Category: Spring 2002 Newswire
Smith Touts Water Legislation
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26–Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) touted new legislation Tuesday that would more than double the amount of money available to drought-stricken New Hampshire towns next year to modernize their drinking and waste water systems in compliance with mandates from the Environmental Protection Agency.
“This is a very, very high priority for me,” Smith said in an interview following a standing-room-only Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the legislation that he introduced last week with Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT) and several other members of the committee. “Communities don’t want to drink dirty water and don’t want to create dirty surface water.”
New Hampshire communities “from Manchester to Nashua to Concord” have been struggling to pay for their water systems, said Smith, the committee’s senior Republican. Costs have risen across the country because as pipes and facilities have aged, the population has increased and federal water quality standards have become more stringent.
The Water Investment Act of 2002 would increase spending for New Hampshire under the Clean Water Act to clean the water in rivers, lakes and streams -to $35 million, up from $13.6 million this year. The act would also raise spending under the Safe Drinking Water Act from $8 million to $15 million in New Hampshire next year.
Local governments and utility ratepayers are currently contributing more than 90 percent of the money spent on water and wastewater needs, according to the American Public Works Association (APWA). The National League of Cities estimates that localities will pay close to $1 trillion over the next 20 years to upgrade their aging pipes and facilities.
The increased money in Smith’s legislation would be used to help cities and towns clean up water pollution and upgrade their pipes, distribution systems and pumping stations.
Steven Parkinson, the Portsmouth-based vice president of the New England branch of the APWA, said that the additional funds are vital to the economy of New Hampshire, which is experiencing the worst drought in more than 50 years.
“If the lakes don’t fill up, boating will be down, and recreation is a good part of the economy,” he said. “The drought affects development because houses cannot be built if you don’t have the water supply. And because water’s going to go first for human consumption than for manufacturing processes, [the drought] affects where companies look to locate.”
“Hampton and Seabrook are already looking at mandatory water conservation measures for the coming years,” he said. “We did not have a lot of snow this winter, didn’t have a lot of rain last fall, so we’re going to need help.”
Meanwhile, the APWA and the Water Infrastructure Network estimate a shortfall in government spending of $23 billion. One source of relief, the State Revolving Fund – a low-interest loan program with which states pay for local wastewater treatment facilities and similar infrastructure – satisfies only about one-third of the states’ needs, according to the General Accounting Office.
Smith called EPA water quality standards “sometimes unreasonable” and said they are creating millions of dollars in debt for communities such as Berlin. Smith said he is helping people in New Hampshire in the best way he can: by “providing them in essence with a tax break.”
Smith’s bill would also extend the repayment period for State Revolving Fund loans for disadvantaged communities.
Smith said his bill would provide help without increasing taxes. “I’m trying to give communities more flexibility to protect their aquifers and pumping stations,” he said.
The Water Investment Act would also require the U.S. Geological Survey to assess water shortages and surpluses and provide funds for the small water system technical assistance center at the University of New Hampshire, which Smith said he has worked with over the past several years.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Shaheen Announces Border Security Project
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26--Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and an ad hoc group of officials from the Northeast have received a $200,000 grant for a wide-reaching border security initiative that scans containers before they enter the country, the governor announced Tuesday.
Sitting next to Gov. Angus King of Maine, Shaheen asked her fellow New England governors to support a pilot security initiative that monitors all packages at their points of origin. Called Operation Safe Commerce, the process tracks containers throughout the supply chain process with sensing and tracking technology.
Shaheen is working with the so-called Operation Safe Commerce Partnership, which is headed by the Transportation Department's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Mass. The group consists of representatives of Osram Sylvania, a Hillsboro-based electric company, as well as U.S. Customs Service, Border Patrol, immigration and crime-fighting officials from New England and Canada.
The grant, supplied by the Defense Department Technical Support Working Group, will pay for a pilot run of the process that will record and share tracking and sensor data from shipments along one route from Canada to New Hampshire. The pilot will test technologies such as global positioning systems, internal and external sensors and nodes that track the containers.
Shaheen described the Operation Safe Commerce system as "a whole series of measures that include looking at the point of origin of the cargo" as opposed to checking it only when it arrives. Containers, she said, would be sealed and paperwork would accompany them through the supply chain.
