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Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
The ¡Portlanh ffibseruer
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etter-off individuals, be-
T * } 1 ginning in the summer of
1 9 9 4 , dramatically es­
calated their contributions to Re-
publican candidates, while poor­
er individuals, usually through
their labor unions, have tradi­
tionally pooled their money and
c o n trib u te d to D e m o c ra ts
through PACs.
Political Action Committees. In
the 1994 elections, both party’s can­
didates ended up with about the same
amount o f money.
(2) After election day, when the
new Republican realities set in, the
PACs joined in too, abruptly revers­
ing their decade-long migration to­
ward the Democrats, and seeking to
cement new friendships among the
large class o f Republican freshmen.
I hey were particularly generous to
the newly-powerful GOP committee
and subcommittee chairmen.
(3) The price o f admission to the
104th Congress was around
$500,000, and most candidates raised
their money prim arily from PACs
and large individual donors (dona­
tions between $200 and $1,000)-
many o f whom have a financial stake
in the outcome o f legislation. The
half-a-million price tag was enough
to exclude most Americans from even
dreaming o f running for Congress.
Perhaps more importantly, the polit-
C O A L IT IO N
The Price Of Admission
ical debt the candidates incurred in
raising that money may eventually
stick m illions o f American taxpayers
with the final bill.
These are just three o f the trends
documented and discussed in “ The
Price o f A dm ission: Campaign
Spending in the 1994 Elections,” a
study o f the specific money behind
the 1994 elections-i.e., the relation­
ship between money and politics(who
gave how much to whom).
The250-page publication is illus­
trated with more than 1,500 charts
and graphs that show the patterns
behind everything from the tim ing o f
contributions to the average cost o f
beating incumbents.
It includes a rundown both o f big-
picture patterns in House and Senate
elections, as well as a state-by-state
recap o f key congressional races.
“ The Price” profiles the campaign
finances ofevery member ofthe 104th
Congress. These profiles include at-
a-glance charts showing the break­
down o f money received from PACs,
large and small individual contribu­
tions, and the candidate’s personal
funds. It also shows the proportion o f
PAC money that came from busi­
ness, labor and single-issue ideolog­
ical groups, as well as a chart show­
ing which interest group sectors dom­
inated their PAC receipts.
It also identifies where the money
came fro m -lite ra lly . Two charts
highlight the 20 largest metropolitan
areas providing both PAC and large
individual contributions.
Washington, DC led in both cate­
gories. The area in and surrounding
the nation’s capital supplied about
h a lf the PAC money in the 1994
elections, repeating the pattern that
was found in the two previous elec­
tions.
For the first time, the DC area was
also the leading source o f funds from
individuals giving $200 or more,
nosing out N Y as the nation’s best
location for political funds.
According to the author, Larry
Makinson, tracking the money that
funds the winners’ campaigns is o f
more than academic interest.
Follow the money and you begin
to see the lines o f a power structure
that lies deeper than the surface-level
sturm und drang o f partisan politics.
For as surely as water flows down­
h ill, money follows power.
The day after the 1996 elections,
no matter which party wins, the suc­
cessful candidates w ill not be lack­
ing for friends with money.
Another study, Open Secrets, due
out in 1996, w ill detail the patterns
behind the nearly 830,000 large ($200
or more) individual contributions to
candidates in the 1994 elections.
“ The Price o f Admission. Cam­
paign Spending in the 1994 Elec­
tions” by Larry Makinson is avail­
able for $ 19.95 from Margaret Engle
at the Center for Responsive Politics,
1320 19th Street, NW , WDC 20036,
202-857-0044, Fax 202-857-7809.
It’ s JaxFax recommended reading
and an excellent political resource
Civil Rights Journal
bv J? krnice
America’s Growth Industry
P owell J ackson
vate companies running prisons is
in at least one survey prisoners rated
to the racial divide in this nation
oon w e’ll no longer be
still small, The Corrections Corpora­
them better in health care, discipline,
when it comes to criminal justice
known for our automo­
tion o f America now has about 42
cleanliness, educational programs
issues. As more and more people o f
tive industry or our Sili-
percent o f the private corrections
and inmate food and mood. Some
color are incarcerated, these w ill take
■ con Valley computer technical
market and is seeking to expand to
private facilities, however, have ex­
on increased significance. There are
industry. W e ’ll be know around
other states, including Ohio. In 1994,
perienced prisoner revolts, based on
a multitude o f d iffic u lt questions
the world as the nation which
CCA saw profits o f $7.1 m illion,
complaints about spoiled food, abu­
which must be faced by us all. Are
makes a living by incarcerating
nearly double its 1993 earnings.
sive guards and beatings and
prisons becoming the steel m ills and
its citizens.
