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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2000)
J i CI ac I< amas 5 Opinion . P rint iol . . lie presidential candidates, a closer look at the issues B U s H Voters will color the future with their number two pencils Nov. 7. The presidential campaign is raging and many voters are frustrated by pertinent information presented in an unaccommodating manner. To assist the voter, we present a synopsis of the candidates’ political stands on the following topics: Social Security, Healthcare, Gun Control, Abortion and Education. The information provided is merely a compilation of candidate’s proposed platforms and stands on issues. This article is for general information only and is not the opinion of, or a reflection upon, the views of The Clackamas Print or the staff writer. Information was gathered from a plethora of sources, including: SpeakOut.com, Politics.com, issues2000.org, Vote-Smart.com, Voter.com, Dnet.com, algore2000.com, georgewbush.com. I encourage you to visit these web sites to educate yourself further and to vote Nov. 7. WEÚNEsdAy, NoVEMbER 1, 2000 G O R E Information compiled by Dana Palmer How they Stand imto ial Security: Bush supports privatization of Social Security and wants to juld(ow |young people to place a share of their payroll taxes into the stock market, allowing government investment in mv the OIVVIV stock 111CI1 market.He will |71 pre- y OF 3 'against uuvnuig v viuiiiviii m v votmvui ill l\Vt. 1 It Will le lovve t*ie Present disability and survivor’s benefit, and supports maintaining the men(isting system for those at or near retirement. for ;alth Care: Bush wants to help the uninsured obtain private insurance, rather than . overpanding the current government programs with tax credits of up to $2,000 to the low -won ome families and tax deductions for eldercare. Although as governor of Texas Bush was L andrQSed t0 an HMO Patient’s Bill of Rights, he now says that he is in favor of the idea, Social Security: Gore wants to protect the Social Security trust fund and Medicare. He wants to maintain the existing Social Security system, and raise benefits. Gore wants to take the current Social Security surplus and use it to pay down the national debt,and transfer the equivalent of the interest saved to the Social Security trust fund. Gore supports providing increased benefits to widows and women who take time off work to raise children and then are left with lower earnings at retirement. He opposes raising the retirement age to 70. Healthcare: Gore stresses his record of fighting for women’s health in the Senate and the White House. Gore wants to expand the Clinton administration’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). Gore calls for a strong HMO Patient’s Bill of Rights. For the iisadph wants t0 commit $3.6 billion over 5 years to build new Community Health Centers, elderly Gore will provide home caregivers with a $3000 dollar tax credit, and he wants to peoww Control: Bush is largely seen as the gun-friendly candidate and supports the right to ■ give Americans between 55 and 65 the option of buying into Medicare. ess-vn guns. He favors stronger enforcement of existing gun laws and child-safety locks, Gun Control: While in Congress Gore worked to enact the Brady Bill. He supports a ban the push supports the current ban on automatic weapons and would raise legal gun posses- on assault weapons and would ban “junk-guns”.- He advocates requiring child safety esidon age from 18 to 21. Bush is against registration of all guns, and favors instant back- locks and raising the age of handgun ownership from 18 to 21. He supports three-day Supround checks at gun-shows, versus a more in-depth three-day check. background checks and safety tests at gun shows. He would limit handgun purchases to e stlo/rfon.- Bush is anti-abortion except in cases involving rape, incest and to protect the one-a-month. He opposes granting special legal protection to gun manufacturers and is ’ coire of the mother. He wants to reduce the number of abortions by increasing abstinence against weakening restrictions on concealed weapons. 3ushiUcation and through adoption. He wants to ban abortions funded by taxpayer funding Abortion: Gore supports women’s right to choose; he says that abortions should be safe, iless to save the woman’s life. He supports both parental notification and consent for legal and rare. Gore is against partial birth abortions. He has said that he has always been our inors seeking abortions. Bush has said that he will not use abortion as a litmus test for pro-choice but as a Senator in the 1970s and 80s he opposed federal funding for abortion. ink pointing Supreme Court judges but that he will nominate strict constructionists. Gore opposes parental notification and consent laws before a minor can have an abortion. ducation: Bush strongly favors school vouchers. Bush supports a Charter He wants to provide $4.5 million for increased security at abortion clinics deemed at risk of I'f'ihool Homestead Fund. Bush would take away federal funding from schools violence. In addition he has proposed $240 million be applied to a family planning fund; ■'*'!at are unable to show increases in student performance; in addition he would this would be used to prevent unwanted pregnancies and increase overall health, contra asui;quire states to publish annual school-by-school report cards showing test re- ceptive counseling and services. •xarjfts. He