"The idea is to provide for strict accountability from point of origin, push out to make sure who is transporting cargo is who they say they are," she said. "This is not a one-shot or magic bullet. It is a series of measure that checks cargo at every stop."
Such solutions, proponents say, would not slow down shipping. And they would not cost as much as costly X-ray devices. Checking containers before, instead of after, they are shipped potentially saves time because much of the cargo that is shipped around the country comes from known sources, and therefore only unknown cargo would be checked.
A white paper on the project states it will "demonstrate that the movement of freight across international borders can be streamlined while security is advanced."
"I know everyone here has worked hard on improving trade," Shaheen said to her colleagues during a breakfast gathering in Washington that wrapped up the four-day annual meeting of the nation's governors. "The real goal is to improve security, but to do it in a way that makes borders more efficient. All of us who have traveled to Canada know that you will not make the 5,000-mile plus border safer by putting more agents along the border."
Shaheen explained that as governor of a state with a foreign border, she was approached by Coast Guard Commander Stephen Flynn, a security expert on the Council on Foreign Relations, after the Sept. 11 attacks. "He had been studying the idea of pushing out security to the point of origin of shipping and coming up with a tracking system and creating accountability at all points along the way," she said.
Flynn has written articles describing ways that Osama bin Laden could ship a biological weapon into the United States in a sealed container.
Shaheen said she agreed to report back to the other New England governors when they meet this summer, after the pilot project is completed.
"Obviously we haven't put money into our borders for many, many years," said Charles Tretter, the executive director of the New England Governors' Conference. "Now 9-11 has exacerbated the situation. Fortunately, the president did indicate he's putting more money into borders."
Michael Vlachich, Shaheen's special assistant for policy, pointed out that Shaheen was on the first trade mission to Canada after Sept. 11. "While there she met with Prime Minister ChrŽtien and ambassador Cellucci, who supported Flynn's approach," he said. "This is very important, because New Hampshire is one of the most tradingest states in exports."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Senators Honor Kennedy as He Reaches His 70th Birthday
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26--Political allies and foes alike showered Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) with accolades on the Senate floor yesterday as the Senate took a breather from such partisan issues as election reform and energy policy to honor Kennedy's 70th birthday.
Massachusetts's junior Senator, John Kerry, who organized the tribute, touted Kennedy as the "lion" of the Senate. "Ted is an extraordinary public servant not only because he knows who he is, and sticks to his guns, never bending with the political currents," Kerry said, "but because he has in his life and in his career proven again and again that progress doesn't happen by accident, it doesn't happen when you stick to the text of the latest opinion poll or the whispers of the morning focus group, it happens when leaders define and fight the fights that need fighting - when public servants of conscience and conviction refuse to take no for an answer. That is why for Ted Kennedy, the cause has not just endured - but triumphed, again and again."
Mr. Kennedy was first elected to the Senate in November 1962, filling the Senate seat once held by his brother, President John F. Kennedy. In 1980, Mr. Kennedy sought the Democratic presidential nomination but lost out to the sitting president, Jimmy Carter.
Orrin G. Hatch, a conservative Republican from Utah, said that he counts Kennedy among his best friends, despite philosophical and political differences. "Believe it or not, one of the reasons I ran for the Senate [in 1976] was to get the modern face of liberalism, Ted Kennedy, out of office," Hatch said. "As the past 26 years have aptly indicated, I certainly failed. Ted Kennedy stands for everything my party and state rejects so vehemently· . [But] despite our differences, we have come together on common ground."
Mr. Hatch then read a letter he received years ago from a conservative-minded senior citizen in southern Utah: "When we heard that you might run [for the Senate], we supported you. When we heard you were running, we voted for you. And when we heard you were friends with Ted Kennedy, we prayed for you." After reading the short note, Mr. Hatch paused and laughed.
Chris Dodd (D-CT), whose father had also represented Connecticut in the Senate, joked, "[Mr. Kennedy] likes to tease me all the time when he comes to Connecticut, and reminds me that he deeply resents the fact that someone can get elected on the basis of their last name."
Mr. Dodd later added, "There's a lot of kick left in the senior Senator from Massachusetts."
