Albany Democrat-Herald from Albany, Oregon · 12

A12 FRIDAY, NOV. 25, 1994 O o QllIMIl John E. Buchner, Publisher Hasso Hering, Editor Graham Kislingbury, Managing Editor ( JUbani) Bemocrat-f)eraU OCA role ha; he the GOP The election of John Leon, an official of the Oregon Citizens Alliance, as chairman of the Linn County Republican Party Central Committee is one aspect of a broader picture, It is that the OCA and its supporters have gained much influence in the Republican Party, and this may explain why Republi cans in Oregon have UHitAnolc not done as well in CUIIUI lul J elections as they should In a year when Republicans na tionwide swept into congressional of fices and state houses in large numbers, Republicans in Oregon had a much harder time. In the 5th Congressional District, almost any Republican this year should have had an easy time defeating a Democratic nominee who had served on the parole board and been an appointed member of the ruling majority in the state Senate, But state Sen. Jim Dunn, who made no secret of his support for the OCA's ballot measure on homosexu ality, barely got enough votes to get the job done. In the 1st District, Democrat Eliz abeth Fursc should have been histo Lugar would be better Suddenly on Tuesday and Wednesday it was as if Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina had threatened to assassinate the president of the Unit ed States. At least that's the way it looked on TV and in some of the papers. - What actually happened was that the senator had made an ill consid ered remark in an interview with a newspaper in his home state. He had said he thought President Clinton was so unpopular among the military in North Carolina that he "better have a bodyguard if he visited the state. Sure, this was pretty dumb. But actually, everybody knows that the president never goes anywhere with out a whole army of bodyguards. So how could anybody take a remark like that literally? : The ineptitude of the remark was exceeded only by the silliness of the reaction. Much of the commentary concentrated on the fact that Helms is in line to be chairman of the Sen ate Foreign Relations Committee. Critics claimed to be aghast that Helms should be "in charge of foreign policy. Today in History Today is Friday, Nov. 25, tho 329th day of 1994. There are 38 day left in the year Today's Highlight In History. On Nov. 25, 1783, the British evacuat ed New York, their last military position in the United States during the Revolutionary War. On this date: In 1758, in the French and Indian War. the British captured Fort Ouquesne in what is now Pittsburgh. In 1881, Pope John XXIII was born An-goto Roncalli m village near Bergamo, Italy. In 1920, radio station WTAW of College Station, Texas, broadcast the first play by play description of a football game, between the University of Texas and Texas A&M. In 1944, 50 years ago, baseball com missioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain lan-dis died at age 78. In 1957. President Eisenhower suf fared a slight stroke. In 1963, the body of President Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington Na ry after just one term of voting the liberal line. Any Republican of stature would have blown her away, but nqt the one who ran, who also had supported the OCA. On the other hand, Republican Jack Roberts from Eugene got him self elected state labor commission er, accomplishing what might have been considered impossible by knocking out incumbent Mary Wendy Roberts of the Portland Roberts dynasty. He did it by cam paigning for good schools, more and better jobs, and economic opportune ty for more people. He had no connection with the OCA or its goals. Also on the other hand, Republican state Rep. LLz VanLceuwen got herself re elected in Linn County by an overwhelming margin even , though she had been denounced as a turkey' by the OCA. (She has of fered to share her OCA turkey award with the editor of the Democrat Herald, whom the OCA has hon ored with the same epithet.) Oregon voters are fairly cautious and conservative, as the outcome on many of the ballot measures showed. By and large Oregonians want taxes and spending under control and criminals in jail, but as a whole we have no interest in letting any particular faction of the religious right control Oregon govern ment or Oregon residents' lives. Leon said after his election as Linn County GOP chairman that he would keep his Republican and OCA roles separate. But it will be a diffi cult or impossible task. He was elected by a central committee . which, according to a press release before the election, had endorsed the OCA's ballot measure by a vote of 35 1. It now looks as though in Linn County, the GOP and the OCA are pretty much one and the same, (hh) This was complete nonsense. The chairman until now has been Clai borne Pell of Rhode Island Does anybody think Senator Pell is in charge of U S. foreign policy? Foreign policy is made by the ad ministration, not by any congression al committee. The committee passes judgment on appointees and reviews treaties, and its memlK-rs presum ably are often invited to parties at foreign embassies. But they're not in charge of foreign policy As it happens, Richard Lugar of Indiana is the second ranking Repub lican on Foreign Relations. It's true