| Show - c Awammooria04mosilmiieownwiltg442 - : $ loatommsAimowitiosoodaoter-401800011- tirPwkflltsgsgiwwadoo-ktmekgoneamkwaw&wowapmoodoomose- - - - 1 C0MMENTA Editorial Desk: DI 1---- MONDAY December 14 1992 237-201- 9 ': A10 I 111111M11111111111111111111111 ZliciattfaktZrihnnt f I ITORIALS ' '14 tk t Z4 - : 1 ! s 101' 4 i - --4' 7 O' "-- 1:er :60000" !é- 2 T SIIINY ''' ENOU 137: 6 1 is Utah's Turn to School-Choic- e Flimflam Based on Refusal to Face Hard Facts : RIG4T : -: Utah's new rules like the one contained in the new law are the reason parents and teachers call for management and in this case they've got a point Aside from its practical deficiencies the theory of the new law is flawed The competition for quality in the business marketplace is driven by profit: Build a better mouse trap and you'll get rich However in the case of school choice there's no profit motive for the public school educators who supply the product If the heightened demand for the product of the best public schools resulted in significantly higher income for the teachers and administrators who work in them there would be a legitimate analogy to the free market There would be monetary incentive for improvement That's not the way the law works Utah school-choic- e law is a act of misplaced faith It is built on an unproven application of economic theory to public education And it won't work What's more the mechanics by which school districts are supposed to implement the law are so impractical that they will do more to set school choice in Utah back than to advance it The law was designed to improve education by promoting competition among schools If parents could pick any public school for their children the theory goes the schools would have a market-driveincentive to improve The goal then was to readily accommodate and encourage transfers among schools and school districts However there's a huge gap between this theory and the reality of Utah's chronically overcrowded underfunded public schools The new law requires that a school accept transfer students if it has room but since most Utah public schools already exceed capacity the Legislature's promise of school choice is an empty one The law's rigid transfer application process only compounds the problem It requires school districts to accept applications between Jan 15 and Feb 15 for the following school year Schools must notify parents of a decision by April 1 After that rejected students can seek a hearing However as the experience of last September proved enrollment projections calculated prior to the first day of school often are inaccurate particulardistricts Estimates ly in created in January can be a real shot in the dark The procedure under the old law which allowed districts to govern their own policies and accept students throughout the school year was more flexible and far more practical Rigid school-choic- e d woolly-heade- site-base- free-mark- n fast-growin- school-choic- e politicians It is no substitute for dealing with the realities of the ongoing crisis of Utah education: too little money for buildings supplies and textbooks the largest class sizes in the nation teacher pay that is a scandal Dealing with those realities would be extremely costly It would involve unpleasant things like tax increases and forcing Utahns to face facts about the financial and educational consequences of their high birth rate and large families In the absence of that kind of straight talk and tough decision-makinhowever genuine reform will remain elusive In its place Utah will have to settle for illusions like the new school-choic- e law g British Monarchy Will Survive eyes Of course Charles and Diana are not storybook characters but human be ings and human beings tend to fall short of lofty expectations especially when hounded by the remorseless British tabloids Charles his sister Anne and his brother Andrew all of whom have been partners to failed marriages — are not capable of sabotaging the crown simply by their indiscretions The monarchy has survived worse In 1936 popular support for the crown was only 50 whenEdward VIII abdicated the throne so that he could marry the woman he loved an American divorcee There is concern now that the monarchy could be imperiled by a succession scenario in which Charles ascends to the throne now occupied by his mother Queen Elizabeth II and Diana becomes his queen while living at a different address Granted it would be a bit unorthodox but the more likely scenario is that if he felt the monarchy would be jeopardized Charles would do the terribly British thing and pass the throne on to his eldest son However any talk of succession now is merely speculation The reality is when something dramatic happens to an heir to the British throne the news is taken so seriously that the prime minister goes before Parliament and delivers it to somber MPs just as John Major did Wednesday That's the depth of feeling the British have for the crown England shed a tear for Charles and Diana this week not so much because a fairy tale was cracked but more deeply because a cherished institution had been slightly tarnished The institution will survive this setback though its roots are too firmly planted 900-ye- ar history-as-it-happe- conclusion But the force of time will have a greater say in this matter than will the tabloids or the telly and it will usher the monarchy into the next century just as surely as it has into the last nine And it is that force of time that weight of history that testifies most convincingly in defense of