Category: Fall 2002 Newswire
Lawrence Receives $700,000
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2002–Lawrence and Lowell will each receive $700,000 in federal grants to train at-risk youths in construction trades. The grants are part of HUD’s Youthbuild Program, which aims to provide high school dropouts with a chance to learn job skills and earn their high school equivalency diplomas, while helping to increase the availability of affordable homes.
At the Lawrence Family Development & Education Fund Inc., news of the grant, which Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Mel Martinez announced on Tuesday brought a sigh of relief. The organization had learned in July that Massachusetts had sliced $211,000 from its budget for the Youthbuild program at the last minute.
“We were looking at next October as a difficult time if we couldn’t find other funding,” program director Andrew Mente said. “The HUD grant will ensure that the program operates for the next two years.”
During that time, 48 participants will build three houses in Lawrence. The program takes 24 students a year and divides them into two groups. The groups then alternate weekly between the construction site and the classroom.
“What’s the nicest part is seeing these kids leave the program and get jobs paying them $1,000 a week,” said carpenter Peter Kinney, who has been working with Youthbuild in Lawrence for the last three years. “When we got them off the street corner, they didn’t know what $10 was.”
Mente estimates that 60 percent of those who start the program earn their high school equivalency diplomas and that 80 percent are able to secure a full-time job upon graduation. “This is about young people making a commitment to make a change in their life, and the program promotes these kinds of changes as well as helping them develop as leaders and take responsibility for themselves and their community,” Mente said.
According to Mente, the majority of this year’s applicants found out about the program through word of mouth. “The alumni connection has become very important to the program going forward,” he said. Kinney, for example, remains a friend and mentor to many of those he has supervised. “I had a couple working at my house last weekend,” he said. “I never know when my phone’s going to ring or when I’ll get a knock on the door.”
The program also increases the supply of affordable housing for low-income families in the area. Construction on the first house authorized under this week’s grant will begin in November at 21 Bromfield Street, a vacant lot that the city has donated to the Lawrence Family Development & Education Fund. Upon completion, it will be sold to low-income families
“I was amazed when I saw how it worked,” Kinney said. “I couldn’t picture something so good happening to these kids who really never had a shot.”
In Lowell, the grant will be administered by Community Teamwork Inc. Two houses are scheduled for construction, and 48 participants will receive both classroom and vocational training.
Massachusetts received almost $4 million in Youthbuild grants from HUD this year. Only California, Illinois and New York received larger amounts.
Published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, in Massachusetts.
Campaign Comes Into Home Stretch
By Marty Toohey
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2002--Debates. Disagreements. Door bells. And a deluge of attack ads.
That's what people can expect over the next two weeks as the race for the redrawn 5th House District, in which two incumbents are facing off, hits the home stretch.
Especially the ads.
WVIT 30, an NBC affiliate, says it contracted to run 167 spots, each 30 seconds, from Republican Rep. Nancy Johnson between Oct. 11 and the election, while Democratic Rep. Jim Maloney is running 150 such spots over that time.
Although neither campaign will divulge the details of the advertisements yet to air, they'll almost certainly run attack-style ones like those viewers already have become accustomed to, said Paul Petterson, chairman of the political science department at Central Connecticut State University.
"The race has gotten really dirty, and I think that reflects how nervous both sides are," Petterson said.
And it's not just the ads.
"I think you'll see even more ratcheting up of a 'my opponent did this' and 'my opponent did that' type of campaign," even in public events like debates, Petterson said. "Unfortunately, I think what voters can expect is charge and counter-charge."
That style, especially in the advertising, is proof that despite Johnson's lead in most polls, as well as in overall money, the race should be close, Petterson said.
"If it weren't close, they wouldn't be pumping the massive amounts of money they are into the final days of the campaign," he said.
As of Sept. 30, Johnson had raised just over $3 million in this election cycle, while Maloney had raised about $1.7 million, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Johnson reported having a little more than $1 million on hand, and Maloney reported having about $150,000, money that could buy last-minute advertising.
