Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 115, Ed. 1 Monday, May 15, 1989 Page: 2 of 10
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2—THE NEWS-TELEGRAM. Sulphur Springs, Texas, Monday, May 15,1989.
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editorials...
Productive reform
finally in works ___
As now spelled out in broad outline, the federal
government’s plan to place welfare recipients in produc-
tive jobs is a sensible refinement of an outdated and
sometimes counterproductive social welfare program.
The JOBS program passed by Congress last year is the
first major overhaul of the federal welfare system in a
half century. The $3.3 billion initiative will be phased in
during a five-year period.
Although the measure falls short of comprehensive
proposals initially envisaged by its principal sponsor,
Sen. Daniel Moynihan of New York, it is still a signifi-
cant improvement over the current system which invites
abuses and prolongs dependence.
We are currently providing $18 billion in income sup-
port each year from state and federal governments,
without any incentives for work and with encouragement
for many persons to remain on the welfare rolls. Instead
of treating the poor as helpless wards of the state, the new
program would promote a sense of responsibility and
self-sufficiency by changing the emphasis from free han-
douts to payment for work rendered or job skills learned.
Initially, states must place at least 7 percent of their
welfare recipients under the new plan, and by 1994 must
have 20 percent in the program. We do not believe the
final percentage is high enough ... it should be increased
steadily as the work program progresses... but it is a start.
The plan requires one parent in a two-parent family to
work for at least 16 hours a week in the public or private
sector. Single parents with children agea 3 or older will
have to enroll in employment and training programs.
Teenage parents who have not completed high school will
be required to return to school or work toward an equiv-
alent degree.
It is estimated that the new legislation will enable
138,000 families to break the crippling cycle of depen-
dency and quit the welfare rolls during the next five
years. If the forecast proves to be correct, the program
certainly should be expanded, foT it will be the most
liberating reform — personally and professionally —
since the great Depression.
Arms race
is counterproductive
At the time when the big powers are cutting back on
weapons and manpower, it is sad that India has developed
a missile capable of carrying nuclear weapons 1,500
capable of carrying nuclear weapons
miles.
The appearance of the Indian missile, called th Agni, is
a reminder of how weapons of mass destruction are
spreading to Third World countries even as the United
States, the Soviet Union and China cut back their nuclear
and conventional arms.
It is generally believed that Pakistan, like India, has
everything it needs to produce nuclear weapons. Recent
revelations from West Germany indicate that much of the
technology necessary for building such weapons in Pakis-
tan was imported from West German firms
By building missiles capable of carrying nuclear war-
heads, India is bound to upset Pakistan and China. How
unfortunate it would be if the Pakistanis stepped up their
weapons production in response. „
A nightmare situation is already developing in the
Middle East, where Israel has nuclear weapons capacity,
mm m mm mm — ---» CJ J l /
building chemical or biological weapons.
These countries, as well as India and Pakistan, should
be focusing on their social and economic problems in-
stead of engaging in a useless and dangerous arms race.
The opinion page
Louisiana nixes reform.
By Robert J. Wag man
NEW ORLEANS (NEA) - How do
you run a government if the taxpay-
ers are unwilling to pay for it? That is
the problem facing Louisiana Gov.
Buddy Roemer now that the voters
have rejected his plan to reform state
taxes
Louisiana residents pay some of the
lowest taxes in the nation Income tax
rates are low while exemptions and
deductions are high Property taxes
— normally a staple of state and local
financing — are very low both in
terms of rates and artificially low
assessments
Conversely, the state has set busi-
ness taxes relatively high. When
things were booming in the oil and
natural gas industries, there was
more than enough revenue to fund the
government. But when the bottom
ingston At this point few would be
willing to bet on the outcome
Roemer now must make $500 mil- .
lion in cuts in the state budget. The
Gov. Buddy Roemer admitted he was deeply
disappointed: Tm not sure how we will be able
to turn our economy around if the taxpayers things such as welfare programs, and
are unwilling to pay for it.’
It as welf
less than $l\ billion of Louisiana’s
itrly$4'
4-billion budget can
Robert
UJagman
i
dropped out of the energy industry,
state revenues were devastated, and
with business taxes so high it has been
all but impossible to attract new busi-
ness to the state.
When Roemer was unable to get his
tax proposals through the legislature,
he turned directly to voters, present-
ing them with a wide-ranging reform
package in the form of a constitution-
al amendment
His plan would have lowered busi-
ness tax rates slightly while increas-
ing slightly personal income tax
rates It would have also made per-
manent some $500 million annually in
temporary taxes voted over the last
several years.
The measure would also have added
a penny to the state gasoline tax to fi-
nance new road, bridge and airport
construction. It would have allowed
the state to levy a small property tax,
and would have provided a legal basis
for court challenges to make proper-
ty assessments more equitable
But the tax package was defeated,
carrying only 13 . of the stale’s 64
parishes.
Roemer admitted he was deeply
disappointed: “1 have never worked
harder in my life than I did over the
past seven months trying to reform
the way we raise revenue in this state.
