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‘The Eyes and Ears of the Community’
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In “The C hoice ’92,” a special two-
hour PBS Election ’92 broadcast, airing
W ednesday,October21 ,at9P.M . (check
local listings), Frontline presents in-
depth biographies of the two major presi­
dential candidates- -Republ ican George
Bush and Democrat B ill Clinton. Corre­
spondent Richard Ben Cram er, Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist and author of
W hat It Takes, a book about the six men
who ran for president in 1988, exam ines
the public careers and private lives o f
these men, searching for clues to their
character and the patterns of behavior
that could predict their handling o f the
problems confronting the United States
at the end o f the Cold War.
“This film reveals the root of the
personal power and overweening am bi-
tion that brought these two men to our
ballot this Novem ber,” says Cramer.
“Though one was bred with the high
expectations o f the Eastern establish-
m entin the 1920s,and theotherw ith the
unease o f a troubled family in a rural
community at the end of W orld W ar II,
both men developed the conviction that
they could bend the world to their will.
And this is the story of how such confi­
dence is m ade.”
“The Choice '9 2 ” interweaves the
stories o f these two candidates, begin­
ning before W orld W ar II in the heart o f
Wall Street where Prescott Bush, George
B ush’s father, was a partner at Brown
Brothers, Harriman. That investment
banking firm was home to such em inent
internationalists as Averell Harriman
and Robert L o v e tt-p a rt o f the so-called
“wise men” who would quietly guide
Presidential Canidate Bili Clinton
A m erica’s role in the world for a generation.
Prescott Bush’s life offers a window into his son G eorge, who clearly em ulated
his father. Prescott Bush would go to Yale, join its secret Skull & Bones society,
play first base on the Yale baseball team, leave school for war, abandon a successful
international business to run for C ong ress-all things his famous son would later do.
“Dad was always a towering figure in G eorge’s thinking,” recalls Bush’s brother
Jonathan. “ I think he particularly cared to em ulate Dad.... W e were in awe o f my
father.”
By 1946, G eorge Bush had returned to the U.S. from the Pacific theater, a
genuine hero of W orld W ar II. That same year, Bill Clinton was born in Hope,
Arkansas. The story of C linton’s childhood could not be in more sharp contrast: a
father who died before Clinton was bom , an alcoholic stepfather, strife in the home,
an education in one of the most rem ote backwaters of America. “Bill was too adult
in a w ay,” says family friend D ale Drake. “He took on more than he should have.”
Y et at fourteen years old, C linton’s ease in political situ atio n s-th e smile, the slap
on the back—was em erging in his run for student council.”The C h oice' 92' weaves
the stories of these two men and their ambitions forward though the 1960s. As
G eorge Bush turns from the oil business to electoral politics in Houston, the young
Bill Clinton leaves Arkansas for an Eastern education and on to Oxford as a Rhodes
scholar. Here, ‘ The Choice '9 2 ” exam ines C linton’s decision to avoid the Vietnam
President George Bush
draft and George Bush’s embrace of the right wing during the G oldw ater era. “I
do n ’t even rem em ber how it came up,” says the Reverend John Stephens, recalling
Bush’s 1964 senate race, “but he just said, You know, John, in that election, I took
some o f the Far Right positions that I thought I needed to get elected, and I regret
it, and I hope I ’ll never do it again.’”
In the 1970s, as Bush abandons electoral politics for a career of Republican
appointm ents in W ashington, Clinton returns to Arkansas to begin the lightning
political career that soon makes him the youngest governor in the country. But by
the decade’s end, George Bush has lost his battle for the Republican presidential
nomination, and Clinton has been defeated after his first-term attem pts at dramatic
political reform in Arkansas. “Bill Clinton’s staff was the most abrasive staff that
any governor pul together in his first term,” says Frank W hite, Arkansas governor
form 1980-1982, “and I think he not only irritated the business community of
A rkansas, but he irritated a lot o f legislators.”