Those reports don't take into account money spent or raised since the first of the month, though, and neither campaign would reveal how much they've spent since then.
National observers have Johnson as the favorite at this point, but most also are predicting a finish much closer than most polls have indicated, with the final outcome hinging on things as small as weather and last-day handshakes.
"For Maloney to win this thing, he needs something to break for him," which could easily happen in a district with 13,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, said Amy Walter, an analyst for the Washington-based Cook Political Report, widely regarded as the premier election-tracking publication. But "I think Johnson has set the agenda for this campaign" because she's raised more money and skillfully answered every one of Maloney's criticisms, Walter said.
Most polls show Johnson with a lead, but there's really no consensus about the size of it.
Recent polls by the University of Connecticut and Quinnipiac University show Johnson with a lead of 16 to 18 percentage points. Maloney's campaign has written those polls off as the work of amateurs, though, because they use student callers. The campaign instead lauds a poll done for several Connecticut newspapers by the polling company Research 2000 showing Johnson with a 7-point lead.
But all of the polling is complicated by the fact that Connecticut maintains a no-call list, which people can join to avoid solicitation or polling calls. That means that polls will miss any citizen on that list, skewing the polling sample.
Regardless of the poll results, the TV spots have been purchased and for the next two weeks viewers can look forward to more political advertising. In addition to ads running on WVIT 30, WTIC, the Fox affiliate, says it is running 53 spots from Johnson and 12 from Maloney between Oct. 1 and Nov. 4.
And the national Democratic and Republican Parties, which already have been running ads, said they will continue to do so, although they wouldn't say how many or what tone they would take.
Both campaigns will continue holding fundraisers, and both probably will receive money from their respective state and national parties, although that money probably won't be publicly disclosed until after the election.
Ultimately, the race should have a tight finish simply because of the nature of the district, said Walter of the Cook report.
"Johnson's not going to win by 20 points, as some polls indicate," she said. "It really could come down to who rings the most doorbells."
Stay tuned.
Published in The New Britain Herald, in Connecticut.
Congress’ Affirmation of ‘One Nation Under God’ in Pledge is Political Manipulation, says Frank
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2002--As Congress debated military action in Iraq and pushed to go home and campaign, the Senate and House quietly passed a bill reaffirming the reference to "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Rep. Barney Frank, along with only four other congressmen, voted against the almost unanimous legislative action, which was to be sent to the White House for President Bush's consideration.
"I voted no because I was really angry at this political manipulation of religion," Frank said. "The Republicans brought that up solely for political purposes before the election. And I think people who are truly religious should resent this effort to kind of manipulate religion for political purposes."
Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.) introduced the bill one day after a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on June 26 that the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because the phrase "one nation under God" violated the separation of church and state.
Congress added "under God" to the pledge in 1954.
The Senate unanimously passed Hutchinson's bill, and sent it to the House immediately. The House Judiciary Committee, of which Frank is a member, approved the bill with minor changes.
Frank did not attend the committee meeting because "it was a waste of time," he said. "This wasn't about whether or not God should be in the pledge of allegiance. It was … for political purposes, because whether that bill was voted on or not, the pledge would never have changed."
The House took a roll call vote on Oct. 8, and the result was 401 yeas, 5 nays, 4 present and 21 not voting, including Rep. Richard Neal, a Democrat who represents the 2nd District of Massachusetts. The Senate approved the House version of the bill on Oct. 17.
"I think we are suffering much too much from this effort to bring religion into politics, so I voted against that as a protest," Frank said.
Other congressmen who voted no on the bill discussed the constitutional issues.
"It is important to acknowledge that any court ruling based on constitutional rights will be unpopular," Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) said on the House floor. "You do not need constitutional rights to say something popular. You only need rights when the majority has the legislative or police power to stop you from expressing your views."
Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) said in a statement that although the pledge is recited daily in many schools nationwide, "we must remember that our nation was founded by a diverse group of people, including pilgrims who came here, and continue to come here, to escape religious persecution and embrace freedom of church and state."
Massachusetts requires recitation of the pledge every morning in all grades in all public schools.
