M arch 30, 1994 • T he P ortland O bserver
P age A2
The Politics And Promises
Of Denny Smith
by
P romise K ing
r f
’ J
J T jL
E CARRIES IN HIS
CHARISMA UNDY-
ING POLITICAL ZEAL
ANDWEARSIN HISCHEST, ATOGA
OF UNCOMPROMISING HARD
CORE REPUBLICAN.
To some, he is as rhetorical as he is
real and to others he is simply Denny
Smith, the business man, the Combat
ant, the seasoned politician, and the son
of former Governor Elmo and Dorothy
Smith.
Mr. Smith, a former Congressman,
and a gubernatorial contender under the
republican party for the state of Oregon,
bestrides the state political scene, with a
disarming frankness about his political
beliefs. And distancing himself from
demogogery, but busy combining tough
rhetorics with his reformed conscrva-
tism-a combination that has produced
loyal support and open fury. Sloganing
in his main, what he refers as -A-New
Direction for Oregon. When this son of
Oregon former governor first appeared
in the scene unsung in 1980 challenging
A1 Ullman, then chairman of the House
Ways and Means committee, for his 2nd
district seat, many dismissed him for his
confrontational attitude, but Smith com
bined his inherent political wits with
straight forwardness to score a landmark
victory against the 22 year incumbent.
His ten years in congress, his col
leagues said, saw Smith consistently
fighting for reduced government spend
ing and against wasteful military pro
grams. Disdained by rampant criminal
activities, Smith founded the Oregonians
Against Crime and successfully passed a
ballot measure that gave stricter sen
tences to second time offenders.
In an exclusive interview with the
Observer, Smith plan of action on issues
smacks of the typical conservative re
publican, but were both revolutionary as
well as confrontational. He is not giving
to cajoling people to call wonderful what
he thinks is terrible.
The bully-belly beaurcrats who de
pends on government excesses to foster
thciiwtumsfind this apostle of spending
cuts an ally to work with.
HERE IS DENNY SMITH ON
ISSUES.
NATIONAL
out fear of their taxes going up.”
schools.”
Crime & Violence:
On Federal Lands:
“As governor, I will introduce leg
islation that will be tougher on deadbeat
parents, making these people shoulder
the responsibility of caring for their chil
dren. It’s disgraceful that we have crimi
nals on streets not locked up. There is no
“We cannot accept the deck of cards
w e’ve been dealt on this issue. We need
to be able to utilize our natural resources.
Locking them up simply doesn’t make
any sense.
In 1937, when Oregon took over the
O&C, lands we had approximately 50
billion board feet of harvestable lumber.
Since then, we’ve harvested over 40
billion board feet and we still have 49.7
billion board feet of harvestablc lumber
left. Sustained yield through scientific
management has been proven.
Oregonians are blessed with a beau
tiful landscape, however the federal gov
ernment controls approximately 52% of
our land. We have congressmen and
senators from new York, Pennsylvania,
and other places far from the Pacific
Northwest regulating what we can do
with our land in Oregon. We need to be
able to utilize our land preserve our
heritage, and ensure our future if con
gressmen from Illinois and Ohio are go
ing to vote to lock up our state, then we
need to be compensated by the federal
government.”
excuse.”
On Revenue & State Spending:
“We do not have a revenue prob
lem. We have a spending problem. The
recent overwhelming defeat of Ballot
Measure One was clear signal that Or-
Denny Smith
cgonians believe state government has
enough money. Government must learn
to live within its means. By using pro-
gram-based budgeting, where programs
and departments are not allowed to get
automatic raises based on “current ser
vice levels,” we can pay for essential
government services without putting a
bigger tax burden on Oregonians.
I will not support new taxes until
convinced we have maximized every
available dollar and scrutinized every
department of government for savings.
To date, this has not been done effec
tively.
I plan to evaluate the Public Em
ployee Retirement System (PERS). Stud
ies by Cascade Policy Institute have dem
onstrated that public employees in Or
egon receive greater benefits than their
private sector counterparts. I will exam
ine the feasibility of a two-teired system
for old and new sate employees. The
state should honor its contract with cur
rent public employees, but new person
nel should contribute to their own retire
ment funds.
Senior citizens should be given an
Education:
“We must give local control of incentive to remain active education sup
porters. Helping seniors out by freezing
schools back to Oregon communities.”