The Clinton biography exam ines the crushing impact of his defeat following
his unsuccessful reforms during his first term as governor and the transformation
o f his political style as he battles for education reform in 1982-1983, and, currently,
his controversial relationship to business in his impoverished home state. “ We
Arkansans sent out a signal to business,” says iMax Brantley, the editor o f the
Arkansas Times. “ S a id ,' Hey, come take advantage o f us.’ And they did.”
The Bush biography exam ines his
political revival when Ronald Reagan
chooses him as a running mate in 1980,
his “invisible years” as vice president
when he courts his “ten thousand clos­
est friends” who would becom e his
political base, and concludes with his
fierce 1988 campaign and tw o defin­
ing m oments o f his presidency: his
response to Saddam H ussein’s inva­
sion o f Kuwait and his response to the
Los Angeles riots. “H e’s constantly at
conflict between his core philosophy
which is essentially to do very little
and not to make things w orse—that’s
his c o re in s tin c t,” re m a rk s D an
Goodgame, the W hite House corre­
spondent for Tim e magazine, “ and his
political calculation which is that you
have to give the appearance o f doing
more.”
These biographies are to be told
through interviews with the people
who know the candidates best, like
President Bush ’ s brother Johathan, Sec­
retary o f Defense Richard Cheney,
and intimates from B ush’s Greenwich,
Andover, and Texas years. forClinton,
interviews include his mother and his
chief o f staff, Betsey W right. The film
also includes the more skeptical voices
of journalists, and political opponents
who have clashed with the candidates.
“A t the very moment in the cam ­
paign when the record and character of
the two candidates have become com ­
pletely blurred,” says Frontline execu­
tive producer David Fanning, “this
program attempts to see them whole
again, to give the voters in the heat o f
the campaign, an evening to stop and look carefully at the qualities and abilities
o f these two men and to grapple with the real choice to be made on November
third.”
“The Choice '9 2 ” is produced by Frontline producer Thomas Lennon, whose
most recent films include “Coming from Japan,” an investigation of the Japanese
electronics giant M atsushita, and “Seven Days in Bensonhurst,” an examination
of the aftermath o f the racial murder o f Y usuf Hawkins, a young black man in New
York. He also produced “ Scandalous Mayor,” a biography for the PBS series The
American Experience about the legendary Boston politician jam es M ichael
Curley.
The senior producer for “The C hoice' 92” is Michael Sullivan, the correspon­
dent is Richard Ben Cramer.
Frontline is produced by a consortium of public television stations:
KCTS Seattle, W GBH Boston, W NET New York, W PBT Miami, W TVS
Detroit. Funding for Frontline is provided by the Corporation for Public B road­
casting and public television viewers.
Frontline is closed-captioned for deaf and hard o f hearing viewers.
“The C hoice'9 2 ” is part o f PB S’s Election '9 2 programming. The executive
director o f PBS Election '9 2 is Arnold Labaton.
The executive producer of Frontline is David Fanning.
Concordia/American Honda Youth State Takes Aim
Basketball Awards Banquet
At Tax Refunds
short inspirational speech, directed at
the youth, in which he encouraged them
to stay in school and stay away from
drugs.
This year’s league commenced in
July and the youth played six games.
According to Commissioner Johnson,
whose wife also served as a coach, next
year’s plan call for
beginning the league
in April, with expan­
sion to maybe 200
boys, ages 10-14 and
p o ssib ly a g irls
league. This year, two
g ir ls ,
R o se z e ll
A dkins and Oleitra
Jackson played with
the boys.
W h ile
each
player recei ved a cer­
tificate, suitable for
framing and a 4" high trophy, special
awards went to two players on each
team. The Heisman awards (for best
all-round player) w ent to M athew
Ashpolc (Boston); Aaron Depiazza (Los
Angeles); Eli W are (Cleveland); Gerry
Taylor (Phoenix); Tarik smith (Chi­
cago); Andre Baker (Portland); Tyrone
H ammick(San Antonio)and Benjamin
McKelvey (Golden $>tatc).n Additional
Mclenon Toliver (Boston)-M ost Im­
proved for the junior league and Jermain
(Portland)-Leadership; Archie Jones
(Golden State) Sportsmanship; Doug
smith (San Antonio) Best Team Player
and Keith Vega (Chicago) Most Im­
proved for the senior league.
