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Show illiam Safire n Salt fake tribune Sec tion Saturday Morning, September - 18, 1976 CBS Bungled Schorr Case Page 1G - Despite Unfair Sample, Abuses Exist in Medicaid Program When Sen. Frank E. Moss, let his beard grow, dressed himself in clothes more fitting for working on the family car than an appearance on the Senate floor and went for treatment at some East Harlem medicaid mill the reaction of the news media was exactly as anticipated. The newspapers and television stations gave the senators experiences considerable attention. h, senators dont generally disas bums to conduct themselves guise investigations. They leave it to staff members. The fact Sen. Moss went to the unorthodox to further investigaU.S. abuses was news, tion of medicaid and legitimately so. Unfortunately something got lost in the accounts of Utahs senior senators extraordinary efforts to dramatize that the medicaid program is subject to fraud. That something was that in the four states where Senate investigators worked, violators represented only 4 percent of the physicians in California, Illinois. New Jersey and New York. Using 1973 figures published in the current World Almanac, that 4 percent represents just over 4,300 of - physicians in private practice states. And, incidentally, according to the World Almanac, there were 308,543 physicians in private practice in the United States 107,825 in the four as we have pointed And, medical profession of those benefit from the abuses. who The Presidential campaign that got under way this week gives the nation a badly needed chance to define and explore some of the issues that face it. If the candidates make the most of that chance, they can do a great deal to end the confusion, uncertainty, and mistrust that clouds relation between Washington and the rest of the country. It has been nearly 10 years since the U.S. government could put its mind on the great internal problems of the nation inflation, unemployment, tax reform, the decaying cities, and the shrinking sources of energy. First the Vietnam war and then the Watergate scandal distracted the attention and absorbed the energies of Presidents and Congresses alike. ETsMsrs. r5 tvx . c Grant Cartoon i. Editor, Tribune: May I use this means to compliment our police department, and in particular Officer R. F. Jewkes? While watching TV in our living room about 9 p.m. we heard the sharp click of an object hitting the large picture window. We investigated immediately and found a BB hole in the glass, and looked across the street a.id saw a boy with the gun in the carport. We called-thpolice immediately. In a very few minutes, the boy with the gun at his side trying to hide it. started walking down the street. Very shortly after hed turned the comer, the polite car came to the entrance of our dead end street, stopped, and went after the e boy. We met Officer Jewkes when he came to our door with the name and address of the boy. When he saw the damage to our window and picked up the piece of broken glass, he returned to the home of the boy to verify the damage to the boys mother, then returned here with the boy. Without the alertness and quick response of Officer Jewkes, perhaps wed never have known who broke our expensive window . SHIRL ROBISON Fear 0kii Attitude Editor, Tribune: Victor B. Cline seems (Forum. Sept. 9 to have answered his own question, and has come to the conclusion that pornography does cause harm. This is a broad and far reaching conclusion. If thus is true, then what is the motive force behind mental illness? Is it merely mislearning proper mental altitudes? And, if so. why doesn't behavioral mod cure anybody? Or is it that a repressive society favors repression? Indeed, sexual assaults are typical of pornography watchers and the population as a whole. How many of the patients in Lipkins and Carnes survey were helped, and how many actually damaged, by therapy? From Business Week Magazine ,e1 middle-of-the-roa- niirhanA Orbiting Paragraph: Ford gets flee publicity on cars. Dole on pineapples. Carter on pills, but what's a Mondale? , Morose voice on the bus: minority, I cant even think Washington to do for me. Im such a minor of anything I want His opponent criticizes the Missouri governor for not mentioning the drought enough. We had always thought that too much talking about the weather was regarded as a national weakness. The FBIs director admits that bureau employes made some valances for his apartment without his knowledge. Maybe he ordered surveillances and they misunderstood r a remarkable study by Samoff A. Mednick, director of the Institute of Psychology in Copenhagen, in Psychology Today (April 111 a massive research study of 2, (Win Danish males bom in Copenhagen in 19311 was reported. Of 16 men who had committed the most violent crimes, 15 had the most horrible conditions at birth, and the lilth an epileptic mother. For the neurotic, the present is merely a trigger for the past, and no one can say why someone will rape, or kill, or do anything else. If the community was really interested in stupping v iolent crimes, majbe it would do something about the 50,010 killed every year on our highways. I dont think that morality is at issue. Only a selective view of what someone else defines as normal. The real victims are those w ho are afraid of an open attitude toward In Policies have been extemporized rather than thought out, debated, and adopted. Grandiose schemes have been announced and forgotten. And meanwhile, the great problems that the nation must solve have intensified. This campaign, therefore, gives the American voters the first chance in a decade to make dear choices on economic issues. Both parties d men have chosen rejecting the extremes of conservatism on one side and liberalism on the other. This is in the tradition of American politics. It does not mean a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Though the two parties v ant the same things, they represent distinctly differebt choices in the means they would use to achieve those objectives. The candidates owe it to the nation to spell out just what those differences are, to state Their priorities clearly, and to acknowledge the risks they are prepared to take. Economics is a difficult subject to understand and debate, but a nuliun that prides itself on its literacy, its communications system, and its devotion to democratic process should not he afrnid of economies Bill - The Public Forum Window Breaker Caught Time to Tackle Economic Questions AV" you in iNovcnibcr. Hoi). earlier, the nations physicians must work with the Congress to eliminate the abuses, along with ridding the Anollsrr Viewpoint mm The Ethics Committee, split on whether to hold Daniel Schorr in contempt, will not back up its threats. Lawyers on the committee are doubtful that the full House would sustain a contempt citation, and are worried that if it did pass, the citation would be struck down by the out ht , at the House Ethics , ' :b Committees final hear- ing on the leak of the , M "i 'T Pike Report. The question is worth asking, but not in the atmosphere of today's hearing room: In a disgraceful abuse of power, a committee of Congress threatened four journalists with prosecution and nnnihmnf " fnr refusing to reveal sources The rancor exhibited by Utah's physicians when Sen. Moss addressed Wednesdays session of the USMA is understandable, possibly even justified, however, it does not mean the doctors can ignore the findings of the senators committee and staff. Simply stated, the medicaid program is subject to abuse and there exists & certain urgency in finding means to prevent those abuses. Legal procedures and protocol complexity, is entitled to some extra notwithstanding, the decision of 3rd measure of assurance that the comDistrict Judge Marcellus K. Snow pany that has been accepting all those Assn, unconstitutional is not only premiums will be able to make the commendable, it is extremely logical. big pay off when the time comes. There is no reason for forcing reputaAlready in the works, apparently, ble, well managed insurance comare plans to draft legislation removpanies to foot the bill when firms of ing the objectionable aspects of the just the opposite characteristics go Utah Insurance Guaranty Assn. Act. belly up and leave policy holders with The revisions will probably be sublarge unpaid auto repair bills. mitted to next years regular legislaBut Judge Snows decision, for all tive session. its correctness, leaves unanswered One field that drafters of the new the question of how are the legitimate claims of policy holders who bought legislation might explore is reinforcinsurance in good faith going to be ing fhe powers of the State Insurance satisfied when their insurers go Commission to make certain that insurance companies dorng business bankrupt ? in Utah are not only currently Of course, anyone buying insursolvent, but that in the event they go ance ought to be careful about who bankrupt there will be set aside theyre dealing with. Any prudent sufficient, unencumbered reserves to satisfy all reasonable claims for, say, person, whether its insurance, hardware or a television set theyre three years after bankruptcy. buying, is going to be better off Such legislation would discourage dealing with an established firm. The the operator from comancient advice