I’m not sure how we will be able to
turn our economy around if the tax-
payers are unwilling to pay for it. But
I know that with an unemployment
rate the highest in the nation and half
our high school students dropping out
without diplomas, we have got to try '
Many see the defeat as a very per-
sonal one for the governor and his re-
form efforts Roemer was elected
with only about 40 percent of the vote,
and the media has cast the tax-plan
vote as something of a referendum on
the governor As a result. Roemer
tried to downplay his role in the tax
plan before the vote
Pre-election polls showed that
Roemer’s base constituency, the mid-
dle and upper middle class, approved
the measure by more than 70 percent,
despite the fact that they would be the
ones to feel the new taxes the most.
But post-election statistics show that
these voters did not actually go to the
polls in large numbers on the very
rainy Saturday on which the vote was
held In some upper-income areas of
New Orleans — where support for the
measure ran to 80 percent — less
than 50 percent of registered voters
turned out
If Roemer was a big loser, former
Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David
Duke, now a Republican state legisla
tor, was a clear winner He was the
chief opponent of the amendment and
waged a highly visible campaign
against it.
He cast the tax proposal in populist
terms, saying that it benefited only
very rich businesspeople and welfare
recipients He argued that too much
state spending is aimed at “an out-of-
control welfare Hass" at the expense
of the middle class
The tax battle seems to have given
Duke a degree of legitimacy that be
has been desperately seeking. It is
now assumed that next year he will
challenge incumbent Rep Bob Liv-
approximately
be cut.
A Roemer spokesman says much of
the cutting will be done in noo-man-
dated education and public health ser-
vices. Higher education will be cut
across the board; several four-year
colleges will be converted into two-
year institutions; and a majority of
the state's vocational-technical
schools will be closed. More than
3,000 workers will be laid off from
jobs in state hospitaLs. and at least
two state hospitals will be moth-
balled In addition, all state agency
spending - except the Department of
Corrections’ — will be cut by 25
percent
The defeat of the tax bill also
means no money for new highway
construction If the state curtails this
program, the federal government
would have to withhold $226 million in
Federal Highway Administration
matching funds that had been ear-
marked for road maintenance
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Air Force auditors hide findings
By Jack Anderson
and Dale Van Atta
WASHINGTON - Nothing irks an
Air Force flyboy more than some
pencil pushing accountant who
whines about wasteful spending. So it
comes as no surprise that the Air
Force tried to keep the lid on embar-
rassing findings by Its own auditors.
What is a surprise is that the pencil
pushers apparently went along with
the coverup
The Defense Department inspector
general, in an investigation of the Air
Force Audit Agency, found plenty of
No Newt is good Newt
By Joseph Spear
If you believe Newt Gingrich, the
black horse he rode to fame has been
put out to pasture, and he now sits
astride a gleaming white stallion.
No longer will the Republican con-
gressman from Jonesboro, Ga , decry
Democrats as weak, blind, corrupt,
arrogant, socialist thugs, be says
Now thaTbe has been elected as his
party’s No. 2 leader in the House, he
will demonstrate a ‘willingness to
conciliate and compromise * He will
break that promise, he claims, only if
those Democrats — you can't trust
’em, you know — revert to their cor-
rupt and unethical ways.
Can it be? Is Newt’s sudden rise to
prominence the political equivalent
of Paul’s getting zapped on the road to
Damascus?
I don't believe it for a millisecood.
There is no New Newt. There is only'
Newspeak Newt, and that’s the same
old Newt The fanatical, hypocritical,
unmoral Newt. Visit these three
Newts with me:
a Newt the Fanatic Gingrich
claims to be a generator of ideas with
a ‘caring, humanitarian reform agen-
da.’ He wants an America that is
rooted in the soil of free enterprise,
new technology and old values. If that
is so. why doesn't he use the process to
seek change? The average member of
Congress introduces about 10 bills per
year, Gingrich, now in his sixth term,
has introduced about three per year
— few of significance He seems to
care more for stirring the stew than
for making it
Joe
Spear
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ft]
U
If M is true that people are known
for the company they keep, then con-
sider that Newt’s most ardent sup-
porters in the House are Robert Walk-
er, R-Pa., William Dannemeyer, R-
Caiif., Vin Weber, R-Minn., Joe
Barton. R-Texas, Robert C. Smith, R-
N.H., and Robert Dornan. R-Calif
The first two are Stone-Age primi-
tives. the second three are quasi pri
mitives, and the last is an occasional-
ly likable eccentric
It has been my experience that fa-
natics sometimes talk in gibberish
Guess who said this: *We have to in-
vent an entire new model, and we re-
place in a sense the rectangle of the
liberal welfare state with the oblong
of what we are currently calling the
conservative opportunity society in
which there will be an anti-conserva-
tive opportunity society. Democratic
minority and a Republican proconser-
vative opportunity society majority ’
• Newt the Hypocrite: Gingrich
rants about the pusillanimous politi-
cians who won’t support the Nicara-
guan ‘freedom fighters’ qpd stand up
to the Russians. There is no major
war we can win with the Soviets, peri-
od.* he once proclaimed. And where
was Newt-the-Hawk when the United
States was fighting in Vietnam?
