| OCR Text |
Show TheSalt Lake TribuneNATION Sunday, May 28,1995 DS Unexpected Right-Wing Opposition SankStates’ Rights Ship CAL CONFETTI Compiled by Tribune National Desk NOT-SO-FAVORITE SON If the 1996 presidential election were held now, about a third of Arkansas’ voters would support President Clinton, with just about the same numbercasting ballots against him, a poll found last week. Mason-Dixon Political-Media Research Inc. of Columbia, Md., reported that 36 percent of Arkansans said they would vote for their former governor, with 35 percent saying they would vote against him. Twenty-nine percent ByWalter R. Mears THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — A militia-mood lobby, convinced there's a conspiracylurking, has shown thepolitical power of the militant right by blocking a conference on stronger state government — even though it seemed to match conservative aims. The objective was to begin subtracting power from Washington and addingit at the state andlocal levels of government Ironically, the opponents who stoppedthat movement forat least a year are the groups most suspicious, and hostile, toward the federal government. “It’s like fighting the wind,” one of the sponsoring governors lamented after conceding that sessions planned for this fall won't be held for lack of the resolutions they had sought from a majority of state legislatures. They’re stalled at 14, and expect one or two morethis year. “We outranourblockers,” said the other chief sponsor, Republican Gov. Mike Leavitt of Utah. He and Gov. Ben Nelson of Nebraska hadn’t realized they needed any They thought state approvalof their idea to convenea conference onthebalance of government power, and proposals strengthen the state role, was a given. to After all, governors always are looking for ways to reclaim state powerthey feel has shifted unduly to Washington. So they drafted a plan for a high profile conference on the balance of government powers, and sentit out to their colleagues for approval by state legislatures, figuring they could count on a 26-state majority in a hurry With the backing of four organizations that represent state legislatures and state governments, approvalof their Conference of the States looked so routine that tentative dates, Oct. 23 to 25 in Philadelphia, already hadbeen set. Coincidentally, United Nations Dayfalls in the middle. And to militants who see a global conspiracy trying to impose world rule on America, that was a sign. They networked word that the conference should be stopped, that it might somehow become a said they would at least consider constitutional convention menacing their rights. Gun activists, militia groups and others on the right joined in a campaign that startled the unwarysponsors and at least temporarily undid the whole idea. They'd knownthat there would beliberal opposition, and there was. The AFL-CIO, for example, was against the conference. States’ rights always had been a conservative cause. And the social programs liberals tend to favor are moreeasily won and run centrally than in 50 states. But that opposition wouldn’t have blockedthe conference. The twist is that the militant conservatives who didstallit say they want the same thing the sponsors do, to strengthen the 10th Amendment which reserves to the states and the peopleall powers not constitutionally ceded to Washington, and to curb the federal government. The conference would have had no authority to do that or anythingelse; its only power would bepolitical persuasion, the message that a majority of the states want Congress to pay attention and change. The resolution was shelved or scrapped in a dozenlegislatures. It wasn’t worth the trouble of battling an opposition movement that used the Internet to spread its conspiracy fears, floodedlegislative fax machines with messages against the conference, spread the wordontalk radio andrallied at statehouses when resolutions were to be considered It happened to Nelsonat his capitol in Lincoln when the conference resolution was up for action. “The rotundawasfilled with people I had never seenbefore,” he said. They claimed there was a conspiracy afoot. It took two nights to deal with what he'd thought would be routine approval SEE a scaryscenefor alot oflegislators,” Nelson said That happened elsewhere “This is a small group of people, but they are very powerful,” Leavitt said. ‘‘There’s anelementof it in everystate. another candidate. In 1992, Democrat Clinton received 53 percentof the Arkansas vote to 36 percent for his Republican opponent,President Bush. Independent candidate Ross Perot had 11 percent. FRINGE FACTIONS For those who fear U.S. campaigns boil downto a scramble for the center, there is this bit of proof from Federal Election Commission records thatlife exists, if only marginally, at the political extremes. Onthe far right: The politicalaction committee Americans for Fascism filed a statementfrom its headquarters in Branchville, N.J., reporting income and expenses for the third quarter of 1994 (a grandtotal of $380). On the far left: Richard Grayson from Gainesville, Fla., filed a statement of candidacy for Congress last year identifying his campaign committee as God Hates Republicans. The title led inevitably to this question: If that were true, why did Grayson receive just 152 votes as a write-in candidate for the seat won by Rep. Michael Bilirakis, a Republican. FIELD OF SCHEMES? Asthe Senate Finance Committee opened its debate on welfare reform, Sen. Carol MoseleyBraun, D-Ill., declared that a proposal by panel boss Bob Packwood, R-Ore., to give states authority over cash assistance for poor families was a “ ‘Field of Dreams’ approach.” It is based on the assumption, she said, that “if you kick them off the rolls, they will work.” FAULT FINDER The late White House deputy counsel Vincent Fosterfelt he was responsible for the 1993 burning of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco,Texas,in 1993, his wife has told FBI agents investigating his suicide. In a May 9, 1994, interview, Lisa Foster said her husband was “horrified when the Branch Davidian complex was burned,” according to an FBI report contained in Senate Banking Committee documents. Foster ‘‘believed everything was his fault,” she declared, according to her FBI interview Seventy-two people, including 24 children,died in the conflagration set in motion by the FBIraid KERRY MARRIES Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., announced he would wed philanthropist Teresa Heinzlast Friday, just hours before the ceremony took place at the bride’s homein Nantucket, Mass. Although Kerry, 51, a two-term Democratic senator from Massachusetts, had long said they would marry by summer, the wedding date had been a tightly guarded secret On Friday afternoon, Kerry's office said the couple would be married that evening in “a small civil ceremony attended bytheir immediate and extended families."” Heinz, 56, is the widow of the late Sen. H. John Heinz of Pennsylvania. She heads the Heinz Family Philanthropies, REPUBLICAN: LET NEA STAY Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt., has introduced a bill that could keep the National Endowmentfor the Arts alive, parting company with conservatives who wantto see the 30-year-old grants-making ageney closed To address the concernsofcrities, Jeffords’ bill would change the structure of the NEA to give Congress more control over what art projects receive grants. “The subject of government sponsorship of the arts and humanities evokes great disagreement and spirited debate from thoughtful people,” Jeffords said on the Senate floor Thursday “Simply put, the arts and hu inanities are an integral part of who we are as a nation. Encouraging curiosity, thought, learning, dialogue and understanding are endeavors that the federal goverament should have a role in supporting.” A n BUN SeLH) ayaa Bey Reg. *99.95 Now FREE Reg. °149.95 Reg. ‘149.95 Now FREE Now FREE | Motorola 990 Motorola * 18 Hour Battery ¢ Flip Phone * Pocket Phone ¢ Fixed Antenna * Extended Battery ¢ 18 Hour Battery * Speed Dial * Call Timer * Light Weight . Includes OMUma asl Service American Wireless Titel) TMC memat Service Reg. ‘149.95 Reg. ‘199.95 Now FREE Now FREE Reg. *299.95 Now FREE Nokia Audiovox 180 * 20 Hour Battery * Light Weight * 18 Hour Battery * Battery Meter ¢ Alpha Numeric * Mini Size * One-Touch 911 * Speed Dial * Fixed Antenna ata els} eMC matt TAT LSWEST Service Provided Bi Thereis a deep, unsettled feeling. and not just among extremists.”” = COMMUNICATIONS, INC. CELLULAR westaions sito: to ecvo! phones. Al phones soquie one oor sevice with US West Color, Programming fees may be required. Aime offer iacodesvbetes, Some estictions opply. Se stove for dati |
