The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 4

4A The Des Moines Register Friday, March 20, 1992 National News World News Debt-Ridden Campaign 'Historic Legislation' Daily Briefing Nation Tsongas quits, sayinj Land reform bill in Zimbabwe gets lawmakers' OK he still will be 'player' it i 3 fr 1 t- 4 i it Associated Press Paul Tsongas is escorted through a police line Thursday as he arrives at his Boston campaign headquarters. He announced Thursday that he would withdraw from the race for the Democratic nomination for president. Democratic hopeful's decision leaves Clinton nearly certain to challenge Bush for the presidency. By SCOTT SHEPARD CoxNkwsSkkvio: Washington, D.C. Paul Tsongas suspended his debt-ridden campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, making Gov.

Bill Clinton of Arkansas the all-but-certain nominee against President Bush this fall. Tsongas, a pro-business liberal widely admired for his political and personal courage, said he lacked the financial resources necessary to fight the "expensive media war" in the coming New York primary. In quitting the race, Tsongas, who challenged the economic orthodoxy of the Democratic Party, warned that "the Democratic message, unless changed, will lead to defeat in November." Nevertheless, during a humorous but emotional farewell to campaign workers at a Boston hotel, he assured his fellow Democrats that he would campaign vigorously to defeat Bush in the general election. Rejecting the role of Democratic spoiler, Tsongas, a cancer survivor, said, "I did not survive my ordeals to be the agent of the re-election of George Bush." Long on principles and guts but short on charisma and money, Tsongas, 51, said he left the race "deeply fulfilled," having met "the obligation of my survival." He said he would be "a player" in the 1992 campaign, but sidestepped questions about whether he would consider accepting the party's vice presidential nomination. He also declined any endorsements, but acknowledged that Clinton, who was clearly surprised by Tsongas' departure, is "certainly in the driver's seat" for the nomination.

But former California Gov. Jerry Brown, the remaining challenger to Clinton, said Tsongas' withdrawal presents the party with a clear choice "between business-as-usual or a real change for the future." Clinion was trying his best not to sound overconfident, but was clearly 'Everyone Wants Absolution' Dow Corning quits making silicone implants Washington, D.C. (AP) The Dow Corning Corp. called it quits Thursday for the production of silicone gel breast implants, a business it pioneered and led for three decades. An estimated 1 million American women have silicone gel implants.

But the safety of the devices is under review by the Food and Drug Administration, and the industry has observed a voluntary moratorium since it was sought by the FDA in early January. While saying it would never again manufacture a silicone gel implant, Dow Corning promised to spend $10 million on research into the safety issue. And it said it would contribute up to $1,200 per patient, based on financial need, for any woman to have her implants removed if her doctor deems it necessary. Aaron Levine, a lawyer representing women suing implant manufacturers, said it often costs more than $9,000 to remove the implants. Senate Republicans block vote on crime bill Gannett News Service Washington, D.C.

Senate Re publicans blocked action on the massive, $3 billion anti-crime bill Thurs day making it doubtful that any crime-fighting measure will pass Congress this presidential election year. Just as it did in November, the Senate failed to muster the 60 votes needed to cut off a Dromised GOP fil ibuster of the bill. The vote was 54-43 enough to have passed the bill if it was up for a vote, but six votes shy to force a vote on the bill. It passed the House 205-203 last year. The bill called "the strongest crime bill ever" bv Senate Judiciarv Committee chairman Joseph Biden would have imposed a five-day waiting period on handgun purchases, expanded the death Denaltv to cover 63 federal crimes and authorized millions for local law enforcement.

Police sergeant charged in beating takes the stand Siml Vallev. Calif. fAPI The sergeant charged with directing the Koaney King beating took the witness stand Thursday and said that in the first moments he sized up the black motorist as intoxicated and an ex-con. Set. Stacev Koon.

41. also said he took control to prevent a California Highway Patrol officer from bringing a gun into the confrontation. Koon is one of four white Los Angeles police officers charged with assault in the March 3, 1991, beating of King. Dahmer under watch after hiding razor blade Portage, Wis. (AP) Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was placed under 24-hour surveillance for trying to conceal a razor blade in his cell, prison officials said Thursday.

