Show 12A Standard-Examine- Sunday June r 5 1988 Opmioiis Standard-Examine- r Revisions lessening concerns of child support guidelines The Utah Child Support Task Force its membership composed of business and professional people legislators and others with judicial expertise has reinforced that democracy works The members have responded to public dread that the original guidelines for child support were unrealistic and cause for alarm Revamped guidelines address the major points of opposition that had been voiced at public hearings and in Newly compiled in booklet form and widely distributed public inspection is urged before the June 27 meeting of the Utah Judicial Council the target date for official adoption The task force has not taken its mandate lightly It had been asked to craft a document that would give greater definition forjudges to act uniformly in Utah courts in de- termining provisions for child support payments It was crucial that guidelines be fair showing the greater concern for the actual cost of care and welfare of the child It was a determination that custodial and parents be treated in a just manner respecting incomes of both Original proposal that emerged from a year of study spawned unexpected and widespread opposition primarily the provisions that existing child support orders would be restructured giving first marriage children priority status The provision that generated the greatest protest was a higher payment schedule indexed to increase dramatically to conform with the age considerations of rearing children from early years through the teens Utah Court of Appeals Judge Judith Billings and task force chairman believes the provisions causing the greatest fears have been rewritten realigned to overcome what the public perceived as injustices in determining child support schedules No longer is there a provision that would cause previd ous or existing child support payments to be refigured Children in second marriages will be given full consideration to any decision or modification to child support awards Originally the task force defined a pay schedule to reflect what it believed to be actual costs of rearing a child Computing it at various income levels the final result was determined to increase as much as 30 percent in child support payments That has been reduced but still remains approximately 10 percent to 15 percent above the current child support schedules Mandatory state and federal taxes and social security deductions have been used in setting award amounts using estimates of after-ta- x income compiled by the US Bureau of Census The basic child support need figures were further adjusted reflecting the assumption that the custodial parent would receive the tax exemptions for all children If the custodial parent relinquishes the tax exemption it could be grounds for an adjustment to the basic award It has been decided by task force deliberations that joint physical custody cases because of complexities be considered on an individual basis The inherent responsibility of parents to provide adequately financial resources to be used in the care and keeping of offspring is unquestionable However to have allowed the task force work to proceed untouched not revised would have represented a lack of good judgment for all children especially those who are the result of a later family Child support payments that are established disproportionately beyond the scope of an ability to pay and yet maintain any semblance of a standard of living either for custodial or parents would be an injustice to all concerned parties If adopted as expected by the Utah Judicial Council the refined child support provisions will supersede other guidelines in force on an individual basis among the judicial districts Public scrutiny of the task force work stirred healthy debate Parents who believed they would be impacted by the new guidelines took advantage of opportunities to voice approval or dissent The task force reacted accordingly and responsibly with compromises that remove the key points of public contention and appear reasonable and equitable dealing fairly with children of any and all marletters-to-the-edit- or non-custodi- al court-ordere- I non-custod- ial riages Proposition 13 hurts conservatives WASHINGTON — Most political news travels east to west sometimes disappearing into desert sands before reaching California But political tides often roll the other way washing over Washington as one did 10 years ago On June 6 1978 Californians passed Proposition 13 slashing and limiting property taxes The conservative decade that now is at dusk had dawned In the decade prior to 1978 three things — the (perceived) failure of Great Society programs Vietnam Watergate — sapped confidence in the competence and good motives of government Proposition 13 was bom from a fourth failure that radicalizer of the middle class inflation Proposition 13 was less evidence of a generalized “tax revolt” than a blow against a particular grievance: property taxes in an era of high inflation A house is the average American’s most valuable asset In 1976 houses were appreciating in value faster than many Californians especially the elderly on fixed incomes could afford Perversely they were being impoverished by the cost (in taxes) of their growing wealth Proposition 3 begat a year later a spending limit linking all government budgets’ growth to increases in population and in the months after Propocost of living Thirty-on- e sition 13 passed a new President a Californian proclaimed in his inaugural address that “government is the problem” Today public payrolls are smaller (the Los Angeles city payroll is 4000 jobs smaller than in 1978) and Proposition 13 saves property owners about $15 billion a year But today many Californians think insufficient government is now a problem For the average American and especially the average Californian government’s three crucial concerns are cars cops and kids — that is transportation public safety and edu- 1 TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart recently returned to the pulpit for the first time since confessing that he sinned He had only hung up his preacher’s robes for three months even though Pentecostal church leaders defrocked him for refusing to give up preaching for a year But Swaggart says he has learned the essential Christian lesson — the lesson of forgiveness Could that be s? As he denounces the devil and pleads for donations though doesn't it make one we wonder if he’s secretly praying that' a belief espoused by PT Barnum still holds true? As old PT put it “A sucker is bom every minute" cation Today in southern California’s Orange County the incubator of Reaganism conservatives are joining the call for strong government measures to limit growth and provide highways and other infrastructure for the growth that has occurred or is inevitable California even more than the rest of the nation and with more reason is clamoring for a stronger fight against drugs and against the gangs that drugs finance And public education the catalyst of California’s postwar rise as