Mr. Kennedy, who celebrated his milestone birthday last Friday, was noticeably touched by the tribute of more than an hour. "I've been enormously blessed· with a strong commitment to public service, which is strong in my family," he said. "The greatest public honor of one's life is to serve in the United States Senate; it is to me."
Mr. Kennedy later poked fun at Senator Strom Thurmond R-SC), who is approaching his 100th birthday. "I could run four more times and still be younger than Strom Thurmond," he said.
Written for the New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Massachusetts Congressmen Could Profit From Proposed Changes to Federal Campaign Finance Law
By Kelly Field
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25--Massachusetts Congressmen could profit from proposed changes to federal campaign finance law, according to experts on the Shays-Meehan bill.
"This is only going to improve their situation," predicted Patrick Basham, a senior fellow at the Center for Representative Government at the Cato Institute, a conservative Washington think tank.
Ray LaRaja, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said that incumbents of both parties would benefit from the bill's increase in individual contribution limits because they typically have broader fundraising bases and better name recognition than challengers. Shays-Meehan, if passed, would raise the limit on individual contributions to House, Senate and presidential campaigns from $1,000 to $2,000 per election cycle.
"Incumbents have bigger Rolodexes, and can rely more on individuals," LaRaja said. "Challengers don't have that luck."
In the past, soft-money spending by national party committees has supported challengers in the form of advertising that indirectly advocates their election without saying so directly. This form of assistance has been considered necessary because wealthy individuals and interest groups generally prefer to give money to incumbents, who may have clout on congressional committees. Shays-Meehan would ban donations of unregulated soft money to the national parties in an effort to restrict the ability of wealthy donors to "buy" access and favorable treatment from members of Congress.
With the new limits, Congressmen are likely to ask large donors to double their giving. Asked whether he would encourage previous $1,000 donors to give more, Will Keyser, senior adviser to Congressman Marty Meehan, D-Lowell, said, "Some contributors who gave the maximum will give the new maximumá.But the law won't change our focus" on low-budget annual fundraisers.)
Since the last election, Meehan has received $1,000 or more from 54 donors, while Congressman John F. Tierney, D-Salem, has received that amount from 46. Meehan has the fourth-most cash on hand of any member of the House --$2,154,223--much of it left over from when he was considering a run for governor, Keyser said.
The contribution limit increase would also allow challengers to raise more money, and could help them reach the $250,000 to $300,000 necessary to "even get into play," said Anthony Corrado, a political science professor at Colby College and author of a text on campaign finance reform. Both incumbents and challengers raise approximately 20 percent of their money from $1,000 donors, Corrado said.
But "the incumbents didn't entirely forget about themselves" in writing the bill, he said, citing the so-called "millionaires amendment." The amendment would triple individual contribution limits for candidates whose opponents spend more than $350,000 of their own money, thereby shielding incumbents from wealthy self-financed challengers.
Daniel Manatt, associate director of the Campaign Finance Institute, said that the provision "really empowers candidates in facing a millionaire opponent."
At the same time, the amendment could place John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and other potential presidential challengers in the difficult position of having to decide whether to accept public financing. Bush, who raised more than $100 million in regulated hard money for the 2000 primary, is expected to refuse taxpayer subsidies in 2004 and could raise twice as much hard money under the new limits.
"Kerry has always been a supporter of the public financing program. The problem he'll now face is that he may be facing competitors who decide not to take public funding," Corrado said.
Kerry has raised more than $4 million in the 2002 election cycle, placing him third among Senate incumbents. He has also spent the most of all Senate incumbents-$1,594,793, according to the Center for Responsive Politics
If Kerry chose to accept the federal funding, he could reach the spending limit before the federal funds for the general elections came through and be left with no soft money for advertising while Bush had plenty of money for television ads.
When the assets of Kerry's wife Teresa Heinz are included, it makes Kerry the Senate's wealthiest member. Douglas Weber, a researcher for the Center for Responsive Politics, said Kerry might be inclined to reject public subsidies and avoid the spending restrictions.
"He has also got quite a bit of personal wealth," Weber said, adding, "though we're talking a couple hundred million," that Bush will be able to raise.