Dahmer also was moved to a dif ferent cell, said Warden Jeffrey En- dicott of the Columbia Correctional Institution. And Dahmer lost his television and canteen shopping privileges, the state Department of Corrections said. Prison officials said they didn't know why Dahmer hid the blade. During his trial, Dahmer's lawyer said he may be suicidal, and his parents have said they feared he would be attacked in prison. Grassley warns Bush not to allow U.S.

to retreat on trade From The Register's Washington Bureau Washington, D.C. Referring to reports the United States is retreating from its position in international trade talks, Sen. Charles Grassley, warned President Bush in a letter Thursday, "Don't bother bringing home a bad agreement." Grassley told Bush that reports the State Department is pressuring negotiators to accept European Community demands on limiting U.S. corn product sales there would result in a "completely unacceptable agreement." Signing such a pact, he said, "would be bad policy." He cautioned Bush, "It will not sell on Capitol Hill." Congress must vote on any new treaty resulting from current talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Grassley emphasized that the United States already has retreated from its position that farm subsidies must be reduced by 75 percent.

He said any requirement to limit corn-based livestock feed sales in Europe "will severely upset Midwestern agricultural interests since this is the type of value-added exports we are working to increase." Harare, Zimbabwe (AP) Lawmakers were jubilant Thursday after voting to seize white-owned farms for black peasants, and even opponents of the drastic measure could not deny the need for land reform. President Robert Mugabe is expected to sign the bill into law this month. It has been assured of passage because his Patriotic Front holds the majority in Parliament. The move is viewed as an attempt by Mugabe to revive his support among Zimbabwe's 10 million blacks as the country faces economic problems and drought. Mugabe led white-ruled Rhodesia to independence as black-ruled Zimbabwe in 1980 after a seven-year war.

At independence, he promised massive resettlement of blacks on farmland. But by the end of last year, only 160,000 blacks had been moved to land sold willingly by white farmers. Mugabe says his aim is to settle blacks on 12 million acres, about half the white-owned farmland. Fanners whose property is taken will have no right of appeal. The agriculture minister would fix the price of targeted land, but would not compensate for improvements such as barns, dams and access roads.

The agriculture minister, Witness Mangwende, urged white farmers to cooperate and said compensation would be fair. Black lawmakers burst into applause after the measure was unanimously approved. "This is the most historic legislation in our history," said Simon Moyo of the Patriotic Front. But white lawmaker Peter Hewlett, who was not present for the vote, said the law would destroy the agriculture-based economy. White farmers fear peasants resettled on the targeted land will reduce it to subsistence farming and transform Zimbabwe from one of Africa's few food exporters to an importer.

The government admits that few of the former white farms resettled by blacks in the past remained productive. But it said new settlers would be trained and supported by experts. 'On the Table' Mandela, de Klerk plan talks Cape Town, South Africa (AP) Bolstered by white support for reforms, President F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela said Thursday they would move quickly to negotiate an end to apartheid. "We should not waste any time," de Klerk told reporters two days after whites voted in favor of talks with black leaders on ending white-minority rule.

"The uncertainty that bothers so many will only go away if you put a negotiated solution on the table," he said. Mandela, at a separate news conference, repeated his African National Congress' demand for an interim government to oversee the transition to multiracial democracy, and he said it should be Installed this year. "The purpose of the interim government will be to supervise the transition from an apartheid to a democratic state we are demanding that should be done as soon as possible," the black leader said. De Klerk has abolished major apartheid laws in the past two years and called Tuesday's whites-only referendum to gauge support for continued reforms. Whites voted 68.7 percent to 31.3 percent in favor of change, giving de Klerk the mandate he needed to carry out his most important move: negotiating a new constitution to give the black majority voting rights.

De Klerk told Cable News Network in an interview Thursday he would not allow right-wingers to upset the reform process. "Yes, I expect a small radical core group will not just lie down and accept it, and will be thinking of doing some wild things," he said. "But that is what the law is for, and we will apply the law." Major issues still must be resolved between de Klerk and black leaders, and there is not likely to be a swift transfer of power. And the situation is complicated by political violence among blacks, in which more than 10,000 have died since the mid-1980s. Police Thursday reported seven blacks had died in several incidents of such violence.