a home for high-tec- h industry is in decline The decline began before 1978 In 1962 California ranked sixth among the states in il spending kindergarten through 12th grade By 1974 it was 17th By 1978 it was 22nd By 1982 it was 41st California has lccently risen somewhat but not enough for an era in which its schools are required to do what Eastern urban schools did in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — turn immigrants into Americans In 1983 halfway through the conservative decade 64 percent of Californians favored smaller government with fewer services and 28 percent favored the opposite Today the 3 “smaller government” lead is just and 71 percent favor raising local taxes for roads public safety and schools Proposition 13 by slashing an important revenue source of local governments caused them to turn mendicants to Sacramento So Proposition 13 which was in part an expression of angry alienation from government has reduced the importance of the governments closest to the people and has swollen the power of the central government of a per-pup- 48-4- mega-- state Proposition 13 led conservatives into political and philosophical mistakes The political mistake was to read the result of the vote on Proposition 13 as a referendum against government spending in general This led in 1981 to conservative miscalculation of the public’s willingness to cut federal spending as well as taxes This miscalculation helped produce the deficit Conservatives who rightly respect the corrective mechanism of economic markets have not sufficiently noticed a similar mechanism in political markets In an economic market strong demand drives up price which stimulates production and then increased supply drives down price In a political market anxiety produces action which when it succeeds assuages the anxiety and hence reduces support for the actions taken Thus the strength of a political movement is sapped by its success Resistance to taxes in the late 1970s was fueled by the belief that government was spending carelessly The result was enforced frugality — enforced by punishment at the polls and in some states by restrictions on revenue sources But this frugality has led to increased trust in the judgment of governments and hence to decreased resistance to spending and even taxes The conservatives’ philosophical mistake was in making low taxes the crux of conservatism Today a new public mood is met by a stammering conservatism It is unconvincing in its tentative advocacy of energetic government (hear George Bush on becoming “the education President”) and unable to defend even its defense program from pressures generated by a conservative administration’s deficits Large political victories tend to turn around and bite the victorious For conservatives Proposition 13 and its aftermath have been no exception Washington Post Writers Croup Gray plays key role for Democrats WASHINGTON — Three years ago while caught in the middle of intense infighting to become the first black chairman of a major was House committee Rep Bill Gray a talking to a reporter outside the House chamber It was a chaotic conversation Each time a congressman popped out the door Gray’s sleepy eyes lit up behind his modish glasses “Hey Charlie” Gray would shout “How you doin’? I can’t wait to get back down to your district and eat some more ribs Listen you going to vote for me?” “Bill count on me” the cornered congressman would say ambling away " Gray would say checking a notepad “See this is just like campaigning in North Philadelphia You hunt where the rabbits are You’ve got to knock on doors Folks’ ogos are bigger here But it’s the same deal — build your coalitions” Gray won the House Budget chairmanship over stiff opposition Skeptics figured he was a token black in over his head But after two years of watching Gray skillfully hammer out budgets tame warring Democrats and duel Ronald Reagan the doubters agree: The Phil-l- y Prcacherman can play the game So the Democrats made an inspired choice — albeit one tinged with controversy — by picking Bill Gray to head the platform-draftin- g committee for their ’88 convention it was an early signal that national chairman Paul Kirk will make extraordinary moves to ensure the Democratic Convention is a lovefest not a brawl Sure we know what party platforms are — 10000 words of rhetorical garbage nobody reads and everybody ignores But they can D-P- “Uh-huh- Preaching circus George Will Sandy Grady produce nasty civil wars that spill onto the convention floor This year the platform battle will answer the Democrats’ most dangerous question: “What does Jesse Jackson want?” Obviously with memories of their bloodbaths in 1968 1972 and 1980 Democrats know a nasty floor fight between Jack-so- n and Mike Dukakis supporters would be a wonderful way to elect President George Bush Cynics seeing Gray named as platform chieftain may be quick to chortle the first sop to Jesse They're both black liberal preachers So it looks like Kirk made a peace move — give Jackson’s buddy a power job so Jesse will play nice Ain't necessarily so Gray is not part of the Jackson inner circle Like other black leaders he was dubious of Jackson's presidential run in ’84 This year he has been a supporter but no Jackson chum or confidant ah-ha- h pre-empti- True Gray and Jackson share viewpoints Gray was an impassioned leader for sanctions against South Africa Jackson though wants the platform to label South Africa “a terrorist state" a point on which Dukakis balks Gray’s ideas of defense cutbacks may be more moderate than Jackson's Jackson explosion committee “I don’t is hinting that when he lights an it’s going to be in the platform not in the Atlanta arena foresee a convention confronta tion” Jackson tells interviewers “But I want a significant impact on the platform Anybody who’s watched me campaign knows I’ll fight for what I believe” Shrewdly Kirk and other Democratic honchos scheduled the platform wrangling for a remote resort at Mackinac Island Mich June Get the fuss over early out of the public eye And I suspect that’s a main reason they picked Bill Gray They needed an arbiter for — a g and the referee Jesse will trust in the clinches Gray proved in the Budget Committee where he built consensuses out of Southern hawks boll weevils fiery libs and Reagan loyalists that he can handle a combat zone “He never gets mad” said Rep Mike Low“And he knows how far to push ery 9-- eyeball-gougin- g groin-kickin- sh people” Sure TV exposure of the platform squabble won’t hurt Bill Gray’s ambitions His two years as budget chairman are up He’s running hard spreading campaign money around like jelly to become Democratic Caucus chairman replacing Dick Gephardt Who knows in 1992 Gray may be on a national ticket First he's got to emerge from the fracas unscarred Rumors that he’s Jesse's inside man even if bogus will make it trickier “You get folks talking" Gray once said “Find their common ground Shucks it’s all Philadelphia politics” Rev Gray meet Rev Jackson Any fisticuffs the Democrats don’t have a prayer Jackson-Dukak- Knight-Ridde- r is Xespapers |