Certificates were also given to
Shcra Green, Dianne
L am berth, T iffany
L am berth, Y vonne
A d k in s, R o se z e ll
A dkins, Kim T ho­
m as, Bill D eW itt,
D e a n n a Jo h n so n ,
Dean H arris, Jesse
Ja c k so n , P re sto n
T h o m a s, T a n a ira
Jo h n so n and E ric
Tomlinson. The Port­
land O bserver also
received an award for
its assistance.
Special thanks were given tocoach
Joel Schuldheisz and his staff o f Paula
Politte and Dan Birkey from Concordia
College.
The eight coaches for the teams
this year included Lisa Johnson/Chris
Brown (Phoenix); Duke Johnson (LA
Lakers); Terry McMurry (Boston); Gary
T hom as F rank R oss (C le v e la n d );
Leonard Lamberth Anthony Lamberth
(San Antonio); Gorge Owens (Port­
land); Gary Pratt/Shawnte Sims (Golden
Suite ) and Cedric W alker (Chicago).
“ Each player
received a
certificate,
suitable for
framing and a
4" high trophy.”
The Mark Miller family enjoying themselves at Concordia American
Honda Youth Basketball Awards banquet
More than 2000 people attended
the Concordia/American Honda youth
basketball banquet on Saturday, Sep­
tember 26,1992 at the J. J. North restau­
rant on NE Halsey.
C o m m issio n e r Jam es Johnson
acted as the Master o f Cerem onies and
his colleague, Ralph Stevens gave a
awards went to Scott Wynkoop (Los
Angcles)-Sportsmanship; W illie Bow­
ers (Cleveland) Best Team Player;
Naecm Hall (Phocnix)-L eadcrship;
About 14,000 people who owe
money to the state for food stamp
overpayments will be getting letters
this month, letting them know they
will lose their federal tax refunds if
they don’t pay the debt.
The state is mailing the notices to
people who received too many food
stamps either because o f fraud or
incorrect information they provided
when applying for the program. The
overpayments, which average $500
and span the last four to five years,
must be repaid to the state.
“Oregon is one o f nine states that
will be able to seize federal tax re­
funds intended for people who owe
money to the food stamp program ’
stated Phil Yarnell, head o f AFS Re­
covery Services Section. “This will
be a particularly effective tool to ob­
tain money from people who have
moved out of state and are ignoring
our collection letters.”
People receiving the notices will
have 60 days to pay or set up a pay­
ment plan, or their names will be
turned over to the Internal Revenue
Service. If they are due a refund on
their 1992 federal income taxes, it
will be sent to AFS rather than to the
individual.
AFS estimates it will tum over
debts worth $7 million to the IRS and
hopes to collect $1 million o f that.
The collection rate is not higher, ac­
cording to Yarnell, because m any o f
the people owing money do n o t file
tax returns and often, when people do
qualify for refunds, th e a m o u n t
doesn’t cover what is ow ed to the
state.
Until now, AFS has been allow ed
to seize federal tax refunds only for
past-due child support. U nder an
agreement between the IRS and the
Food And Nutrition Service (the fed­
eral agency responsible for the food
stamp program), a lim ited num ber o f
states can now begin m aking food
stamp collections through federal re ­
turns.
Recovery Services Section has
obtained state income tax refunds in
the past to repay m oney ow ed by food
stamp recipients. In 1991, $497,000
was collected from state refunds, part
of the $2.35 m illion in total co llec­
tions for food stamp overpaym ents.
Under federal law, the state can keep
10 percent o f its collections for o v er­
payments due to client error and 25
percent for those due to fraud.
Over 115,000 households receive
food stamps in O regon with the av er­
age family receiving $157 in b en ­
efits. The enure cost o f the coupons is
paid by the federal governm ent, as
well as half o f the cost for A FS to
administer the program.