OCR Text |
Show Page 10 The Utah Independent The Paper That Dares To Take A Stand October 11, 1979 VIII Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and uqusual punishments inflicted. LAWSUIT AGAINST SALT SELLING Gargantuan By Senator Jake Garn LAMBERT CALLS FOR COOL RESPONSE ON CUBA U. S. Senator Jake Garn announced today he is a plaintiff in an American Conservative Union lawsuit dhargingthe Carter Administration with illegally spending $1.2 million in taxpayer funds to lobby for the proposed SALT II treaty. Gam is a member of the board of directors and Defense Task Force Chairman for ACU, a nationwide educational and action organization. The suit names as defendants President Jimmy Carter, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Director of Arms Control and Disarmament Agency George Seignious and Secretary of Treasury G. William Miller. ACU is asking for a declaratory judgment enjoining the defendants from any further violations of the law and declaring the actions of the defendants to be illegal. Garn said that ACU is seeking both injunctive and declaratory relief for actions by the defendants, and others in the Carter Administration which are in violation of the U. S. Constitution (Article 1, Section 9 and Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2) and the U. S. Code (Title 18, 1913). These laws prohibit the improper and illegal use of appropriated funds to directly or indirectly lobby the U. S. Congress. According to the suit, filed in the U. S. District Court of the District of Columbia today, the Executive Branch has spent over $1.2 million of taxpayer funds to lobby Congress for passage of SALT through June 30 of this year. This includes: - the State Department: $71 1,370, including funds for the Bureau of Public Affairs of the State Department, and the Salt Working Group, a creation of the Bureau of European Affairs of the State Department. - the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency: $460,594 In addition, according to the ACU suit. President Carter has expended taxpyer funds to sponsor conferences in the White House that urge passage of the treaty. One such conference, organized by Anne Wexler, an assistant to the President, included 125 persons who spent a day at the White House on August 16 and were given a presentation by Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who recommended that they contact their Senators to urge them to ratify the treaty. MIt is most unfortunate that the Garn commented: Executive Branch has resorted to the questionable tactics of using taxpayersmoney to sell a bad SALT treaty. The SALT selling campaign has been characterized by distortions, omisd sions and assertions and constitutes a clear misuse of public funds. There is great irony in the fact that President Carter is not as willing to support television coverage of the Scnatre SALT debate as he is in pushing an inequitable treaty masquerading as an arms control agreement." one-side- X Jest . News Release Sept 26: Senator Hatchs statement calling for an immediate and total blockade of Cuba at a.time when there are delicate negotiations taking place is, as even suggested Dale by Senator Jake Garn,' premature and dangerous, Lambert, Chairman, Utah State Democratic Party said today, Certainly the presence of 3000 Soviet combat troops in Cuba is an important issue, but there is no immediate threat to the United States and there is still time to consider less drastic alternatives, Lamber argued. I hope that cooler heads prevail exhibited by Senator Hatch." g over the sabre-rattlin- t President Carter is attempting to resolve the matter without creating an international crisis, an approach which I believe is far sounder than the call to arms by Senator Hatch. If the negotiations are unsuccessful, the Administration will no doubt seriously weigh a number of available alternatives, short of military intervention, Lambert continued. A total blockade obviously involves the risk of a direct naval confrontation with the Soviets. I believe that, although we should not be unwilling to use such a tactic if necessary, such resort to military force should be reserved for the most critical of situations. Utahns are justifiably concerned about the situation in Cuba, but we should be careful not to over-reac-t. 'Sait will Stash.1 je ado wcouraseafriekdly . competiHON tvnu u.s.s.R.' |