that the committee, and the Republi cans generally, would be better off with him as chairman. He is well spoken, circumspect and polite. He also is more knowledgeable about foreign policy than anybody in the United States. If Lugar became the committee chairman, he would be on TV as a talking head instead of ol" Jesse, and the country would be very im pressed. If the Republicans care how they come across in the press and dn the talk shows, they would persuade Helms to step aside in favor of Lugar. (hh) tional Cemetery. In 1974, former UN Secretary Genoral U Thant died in New Yoik at ago 65. In 1980. Sugar Ray Leonard regained the World Boxing Council welterweight championship when Roberto Dtiran abruptly quit in the eighth round at the Louisiana Superdome. In 1986, the Iran Contra affair erupted as President Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to" Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels. Today's Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio is 80. Actor Ricardo Montalban is 74. AcuessKathryn Crosby is 61. Actor John larroquette is 47, John F. Kennedy Jr. is 34. Singer Amy Grant is 34 Football player Bemie Kosar is 31. Actress Christina Applcgato is 23. Thought for Today: "My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed." Christopher Morley, American author and journalist (1890 19571. Associated Press a ' ifalLf" 'jym 1. 1 II III ( GOOD FOR THE ) " " A f mm 1 Free speech on a beer can? Yes! BY JAMES J. KILPATRICK Umvftt4 P9ft SyndK Aim The beer company wants to tell its customers a simple fact of the guhng life The government wants the brewer to shut up Says the company: We have a rich! of free spmrh! Says the government: Not in our back yard That is the long and short of a case that will be argued on Nov. 30 before the I" S Supreme Court. In Bentsen v Coors Hrewt ing ("0,, two strong currents of constitution at law come together One involves the power of government to promote the gem-nil welfare , The other involves the right of a manufacturer to disseminate truthful information about his product ' The story goes back to December when the states ratified the 21st Amend ment, thus repealing the 18th Amendment Prohibition had ended - but not exactly ended Under the rejieal amendment, the states respectively retained sweeping pow ers to regulate the Kale of wine, In-vr and booze In 1935, Congress adopted a laU-lmg law with oddly inconsistent provisions The act require disclosure of the alcohol content of most wes and all hard liquor, but, it pro hibits disclosure of the alcohol content of malt beverages unless - ami this was the trukef - unless state law affirmatively re quires a measure of disclosure. Ten states do require such disclosure on lnrr I.iIm-K; 40 states do not , Skip to the present day Tlie Coors coin pany applied to a bureau of the Treasury for approval of new laliels ami new adver Editor's Mailbag "fired of entitlements for people who never worked To the editor? This letter in response to the letter in the Nov, 16 issue from Joe Kimbel The only special interest groups hurt in this last elec tion were the do nothing, sit at home awl draw welfare crowd and the liberal Democrat socialists that wish to take away all Americans" rights arid rewrite the Conshtu tion to their standards. I don't know about other readers, but I am sick to death of working 40 hours a week and having at least half of my pay taken out .in taxes to pay for entitlement programs for individuals who have never worked a day in their life! I am aLso sick to death of being treated like a toddler still in diapers by mv political leaders who think I am too stupid to make my own decisions I am 39 years old and I dori't need Papa Bill and Mama Hillary telling me what is good for my well being, American by birth, patriot by choice! MERYKM JAEH Lebanon (Nov. 21) Pay cut hurts those most who can afford it least To the editor: On behalf of the police, firefighters, teachers and other public employees of Oregon, I would like to say thank you to tho; who voted "no on Measure 8 Unfortunately your suprt wasn't enough. In spite of all the pre ejection rhetoric about fat cat pensions, the reality of Mea sure I for thousands of public employees and their families is a 6 percent reduction in pay. This 6 percent pay cut Will be a pretax cut, so the take home pay of most af fected employees will be reduced by close to I percent That Is I percent less spend able income for those employees I don't know what effect, if any, this will have on tising for Coors Banquet beer and Coons Light Imht The proposed labels and new-ads, to be us"d nationwide, would disclose "truthful, verifiable and non misleading factual information about their alcohol con tent." The Treasury rejected the company's application Secretary l.lovd Bentsen's reft sons may Ix commendable as a matter of public policy, but they are fuzzy as a mat ter of law A good explanation of the public policy appears in a oriel men by the Council of State Governments The covin cil contends that the states have . a substan tial interest in promot ing temMrance Alcohol is a dangerous substance that imposes an immense toll on society In 1991, nearly 14 mil lion persons were arrest ed for driving under the influence. An thing that James J. Kilpatrick encourages consumption of alcohol harms the general welfare The Treasury makes tbis further argu ment: If one brewer were to disclose that his Old Kainbarrel Malt Imager had an alcoholic content of. say, 5 6 percent by volume, his competitor would spike Hound s Ear Heavy to produce 6 2 jiereent or 7 I jK'reent This would 'Set off "strength wars ' that would be socially destructive Tbe government's position strikes me as remarkably weak There is no evidence that holiest labeling would set off "strength MAILBAG LETTERS; Tr ed w wet : c, r"-t, l-".'". on svt-s l-' tu. !.