Category: Spring 2002 Newswire
Johnson Error Said to Be Honest Mistake
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14–Rep. Nancy L. Johnson, R-Conn., said Wednesday that she made a mistake when she “inadvertently” voted in favor of a Republican measure that would have scuttled the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform legislation passed by the House early yesterday morning.
Johnson, a longtime supporter of the Shays-Meehan bill who has voted for it in the past, accidentally cast her vote in favor of an amendment that would have effectively killed the campaign reform for this year, according to David L. Boomer, Johnson’s campaign manager.
“[Johnson] did not realize that the vote was an incorrect vote until she left and was back in her office,” said Boomer in response to an accusation from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and Rep. James Maloney, R-Conn., that she was using the vote as a way to benefit her upcoming election campaign while simultaneously killing the Shays-Meehan bill.
“She abandoned the people and joined with those committed to killing campaign reform,” said a spokesperson for the DCCC, pointing out that Johnson was the only member of the Connecticut congressional delegation to vote in favor of the Ney-Wynn substitute campaign reform bill.
The Ney-Wynn amendment, which the House voted on shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, would have banned all unregulated “soft money” political contributions. It received only 53 votes including those of Johnson and 50 other Republicans.
However, after many hours of debate on Shays-Meehan and votes on more than a dozen amendments, Johnson joined 240 members of the House, including 41 Republicans in voting in favor of final passage of the Shays-Meehan reform legislation in the wee hours of Thursday morning.
The Shays-Meehan bill would ban most soft money contributions made by labor unions, wealthy individuals and corporations; it would increase the limited hard money contributions individuals can give from $1,000 to $2,000 per election and would prohibit special interest groups from running political ads that mentioned candidates in the 60 days prior to an election.
“She wanted to protect the fundraising sources on the one hand, and then come up with an excuse that somehow washed it all away with the voters of Connecticut,” said Maloney in an interview yesterday. “That,” he continued, “is fundamentally wrong.”
Maloney and Johnson will be facing each other in an election this November in the redistricted 5th Congressional District.
Boomer said Johnson anticipated Maloney’s reaction since “he has a history of running very negative campaigns.”
Maloney, however, said his campaigning goes beyond smearing Johnson, and that it is too “premature” to tell whether this episode will be a major issue during the campaign race.
“What I consider to be more pressing issues are budget deficits, and doing the right thing for Social Security, Medicare, education, and fiscal responsibility,” said Maloney
Rep. Robert R. Simmons, R-Conn., said Johnson “has multiple responsibilities as a leader,” and “the last 24 hours have been extremely hectic. When you have sequential votes and when the hour gets late and when there are multiple votes with different names on them – mistakes can be made.”
“I have found myself in that position on occasion and I am sure every member has at one point,” said Simmons.
After casting her vote in favor of the Ney-Wynn substitute bill, Johnson went to the floor of the House and told the clerk she “inadvertently voted aye” on the measure and “would like the record to show that I meant to vote no.”
According to a statement issued by Congressmen Christopher Shays, D-Conn., and Martin Meehan, D-Mass, the co-sponsors of the Shays-Meehan bill, they believed that it was an honest mistake on Johnson’s part.
“Nancy Johnson has been one of our closest advisors and staunchest supporters in this effort to reform our campaign finance system. She has been there from the very beginning and never wavered in her support. Any suggestion to the contrary is just plain wrong,” according to a statement issued by Shays and Meehan.
Published in The Waterbury Republican-American, in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Kamen Touts Segway in the Nation’s Capital
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14--Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman didn't take a ride. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez, more intrepid, agreed to a lesson. And Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH), an old hand, hopped right on and posed for pictures.
Segway has hit the nation's Capital.
Manchester resident and inventor Dean Kamen swayed his two-wheeled device around Washington for five days, watching members of Congress and the administration try to navigate the gravity-controlled machine and chiding young people for being unwilling to forego sports for engineering and inventing.
Kamen was in town to drum up support for Segway before Rep. Bass introduces a bill that would classify Segway as a consumer product so that it can be used on sidewalks and in public spaces. Similar state-level legislation will be debated in the New Hampshire House this month.