As for the state parties, they will probably not be adversely affected by the removal of soft money at the national level. Soft money transfers from national to state parties were banned under the Massachusetts election reform law passed four years ago, said Ken White, executive director of Massachusetts Common Cause. So while New Hampshire state parties have received $256,550 in soft-money transfers so far in the 2002 election cycle, Massachusetts has received nothing, the Center for Responsive Politics reports.
The pending bill, if it becomes law, "will have less of an effect [in Massachusetts] because we closed that soft-money loophole four years ago," White said.
The state and local parties could even benefit if the wealthy donors and PACs who now give to the national parties decide to shift their focus to state and local campaign committees and interest groups. Massachusetts residents and PACs gave $2,159,589 to the national parties last year, the 12th highest amount in the nation.
"Look for big donors to try to shift some of their giving to political committees at the state level," writes Larry Makinson in "Life After Soft Money," a Center for Responsive Politics report.
A provision of the Shays-Meehan bill would allow soft-money donations to state parties of $10,000 per donor, provided the funds are used for get-out-the-vote drives and not candidate advocacy. The bill would ban state and local parties from spending soft money on activities that directly influence Federal elections, but allow them to spend a 50/50 mixture of soft and hard money on get-out-the-vote and voter registration activities. Hard money transferred from the
Published in The Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Mass.
Kennedy Feted on His 70th Birthday
By Kelly Field
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24--Yesterday, in the midst of a partisan election reform debate, Senators of both parties took a break to honor the man Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass called "the lion of the Senate," "the most prolific legislator in American history" and "the very embodiment of a great citizen:" Edward M. Kennedy.
"Ted has always believed you can put aside partisanship-push away division-and that faith has mattered most in some of the most trying and divisive times our nation has endured," said Kerry during a Senate acknowledgement of Kennedy's 70th birthday, which was Friday, and his years of service to the Senate and the country.
Best known for his trademark liberalism and emphatic tirades on behalf of the poor, disabled, unemployed and underpaid, Kennedy has nonetheless established himself as a pragmatic, practical politician who reaches across the aisle to get things done. Over the years, he has forged unlikely but productive partnerships and close friendships with such conservatives as Dan Quayle, Alan Simpson and Orrin Hatch.
Yesterday, Hatch, R-Utah, joked about his friendship with Kennedy, saying that one of the reasons he ran for the Senate 26 years ago "was to get the modern face of liberalism-Ted Kennedy-out of office."
"As the past 26 years have amply indicated, I have certainly failed," Hatch said. "Ted Kennedy is one of the most effective-if not the most effective-legislators in the country."
Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1962 to fill the seat held by his brother John F. Kennedy before he was elected to the presidency and he is now third in seniority in the Senate. He is perhaps as famous for being a part of the Kennedy political dynasty as he is for his record on civil rights, health care and fighting for services for the underprivileged.
Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., whose father served in the Senate from Connecticut, joked about Kennedy's famous lineage, saying that Kennedy often reminds Dodd "that he deeply resents that someone can get elected on the basis of their last name."
Kennedy later said that he has "been enormously blessed with my heroes being members of my family." He said his parents taught him the importance of public service, and instilled in him the conviction that "politics is a noble profession."
As for his age, he quipped "I could run four more times and still be younger than Strom Thurmond."
Published in The Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Mass.
Washington Monument Reopens (UPI)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22--The American flags encircling the memorial snapped in the wind. Children and adults of all colors and sizes walked and talked; some waited in line Friday to check out the new renovations to the Washington Monument while others wandered up to the concrete circle infested with reporters.
After more than four years of renovation and two years of being closed to the public, the monument reopened for business, rekindling a means of absorbing history that visitors and residence of the district have missed.
The United States is "very slowly getting back to normal," and having the monument closed has "taken a lot away from Washington," said Ruth, an onlooker who declined to reveal her last name. In town with her husband, the Buffalo, N.Y.-native was a ticket-holder of the sold-out admissions tour.
Raised in Washington, Rob Minor, who said he doesn't recall ever having gone in the monument, agreed with Ruth: With the Washington Memorial closed, "you close off the story of history ... history is shut down."
Others in the crowd said Sept. 11 prompted their new interest in American history.
The monument "probably means a little more for us now because I used to not appreciate it as much," said Amir, 13, who is visiting Washington for the first time with his Winnequah Middle School classmates from Wisconsin. "Sept. 11 kind of woke me up a lot."