"The Pledge of Allegiance did not use to say 'under God' when my parents went to school, my grandparents went to school," said Steve Benen, spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "We believe the Pledge of Allegiance should have the same language it had before 1954."
Without the phrase "under God," the pledge "was good enough to get through two World Wars, good enough to get through the Great Depression," Benen said. "The bill from last week does not matter at all. It was simply a political gesture."
He also said that the legal controversy is going to continue regardless of last week's vote. "It was simply politicians in the election year. It does not have an effect on the law. It does not change anything."
Published in The New Bedford Standard Times, in Massachusetts.
Sniper Affects Lives of Everyday Mainers in D.C.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2002--Caileen Nutter's memories of crisp autumn days in Maine are filled with camping trips, hiking excursions, and biking down scenic streets, never thinking twice about her safety. She would walk around the University of Maine's Orono campus last fall like every college student, with her books in hand.
This October has been different. If Nutter was carrying a book, she'd nervously clutch it to her chest, hoping that maybe it would serve as some sort of protection against the sniper's next bullet.
Nutter, 21, was breathing a sigh of relief Thursday. Two men were arrested early that morning in connection with the sniper attacks in the D.C. area, though as of mid-afternoon Thursday they had not been officially charged with the murders.
"I feel much better," Nutter, who moved to this area last January to work for Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins, said in a phone interview. "I trust the police work that's being done."
John Allen Muhammad, 42, and John Lee Malvo, 17, were taken into custody by police at a rest stop near Frederick, Md., about 60 miles northwest of Washington. Malvo is reportedly Muhammad's stepson.
Nutter was one of countless people living in and around the Washington suburbs who became increasingly nervous as the elusive sniper's deadly game started three weeks ago.
The sniper shot 13 people, leaving 10 dead and three wounded.
"It's the utter randomness and senselessness of the attacks that makes it scary," Nutter said.
But not everyone was fearful of the sniper. Bangor resident Garrett Corbin, 20, is a Boston University student spending a semester here, and he said that although his parents worried for his safety, he never thought to change his normal daily routine.
"You can't really protect yourself against it," Corbin said. "If he starts to shoot in my neighborhood, then I'll worry. I'd be more scared if I lived in the suburbs, but living in the center of town, not so much."
Nutter's home in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Va., is less than 20 minutes away from a shooting last week in a Home Depot parking lot where a woman was killed by the sniper.
Nutter said she rarely walked around her neighborhood unless she was with her roommates or driving in a car. She'd even duck into a store if a white van passed her by on the street.
Although she said she was comforted knowing that the possible snipers have been caught, she added that she will "wait for confirmation" from police before feeling completely at ease again.
Crystal Bozek contributed to this story.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
In Washington You Can’t Escape, Even By Zigzagging
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2002--As soon as we walk out the door our eyes begin gliding up and down the passing traffic. There are 17 white vans or trucks passing by in about four minutes today. We all ask ourselves, why can't these people drive something else for a few days? Something not so white.
I stand next to taller people when I'm waiting to cross the street. I bob my head when I listen to my Walkman. I figure I'm safe that way. That it would probably be difficult for the sniper to get off a clean shot. At first I told myself not to worry. He only shoots at gas stations. Then it was post offices, middle schools, homes, Home Depots and even bus stops. I refused to walk farther than five blocks without hailing a cab.
While I have a far better chance of getting into a car accident than being targeted by a sniper, there is still that inner voice of dread that says, "I bet the other victims didn't think they'd get shot either."
There are the phone calls from parents who live eight hours away, telling you not to step outside unless absolutely necessary. They are watching through the glass of the television screen, seeing pictures of the smiling people who are now dead, analyzing the maps of shooting points, reading out names of places they have never heard of. "Fairfax County? Is that anywhere near you?"
I see people now constantly moving their heads while getting gas. Fewer people leave the office during lunch break. Some diners now are removing their patio furniture to discourage people from sitting outside. High school football games have been moved to "undisclosed locations." The city may enact curfews. I have FBI agents down the street from me, checking vehicles for guns. Outdoor activities aren't encouraged.