the preservation of the British monarchy In a world where maps are constantly being redrawn and where even America at the ripe old age of 216 is conducting a lively search for its "traditional values" the British have a living legacy a royal succession that began with William the Conqueror in 1066 and continued almost unbroken to this day The monarchy is a direct link to its nation's history an anchor that has helped to preserve the identity of "this sceptered isle" That is valuable in itself a greater significance ought not be placed on it Of course it would all look more regal if these Windsors the bearers of this great tradition could conduct their lives in a manner more becoming to their high visibility They have not and so British taxpayers who foot their bills have understandably become less enchanted with them Wednesday's announcement of Charles' and Diana's separation was the ultimate disenchantment particularly for those who yearned to see a fairytale romance lived out before their Nie-'--- 4Eft —— --fit''i'lief'471:' 4- - ':t: 0 '' 4 -- 4 ‘ I: : ii f t q li :' '0 'T 1h4 - gf ' IP' in 4 Co 114 -- A - ' or Iv 4t ts k4 A i 4- s-- - to happen Thq old man's moon to ltetico for gill A oi Tipp labor IA‘-"- '' vo It siopir oti ph ' 01 t Ik7 'tv' h toplit qt 211 A 11K A--m- It Avas bound 1'1 ::' N 1 '' -- I -- 14: ‘ ' 1 ''1 ttat 'S 7) - lb ) ) v: 10 '' ' ' I 4 - 1 St' - ' Oki I nsit go'sr z A 0411 "e It ND i - I 1 )t LICKIPC-I- A 1 A64 i4 ofrOr '' ' RIAIII s "7 1 I '' ' HI - I 1 4 f 1 11 0 I i I ilt 01Pv - 111 1 AtItt-:- -- "- i N - t ' g- sirdiewo - -- -- - A mip -- : eitc!!')" :40100- - (04111 :156 41111111111111111111111PRIM - I 'Special' Counsel Did Not Answer Iraggate Questions NEW YORK TIMES SERVICE WASHINGTON — In the first week of October the refusal to name an independent counsel in the Iraqgate scandal was becoming an issue in the presidential campaign To take off the heat Attorney General William Barr asked former Federal Judge Harold Tyler if he would serve as a "special" — not independent — counsel The timing of the assignment was fishy "He didn't seem to be in that much of a hurry" recalls Tyler Barr wanted a report delayed until after the election well into December — when the act authorizing special prosecutors was to expire Tyler wisely ducked Jumping at the chance was Frederick Lacey another former federal judge Wednesday on Barr's carefully chosen schedule Lacey came through for the and his corrupt crew in a rup-General style that would make a Watergater blush At a press conference in the FBI building Lacey — seething at having been called a "patsy prosecutor" in this space was at his patsiest "All of this 'stuff' he charged spitting out the euphemism William Safire the basis for specific queries (thus missing his later aspersion at "distortions" from Justice whistleblowers that come to "people like Safire") But the obfuscation performed by Barr's spokesman did - was "arrant nonsense" He called the prosecution it'L'- - o'r ' --- -- : l'i - i :: ' '---- ''' - — 7-7- -'' ' ' " of the botched case "pretty near perfect" and "baseless" They charges of cover-uwere caused by "unbridled attacks of a legislator" (he means you Henry Gonzalez) and he further chastised the press: "You have been taken by them" That's one of the misprints — he meant r "taken in" — from a grammatically befuddled diatribe handed out by Barr's helper Paul McNulty before Lacey's press conference Customarily a lengthy written report such as Lacey submitted is given to reporters for study at least an hour in advance facilitating informed questioning Not this time Barr wanted no detailed of his defender When I rose unrecognized to ask that copies of the supposedly definitive document be distributed the imperious former jurist denied responsibility professing to think we already had it I walked out in protest at being denied —4 ''"71‘'' 411- 4 j' 1 7 011-'- - - 1 : mklit 42 II 1 i - :' it f p - 'IIIIV slapped-togethe- i'L frqs(ft' 1 -1 io V 41A: 1 hard-eye- 's d Barr's dependent counsel invokes that secrecy in failing to tell the public about the Iraqgate diplomatic cable traffic It shows how the FBI and CIA knew the truth about the use of Agriculture billions for Saddam's armaments as well as the involvement of the Italian and British governments — while Justice prosecutors were claiming the opposite in court conclusion: "We were Lacey's unable to determine who at Justice saw what and when" Others will determine that Iraqgate will not be squelched by Barr's cover-uor his dependent counsel's nonfeasance The Senate majority leader George Mitchell expects to send up new legislation establishing an independent counsel Bill Clinton will sign it and has assured me he would urge his attorney general to trigger the act in this case Meanwhile in response to the recent arrogance the display of new Congress should set up a select joint committee with expert staff to plumb this scandal to its depths see-no-ev- il s ir'3 P41 I lY1: I -: yijiv 4 William white-washer- "unfortunate" is a prosecutor's "unlawful" p cross-examinati- P power-abusiv- e Barr Needs Naysayer Seaming Horizon President-elec- t THE WASHINGTON e -t illustrate how easily Lacey was manipulated by the Justice Department he was supposed to investigate A second section of Lacey's whitewash — dishonestly labeled as coming from "independent counsel" — is classified as secret Between denunciations of the press and a shot at "congressional pressure" that forced the helpless Agriculture Department to shut its eyes to wrongdoing Barr's dependent