Because Segway is battery-operated, Kamen touted it to politicians as something that, if used widely, would reduce pollution and help conserve gasoline. Kamen said it could also reduce inner-city congestion.
"I'm just telling everybody, look, we have to make sure this thing has the opportunity to be seen as a serious productivity tool and not a toy, so anybody that's going to listen I'll talk to," he said Thursday between photo opportunities with junior and senior high school students at an event for young inventors at the Commerce Department.
"I think the technology part is done," he said. "The issue is whether people will allow it to be used in an important way or whether it becomes like Jet Skis and snowmobiles - just fun, recreational toys."
Wearing a rumpled denim shirt under the golden National Medal of Technology medal that he received in 2000 from President Clinton and that he equates with the Nobel Prize, Kamen said he'll visit with Beltway politicians as often as possible. "The Postmaster [General] said they want to talk about this. If anyone down here says they've been thinking about it and want to see it, I'll be down here in a heartbeat." Kamen's week included visits with leaders at EPA, HUD, the Postal Service, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. He also met with a group of more than a dozen congressmen Thursday, brought together by Rep. Bass.
"It was great," Kamen said, while teetering on his Segway Thursday as the young inventors at the Commerce Department event navigated their own robots around him. "A bunch of the congressmen even took a ride."
"You've got these kids excited all across America," Commerce Secretary Don Evans shouted to Kamen as he wheeled around the hallways of the building.
The young inventors, who hail from junior and senior high schools in Washington, Maryland and Virginia, gathered to showcase their inventions that they developed as part of an organization called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) that Kamen developed for young inventors. Benji Ambrogi, a mechanical engineer at Manchester-based DEKA, Kamen's flagship company, joined him as he addressed close to 150 youngsters spilling out of a 100-person capacity room.
Kamen encouraged the youths to pour their hearts and souls into technology instead of sports. "You can develop the muscles hanging on your arms and legs, or you can develop the one hanging between your ear," he said, reminding the teens that they are the future.
He said he built his invention company on "the idea that we're going to change the culture of this country."
Kamen raised some young eyebrows when he said the Segway is not for sale yet, but when he makes "a kindler, simpler version" it will cost close to $3,000.
"On my allowance I could only afford around $140," said Griffen O'Brien, a 15 year-old inventor from Virginia who says he'd love to snag one. O'Brien and his classmates on a team called Epsilon Delta won a prize at a FIRST competition last year for their robot, Ed, which they displayed for Kamen on Thursday.
O'Brien thinks a lot of his friends would like to buy a Segway, even "the non-geeks."
"[Kamen] is so excited about what he's doing it's infectious," said Phillip J. Bond, the Commerce undersecretary for technology. "So many industries are excited about it, including the automotive guys. They'd like to have it as something you leave in the back of your car and use it to get around on your own."
Bond's role is to help set policy on technology and motivate Americans to use the technology.
"There will be hurdles with legislation" for Segway, he said. "We just also need our legislators to realize how this new technology is coming on so we don't end up looking in the rear-view mirror."
Brain Toohey, the vice president of international and regulatory affairs at Segway, said members of the New Hampshire delegation have helped get the word out on Segway. "Believe me, he's had many meetings this week," he said of Kamen. "It's impossible for Dean to take a vacation."
Rep. Bass said in a statement that in addition to helping ensure that Segway can be used on public ways, he will work to get tax credits for Segway that are enjoyed by buyers and manufacturers of environmentally friendly products with low emissions.
"The manufacturing of Segway in New Hampshire will broaden the tax base and help provide Granite Staters with good high-paying jobs," Rep. Bass said in a statement on Thursday.
That's fine for Kamen, who said there was "no chance, no chance" he'll leave New Hampshire. "It's perfect - small enough that people have a voice and can get their ideas out," and have access to government officials, he said. "And big enough that it's very attractive to engineers and scientists who I want to come work for me."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Improved Training and Communication Better Prepare Massachusetts for Terrorist Attack
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14--Since Sept. 11, Massachusetts state and local officials have worked overtime to improve security, training and communication through various state and municipal agencies to prevent a future attack. Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson and Richard Swensen, director of the Office of Commonwealth Security, agree that improvement is evident, yet Hodgson worries that political battles could still get in the way.