“Imposing auniform curriculum and the property taxes on their primary resi
contract on school districts statewide dences after retirement, will keep them
leaves local school boards and parents involved in their communities, and al
with little say on how they can run their low them to vote on school issues with
Health Care:
The American health care system is
the envy of the world. People come here
from all over the world to receive treat
ment. But we seem to be ruining our
ability to choose what we want and what
we want to pay for i t Oregonians and
Americans want choice, not a huge bu
reaucracy to oversee how their health
care is administered. We need to fine-
tine our health care system so everyone
can receive cost-effectivecare. Currently,
the poorest of our population arc forced
to rely on more expensive emergency
room care, costing us more. Basic pre
ventive care, consumer choice and less
bureaucracy is what we need.”
On Leadership:
I will work closely with the legisla
ture and provide the leadership to change
the way government operates in Oregon.
I will see to it that it is not “business as
usual” in Salem. We have too many
people telling us how to live, work, and
play. The people of this state have come
to distrust their government, and that
must be changed.
Whether voters will once again give
Smith their confidence, just like they did
a decade ago will depend on future po
litical judgement. There is a strong indi
cation that Denny Smith campaign pro
gram based on Crime control and less
government will swap votes in his favor.
C O A L IT IO N
It’s A Crime (Bill)!
HE CRIME BILL IS
ITSELF A CRIME.
R ather than attem pting to reduce
crime, Congress is playing politics.
There isam plccvidencc that the bill’s
assum ptions, and the effect it will
have, arc racist. W hile strides have
been made to balance “crime preven
tion and punishm ent” no one should
be fooled. W hile even progressive
m em bersof Congress, including some
members o f the Black Caucus, are
being tempted to support this bill, no
amount of Kool-Aid can offset the
cyanide in H.R. 4092.
Bureau of Justice Statistics re
veal that W hites Com prised 69% O f
all A rrests In 1991. This percentage
remained fairly constant even when
geographical location and age groups
were taken into account. Forexam ple,
W hites W ere A rrested For 65.7% O f
The Crim es In Cities. 69.5% o f per
sons under age 18 arrested in cities
were W hite, as were 64.9% o f persons
over age 18. In suburban and rural
communities, the percentage o f W hite
arrests increased. W hites Com prised
78.7% O f All Suburban A rrests,
80.1% o f suburban arrests under 18,
and 78.4% of suburban arrests over
18. In rural counties, W hites com
prised 83.9% o f all arrests, 86.9% of
arrests under age 18, and 83.6% o f
arrests o v e ra g e 18.
T h ese s ta tis tic s c le a rly show
th a t A fric a n A m e ric a n s a re a r
re ste d for a re la tiv e ly sm a ll p e r
c e n ta g e o f c rim e s in th is c o u n try .
W h ile C o m p risin g O nly 12% O f
T he P o p u la tio n , B lack s A rc 48%
O f T h e F e d e ra l P riso n P o p u la
tio n - o n l y to be in c re a se d by the
p e n d in g c rim e b ill. T he im p a c to f
this law , if p a sse d a fte r the S p rin g
re c e ss, w ill be so d isc rim in a to ry
th a t c rim e and c rim in a l ju s tic e
w ill b e c o m e the p re e m in e n t c iv il
rig h ts issu e o f o u r tim e . C o n
s id e r th e s e fa c ts fro m C o n g r e s s
m a n B o b b y S c o tt (D -3 -V A ):
(1) In m ost countries, the incar
ceration rate is approxim ately 100
per 100,000 population. Among the
three highest, how ever, are Russia,
with a ratio o f 268 per 100,000; South
A frica, at 311 per 100,000; and the
U.S., with 450 per 100,000. IN The
African A m erican Com m unity, The
Average Is 1,300 Per 100,000, w hile
in m ost o f our inner cities the rate is
3,000 per 100,000, a rate 10 tim es
more severe than that o f South Africa.
(2) T w e n ty -fiv e p e rc e n t o f
y o ung A frican A m erican m en find
th e m se lv e s u n d e r th e c o n tro l o f
th e c r i m i n a l j u s t i c e s y s te m ,
w h e th e r th ro u g h p a ro le , p r o b a
tio n o r in c a rc e ra tio n .