to investigate before into but wouldnt force Utah, ing buying still holds. and financially efficient reputable, But even the most prudent purchsound insurance companies to underaser of insurance, because of its very write less than savory competition. . , at the end of 1973. So. all the doctors in California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York in 1973 accounted for about 35 percent of the physicians in the United States. While the abuses documented by Sen. Moss' committee and staff can not be condoned, it is a bit unfair for anyone to infer they are representative of the the American medical profession. Or as Dr. W. Knox Fitzpatrick, retiring president of the Utah State Medical Assn., said: I dont think that any statistician wiii accept that as a fair example of an accurate reflection of the doctors in this country. Neither do we, doctor. More Assurance on Insurance "Hit New York Times Sendee What is the press?" WASHINGTON asked Rep. Olin Teague of Texas, in a serious effort to define the scope U of the First Amendment f , sex. G. E. ANDERSON Tou;li Law Deter Editor, Tribune: May I rise to disagree with your editorial of Sept. 7, Harsh Laws Wont Work? You use as your example the experience o! new tough New York State with its law against drugs. us the state or city To use New York basis for an example m any lorm ot law enforcement or justice is much the same as using a pack of coyotes to guard ones herd of sheep. No law will work in New York, rcgardlc.w oi how nii'd or how harsh, because New York rciuLS to enforce the law, except in the cu.;t of citizens. Then, of course. innocent, New York can be very tough. New York's hard working citizens ordinary, who have had the hell scared out of them by the la w eniorcers are very law abiding. think if you are truly interested in finding out if severe laws firmly and justly and tmickly enforced will work, you should read a recent definitive study, as reported in The National intellectually-orientObserver, the Washington-based- , liberal weekly newspaper. The ed, most surprising thing to me was that The National Observer, being so liberal in its editorial policy would even publish the study. Anyway, it was quite revealing, in that it clearly indicated that severe punishment. justly and quickly iriiitosed. clearly does g 1 h deter crime and surely does give would-b- e criminals pause. And if this is not sufficient to cause you to rethink your position on crime and punishment, simply go to your history books. The experience of the ancient Hebrew and Roman cultures, our own colonial and southern slave-base- d experience clearly show that severe punishment when firmly and does indeed deter crime and criminals. It seems to me that our American problem with crime and punishment lies not with the question of severe punishment, but more with the sickness of our social planners and with the failure of our system of justice and to do the job society has decreed. LOWELL D. BLANTON Cedar City fairly-enforce- Grateful Editor, Tribune. 1 would like to thank all the people who took the time to vote for my husband. Frank Erickson, to win the Dan Valentine Art Sweepstakes. Since the advent of modern art it has become increasingly difficult for a conserva- - Soristti Rule 1uhlie Forum letters must be submitted exclusively to The Tribune and bear writers full name, signature and address. Names mast he printed on political letters but may be withheld for good reasons on others. Writers are limited to one letter every 10 days. Preference will be given to short, typewritten double spaced) letters permitting use of the writer's true name. All letters are subject to condensation. Mail to the Public Forum. The Salt Lake Tribune. Box 67, Salt Lake City. I tail. 84110. tive artist to find u place to hang his works, let alone win an award. My husband feels this is a very heartwarming honor since it is not the opinion of one or two judges, but the vote of a number of people. We would like to especially thank Dan Valentine and The Tribune for giving the public a chance to have a voice in what they appreciate in the world of L'tah art. We are very grateful. GLORIAS. ERICKSON .More Kvperienee ietxltti Editor, Tribune: It seems each time The Tribune publishes the section on Candidates Speak you always include remarks by Robert Springmeyer. Each time you do, you prove to the voting public that he has little knowledge of gov ernment. We all want police protection, he was the law enforcement planner and now he is telling us that crime is up. Didn't he do his job as an Now he thinks that we should double udv isc-rthe sheriff's department. Who will pay for it? Does he want his own little army? I think