At the close of an hour-long workshop Wednesday on police operations and terrorism at the inaugural Global Conference on Bio/Chem Terrorism, Hodgson warned attendees to "rip down old parochial boundaries" and to stray from political wrangling.
"In order for this to be effective in our ability to deal with homeland security, it's about breaking down political barriers and egos," he said. "It's about having someone who can facilitate within your region, who isn't interested in getting all the credit or being the most important."
Swenson said in an interview Thursday that it was unlikely that such poor communication between various response agencies would exist in the event of a terrorist attack in Massachusetts. "The level of preparation on the part of Massachusetts is way, way, way ahead of what it was Sept. 11," he said. "And before Sept. 11, we were ahead of the curve of most states. In terms of communications, things are much more [seamless] since Sept. 11."
Citing a need for improved training and education, Hodgson said poor communication and little knowledge of available resources were serious problems for response teams Sept. 11. "The National Guard has· tremendous resources, but [the first responders at Ground Zero] had no idea they had T1 lines available at the armories," he said. "Those would have been very critical at the time that they were needed, but nobody knew about them. They had [responders] coming in from Hoboken to respond as soon as the incident happened at the World Trade Center, and they couldn't get in to Ground Zero; they couldn't come close to the door because the roads were all jammed. There was a mass exodus to get out [of Manhattan]."
Is Massachusetts prepared for a terrorist attack? "If it's an atomic bomb, probably no," said Swensen, whose role on the state level is analogous to that of Tom Ridge, the director of the Office of Homeland Security, on the national level. Great improvement has been made since Sept. 11 in terms of communication and training, he said, but "no matter what anyone has done, you can probably do more."
Col. David W. Gavigan, commander of special operations for the Bristol County Sheriff's office, said at the conference that the New Bedford federal building and the Tweeter Center were possible targets in Southeast Massachusetts.
In a terrorist attack in Massachusetts, the first responders are almost always local fire, police and emergency medical units, Swensen said. Secondary responders include Massachusetts State Police and the FBI. The federal government and the state Office of Commonwealth Security would then set up command posts. Improved training, Swensen said, guarantees better communication in the event of an attack. An improved state apparatus, the Saturn Program, is likely to be implemented in mid-March. In this system, town political leaders coordinating efforts of fire, EMS and police teams, will work in conjunction with leaders on the state level to improve communication.
Gavigan said most municipal and county systems are currently overwhelmed and thus unprepared for an attack. Bristol County recently set up five detection teams near area malls. Additionally, biological and chemical detection teams have been implemented. Gavigan credited Hodgson with foresight in ordering an incident command center, an all-weather, self-confined vehicle, six months before Sept. 11. The vehicle has several technological innovations necessary in a terrorist attack, including protective suits, radios, cell phones (including a satellite phone), computers, a fax machine and a 42-foot telescoping camera with a visibility of five miles.
He added that despite training and improved communication, combating terrorism is complex because terrorists can strike simultaneously on many fronts. "This is the way terrorism works," he said. "Watch my hand here, while I hit you here," he said, motioning to another point in the room.
Terrorists, Gavigan said, have evolved their philosophy from targeting buildings and structures to targeting people; he described them as "ruthless" in their willingness to sacrifice their own lives to accomplish their goal. "These people are not stupid," he said. "They [assimilate] into this country. Their kids are playing soccer with [our] kids."
Terrorists posing the largest threat to the United States often live here for months or years before to a planned attack. Gavigan described them as fundamentalists with average or above average IQ's, possessing several aliases. The terrorists are holy warriors, believing the world is separated by good and evil. Many perform pedestrian roles in society, including working as cab drivers, to gather intelligence from citizens and observe tendencies at the planned site of an attack. "These people are not stupid," he said.
Written for the New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
New Hampshire Inventor Dean Kamen Visits Washington
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14--Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway vehicle, met with several dozen Congressmen this week, including Rep. Charles Bass, R-N.H., while promoting his battery-powered "human transporter" and seeking regulations that would allow it to be used as a personal transportation vehicle.