counsel admitted he had not sought to have anything stamped "secret" declassified This comes from Lacey a former judicial intelligence panelist who never met a wiretap he didn't like He thus perpetuates the wrongful use of national security as a device for preventing investigation into abuses of power y General Dick Thornburgh claimed "national security" in seeking to hide embarrassments from the House Banking chairman Lacey's report brushes away this blatant attempt to intimidate as "the unfortunate use of the "A words 'national security' Then-Attorne- 4 Cove- POST WASHINGTON — Bill Clinton's advis- ers are working hard to avert the early errors that paralyzed the Carter presidency To that end they've been here sounding out the old Carter hands Those errors should be easily avoided Clinton relishes the game of politics as much as Carter hated it But scattered signs suggest to me that no one in the governor's entourage is monitoring the turbulent political front where freakish but lethal storms can thunder out of the blue Consider Clinton's generous endorsement of President Bush's decision to send 28000 US soldiers and Marines on a mission of mercy to Somalia The enas the act dorsement was as The scenes from Somalia are pitiful and heavy applause from those who rarely find any US military enterprise laudable suggests that skepticism is for the moment politically incorrect Yet it requires no great imagination or foresight to see how the Somalia expedition could become a debilitating liability d for Clinton reminiscent of the plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion which the Eisenhower administration dropped on John F Kennedy's desk as it left office three decades ago Someone should be playing SOB and warning Clinton to hedge a bit and reserve his options It's George Bush's show now but what if after Jan 20 it became Clinton's war? Then there's the economic summit a mediafest scheduled to open soon in Lit tie Rock The idea looks harmless but it too carries political risk It is good politics for a president to consult widely But broadcasting those d half-bake- -- i I 'ae4041 high-minde- -- It anol 21 '''411 tiwiCE: 34 -- 44roft si'i f i s --se- Ilk tt 11: VORKSIOP llorthPale '' i 'p' d't4v t : ust3 ‘ Dielzpna7 i i i 1-- if III 11' c7"tilykAly rt i At f'La' NtAR6VLIES sAlitcs - - 40 ' NE— 41ft7MINW i ie lxt 1 1 t 'IS 4 1 ik t talking points for conservative Let's see the marriage of Charles and Diana lasted only 11 years which is a mere blip in the history of English royalty But by the television age principle of the monarchy is suddenly in danger of disintegrating Or so goes one current - d however law is an In fact the empty theoretical experiment that gives only the illusion of reform The only product it provides is campaign g - N-- )1 t ' 4? t i 1 zd WING - I : al 4 4 14 t! -- t Edwin Yoder consultations to all and sundry is another matter Bill Clinton won Nov 3 on the proposition that he had mature plans — endorsed please recall by all those Nobel laureates in economics — to revive and gin up the economy Unless the affair is craftily managed the public spectacle of Clinton sampling a huge tossed salad of random advice could convey the impression that he doesn't know his own mind That impression fair or not was the very essence of Carterism and became politically lethal We know already that if all the world's economists were laid end to end they couldn't reach a conclusion Stir in Wall Street financiers businessmen and assorted public policy kibitzers and the confusion could be total Almost all presidents grope their way to an economic policy which is often at variance with their campaign pledges — the notorious example being FDR's pledge fortunately soon forgotten to balance the federal budget in the face of 25 unemployment An economic on national television could group-grop- e look very much like muddle Already many eminent economists sympathetic to Clinton wonder where he's headed and are restless over the visi bility and apparent influence of his old Oxford chum Robert Reich a Harvard policy analyst untrained in fiscal analysis or macroeconomics Reich was recently the subject of a cutting profile by Mickey Kaus in The New Republic detailing how Reich in recent years has boxed the compass on all sorts of critical economic policy issues — and with no very strenuous attention to fact These are you may say matters of political impression shadow not substance Indeed they are But Clinton faces some unusual political hurdles and 43 of the 1992 presidential vote is not a landslide He is a Southerner To the untutored ear Southerners sound alike and Clinton will be eyed for early signs of Carterism As a Democrat Clinton must live down a legacy in which the presidential party was dominated by the "San Francisco Democrats" (as Jeane Kirkpatrick once called them): seen as in foreign and national security policy and spendthrifts and spoilsmen in domestic 20-ye- soft-heade- policy The political environment is full of hurdles and pitfalls which have little to do with the substance of policy But impressions largely have much to do with governance Clinton has shown himself to be a politician of genius-leve- l survival skills He surely understands the element presidents work in as well as anyone But new presidents are madly busy pounded and pawed on every hand by flatterers and toadies The president elect needs a loyal hardheaded at hand to scan the horizon for naysayer political hazards And he needs one now media-generate- la slEIWPAPO0WOWE0A11 dVPMat 2oF d mot d |