Grandy: Check bouncers won't get 'off the hook' with ethics panel's help A I Robert Mugabe Expected to sign bill Daily Briefing World Housing loan deal for Israel appears stalled Washington, D.C. (AP) The Bush administration said Thursday its differences with Congress over housing loan guarantees for Israel were unbridgeable. In fact, the U.S. proposal, which calls for a freeze on Jewish settler ments in disputed 1601101168,38 not formally presented to Israel, diplomatic sources said. Since the Likud government has declined to stop the flow of Jews td the West Bank and Gaza, it probably would be rejected anyhow, they said.

President Bush is offering Israel guarantees for $300 million in bank loans, and then up to $10 billion overall if it limits itself to completing housing starts begun before Jan. 1 'The knives are out': Fergie, Andrew seek split London, England (AP) Buckingham Palace confirmed Thursday what royalty watchers have speculated all week: the Duchess of York wants to split from Prince Andrew after five years of marriage. The statement issued on the sixth anniversary of Andrew's announcement of the couple's engagement said lawyers for the duchess, the former Sarah Ferguson, initiated talks last week about a separation. British Broadcasting Corp. reported unprecedented expressions of anger within the palace at the duchess known as "Fergie" to the public who was accused of feeding a newspaper frenzy over the story this week.

"The knives are out for Fergie at the palace," BBC reporter Paul Reynolds said after a news briefing there. Menem marches to show solidarity with Israel Buenos Aires, Argentina (AP) Hours after the body of Israel's No. 2 diplomat here was lifted carefully from the wreckage of the bombed emoassy inursday, President Carlos Menem tried to salvage diplomatic progress from the rubble. Menem led thousands on a march' of solidarity with Israel and pro-' claimed: "From the moment of that event, relations between Argentina ana israei win De more fluid, closer. They are galvanized." At least 24 people died in Tuesday's explosion, which investigators said was a car bomb.

More than 220 were injured. The Islamic Jihad, a Shiite Muslim extremist group that is pro-Iranian, claimed responsibility Wednesday in a communique from Beirut, Leb-' anon, caiung the bombing revenge for Israel's attack last mnnth tw killed a Shiite leader and his family. Russian-German crew docks with Mir Mnarnw. Rnaala kX a KUSSian-fJprman rrow AnnbaA mwiwu mill the Mir space station Thursday and will relieve a Russian cosmonaut-who has been orbiting while his nation went through drastic political changes below. The ITAR-Tass news agency re- -ported that the TM-14 capsule dock- AJ I.

cuuusuieuiue. Li- ebullient and focusing on November. "There are a lot of important states coming up and the last thing I want these good people to think is that I'm taking them for granted," Clinton said. "There's a long way to go. I've got to get the delegates and I've got to unite this party." Almost as an afterthought, he added: "And I've got to defeat Governor Brown." Tsongas leaves the campaign with 430 delegates garnered from victories in six primaries and three caucuses.

His total is second only to Clinton's 947. Brown has 129, and 421 delegates to this summer's convention are uncommitted. It takes 2,145 delegates to win the nomination. Tsongas suspended his campaign rather than formally ending it in order to allow his pledged delegates to attend the convention. Formally ending his campaign would have resulted in a redistribution of the delegates.

Like Brown, Tsongas represented a challenge to the Democratic establishment, proposing an economic Likewise, the Federal Elections Commission was expected to look into reports that some members made interest-free loans to their re-election campaigns by writing overdrafts on House Bank accounts. FEC spokeswoman Sharon Snyder would not confirm or deny that a review was under way. There is no limit on loans a candidate can make to his or her campaign, she said, "But it has to be their own personal funds." It remains to be determined whether writing overdrafts on a House Bank account technically constituted unauthorized loans of colleagues' money. $25,000 Loan Roll Call reported Thursday that Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Texas, acknowledged making a $25,000 personal loan to his 1990 re-election campaign in October, and later paid it off with complicated transactions that passed through his House account.