A reception yesterday at the Commerce Department honored Kamen for his receipt of the 2000 National Medal of Technology, the highest award granted by the United States to inventors. He was also recognized for his numerous inventions and as the founder of For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), a nationwide high school student organization that has held annual robotics competitions for a decade.
Kamen met Wednesday evening with Bass, giving the Congressman his second ride on the scooter-like Segway.
"This trip is about introducing the technology," said Brian Toohey, vice president of international and regulatory affairs for Segway, the company Kamen created to produce the one-person carrier. "Bass and [New Hampshire Senator Judd] Gregg have classified the Segway appropriately, not as a motor vehicle but as a product for pedestrians."
Since Monday, Kamen has met with the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Secretary of Commerce, and other Members of the House and Senate.
Bass, who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, plans this year to reintroduce legislation to ensure that the Segway would be classified as a consumer product, like a bicycle, and not as a motor vehicle.
"The Segway has the potential to revolutionize the way we get around major cities and help boost the New Hampshire economy," Bass said in a statement yesterday. He plans to introduce legislation to allow tax credits for Segway buyers as a way to reduce traffic congestion and encourage environmentally friendly vehicles.
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is expected to decide soon on whether to regulate the Segway scooter as an "electric personal assistive mobility device," which would allow it onto sidewalks and public ways. Last month, the State Senate voted unanimously to regulate the vehicle for pedestrian use.
The Commerce Department room was filled past capacity yesterday as 125 high school students asked Kamen about his inventions and his ideas on education, science, and public service.
"The one place where humans are at the pinnacle is inventing," Kamen said.
Kamen was outspoken on his views that children should spend less time playing sports and more time learning.
"Why do kids waste all their time chasing the great American lie?" Kamen asked, referring to the dreams of many children of playing professional sports, while winning the lottery would be statistically likelier. "We've made [sports] bigger than life in this country."
"Kids develop their world out of watching televisioná. We're cheating them out of doing something useful," he said.
The FIRST chapter from Herndon High School in Virginia demonstrated its most recent remote-controlled robot, complete with spinning gears, whirring chains and a blinking blue light.
"Each of the students here that are not on a FIRST team," Kamen said, "I will ask you, try it once. It may seem to you that science, math and engineering is dull, a drag, boring; that's not so. That's an unfair presentation that our culture has delivered to you."
The FIRST students praised the program for providing them an outlet for creative energy. One student changed his mind from studying law to becoming an engineer after joining the group, while another made up his mind to work for NASA.
"Robotics is my life," said Jessica Westbrook, a senior at Herndon High School.
Other inventions on display yesterday included a dialysis machine, an electrical generator that fits into a military backpack and a wheelchair that uses the same gyroscopic technology as the Segway.
Kamen estimates that as soon as next year the Segway will be available to the public for $3,000 each.
One student asked how it works.
"It literally does what each of you learned how to do when you were two years oldáto learn how to maintain your balance," Kamen said.
The 60-pound Segway, with its 10 computers, senses the passenger's subtle shift of balance and responds by moving forward or backward.
Kamen said the Segway is ready for the market, but regulations on how to classify the vehicle will determine its promise.
"The technology is done. The question now is whether people will use it in some useful way or if it will be used like jet skis, for a recreational tool," Kamen said.
In the meantime, he is willing to gather converts to his invention wherever he can. The more public support he receives for the Segway, Kamen believes, the sooner it can be used by postal workers, congressional aides and everyday citizens.
"If tomorrow morning the Postmaster, the Department of Defense or Housing and Urban Development wanted to meet with me, I'd be here in a heartbeat," Kamen said.
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
House Opens 30-Year-Old Mob Investigation
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13--Thirty years after the 1971 murder of New Bedford's mob assassin Joe "The Animal" Barboza, the House Committee on Government Reform began hearings yesterday on whether the federal government withheld evidence in the 1960s and 1970s, allowing Barboza to testify falsely against innocent men.
"We don't have a democracy if we have a justice system whose integrity is at risk," said William Delahunt, (D-MA.), who was invited to attend and question the committee's witnesses on behalf of his constituents.
