29, 1995 • Tur
M arch
P age
P ori la n d O bserver
A4
The State Of the Nation III:
Meals On Wheels -For Corporations
m P rof . Mt K im fa B i hi
As stated b\ Davis Sarasohn,
associate editor o f The Oregonian,
‘the Republicans have gone deeply
into the catering business, but chil
dren aren’t who they are catering
to....N ew t Gingrich was the attrac
tion o f a S50,000-a-plate dinner
(sm oked salm on, rack ot lamb,
cappuccino tortes) to raise money
for a conservative TV network.
Sarasohn continues: “The din
ner was reported to bring in S3 50,000,
o f which S 100,000 was tax deduct
ible — costing the government about
$40,000, or enough macaroni and
cheese to fill several elem entary
schools or the Capitol...later that
month Sen Phi Gramm, R. lexas,
held a dinner in Dallas that raised
$4.1 million, the most any American
politician ever raised at a single meal
- not counting tips,"
Certainly , that should gain a lot
o f high level tax cuts as well as ex
pand a number o f industry subsidies
as the Republicans pay back these
contributions to their 1996campaign
coffers. Has anyone noticed that a
large part o f the spending in the W 1C
Program (W omen, Infants AndC hil-
dren) is on baby formula. Three drug
companies had 90° o o f the formula
market, but in 1989 Congress re
quired open bidding.
As a result, the savings amount
to $ 1 billion a year or enough to feed
another million babies. But now ,
Sarasohn reports in the House wel
fare bill W1C becomes a block grant
with No Competitive Bidding! In
other words, they just took the wheels
o ff the kiddies meals. And does this
caper strike another familiar chord?
Remember a decade ago w hen a big
Belgian manufacturer o f infant for-
mula(w ho also markets in the United
States) drew world-wide attention
and boycotts when they began satu
rating the African and Asian markets
w ith infant formula?
The W orld Health Organization
(W HO) had to intervene because
without their mothers milk and the
immunizing hormones and nutrients,
the babies became sickly and mal
nourished. It was a horrible scandal
but was only highly publicized in
Europe. W onder why? We note that
the plump, well-fed messrs Gingrich,
Gramm and Dole seem not to have
missed a meal, nutrient or hormone -
- nor a single campaign contribution
from these big international drug
companies with their interlocking
directorships.
And we have another black sit
com competing for our attent ion; A Ian
Keyes, the African American talk
show host from Washington D.C.
has announced candidacy for the GOP
nomination for president. The far out
Right-winger is author o f the contro
versial book, "M aste rs O f The
Dream: The strength and Betray al of
Black America” . This Harvard Uni
versity graduate has pushed all the
right conservative buttons ever since
- except one. His 1992 Republican
Senate Campaign fizzled when it was
discovered he was siphoning o ff8000
a month for himself.
However, the wheels may be
running off some ot the Republican
campaign vehicles. The LA Times -
Washington Post Service reports that
a coalition o f Moderate Republicans
and conservative Democrats say they
will block the House G O P ’s S I 88
billion tax package unless the tax
cuts are linked to progress on reduc
ing the deficit. Also some fiscally
responsible (sane) Republicans are
trying to scale back the limit of
S200.000 for a proposed S500-per-
child tax credit. First we found that
"Johnny can't read" — now, we find
that "he can’t count."
As o f W ednesday, a week ago,
that ridiculous attempt to amend the
constitution to require a balanced
budget was defeated in the Senate. It
seems unbelievable that we elect
grow n men and women to administer
our affairs, and then they decide that
they are irresponsible children and
must be forbidden by law to spend
money which they do not have. Per
haps such a rule should be part of all
marriage contracts. May be have the
court take away the offenders credit
card. For 200 years the nation has
avoided class warfare, now?
Kitzhaber:
A Shining
Democrat
Continued from front
__
\ip p r O & r t h i t y
to our loving Freida Murray
from your family.
w hile his frien d s w allo w ed in
c o n fu sio n , w o n d e rin g w hat
had gone w rong.