W ith the clamor for tax cuts, many
shacklings.
manufacturing plants ofthe 21 st cen­
We now incarcerate somewhere
argue that private prisons w ill save
For many communities across the
tury - the employers o f unskilled
around 1.5 m illion Americans, about
taxpayers dollars. But the numbers
country the issue around prisons,
European Americans, for whom lit­
half ot whom are African American
show that privately-run prisons are
whether public or private, is jobs.
tle training is being done? Are pris­
or Hispanic. I he number grows by
slightly more expensive than public
As more and more blue collarjobs
ons becoming the warehouses for
leaps and bounds every year, with
ones.
are eliminated, communities are turn­
young African Americans and His­
prisoners often being doubled bunked
Many criminal justice advocates
ing to prisons as a source o f employ­
panic Americans, whose labor is no
in already overcrowded and outdat­
worry about this new trend toward
ment for their displaced factory work­
longer needed by our nation? What
ed facilities. With the recent passag­
privatization, recalling earlier abus­
ers and increased state tax revenues
happened to the concept o f rehabili­
es o fth e so-called three strikes and
es, when inmates were forced to build
in the case o f private prisons.
tation, upon which our prisons sup­
you're out bills and mandatory long
railroads, dig mines and work in tex­
For instance, Youngstown, OH is
posedly
were based? Do we really
sentences for crack cocaine, the pris­
tile factories under horrible condi­
proposingtogive 100 acres o f indus­
believe we can have a stable society
on population can only continue to
tions which often resulted in death.
trial brownfields (land polluted from
when one in three young African
grow.
They also question the account­
toxic wastes) to be used for the con­
American men is involved in the
In our capitalist tradition, private
a b ility o f private corporations and
struction o f a private prison.
criminal justice system?
enterprise is looking at these num­
point out that it should be the gov­
W ith a 10.7 percent unemploy­
We as a nation must realize that no
bers and the privatization o f the cor­
ernment’s responsibility to incarcer­
ment rate, this former steel and man­
one
is safe i f prisons are our coun­
rections industry is now occurring in
ate.
ufacturing town sees prisons as a
try ’s growth industry for the next
many states, particularly the South
On the other hand, private prisons
source o f jobs and income.
and West. While the number o f pri-
century. And then we must do some­
tend to be new, modem facilities and
The O. J. Simpson
verdict pointed
'
W in g U
U U U I I it.
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P
J ennings , A B C N ews
rem ories of a defining
I moment in the civil rights
movement, 3 0 years ago:
Sunday, March 7th, 1 9 6 5 . Bloody
Sunday.
John Lewis...now a member o f
C ongress, then a student organizer,
remembers it well.
The population o f the county
around Selma, Alabama was 80 per­
cent
black. Not a single black resident
was registered to vote.
Dr. M a rtin Luther K in g , and
o th e r leaders o f the c iv il rights
__
m ovem ent, decided on a march
in support o f vo ter re g is tra tio n ,
from Selma, m ore than 50 m iles
to the state c a p ita l, in M o n tg o m ­
ery, where George W allace ruled
in segreg atio nist splendor.
On Sunday, March 7th, 1965, sev­
eral hundred people set out on that
march. As they crossed the Edmund
Pettus Bridge, they were attacked by
Alabama state troopers, beaten with
night sticks and bullwhips, trampled
w ith horses.
Lewis recalls thinking he was go­
ing to die. He was knocked uncon­
scious and, to this day, doesn’t re­
member being carried back across
the bridge to the small church where
the march began.
B ut B lo o d y Sunday turned out
to be a tu rn in g p o in t. It g a lva ­
nized the nation against the in ­
ju s tic e s w hich had become a way
o f life in too much o fth e country,
and - in those days - p a rtic u la rly
in the south. T w o weeks later,
D r. K in g led a second, and much
larger march, a ll the way to M o n t­
g om ery, where they dem onstrat­
ed in fro n t o f the state capital.