I turn on the television, and every local station is running endless sniper coverage, interviewing witnesses who know nothing. The police offer no comfort, presenting a tip sheet that describes how best to witness a killing, how to avoid getting shot and how to walk "zigzag." And, yes, two friends and I zigzagged down Connecticut Avenue for the first time two nights ago when we saw a white van with a ladder rack. We giggled uncontrollably and kept telling ourselves we were idiots, yet we didn't stop till we reached our door.
Everyone has a theory about who the sniper is and why he is killing people at random. Some think the sniper may have played too many video games, may be a disgruntled military person or may be a terrorist. My taxi driver connected it to 9/11. Regardless of the motive, this person is now suspected of shooting 13 people, killing 10, since Oct. 2. No Son of Sam or Ted Bundy, this serial killer doesn't even care to see his victim's pain, shooting from far away -- cold, quick, calculating.
My first week living in Washington D.C., we experienced an anthrax scare in our building a block or so from the White House. I was warned of being in this city a year after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Forget about anthrax, plane crashes, smallpox and nuclear weapons. I worry about this sniper armed with a gun every night before I go to bed and every morning as I wake up. The sniper might be walking beside me while I walk to the subway. He may not be driving a van anymore. The shootings happen less frequently. I make jokes about it, but it's scary to think that right now I am living in what will some day be a motion picture starring Denzel Washington.
It seems like police have nothing to go on. The sniper could walk away right now and forever be anonymous. That's what bugs me the most. I read there are over 100 unsolved homicides in the capitol area every year, yet we are all afraid of one person, a person without a description, a person without a motive, a person who's playing God.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Bush Announces Generic Drug Plan
By Max Heuer
WASHINGTON, Oct 23, 2002--As New Hampshire's Senate race drew closer to Election Day, President Bush added to the campaign fodder this week by announcing a plan to speed generic drugs to the market.
"I think (Bush has) done the right thing," Rep. John Sununu, R-NH, his party's Senate candidate, said Wednesday. "I've always been very committed to protecting the integrity of the patent system." Sununu was referring to the fact that the proposal would close patent loopholes that effectively allow drug companies to renew their drug patents.
Colin Van Ostern, the press secretary to Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, Sununu's Democratic opponent, said the Bush proposal was "a good first step" and accused Sununu of trying to block legislation in the House that would have solved the problem.
"The pharmaceutical industry has stalled (a generic drug bill) in the House, with John Sununu's help," Van Ostern said in a press release Wednesday, arguing that Sununu "should sign the discharge petition that would bring the issue up for a vote… but refuses to do so. "
Van Ostern also said that in 1999 Sununu co-sponsored legislation (H.R. 1598, the Claritin Patent Renewal Act) that "helped drug companies extend their patents on Claritin and seven other popular drugs, at a cost of consumers in the billions."
Sununu's press secretary, Julie Teer, responded that the Shaheen campaign was "deliberately distorting" Sununu's record. Under the bill, she said, only a court could award a drug manufacturer a patent extension. "The judge decides, not John Sununu," she said.
On whether Sununu would sign the discharge petition, Teer said the Shaheen campaign should "stop the partisan bickering" and blamed the Democratic Senate for wanting "an election-year issue" instead of "delivering results."
Sununu also counter-attaccked, charging Shaheen with failing to come up with a long-term plan to ease rising drug costs.
"Jeanne Shaheen has no plan to add a prescription drug plan to Medicare," Sununu said, adding that he thought his Democratic opponent's support for getting cheaper prescription drugs from Canada was not a long-term solution. "Putting seniors on a bus isn't the answer."
Van Ostern responded that the accusation that Shaheen had no prescription drug plan was "simply not true." Her plan, he said, includes reimportation of FDA-approved drugs from Canada, improvements in generic drug access and limits on drug companies' ability to deduct advertising costs from their taxes.
Sununu stressed that a Medicare prescription drug benefit is needed as a long-term solution.