Mr. Springmeyer needs more experi-ene- e than being the head of a office prior to becoming a commissioner and try ing to head up an entire county government. BOBBIE FRESH FSC Strikes Out Editor, Tribune: I want this letter directed right at Utahs Public Service Commission They have pushed residential consumers far enough. First, the Washington, I). C. based public interest group, Common Cause, finds Utahs PSC doesnt meet basic accountability standards. PSC failed 12 out of 20 key questions concerning its decision making process. Strike one! L tab's PSC granted Mountain Fuel Supply's recent rate request of $24.7:1 million before holding a public hearing. Strike two! Ctuh's PSC wants the rate increase to be straight across the board. Industries waste k) percent of the power consumed. They must be able to d ford it ' Strike three PSC! WAYNE HORROCKS t Supreme Court, severely weakening the investigative powers of the Congress. If Congress is genuinely concerned about national security leaks, it should fill up the holes in its own sieve. But the invitation to Congress to attack the First Amendment by threatening newsmen with jail came partly as the result of a show of division and vacillation by the press itself. Points to Differences Jimmy Quillan. Republican of Tennessee, proudly pointed to the disagreement w ithin the journalistic community about Dan Schorrs publishing the Pike report in the Village Voice. Some journalists have mtpicked various details of the method of publication, and some d at the lack of publishers have prestige of the Voice. Too many editorialists at first missed the significance of all that was at stake, and the congressmen sensed that weaUicMS a lift moved in. If Schorr didnt do anything wrong. one of the committee members asked me, "Why did CBS suspend him? More than anything, the action of CBS against its own employe paying for a lawyer, but then ostentatiously holding its corporate is the display of weakness that nose permitted this investigation to go this far. It w as not always thus. Five years ago, when CBS President Frank Stanton was cited for contempt by a House committee for refusing to hand over what in effect were reporters notes, CBS Chairman Bill Paley called his affiliates together and gave them strong marching orders: Lean on congressmen locally to vote down the contempt citation. Seeks Nixon Help At that time, CBS also sought the help of the Nixon White House in persuading conservative congressmen to block the contempt move. Surprisingly, the word was passed that the e White House was not its usual self in this matter. House Minority Leader Gerald Ford voted against the contempt citation, which was defeated. Three days after that vote, White House aide Charles Colson granted Dr. Stanton a meeting CBS had been seeking for weeks, graciously accepting his thanks. The meeting was secretly taped; Colson now recalls thrt most of the tape was virtually unintelligible but that the CBS president more than once assured the Nixon men that we want to work with you. As can be seen, when one of its top executives was under fire, CBS was ready to lay the sticks on their affiliates and offer the carrots to the White House for help. but when one of its newsmen dared to publish a minor-leagu- e version of the Pentagon papers after first using portions on the air, and making the text available to CBS for publication suddenly CBS lost the taste for all but the most formal battle. In the Schorr case, CBS Chairman Bill Paley saw the chance to rid himself of the who followed up the story broken of Paleys by a former CBS news president longtime cover arrangements with the Central Intelligence Agency. And so Schorr was taken off CBS, encouraging some congressmen to believe he must have done something wrong. press-vindictiv- Should Be No Joy- Today, after Rep. Quillans newspapers come and go, but our country-remainforever blast at a fundamental freedom in the name of security, there should be no joy atop the fortress at Black Rock. Bill who resolutely forced Ed Murrow out Paley of broadcasting, and tried to silence Howard K. Smith might be having second thoughts alxjut where his suspension of the annoying Schorr has led. T; unset vdiives who enjoyed harassing journalists seen to lie liberals, as well as to those who are seriously concerned with protection of national security, let me suggest this answer to "What is the press? The press is the countervailing power built into our Constitution that is the best defense against all other powers In the near future, the only countervailing power to the liberalism of Speaker-to-b- e Tip O Neill and Majority Hubert Humphrey might have to be a critical press. g (Copyright i |