Just a few months laterthe Federal
voting rights
into luw
law
c z act was signed .mv/
*ÏÏ*K..
- an event that might never have
happened, certainly not so quickly,
had it not been fui the events o f
Bloody Sunday.
Last year, John Lewis - and others
- returned to Selma for a memorial
march. The police were there too -
th is time as escorts. A measure o f the
distance travelled since Bloody Sun­
day. And o f the long road still ahead
on the way to equality and human
dignity.
Peter Jennings’ Journal can be
heard on the ABC Information Radio
Network every Monday through Fri­
uaj,
day.
A Proclamation On Martin Luther King Jr.
U i'S Ilit U T O f
n .
T he P resident
e T T i he
UN
II
KP
i
nited S tales O e A merica
bv
©
ur country's m otto, “E
Pluribus Unum" - out of
many, we are one - charg­
es us to find common values
among our varied experience and
to forge a national identity out of
our extraordinary diversity.
O ur great leaders have been de­
fined not only by their actions, but
also by their ability to inspire people
toward a unity o f purpose. Today we
honor Dr. M arlin Luther King, Jr.,
who focused attention on the segre­
gation that poisoned our society and
whose example moved our Nation to
embrace a new standard o f openness
and inclusion.
From Montgomery to Birm ing­
ham. from the Lincoln Memorial to
Memphis, Dr. King led us to see the
great contradiction between our
founders’ declaration that “ all men
are created equal” and the daily real­
ity o f oppression endured by African
Americans. His words have become
«..„U
» n fabric
. .
such « a — part o f our moral
that
we may forget that only a generation
ago, children o f different races were
legally forbidden to attend the same
schools, that segregated buses and
trains traveled our neighborhoods,
and that African Americans were
often prevented from registering to
vote. Echoing Abraham Lincoln’s
warning that a house divided against
itse lf cannot stand. Dr. King urged,
“ We must learn to live together as
brothers, or we w ill perish as fools.”
M artin Luther King, Jr.’s call for
American society to truly reflect the
ideals on which it was built succeed­
ed in gal vanizinga political and moral
consensus that led to legislation guar­
anteeing all our citizens the right to
vote, to obtain housing, to enter plac­
es o f public accommodation, and to
participate in all aspects o f American
life without regard to race, gender,
background, or belief.
But despite the great accomplish­
ments ofthe C iv il Rights Movement,
we have not yet tom down every
obstac le to equal ity . Too many ofour
cities are still racially segregated,
and remaining barriers to education
and opportunity have caused an ar­
ray o f social problems that dispro­
portionately affect African Am eri­
cans. As a result, blacks and whites
often see the world in strikingly d if­
ferent ways and too often view each
other through a lens o f mistrust or
fear.
Today we face a choice between
the dream o f racial harmony that
M artin Luther King, Jr., described
and a deepening o f the rift that di­
vides the races in America. We must
have the faith and wisdom that Dr.
King preached and the convictions
he lived by i f we are to make this a
time for healing and progress - and
each o f us must play a role. For only
by sitting down with our neighbors in
the workplace and classroom, reach­
ing across racial lines inourplacesof
worship and community centers, and
examining our own most deep-seat­
ed beliefs, can we have the honest
conversations that w ill enable us to
understand the d i fferent ways we each
experience the challenges o f modem
life. This is the peaceful process o f
reconciliation that Dr. King fought
and died for, and we must do all we
can to live and teach his lesson.
Now, Therefore, I, W illiam J.
Clinton. President ofthe United States
o f America, by virtue o f the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and
laws ofthe Untied States, do hereby
p ro cla im January 15, 1996, as
the M a rtin Luth er K in g , Jr., Fed­
eral H o lid a y. I c a ll upon the peo­
ple o f the U ntied States to o b ­
serve th is occasion w ith appro­
priate programs, ceremonies, and
a c tiv itie s .
In W itness W hereof, I have
hereunto set my hand*this tw e lfth
day o f January, in the year o fo u r
Lord nineteen hundred and n in e ­
ty -s ix , and o f the Independence
o f the U ntied States o f A m erica
the tw o hundred and tw e ntie th.