Bush's proposal, announced just two weeks before the Nov. 5 elections, would limit name-brand pharmaceutical companies to a single 30-day window of protection when lawsuits on the drug are pending.
Some drug companies have filed litigation over and over, critics say, solely to delay the release of drugs to the generic market under the 30-day rule. Bush's proposal angered some in the Senate, which passed a bill in July that supporters said was a more comprehensive measure.
The removal of the loophole could introduce generic versions of popular brand-name drugs like Prilosec, Claritin, Zantac and Xanax, according to Lisa Swenson, the assistant director of health planning and Medicaid at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
New Hampshire's HHS currently pays $93 million a year for prescription drugs for Medicaid recipients. Generic drugs are 30 to 60 percent cheaper than their brand-name counterparts and are therapeutically equivalent, Swenson said in a phone interview Wednesday.
"We're very supportive of any initiative… (that) speeds generics (to the market)," Swenson said.
The state agency contracted with Virginia-based First Health Services Corp. last year to consult on the state's management of pharmacy programs, Swenson said.
This year, the agency also started a pharmaceutical and therapeutics advisory committee of in-state practicing physicians and pharmacists to look at potential initiatives, Swenson said.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a coalition of Northeastern legislators was pushing to set up a non-profit mail-order drug purchasing company that would allow consumers to pay Canadian prices for their drugs.
United Seniors Association (USA), a conservative activist group that has received funding from the drug industry's main lobbying group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), launched a TV ad campaign aimed at New Hampshire this week supporting Sununu's plan on prescription drugs.
USA chairman and chief executive Charles Jarvis lauded Sununu's votes in the House on pharmaceutical issues. In an interview, Jarvis also said that as head of USA, he takes donations from "anyone who agrees with me" on "unabashedly pro-market-based solutions." Jarvis added he thought the president was "trying to find the balance" between stunting research and lowering costs.
Sununu said that support from a group linked to the pharmaceutical industry did not affect his position on the generic drug issue and added that he has supported capping the patent loopholes for a long time. Sununu also said he supports allowing people to purchase prescription drugs from Canada provided the drugs are FDA-approved.
"I voiced my support for the patent legislation that came out of the Senate months ago," Sununu said. "As I said, I'm an engineer and believe very strongly that no one should misuse the patent system."
Published in The Manchester Union Leader, in New Hampshire.
FEC Reports Show Huge Gaps in Funding
By Tia Carioli and Gregory Chisholm
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2002--FEC disclosure reports made available this week and last, show a growing gap in the amount of money each candidate has raised in the race for New Hampshire's available Senate seat. NHPR Correspondent Gregory Chisholm reports from Washington.
Democrat Jean Shaheen's campaign has raised 3.8 million dollars to date, nearly tripling Republican John Sununu's total of 1.7 million dollars.
Third quarter reports also show Shaheen has received twenty-one percent of her total money from Political Action Committees while PACs have contributed thirty seven percent of Sununu's total money.
Among Sununu's significant contributors are Exxon-Mobil, the Nuclear Energy Institute, and the National Rifle Association.
Shaheen's main donors include Emily's List and The League of Conservation Voters, one of three groups sponsoring television issue ads that began airing last week attacking Sununu.
With two weeks left before election day, Shaheen has1.3 million dollars on hand to spend, dwarfing Sununu's 300,000 dollars.
For NHPR News, this is Gregory Chisholm, in Washington
Broadcast on New Hampshire Public Radio, in New Hampshire.
VA Establishes Priorities in Health Care Access
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2002--The Department of Veterans Affairs is implementing new regulations that give priority health care access to severely disabled veterans.
According to Gail Goza-Macmullan, network communications officer for the VA's New England Health Care System, the new policy will assure that severely disabled veterans are treated promptly in VA facilities instead of on the former first-come, first-served basis.
This policy, currently being implemented at the VA Medical and Regional Office Center at Togus, provides priority treatment to veterans with service-connected disabilities that have been diagnosed and rated in the top half of all VA patients. Goza-Macmullan said such veterans will be cared for at centers like Togus for any ailment, from lost limb problems to post-traumatic stress.