Wilson had 81 overdrafts on his House account totaling $143,857 during the 39-month period investigated by the ethics committee. Wilson reportedly said the personal loans to his campaign in which he charged his campaign 16 percent interest part of the time were not overdrafts. Several other current and former check bouncers made loans to their campaigns, and Grandy said Thursday the ethics committee may yet conduct its own investigation of individual violations of House rules. He said a review of banking records shows "imaginative" efforts to use House Bank accounts, and he said the public has a right to be skeptical about claims that members to be named by the committee are victims of sloppy House Bank records. "Everybody wants a form of absolution right now.

If they can't get absolution, they want an explanation," he said. For the 24 current and former House members on the ethics committee's original list, and probably others, it won't be easy. "We have reason to believe that everybody who was on our list (of growth program that sounded more Republican than Democratic. He proposed a capital gains tax cut, business incentives and other measures to create jobs and revive the manufacturing base. And he rankled party professionals by ridiculing such popular Democratic proposals as a middle income tax cut, calling them "Twinkie economics." But on social issues, Tsongas was clearly the most liberal of the Democratic field, steadfast in his support for gay rights, civil rights and anti-poverty government programs.

Ten and a half months ago, Tsongas became the first candidate in either party to formally enter the 1992 race. With Bush's popularity at record levels, his candidacy was considered almost quixotic. He was virtually ignored by party professionals and the news media until his victory in the New Hampshire primary Feb. 18. Tsongas will remain on the ballots of the remaining primaries and could continue to win delegates, but he harbored no illusions that he would.

"A' i jltm -fit 1 Fred Grandy Skeptical of "victims" Members of Congress are paying the political price for bouncing checks. But the real cost could have been about $300,000 higher. That's what 355 members and former members of the House could have paid in bounced-check fees if their accounts had been anywhere but at the now-closed House Bank. Members bounced 20,000 checks over three years. Banks charge $1 5 on average for returned checks, according to the American Bankers Association.

Outside Capitol Hill, many of the bouncers would no longer be allowed to have checking accounts. Their credit ratings would be trashed. And the sheriff could be looking for them. 24) was a regular overdrafter, and was doing it knowingly," he said. "I think it's going to be very hard for those guys to say, 'I'm a victim of sloppy Members who had large, continuing negative balances were effectively receiving interest-free loans that must be reported as income to the Internal Revenue Service.

However, The New York Times quoted former IRS commissioner Sheldon S. Cohen as saying in most such cases, the amount of unreported income is small, and a civil settlement is reached. FEC violations generally involve civil penalties ranging up to $5,000 or the full amount of any violation; or, for a knowing violation, $10,000 or twice the amount involved. The Iowa lawmaker disputes niters' excuse that deposit checks were held for days. By KENNETH PINS Of The Register's Washington Bcreaij Washington, D.C.

The House ethics committee Thursday sent a letter to colleagues setting out the limits to assistance they can expect if they challenge reports that they bounced checks on the House Bank. Details of the letter were not available late Thursday, but one member said the committee was not going to become an accessory to a cover-up. "We're not just going to sit there and figure out cunning ways to let members off the hook," said Rep. Fred Grandy, a panel member. Some of the most serious offenders face potential criminal charges for violating federal income tax and election finance laws, as well as ethics committee investigations for breaking House rules.

Disputes Excuse Grandy threw cold water on the most commonly used alibi one used by Rep. Jim Ross Lightfoot, R-Ia. that the House Bank routinely held deposit checks for days before crediting depositors' accounts. "It's not going to be an all-purpose alibi," said Grandy. Instead, he said, the normal practice at the House Bank was that if a deposit was made by noon, "it would certainly be credited by the next business day." "What they voted for was full disclosure.

They may have to bear some consequences that they don't necessarily want," said Grandy. Inquiries Jay Stephens, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, early in the week said his office would begin an inquiry into the matter. That does not necessarily mean a criminal investigation will follow. Grandy said Thursday that Stephens' office had not yet requested records from the ethics committee..