(3) T here arc ram pant racial dis
parities in the application o f crim inal
penalties. A study o f mandatory m ini
mum sentences in Florida concluded
that race was a m ajor factor in im pos
ing their m andatory minimum sen
tences.
(4) The racial disparity betw een
those sentenced for crack versus pow
der cocaine possession is well known-
-5 gram s of crack, 5 years m andatory;
499 gram s o f powder, p ro b a tio n -a
100-to-l sentencing disparity. Thus,
sentencing disparity punishes people
for their socio-economic status--poor,
Black and Brow n use crack; the
wealthy and W hite use powder.
(5) E ig h ty -n in e p c r c e n to f the
d eath p e n a lty p ro s e c u tio n s sin c e
1988 u n d e r th e fe d e ra l d ru g k in g
pin “ D eath P e n a lty ” w ere a g a in st
m in o rity d e fe n d a n ts (29 B la c k . 4
H isp a n ic and 4 W h ite ), d e sp ite
the fa c t th a t 75% o f th o se c o n
v ic te d w ere W h ite . In the C lin to n
A d m in is tra tio n , a ll 11 o f th o se
b ein g trie d in fe d e ra l d e a th p e n
alty c a se s are A fric a n A m e ric a n .
U n d e r th is c rim e b ill, th e
d eath p e n a lty is e x p a n d e d to 6 6
se p a ra te c rim e s, th e m a n d a to ry
m in im u m s in s e n te n c in g a re e x
p a n d e d , an d the “ th re e s trik e s and
y o u ’re o u t (i.c ., in ja il fo r lif e ) ”
p ro v isio n w ill be b o th c o stly and
in e ffe c tiv e —an d w e a lre a d y know
th a t a ll o f th e se p ro v is io n s a re
ra m p a n tly r a c ia lly d is c r im in a
tory. A ll o f the c rim in a l p e n a ltie s
in the c rim e b ill w ill d is p r o p o r
tio n a te ly a ffe c t N a tiv e A m e ric a n s
b e c a u se a ll N a tiv e la n d s a re s u b
je c t to fe d e ra l c rim in a l ju r is d ic
tio n ; an d H isp a n ic s a re d is c r im i
nated a g a in s t by p ro v is io n s th a t
e lim in a te the re q u ire m e n t o f a
h e a rin g p rio r to d e p o rta tio n fo r
a lie n s c o n v ic te d o f c e rta in crim e s.
There is still lime to lobby your
congressperson to vote against H.R.
4092, and the Rainbow urges you to
do so. Call 202-225-3121.
6 r s p e c t i v e s
More Undercurrents At Work
In That Health Care Agenda
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
AST WEEK I CITED SEVER-
ALOFTHEMEDICALSIDE
___
SHOWS THAT ARE GOING
On February 8, 1994, my turning merchandise, was at- handcuffed by Meier & Frank ON OUTSIDE THE MAIN TENT. THE
PUBLIC NEEDS TO PAY CLOSE
teenaged daughter, while re- tacked, thrown to the floor, and security officers at the Lloyd ATTENTION BECAUSE THEY
Center Mall. She was held by
COULD GET RUN OVER BY THE
security for approximately two ELEPHANTS WHILE LOOKING UP
hours and was then taken to AT THE TRAPEZE ARTISTS.
Donald E. Long Juvenile Ser
O ne read er
vices, where she was held ap expressed disgust
(USPS 959-680)
proximately for another two th at a m inority
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN
(Indians) w ould
PUBLICATION
hours.
h a v e a m a jo r
Established in 1970 by Alfred L. Henderson
To date, my daughter has problem, consid
not been charged w ith any ering the exagger
Joyce W ashington
Publisher
crime. We are aware of numer ated pitches made
I
ous incidents of this nature at to people of color by the adm inistrator
The PORTLAND OBSERVER is located at
the Lloyd Center Mall, and are for a state agency adm its that he really
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
hadn ’ t given that m uch thought to the
looking for other community “e n fo rc e m en t” pro v isio n s o f the
Portland, Oregon 97211
members to join us in finding a ' Health Care Security A ct’. Yes there
503-288-0033 * Fax 503-288-0015
solution to the abusive and dis would be a “ Health Police” to make
Deadline f o r all subm itted materials:
respectful treatment of our chil sure everyone went to the right place,
Articles: Monday, 5:00 pm Ads: Tuesday Noon
dren and community as a whole. got the right service, billed the right
POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes to: Portland Observer,
If you arc a concerned citi agency, charged the right price, signed
P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208.
up only ’real’ relatives, and so forth.
zen and interested in address
Second Class postage p a id at Portland, Oregon.