"M y m edical c o lle a g u e s
w ere p re tty a sto u n d e d ,” he
recalled .
But he has su rp rise d his
n w ith a string o f e le c to ria l
su ccesses.
Any d isa p p o in tm e n t so
far?
"I g u e ss,” he said, flip
ping his hand th ro u g h his
g r e y - f lic k e r e d m o u s ta c h e .
“ My b ig g e st d isa p p o in tm e n t
are the peo p le w ho 1 have
e n c o u n te re d from tim e to
tim e, th a t are so co n cern ed
about g e ttin g re -e le cte d that
they fo rg et w hat they w ere
elected for in the first place,
he s a i d , w ith o u t g iv in g
nam es.
K itzh ab er has been able
to fu lfill his dream o f being
g o v ern o r w hile fully being
aw are how an e le c tio n defeat
could knock him out o f p o li
Tiernan
Denies
Racism
Continued from front
a b le d .
L a st w e e k , T ie rn a n u p se t
lib e ra l P o rtla n d D e m o c ra t R ep.
A vel G ordly by th ro w in g her te s
tim o n y on a b ill re g a rd in g the
re tire m e n t age o f ju d g e s in to the
g a rb a g e . It ig n ite d a h e a te d re
sp onse from th e D e m o c ra ts' ow n
f ir e - b r a n d , M a r g a r e t C a r te r .
C a rte r re p re se n ts in n er no rth and
n o rth e a s t P o rtla n d .
She a c c u se d T ie rn a n o f ra c
ism and o f a ru d e a ttitu d e and
d e m a n d e d th a t he be c e n su re d
by the L e g isla tiv e b o d y . G o rd ly
ask ed fo r a p u b lic a p o lo g y .
T ie rn a n L e g is la tiv e A s s is
ta n t S c o tt T ie rn a n , c a lle d the
d e m a n d s p o litic a lly - m o tiv a te d
o v e r th e a f f i r m a t i v e a c tio n ,
sta n c e .
B ut C a rte r to ld th e P o rtla n d
O b se rv e r she w as o n ly re sp o n d -,
in g to T i e r n a n 's a c tio n s she.
c a lle d " o u tr a g e o u s , u n p r o f e s
sio n a l and irre s p o n s ib le ."
G o rd ly to ld th e O b s e rv e r
th a t T ie r n a n 's le g is la tiv e sty le
w as a rro g a n t and a b ra s iv e , sa y
ing he n e e d s to be h eld a c c o u n t
ab le fo r h is irre s p o n s ib le c o n
d u c t.
"T h e issu e here is T ie r n a n 's
b e h a v io r, a p a tte rn o f b e h a v io r
th a t n e e d s to be c h a n g e d ,”
G o rd ly said.
In a n o th e r d e v e lo p m e n t,
T ie rn a n has a sk e d for a p u b lic
a p o lo g y fro m C a rte r, c la im in g
her c o m p la in t w as c o m p le te ly
u n fo u n d e d an d q u e s tio n e d
w h e th e r she w as a ra c ist.
He v e h e m e n tly d e n ie d b e
ing a ra c ist.
T ie rn a n to ld th e P o rtla n d
O b se rv e r h is to u g h sta n d s on
th e issu es has m ake p e o p le th in k
o th e rw ise .
“ I am su re w hen th e y find
o u t w h at I h av e d o n e , p e o p le
w ill have a c h a n g e o f m in d ,"
T ie rn a n said .
W atch ers o f the O reg o n L eg
is la tu re
have
d e s c rib e d
T ie r n a n 's sty le as to o te n a c io u s
and o fte n very o ffe n siv e .
B ut H o u se A ssista n t M a jo r
ity L e a d e r E ile e n Q u tu b o f
W a sh in g to n C o u n ty , d isa g re e s.