At 1 p.m. the ceremony began. Over a microphone, Fran Mainella, director of the National Park Service, called the monument a "symbol of freedom," and noted that Friday marked the 270th birthday of George Washington.
Mainella mentioned the importance of tourism to Washington's economic stability in the wake of Sept. 11, where 189 people were killed when a hijacked plane was flown into the Pentagon by terrorists.
She was joined by Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and Washington Mayor Anthony Williams.
"We've seen what's happened on Sept. 11," Williams said, "and we're rising to the challenge of opening our major public facilities, and rising to the challenge of showing that we are an open people, we're not a coward people, and that the Washington monument will also be open to visitors and tourists alike."
The ceremony concluded when Washington elementary school children Dayanira Hough and Tytianna Burns, with broad smiles on their faces, helped cut the red, white and blue ribbon, signifying the official reopening of the monument.
People clapped and cheered, and park rangers walked the first group of children into the memorial.
"It is one of our most historic national icons," Chief of Resource Management Stephen Lorenzetti said. "It's truly a measure of how our democracy works and what it represents. George Washington was the first person to turn down absolute power," said Lorenzetti. "The peaceful transfer of power ... is so much more important now to be remembered with what happened in September."
When the first group of elementary school children emerged from the memorial, some acted dazed by the crowd while others yelped, smiled and boasted of the buildings they saw when they peered over the city at the top of the memorial.
"I would give it a 10," said Nick Kelley, 12, a visiting student from Heath, Ohio.
Published in The Bangor Daily News, in Maine.
Bush’s Budget Hits Small Businesses, Jobs in the Ocean State
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20--President Bush's budget plan has a direct effect on the fate of small businesses and available jobs in Rhode Island, according to Lt. Gov. Charlie Fogarty.
Under the proposed budget plan, the amount of loans available to small businesses has been cut in half, making it more difficult for small businesses to obtain funding. Bush reduced section 7(a) of the Small Business Administration, which provides funding of General Business Loan and Small Business Investment Company Securities programs in half.
"This financing is a critical issue in Rhode Island," Fogarty said. "The SBA loan guarantee is a critical part of helping expand jobs in the state. The future of Rhode Island business and economy is going to be in small companies."
Fogarty, who is chairman of the Rhode Island Small Business Advisory Council, endorsed a resolution Wednesday that the council will send to the Rhode Island Congressional delegation and Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee.
The resolution requests the Rhode Island members of Congress oppose the SBA 7(a) loan guarantee budget reductions proposed by the administration in an effort to help maintain the viability of Rhode Island small businesses.
"98 percent of our businesses are small businesses and one of the things I found is that access to capital is a critical things to these companies," said Fogarty. "We are hopeful that members of Congress will rectify this situation. We need to stimulate the economy, not only in Rhode Island but nationally. We can't do that if we have a 50 percent reduction of small business loans available."
In the past 11 years the SBA has guaranteed just under $1 billion loans to Rhode Island, and without the 7(a) loan program there would be a serious lack of capital for small businesses, according to Mark S. Deion, president of Deion Associates and Strategies Inc.
"Rhode Island's backbone is small businesses and its production is positive job growth. In this state, if the 7(a) loans aren't there, you could eliminate thousands of dollars in loans to small business," said Deion. "Every single small business in Rhode Island should be communicating with the House and Senate small businesses and appropriations committees."
In 2001, Rhode Island small businesses received 961 loans statewide, totaling $94 million in loan guarantees. The net effect of the change from Bush's proposed bill is a decrease of about $47 million, according to Fogarty.
"Our goal is to show support at a state level for small businesses around Rhode Island," Fogarty said. "What we can do at a state level is point out the real impact this budget cut has on our economy. This budget cut could have a serious impact in turning our country's economy around."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Mob Hearings Probe FBI Informants
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14--One of the men New Bedford hitman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza accused of murder in 1967, came close to getting what he was after yesterday.
After 30 years in prison it came down to this: Joseph Salvati was asked to stand and Bob Barr, R-Georgia, acknowledged the life and hardship Mr. Salvati faced because of the information Edward Harrington withheld from the FBI in the 1971 murder case of John Deegan.