Another ‘side show ’ that is de
ing these violent attacks on our veloping quite rapidly is the federal
The Portland O bserver welcomes freelance submissions. M anuscripts
and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned. If
children, please call 293-3373 governm ent’s heightened interest in
accom panied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display
for more information. We need nutrition, food packaging and preser
ads become the sole property of the newspaper and can not be used in Ss
vation. The m edia, of course, has
your support.
other publications or personal usage, w ithout the written consent o f the
gotten on the band wagon and we arc
Thank you.
general manager, unless the client has purchased the com position o f
shocked daily as hidden cam eras dis
Concerned Citizens
such ad. © 1994 TH E PO RTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS
gust us with scenes of chickens fall
RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN W HOLE OR IN PART W IT H
ing to the floor and being put right
OUT PERM ISSION IS PROHIBITED.
back on the line in a A rkanasa poultry
Subscriptions :$30.00 p er year.
processing plant. This practice is not
The Portland O b se rv e r-O reg o n ’s O ldest A frican-American Publica
restricted to President C lintons home
t i o n 's a m ember o f the National N ew spaper A ssociation-Founded in
1885, and The National A dvertising Representative A malgamated
© lie J lo r tla n b
Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The W est C oast Black Publishers
(Ll]e
©bserrier
Say You
Saw It In...
Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver
ODbserber
bailiw ick, but it docs hit an ironic
note. These com ers arc being cut by
the nation’s largest supplier of chick
ens — and recipient o f the state’s
largest “ Smail B usiness” loans
I’m sure it is not lost upon the
reader how large a consum er o f fast
foods is the African American popu
lation, and why blacks should be ex
p re s s in g m o re
than a passing in-
..... terest in food stan-
By
dards - from the
Professor
farm to the pro-
Mckintey
cessing plant, and
Burl
from the restau
rant to the store
shelf. Certainly, we should be aware
by now that the State o f Oregon is
only very recently been tightening up
its standards for food outlets; storage,
cooking and periodic inspections. And
this, we suspect, is a result of media
attention due to the E-Coli scares.
Interesting, itw asjusta few weeks
ago that I detailed here the contribu
tions o f Dr. Lloyd A. Hall, the black
pioneer in food chemistry (1894-1971)
to w ho the w o rld is in d e b te d for
h e a lth y , n u tritio u s and a p p e tiz
ing m o d es o f food p re se rv a tio n :
c u rin g o f m e a ts, s te riliz a tio n o f
sp ic e s to rid th em o f m o ld s and
b a c te ria (a lso m e d ic a l su p p lie s),
n o n - r a n c id fa ts an d o il fo rm s
(C ris c o ), etc.
The current em phasis o f govern
ment agencies like the D epartm ent of
A griculture on dissem inating infor-
mation is under fire; not only from
medicine but from the governm ent
itself (GAO). Not ju st because the
flawed and unreliable reports and stan
dards are a general disservice to diet
ers, athletes, food processors, and the
general public to whom “ nutrition” is
a key factor in the m aintenance o f
h e a lth -b u t because there arc special
disease-specific and ethnic-specific
groups where the accuracy o f sub
stance in-take can mean life or death
(diabetes, low sodium, etc.).
An investigating congressional
panel says it does not know how bad
the data are. The situation is bad with
go vemmen t agencies, such as the Food
and Drug adm inistration “depending
upon industry sources” when m aking
policy decisions (can you believe that
? The com panies arc using the flawed
data they got from the governm ent in
the first place; Poor Mr. Espy, w hat
has he inherited?) Only $299,000 is
budgeted annually for nutrient analy
sis while a single analysis can cost
$2000! And now all that package
labeling is suspect.
The culprit in this m atter is a
publication known as “ Handbook 8”.
The head of the departm ent o f n u tri
tion at New York University describes
the situation as an absolute disaster;
“Every single dietary intake survey
done in this country is based on H and
book 8. It is the basis o f all food
assistance programs, including school
lunches. W ell, its back to m other wit,
folklore and grandm a, I guess.
H a v e A H a p p y E a s te r