She said the new regulations, announced Oct. 3, are in part a response to the enormous growth of veterans needing care. In Maine, 5,400 veterans are on a waiting list to see a doctor.
"Waiting lists are a fairly new phenomenon, and the extra workload is a recent problem for us," Goza-Macmullan said. "This policy ensures that severely disabled veterans have priority access to care." She added that regardless of disability status, veterans with medical emergencies have always been and will continue to be the first ones treated in any VA facility.
Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe visited Togus on Monday with American Legion national commander Ron Conley. Snowe, along with Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Reps. John Baldacci and Tom Allen, said earlier this year that ensuring the highest quality health care for Maine's veterans is a priority for the state's congressional delegation. During her visit, Snowe expressed the delegation's commitment by addressing the backlog issue:
"This is the wrong message to be sending at this point in time, when we're asking people to serve our country. Given the potential conflicts around the world, and what we're engaged in already in the war on terrorism, we need to do everything we can to get this waiting list down."
The American Legion's Conley added: "VA health care is superb, it's quality care. But the problem is, not enough veterans are able to get into that hospital to receive that care."
Jim Simpson, public affairs officer at Togus, says the new policy will help, but "it's not a panacea for the problem."
"We're still dealing with the major gap between resources and the backlog of those waiting for care," he said.
With expected additional federal funding to expand the staff and open more community-based clinics, Simpson said, Togus hopes to reduce the waiting list, but it remains unknown how much money Maine will receive in this year's appropriations. Snowe's office said that Togus will continue to operate at its current budget level until at least mid-November, when Congress returns to act on appropriations.
"To be honest with you, I don't think we should have adjourned before completing the appropriations process, which included the veterans budget," Snowe said at Togus.
Appropriations waiting to be passed by Congress for the current fiscal year include a $2.5 billion increase for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The House has passed the bill and it is pending in the Senate.
Conley said he hopes that aside from appropriations and new regulations, the American Legion's recommendations will "fix the system, not put a Band-Aid on it." He suggested that veterans be allowed to use Medicare to cover costs at VA facilities and that a low-cost VA health plan be offered to veterans who are without health insurance.
According to Conley, the shortage of staff and the lack of funds to hire more people has led to overworked employees and possible safety concerns. Furthermore, veterans with combat-related injuries are still waiting 30 days to see a doctor, and if a new veteran came to Togus, the earliest he might get in is a year.
Conley says that with the enormous backlog, including thousands of claims to be processed and the time it takes to diagnose everyone who falls into the 50-percent-or-greater profile, the new policy won't work.
"Besides the feel-good PR, the VA has internal problems that need to be addressed," he said. "While the idea of a combat-related injured veteran jumping ahead of the line sounds good to the public…in reality it doesn't happen."
Published in The Bangor Daily News, in Maine.
Slade Students Weigh in on Obesity Bill
By Marty Toohey
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2002--As mounds of legislation sit unfinished today in the nation's capital, a bill introduced by Sen. Christopher Dodd aimed at reducing obesity rests somewhere in the paperwork pile.
Meanwhile, in the Slade Middle School cafeteria, a pair of eighth graders will go about their day as usual, one eating a lunch of greasy pizza and candy, the other a chicken patty and fruit.
Their diets are as different as Kentucky Fried Chicken and skinless, boneless chicken breast. Ally (not her real name) has poor eating habits and an insatiable sweet tooth, but is thin, has plenty of energy and doesn't see her diet as a problem. Kelly (not herreal name either) eats healthy and credits her parents for it.
Ally's habits are more typical of their age group, both girls agree, and so she's the demographic Dodd and Surgeon General Richard Carmona hope to reach with the legislation. A large portion of it, and the portion that would most affect the two girls, would authorize $175 million for education efforts "to assist local communities in promoting good nutrition and increased levels of physical activity among their citizens."
.
Neither girl, however, sees the additional efforts affecting their own eating habits or those of their peers much, , especially with pizza, candy and soda available the moment they step out of health class.