"I'm not accusing this man. And any inadvertence that my conduct did to cause problems with him, and his wife and his family, I am immensely sorry," Mr. Harrington said. "But I will tell you this - at that time, I considered myself and conducted myself with confidence and with integrity and I thought I was making a great contribution to the governments fight against organized crime."
Mr. Harrington, former assistant United States Attorney and currently sitting as a federal court judge in MA, testified in front of the committee that he believed Mr. Barboza, also known as "Joe Baron" under the Witness Protection Program, was telling the truth in the 1971 trial, even though Harrington confessed to having information that Boston mobster Joseph Flemmi asked Patriarca for a "hit on Deegan."
"Four people who were not guilty of the murder were sent to jail, and you're the defense attorney and you're telling us that you had access to this exculpatory information," said Chairman Dan Burton in a heated debate with Mr. Harrington. "For a defense counsel to have this information and not bring it out in court doesn't make any sense."
But according to Mr. Harrington, the FBI and the defense counsel knew about the false testimony Mr. Barboza made.
"They all knew it," Mr. Harrington confessed. "He was a cold-blooded killer for the mafia. That's why we used him."
What makes even less sense, according to the committee, is the kind of relationship Mr. Barboza had with Mr. Harrington.
"He liked me because Joe Barboza came from New Bedford, MA, I came from Fall River MA," said Mr. Harrington. "We are both from southeast Massachusetts and we had a regional rapport."
Former FBI Special Agent H. Paul Rico whose testimony before Congress last year shocked house members with its callousness took the Fifth and refused to answer any questions.
Mr. Rico refused to testify a day after the committee was told the FBI's plan was to help "The Animal" during a 1971 trial for a murder committed while in federal protective custody, and instead sent four innocent men to jail - some with life sentences.
The swearing in of the panel, which included the Mr. Harrington and Jay Bybee, the head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, took place at 10:45 yesterday morning and at 11:32, Rico was excused from the panel, but not before Congress had their chance to speak to Mr. Rico.
"I just want to take a look at you, you're very interesting," Mr. Barr, said after Rico made his statement. "I hope you sleep well at night."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Senate Majority Leader to Push Shay’s Reform Bill to Senate Vote After Landmark Bill Passes the House
By Justin Hill
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14--Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-N.D.) said yesterday he will bring the campaign finance reform bill championed by Rep. Christopher Shays (R-4th) to the Senate floor the minute he receives it from the House. Daschle spoke only hours after the House approved the controversial measure early yesterday morning.
"I was thrilled with the outcome of [the vote early yesterday morning]," Shays said later in the day. "I think the bill is something we can be proud of. We're expecting no changes in the Senate. We will soon get a vote, and we expect it to pass overwhelmingly."
The measure, co-sponsored by Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.), cleared the House by a vote of 240-189 at about 2:30 A.M., after 16 hours of sometimes fierce debate. The next step is for the House to send the bill to the Senate for concurrence. The Senate approved a largely identical bill last year.
The House bill survived challenges in the form of two substitute bills and 12 "poison pill" amendments that House Republican leaders offered in an attempt to derail the legislation.
Shays had defied House Republican leaders last month when he garnered enough signatures on a discharge petition to force the legislation to a vote. Supporters of the Shays-Meehan bill contended that the amendments were designed to "gut" the measure or shatter the coalition formed in support of the most sweeping campaign finance reform since 1974.
"As soon as the bill comes back to the Senate, I will ask unanimous consent to bring it up here and, under a time agreement, to pass it and put it on the president's desk," Daschle said, flanked by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.).
The Shays-Meehan bill would ban unregulated "soft money" that corporations, labor unions and individuals can now contribute to national political parties. It would also ban the use of soft money to finance "issue ads," by special interest groups during the 60 days before a general election and 30 days before a primary. It would permit limited soft money contributions to state and local parties. The measure would also increase the hard money contributions to individual candidates from $1,000 to $2,000 per election.
During the marathon debate on campaign finance, Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-6th) voted for one of the substitute bills that would have effectively killed the Shays-Meehan measure but later said that she had cast that vote mistakenly and intended to vote against the substitute.