has called for the reform of the Head Start program and would inter- Education: Gore is strongly opposed to school vouchers, arguing that they would take theVine Head Start with the Department of Education. He also supports increasing money from public schools and would undermine reforms that would aid all students. Gore brHucation savings accounts, from $500 to $5,000 per student, and allowing par- has proposed the hiring of more teachers as well as a pay increases. Schools that meet the new nthntslo withdraw funds tax free to help pay for education expenses from kinder- accountability standards, which include student test scores, will be rewarded. Schools that do thearten through college. Bush wants to shift education from a federal to a state not meet requirements would be closed and re-opened under new leadership. Gore wants to on)^vel responsibility; and would create a $2.4 billion fund for states to set up spend $170 billion on education over the next 10 years. He proposes $36 billion applicable oretacher accountability systems. toward college tuition after saving on Medicare and Social Security. Measure 95 unwise, risky °f| Ba|lot Measure 95, an initiative peti perl on on the Nov. 7 ballot, would amend maj ¡ie Oregon Constitution and would learning is a process that involves two people. If the teacher has emotionally disturbed children, abused children, lbeause the pay and job security of Or- slow-learning children or virtually any !teiEon'teachers to depend on the perfor child that doesn’t have good test-tak mance of their students. ing skills, he could lose his job. In or Car It would seem to me that there are too der to keep their jobs ,ottnanjy and earn enough a r i - money to keep up bles with inflation, teach n |- ers would have to fo jolved cus their efforts on rfl a the yearly test. This .^Mfs Tam Oliver would be true no mat 6 i eF ’ Feature Co-Editor ter how large the size or - of classes or how r liance on a standardized test to hold poor or limited the teaching materials. Another person, the teacher, 100 percent This would be true no matter how un? Jticc|untable for it, but evidently, the suitable the material might be for stan proponents of 95 don’t feel that way. dardized testing. They «re so sure they are right, they This testing method of. evaluating ire prepared to use $47 million dollars teachers wouldn’t stop, after high _>f the school budget to implement the school. Universities and community “program. After implementation, it’s es- college instructors would be subject to n ¡mated.that testing will cost another the same criteria.- 522 (million a year. Finally, Measure 95 would create an Tne measure doesn’t spell out how other bureaucracy that would eradicate :o implement this plan. It doesn’t deal the power of local school boards. This with the child who doesn’t take tests bureaucracy would determine what is ¡well. It doesn’t provide for children who important for children to learn. speak English as a second language If you’d like your children to have a ]nd! would, consequently, be handi- good education, vote no on Measure apped on a standardized test for En 95. glish-speaking children. ( It completely ignores the fact that Stand and be counted. 94 will restore sentencing discretion to the judges Measure 94 is a repeal of Measure 11, habilitation programs has been cut. For which was written by State Represen the first time in Oregon’s history, more tative Kevin Mannix (now running for is spent on prisons than schools.” election as Oregon Attorney General) These measures were financed by and passed in 1994. That measure re corporate money and all promote prison moved prison sentencing discretion labor. from judges with mandatory minimum “Inside Oregon Enterprises,” accord sentences for certain crimes, whether ing to Frank Hayes, arguing in favor of or not the crime was a first-time offense, Measure 94 in the Voters’ Pamphlet, “is or self-defense, or was committed by a a state-owned $19 teenager aged 15-17. million business The using prisoners— goal of jobs that law-abid Measure ing Oregonians 94 is to need!” put the Proponents of power of Measure 11 have Shannon Recabaren misled citizens into the Staff Writer believing judges that back into Oregon’s crime rate courtrooms and give first-time offend has decreased since its passage. In re ers a second chance. Some people may ality, FBI data has shown that in the be misled into thinking Measure 94 will years before Measure 11, violent crime in Or be soft on crime, but that is the last egon had not been increasing. Therefore, thing that Measure 94 is aimed at. mandatory minimum sentences have had little Over 56 percent of convictions since or no impact on the rate of crime. the mandatory sentencing began have Measure 94 will let the judges have the sen been of first-time offenders, according tencing discretion they deserve. Since Mea to Vern Beardslee, writing in favor of sure 11 passed, judges have been unable able Measure 94 in the 2000 Voters’ Pamphlet. to hand out harsh sentences for some crimes, “We are spending $90 million a year nor use their own consciences and experience to imprison 3400 Measure 11 inmates," to decide which convictions merit leniency. wrote Beardslee. " A $1 billion prison With Measure 94, inmates will be re-sen building project is currently underway. tenced to appropriate punishments. It puts Money that used to fund successful re my mind at ease. Vote YES on Measure 94. - When ever you get the chance, dance