"I think it really depends on the parents," said Kelly, whose own parents have emphasized healthy eating "as long as I can remember. Kids will eat what they want, and if parents don't have healthy food for them, they won't eat healthy."
Ally put it a little more bluntly.
"It really hasn't affected me at all," she said of the school's healty-eating campaign.
It's the bill's emphasis on exercise that might make a difference, both girls said. Al Sullivan, a health and physical education teacher at Slade, agrees. It's by no means a revelation, but nonetheless telling.
"Classes haven't changed how I eat, but I don't really like to exercise, so I'm glad we do it in school," Kelly said. "I'm probably healthier because of it."
But Sullivan, who said his own family worried about his developing weight-related health problems when he was a child, still cautioned against quick judgments of a child's health. Different builds and metabolisms of students make an across-the-board health standard nearly impossible to achieve, he said.
"It's difficult to gauge," he said. "The standards aren't universal, and can even be misleading."
Despite their differing diets, Kelly and Ally both seem healthy, by all accounts. They're savvier than most adults give teens credit for; and both take the long view when discussing how they'll eat in the future.
Kelly said she eats healthy now specifically to stay healthy later.
And Ally acknowledges that she may have to switch her habits.
"I think a lot about why I eat so much junk food," she said. "I know that candy and stuff isn't good for me. But if I start eating differently later I think I can stay skinny and healthy."
Published in The New Britain Herald, in Connecticut.
A Day in the Life of Jim Maloney
By Marty Toohey
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2002--At first glance, Jim Maloney seems to be in one heck of a hurry.
Brisk, brusque and burly, Maloney's usual greeting lasts less than two seconds, with eight words or fewer run together in a booming, continuous string.
"Hi, how are you?" comes out as "Hihowareya?" and he'll answer that question with "Finehowareyou?"
That's not unusual for a United States congressman, whose days are a blur of buzzers, beepers and bustle. They're days crammed with subcommittee hearings and votes and meetings, lots of meetings, formal and casual, planned and spontaneous, Democratic Caucus meetings and staff meetings and every other kind of meeting imaginable.
And that's only Tuesday through Thursday. The other four days a week Maloney is back in Connecticut campaigning for reelection in one of the country's most hotly contested districts.
It's a jam-packed lifestyle, and Maloney certainly packs a lot into a day, hustling from commitment to commitment with a furrowed brow and hunched shoulders.
But then an apologetic follower sets off the Capitol Building's metal detector four consecutive times, delaying Maloney for several minutes on the way to a vote.
And Maloney, who blows in and out of the office like a huffing hurricane, leans back, smiles broadly at the observer's ring-around-the-metal-detector and cracks a joke to a security guard.
Turns out he's not always in such a big hurry after all.
***
On Capitol Hill, Maloney's mannerisms switch, like a VCR, from fast-forward to play. At first, or when he's coming off the House floor, he'll click the two little arrows like he's trying to speed through the small talk.
It's not unusual; many congressmen talk at an accelerated pace. They're busy people.
But give Maloney a minute and he'll find his spot in the conversation, click the play button and slow to a thoughtful and articulate pace.
A man who taught American history at Newton's St. Sebastian School while attending law school, Maloney, 54, seems most comfortable in explanation, whether with a dozen George Washington University students or with reporters during his evening press calls.
Talking in his office with the students on the evening of Oct. 9, he reclines in a leather chair, his weight resting on his right arm. His left hand cradles his cheek while listening, and then dots the air to emphasize points of his explanations.
He asks where each student is from, and ticks off the names of the congressional representatives from each hometown.
He tells the students about the three-hour trip from the Capitol to his doorstep in Danbury, and his struggle as a Harvard undergrad to find a suitable major. He elicits warm laughter when he acknowledges that 1994, when he ran a failed House campaign, was "probably the worst possible time" for him to run for office because of nationwide dissatisfaction with Democrats.
It's not immediately apparent whether it's the joke or Maloney's broad grin that the students respond to.
Maloney shakes each student's hand as they shuffle out, his own meaty paw enveloping theirs. He then begins making his daily press calls; the issue of the day is a set of polls released a day earlier, one of which shows him trailing Republican Rep. Nancy Johnson by 16 percentage points.