~ W illiam J. Clinton
Vp~ë~r~~r~f~ë~c~t / v e s
lack History Month
Is Near At Hand
ell, we say th a t every
year about this time.
And we usually follow
on with the warning that one’s
I accom plishm ents and trad i­
tions are to be kept at the
forefront at all times, lest noble
motives and passions fade from
memory In the battle for surviv­
al. Great peoples and cultures
have perished for less cause.
T his year, I
plan several
O
T
m od i f ic a-
in th e ir p r o lific o utput, such
classics as “ The C ount o f M o n ­
te C ris to ” and the “ The Three
Musketeers” . Am ong the scores
o f plays and novels we fin d
several that were m o d ifie d into
the lib re tto s fo r w orld-fa m o us
operas. One grandson, as p ro ­
lific a love r and gourm et as
novelist, once declared o f a lady
who claim ed her baby to be
h is ;” i f the c h ild
is born w ith h air
as w o o ly and
By
nappy as m ine,
Professor
then I g la d ly w ill
Mcklnley
assume the re ­
Burt
s p o n s ib ility .
B a ck on the
Am erican continent, we shall
cite the A fric a n A m erican in ­
ventors whose inn ova tion s o f
the past and present have made
possible our sophisticated in ­
frastructure o f architectural and
tran spo rtatio n netw ork, as w e ll
as the modern d e liv e ry systems
fo r our food supply and o the r
necessities fo r modern urban
life .
So, too, is it that the educa­
tio n a l and p o litic a l structures
have availed themselves o f the
acumen and the energies o f eb­
ony innovators.
It is w ith special d e lig h t that
I shall recount conversations
w ith the great “ C ro s th w a ite ”
before his death in the late sev­
enties. This is the man who held
over 90 patents on the heating,
a ir c o n d itio n in g and p lu m b in g
apparatus that makes liv in g in
I OO-story high rises possible in
the modern w orld.
The b rillia n t, black engineer­
ing graduate o f Purdue U n iv e r­
s ity had a lot to say about the
devastating e ffe ct o f denying
black youth the true account o f
th e ir m ag n ifice n t history.
He was equally disturbed that
“ the so cia l-e ng ine ering types”
prevented him from g a in in g a
d ire ct interface w ith the d isa d ­
tio n s to the
fo rm a t o f my
presentations
in the pages
o f the P o rt­
land Observer. For one th ing ,
there w ill appear tw o fu ll page
d is p la y ’ s e n title d “ The Best O f
M c K in le y ” , each fe aturin g fo u r
o f the most cite d docum enta­
tio n o f m ajor co n trib u tio n s to
technology and c u ltu re that I
have presented in the last doz­
en years.
T his form at should p rovide
readers, schools, in d u stry or
governm ental agencies several
rather accessible and in fo rm a ­
tive presentation aids fo r d is ­
cussions and seminars on A f r i­
can and A fric a n A m erican ac­
com p lish m e nts on the w o rld
stage. Suitable, also, fo r w alls
and b u lle tin boards, these are
selected accounts o f successful
endeavors that have enriched
the cu lture, life s ty le s and fo lk ­
ways o f the c iv iliz e d w o rld
since the beg in nin g o f h istory.
We w ill meet the great black
poet and re v o lu tio n a ry o f Rus­
sia, “ Pushkin,” whose huge stat­
ute stands yet today in “ Pushkin
S quare” in a M o s c o w park
across the street from the new
“ S u pe r-M cD on ald s” fast food
concession - and w e ’ ll learn o f
Ira A ld rid g e , the A fric a n A m er­
ican Shakespearian actor who
also wowed European audienc­
es last century, e spe cia lly in
Russia. A nd then there was the
vantaged youth who desperate­
Dumas fa m ily , generations o f
ly needed this m o tiva tio n and
generals, w rite rs, swordsmen,
c o n fid e n c e -b u ild in g input.
lovers and dip lom ats.
Such a great man who co n ­
These transplanted A frica n s,
trib u te d so much m oney and
- - - settled
- - - - ■ in France and I i i v included
iu u v u
l i m tim
e . e.
m u u
W fa n ia n i
(USPS 959-680)
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