Studying at Tulane University with a
student deferment from the draft.
Gingrich extols oa balanced budget
and condemns the ‘liberal welfare
state.’ So how do you explain this ex-
cerpt from a 1981 Gingrich press re-
lease to the home folks: ‘From 1977-
1980, ADAP (the Airport
Development Aid Program) provided
more than $10 million for the pur-
chase of homes in noise plagued
Mountain View. But the fund, fi-
nanced by taxes, has a surplus of
about $4 billion dollars, and Gingrich
is fighting to get more ADAP funding
to buy homes in College Park and
Forest Park as well."
• Newt the Unmoral: Who better to
judge Gingrich’s character than those
who have worked closely with him?
These are the comments of L.H. Car-
ter, Gingrich's campaign treasurer
from December, 1974 through 1978,
as recorded by a writer for Mother
Jones magazine in 1984:
‘The important thing you have to
remember about Newt Gingrich is
that he is amoral. There isn’t any
right or wrong, there isn’t any conser-
vative or liberal. There’s only what
will work best for Newt Gingrich.
‘He’s probably one of the most dan-
gerous people for the future of this
country that you can possibly imag-
ine He’s Richard Nixon, glib It
doesn't matter how much good I do
the rest of my life, I can’t ever out-
weigh the evil that I've caused by
helping him be elected to Congress ’
©swi
Jock
Anderson
r
evidence that the auditors don’t play
by the rules.
For example: The audit agency
looked at an Air Force program that
hands out salary advances to person-
nel who need cash to help defray the
costs of moving to a new base. The
money, the equivalent of an interest-
free loan, is frequently used to buy
snowmobiles, new furniture and va-
cations. The audit agency polled 92
people and found that 88 of them had
used the advance to buy a luxury
item, and then took the maximum of
two years to pay the money back.
Rather than embarrass the Air
Force, the audit agency reported that
the abuses were few and far between
and that no new rules were needed.
The conclusions were milquetoast,
but at least that audit was finished.
The same cannot be said for others.
Civilian auditors in the Air Force Au-
dit Agency complained about monkey
business at the agency last year in
anonymous letters to the Defense De-
partment inspector general. Our as-
sociate Stewart Harris obtained one
of those letters that accuses military
auditors at the agency of throwing
out the critical work of their civilian
counterparts.
The inspector general found no
‘conclusive’ evidence that
were deliberately spiked, but
of evidence that Air Force
ten failed to meet professional stan-
dards and that some audits were nev-
er finished.
The official Air Force reason for
stopping audits varied, but the result
was always the same — the informa-
tion was never released to the public
or Congress.
Some audits were stopped after the
Air Force brass complained about
them. The early draft of one audit
concluded that the Air Force could in-
cur a $196 million liability on a con-
tract for the Boost Surveillance
Tracking System because of ‘inap-
propriate actions* by the Air force
Officials at the Air Force Space Divi-
sion complained about the <haft audit
and it was ask canned
Another audit that never saw the
light of day uncovered unauthorised
construction of an administrative
building at Eglin Air Force Base in
Florida. Instead of issuing the stan-
dard audit report, the Air Force Audit
Agency wrote a letter to the base.
In some cases, the Air Force audi-
tors failed to spell out how problems
should be corrected. One nationwide
audit found numerous violations of
environmental regulations at IS
bases, but it made no specific recom-
mendations for the bases.
The Air Force distributed draft au-
dit reports to some of the offending
bases and recalled the reports. Ac-
cording to the inspector general, the
Air Force brass at the Pentagon was
worried that the reports might be-
come fodder for lawsuits by environ-
mentalists. The result is that the Air
Force may never get around to cor-
recting the problems that it is too em-
barrassed to acknowledge.
IMPOSSIBLE TASK - Adm Paul
Yost told us that an his recent visit to
the Exxon oil spill in Alaska, be
plunged his arm up to his elbow in
sand and when he pulled it out, it was
dripping with oil. The cleanup ->c-
cording to Yost, is beyood human ca-
pacity. Mother Nature will have to do
most of the work. Yost charged angri-
ly that many ships are taking advan-
tage of the mess by dumping their
oily bilge water into the sea. Although
Exxon has agreed to pay for the
cleanup, Yost agreed that eventually
the American public will pay —
through higher gas prices.
MINI-EDITORIAL - Defense Sec-
retary Dick Cheney has backed off of
his harsh and unexpected assessment
that Mikhail Gorbachev is marked for
failure. It was a devastating slip of
the tongue for a defense secretary at
a time, when Gorbachev needs all the
encouragement he can get. In back-
ing off, Cheney said something equal-
ly disturbing — that he and President
Bush ‘chuckled’ about the fuss made
over the issue. We fail to see the hu-
mor. Maybe you had to be there.
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MISTAKE!"
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 115, Ed. 1 Monday, May 15, 1989, newspaper, May 15, 1989; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth823873/m1/2/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.