Maloney, who settled on an undergraduate degree in history, is well versed in polling nuance and lore. He seems to recall polls dating back to antiquity, and mentions to a reporter a 1936 Literary Digest poll declaring Republican Alf Landon the clear favorite for president.
But the magazine mailed the survey to names taken from telephone and car-ownership lists. Turns out that in 1936, during the middle of a depression, a good number of Americans couldn't afford cars or phones, and they tended to vote Democrat.
Landon won only two states. Franklin D. Roosevelt became president. The poll was wrong.
Maloney declares the UConn poll wrong. Over and over.
He tells reporters that, because of surveying methods, 5 percent of the time the UConn polls are inaccurate far beyond the built-in margin of error.
"We don't think there's anything wrong with the way UConn conducted their poll," he said to reporters three different times. "We think it's just a bad sample. It's like flipping a quarter. The odds say you'll get heads half the time and tails half the time. But sometimes you get a run of five heads or ten tails."
Even the George Washington students can't resist asking about the polls. And Maloney's response, for at least the fourth time that day, is margin of error, bad sample, heads or tails.
***
On most mornings in his Capitol Hill office, Maloney starts work around 8 a.m., either taking care of morning meetings or heading into the office. At some point, an office buzzer indicating a vote in 15 minutes will interrupt him.
"All members must report to the floor for a vote in 15 minutes," a voice will crackle from a pager at Maloney's belt.
"Okay," he says to anyone unfamiliar with the office's rhythms. "That means we've got 10 minutes" until he has to leave.
After those 10 minutes, he'll walk briskly from his office to the Capitol building, preferring the sunshine to the short subway ride.
"I get out every chance I get," he says.
The warm and muggy early fall weather is a little hot for him, though, even with a breeze ruffling his silver, slightly wavy hair.
"I'm a New Englander," he says. "I like the cool weather."
***
Much of the time, the result of a vote is certain long before it's called. The House leadership often calls a vote to "get the sheep into the barn" and out of the office to talk, Maloney says.
"When (members) are in their offices, they've got projects going and they're busy. But here," he says, motioning through a bronze-gilded double door to the House floor, "you can talk without worrying about interrupting them in the middle of working on something."
Maloney , for his part, is hoping to catch John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, and talk to him about funding for laser detectors manufactured in Connecticut.
Maloney disappears onto the floor for a few minutes, and emerges out a side door.
"Imustamissedhim," Maloney huffs. "Butthat'sokay. I'llgethimlater."
Maloney beelines for the elevator that will take him to a meeting of the Financial Services Committee, on which he sits.
The third-term lawmaker's pleased with his committee assignments-he also sits on the Armed Services Committee--and says his dual role is "where the action is" for a Connecticut congressman.
Armed Services deals heavily with defense contracts, and Financial Services deals heavily with banks. Both are major industries in Connecticut.
"It's not an accident I'm on these committees," Maloney says. "If I were from Texas, I'd try to get on the Agriculture and Energy Committees."
If Maloney is reelected and Democrats gain control of the House, the party leadership will probably name Maloney chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. There, he says, he could put to use his experience as a real estate lawyer and director of anti-poverty programs.
"Committee assignments are fluid, but it's probably a pretty good bet that would be his assignment," said Kori Bernards, a spokeswoman for Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.).
***
After leaving the floor Maloney clicks his play button, but his pace to the elevator stays swift and his interaction with other members is nearly supersonic. A typical exchange goes like this:
"Hihowyoudoing?"
"Justfinesirhowareyou?"
"Goodthanksgoodtoseeyou."
Most members seem stuck on permanent fast forward. They tap their shoes impatiently or mutter grumpily while waiting for the elevator. But Maloney doesn't fidget. He can't go anywhere, so he's in no hurry. The wait's not that bad, he says.
"It's a good opportunity to catch your breath," he says. "Besides, it's just like any other
job--you still have to wait for the elevator."
Published in The New Britain Herald, in Connecticut.