-.. -f ie e'A LC'tt-K. si;t:;Ot.t toed'tiog foi clar i!y and length Add:pss f.i-'i g A be y CitMtcrat;Na'ct Bow' 130 Albany, Ore 37321" '.' Oregon's economy but I do know that those employe- who can least afford it will be hurt the most I have spent over 21 years in law en forcement ui Oregon ami I have never Ixt-n more dLsapptunttxl in the political process than I am right now Oregon's referendum process w as not designed to allow our elect ed officials to circumvent the legislative process. L'nlike political Campaigns the Legislature puts a high value on the truth. If Bob Ttcrnan had proposed this kind of flawed legislation during the session and then backed it up with half truths and out right distortions, he would have been laughed out of the Legislature. It is also interesting to note that the only group of public employees exempted from the effects of Measure 8 are our legislators, including Mr. Tiernan Tbe sad thing in all of this is that not one Oregon taxpayer vvill ever see a dime in tax savings from this measure. JEFF HOWARD 144 Fairway Drive Albany tNov, 18) Objects to bishops' post-election statements . As a free thinker, I find the Roman Catholic bishops' crusade against Measure 16 (doctor assisted suicide) a devious effort to subvert the will of. the majority In a health care directive that was unanimously approved, they said, We are not the own ers of our lives, but trusted w ith the duty to preserve and use our lives for the glory of God. Consequently, we have no absolute wars." No such wars have materialized in England. Germany and Australia, where, disclosure is required- Neither is it clear why factual labels would lead directly to more drunk driv ing, more homicides and more alcoholics The law on factual commercial speech was pretty well settled in 1976 in what is known as the Virginia Pharmacy case It was nailed down in 1980 in the Central Gas case Virginia Pharmacy involved the state's effort to prevent licensed pharmacists from advertising the price of prescrip tion drugs The high court said such advertising cannot be banned. Virginia could not "completely suppress the dissemination of conccdedly truthful information about an entirely legal activity." Central Gas was to the same effect. In the name of conservation, New York state had attempted to prohibit a utility from promoting electric appliances. No way, said the high court "Commercial expression not' only serves the economic interest of the speaker, but also assists consumers and further the societal interest in the fullest possible dissemination of information. ... The First Amendment presumes that some accurate information is better than no in format ion at all " If it lawful to advertise calorie con tents in food, and lawful to advertise tar content m tobacco, it ought to la lawful for brewers to tell us w hat s m their brew My guess is that Secretary Bcntsen will lose this orw and Old Fret Speech Malt Lager, 5 8 percent alcohol by volume, will w in I II drink to that power over them " - The bishops' may 'speak for themselves and til pjrisniunersvbut not for the major ity (itherwise the final outcome would have been different I personally believe that each of us has total jurisdiction over our lives as long as our actions do not violate the secular laws of the land Contrary to the popular belief of the far right, this is a sec ular multicultural nation that reflects the diversity of its people. - The chairman of this bishops committee. Cardinal Roger Mahoncy of Los Angeles, made several disparaging remarks about the good citizens of this state that should in funate anyone who values democratic ideals and individual rights, He said, "Ore gon voters took an ominous step towards cheapening human life Oregon was target . ed because It is an ideal battleground for voters there are not representative of na tional sentiment on this issue The vote is therefore best viewed as a political aberra turn in one state. He also said, "The dismissive attitude .that approved Measure 16 is cancer more lethal than any physical ailment," What a bunch of baloney! Just because we dared to defy Catholic dogma does noth ing to lessen our stature as mature, responsible citizens capable of making vital decisions Anyone who has ever witnessed the lingering death of a loved one, who every night prayed for death, knows without a doubt the humanity of such an option This issue was not unlike the ongoing abortion controversy The fruition of this idea into law is all about options and choice, and is a definite victory of compassion over . ideology. WILLIAM C. MEDLOCK 41i80 rpprr Cabpooia Drive Sweet IbW (Nov, 21) MAILBAG GUIDELINES: letters must be signed. Please include a daytime tele-phorifl number for verification.