Rep. Jim Maloney (D-5th) who is running for the 5th District seat against Johnson in a race caused by the state's redistricting plan and loss of a congressional seat, expressed skepticism. "Rep. Johnson's statement that she made a 'mistake' doesn't pass the smell test," he said. "It's just not credible."
David L. Boomer, Johnson's campaign manager, shot back that Johnson expected Maloney's reaction since "he has a history of running very negative campaigns."
A filibuster could threaten the future of the House bill in the Senate, which passed a similar measure sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) last year by 59-41. Proponents would need 60 votes to cut off a filibuster and send the bill directly to President Bush. Many believe that in the wake of the Enron scandals, this is the best chance in years to bring about significant changes in campaign spending rules.
Opponents of the bill complain that the measure violates the First Amendment right of free speech and weakens political parties.
Published in The Hour, in Norwalk, Conn.
Kaman Cruises for Support for Segway Bill
By Kelly Field
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14--Dressed in his signature work clothes-jeans and a button down shirt-a pager by his side, Manchester's Dean Kamen zipped through Congress' ornate halls this Wednesday, cruising for support for a law that would allow his Segway "human transporter" to travel on sidewalks and roads.
Kamen, who met with legislators and cabinet members yesterday, said he was "not sure" what sort of regulation his self-balancing "Ginger" would face, since the scooter doesn't fit into any existing transportation category.
"It is neither car, nor sneakers," observed Kamen after a meeting with Washington-area high school students at the Commerce department. "I'm down here to try to figure it out."
There is currently no law regulating the use of electric scooters such as the Segway on sidewalks and roads, but Congressman Charles Bass, R-Peterborough, has said he plans to reintroduce legislation to ensure that the Segway is classified as a consumer product and not a motor vehicle.
Bass, whose district will benefit from growth at the new Bedford assembly plant and the Manchester Millyard Segway LLC headquarters, said he will work to shield the scooter from "unnecessary and burdensome regulations" and to "enable the use of Segway on sidewalks and other public ways."
Bass also said he would "work to ensure that Segway qualifies for any tax credits for buyers and manufacturers of environmentally friendly products with low emissions."
Last month, the New Hampshire Senate passed an act designed to integrate scooters with pedestrian traffic. The act was supposed to be heard in the New Hampshire House yesterday, but the vote was postponed upon request by Representative Paul M. Mirski, R-Grafton.
If approved, the bill would require Segway scooters to be fitted with reflectors and lamps for use in the dark.
Kamen hopes that his 60-80 pound scooters, which can travel up to 15 to 20 miles at a time, will ultimately become as mainstream as their manual counterparts. Currently, the scooter is only being marketed to industrial and commercial users like Police Departments and the United States Post Office. The Boston Police Department will begin a six week test of the scooters the third week in March, Deputy Superintendent Bill Casey said.
"We're trying to see whether they make sense for policing," said Casey. "I've been on them, they're fun." Casey said the six prototypes will be used to police downtown Boston, including the Boston Common, Boston Gardens and Fanueil Hall, as well as walking areas in East Boston.
Police hope the scooters will help officers travel further and respond to emergencies more quickly.
"We believe this may enable our officers to have far-reaching contact and access toá.residents, visitors and businesses," said Police Commissioner Paul Evans.
Another pilot program will be conducted at the Concord New Hampshire Post Office, where the test scooters will be outfitted with snow tires for winter travel. Jim Adams, District Manager at the Manchester Post Office, said that five Concord mail deliverers will "conduct their usual route delivery" to see if the scooter will make their route faster and less exhausting.
Brian C. Toohey, Vice President of International and Regulatory Affairs for Segway, said that the company will begin marketing to individual consumers in about a year. The company first wants to establish the scooter as "a serious transportation alternative," Toohey said.
But the cost of the Segway could be prohibitive. Asked by one honor student yesterday how much Ginger cost, Kamen said that his company hoped to get the cost down to $3,000 once demand increases.
"Maybe it will be just like cell phones. Ten years ago, nobody had heard of them," said Kamen.
The students, for their part, were only moderately impressed by the scooter.
"I'd like to have one, but I'd rather have a truck," said Knycos Ferguson, an honor roll student at a Washington science and technology charter school.
Published in The Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Mass.
