its studies of cyanuric acide. An EPA official said most of the new short-terstudies are complete and "there are no immediate concerns." An industry spokesman said that while cyanuric acid is poisonous when digested and is a severe eye irritant, nothing in the literature links it to kidney damage. FEUD OF THE WEEK: Sen. is furious at Alan Dixon, Navy Secretary John Lehman over a camera contract. The trouble began when the Navy proposed awarding a contract to a foreign camera manufacturer. Dixon wanted the Navy to consider a camera made by an Illinois company, so he threatened to introduce a budget amendment freezing the funds for the contract. D-Il- l., sole-sour- ce |