H e ’s been “c o u rte o u s, a tte n
tive and re sp e c tfu l, said E ileen
Q utub, a R ep u b lican from B ea
Les Allan (left) and Willie Huntington find time to relax with agame
of doo I at the North/Northeast Loaves and Fishes Center at 5325
(Photo by Donn Thomas)
N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Statement
By Grant
McElroy
"Senator Mark Hatfield and his
colleagues who voted today against
the Balanced Budget Amendment
should be commended for their cou
rageous action Though the Amend
ment was nothing more than a gim
mick designed to lead the American
people into thinking that Congress
was doing something about the defi
cit, it was still a difficult amendment
to oppose
"By casting his votes against
this measure. Senator Mark Hatfield
today has guaranteed that O rego
nians' Social Security contributions
will not be used for any other purpos
es than the one for which they were
intended. To help senior citizens in
their retirement year
"Proponents ot the Balanced
Budget Amendment will probably
try to use this vote for political pur
poses and they may also attempt to
resurrect the measure time and again
But the truth is the American people
have a right to know which programs
will becut.
Advertise In
^(.lortkinò
(Observer
Call 503-288-0033
his state home.
(Editor's note: The Port
land Observer recently had
an exclusive interview with
Gov. John Kitzhaber. This is
the fir s t part o f a special se
ries.)
Oregon Experiment in
Welfare Reform Studied
8 9 o it t o
1.
V IS A
CARD
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own VISA CARD
i f t / o u V u u f / la d .-
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Sabrían Grant
James Wilson
Owner
Manager
BRINA’S
SWAP MARKET
503/285-3511
• Clothing
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1206 N. Killingsworth • Portland, Oregon 97211
domly selected for placement into
subsidized, private-sector jobs in
lieu o f being given food stamps and
other welfare compensation. The
jobs are to last six months. If a
participant hasn't been give a full
time, unsubsidized jo b by the end o f
the six months, that person has an
other three months to continue his
or her existing job and can get time
off to look for unsubsidized jobs.
As conditions o f the program,
participants earn at least minimum
wage and take home as least as
much money as they would if they
were on public assistance. In addi
tion, each partic ipant has a co-work
er who serves as a mentor to help
provide career and other long-term
guidance.
Researchers want to find out
what happens to participants once
they being working a jo b and no
longer receive public assistance.
They also want to see if Jobs Plus
members remain employed after
taking part in the program.
"The whole notion o f welfare
reform and its impact upon citizens
and taxpayers is important to all of
us," said James Ward, dean o f the
PSU G raduate School o f Social
Work.
A team o f researchers ai Port
land State University is embarking
on a five-year, $2.1 million evalua
tion o f a new state w elfare program
that requires persons to give up
food stamps and other welfare ben
efits for jobs.
The Oregon Jobs Plus program,
started last year, could serve as a
national model for social welfare
reform across the country.
"This kind o f program is a mod
el for the direction of social welfare
reform in this country ." said W ill
iam Feyerherm, director o f the Re
gional Research Institute at PSU.
The team will survey the pro
gram ’s effectiveness in four o f the
six Oregon counties participating
in the p ro g ra m , W a sh in g to n ,
Clackamas, M alheur and Lincoln
counties.
They will follow about 1,000
Jobs Plus program participants,
comparing the program 's effective
ness with 1,000 persons who enter
a totally separate, federal-and-state
welfare-to-work program that em
phasizes job training while allow
ing for continued public assistance
and access to food stamps.
Under the Jobs Plus program,
public assistance recipients are ran
verton.
tics.
But a d ju stin g to the se
c u rity and c o n fin e m e n t o f
being a g o v e rn o r is not easy
for him .
Though he agreed to the pro
tection o f state troopers, he anx
iously tries to bring some sem
blance o f a more simple accom
modation. not the mansion that is
Senate President Gordon Smith, P-Pendleton (far left), and other
lawmakers are confronted by reporters in the halls of the Capitol in
Salem. The Legislature in Oregon convenes every two years.
(Photo by Donn Thomas)
• BANKRUPTCY
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