In 1967, Mr. Barboza was a cooperating government witness whose false testimony to a jury resulted in sending a number of innocent men to prison and some to death row. After his testimony, the Witness Protection Program was established and Mr. Barboza was relocated to Santa Rosa, Calif., where he soon committed a murder of a small time crook, Clay Wilson
Of the men sent to jail because of Mr. Barboza's testimony, two died in prison, one served 34 years before being cleared and Joe Salvati served 30 years before he was cleared. Mr. Salvati, his family and his lawyer, Victor Garo, were in Washington yesterday.
"Today we're actually seeing what the federal government did to help Joe Barboza," Mr.Garo said in an interview, "and the question presented is this - why is the federal government helping a murderer while he is in the federal Witness Protection Program?"
In his opening statement, committee chairman Dan Burton (R-IN.) said: "For decades, federal law enforcement did terrible things up in New England, and they were successful in covering it up. The FBI knew Barboza was lying, and they covered it up."
For 20 years, Mr. Garo fought on behalf of the Salvati family, without the help of federal officials, to get parole for Mr. Salvati.
"The evidence shows that the government has known since 1965 that Joe Salvati was innocent of these charges," Mr. Garo said. "We hope that this committee will be able to do things legislatively so that another family will never have to endure the tragedy and the nightmare that the Joe Salvati family has had to endure."
The three witnesses at yesterday's hearing were: Marteen Miller, the former public defender who represented Mr. Barboza in the California murder; Ed Cameron, a former investigator in the Santa Rose District Attorney's office; and Tim Brown, a former detective sergeant in the Sonoma County Sheriff's office. All said they did not know that the FBI in the mid-1960s had described Mr. Barboza "as the most dangerous individual known" when it relocated him to California.
"It is more than fair to say that we did not get cooperation from the FBI," Mr. Cameron said. "When you've been a cop long enough you get a gut feeling, and I had a feeling that something was wrong. We never got so much as a return phone call from the FBI."
Mr. Garo, in the interview, said, "The testimony of the federal government officials at the trial of Barboza was so colored that the government did not believe they could get a first-degree convictioná, and Barboza was out after less than four years in prison."
As for Mr. Salvati, he said in an interview, "I just want them to stand up and say they are sorry."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform Clears the House
By Kelly Field
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13--The Shays-Meehan bill-Congressman Marty Meehan's sweeping overhaul of campaign finance law-survived a series of 11th hour challenges yesterday, clearing the House by a vote of 240 to 189.
Forty-one Republicans, including Congressman Charles F. Bass, R-Peterborough, broke ranks to support the bill. Twelve Democrats opposed it.
Proponents said that the vote, combined with the failure of all of the "poison pill" amendments offered by Republicans, means the bill will most likely pass in the Senate. In revising their bill, Meehan and co-sponsor Congressman Christopher Shays, R-CT, had attempted to bring their bill into line with the McCain-Feingold bill, which passed in the Senate last year. The day before the vote, they made several other last minute changes including delaying implementation until after the election.
If passed, the Shays-Meehan bill would ban the unregulated soft money donations to political parties and prevent interest groups from running so-called "issue ads" in the last months before an election. It would also cap soft money contributions to state and local parties at $10,000, and restrict state and local party spending on Federal elections (see sidebar).
The Republican leadership has strongly opposed the bill, saying it would disadvantage their party in elections.
Rep. Charles Bass, R- N.H., a moderate Republican whose vote was targeted by both sides, said he did not feel pressured to vote the Republican party line.
"Once I make up my mind, I think people realize its not going to be productive to try and make me vote the other way," said Bass who voted in favor of the Shays-Meehan bill.
Bass was one of 20 Republicans, and one of the last four House members, who signed a discharge petition to force the bill to a vote last month after House Speaker Dennis Hastert refused to schedule the bill for debate.
In floor debate, Meehan repeatedly thanked his Republican colleagues for their support for his "bipartisan, bicameral" bill, calling on Congressman to "look within themselves to show courage, independence and commitment to true reform."
"There is a cloud over the capital and the White House because of the Enron scandal and the American people are demanding that this cloud be removed," Meehan said.
"We have a historic opportunity here in this House to fundamentally change the way elections are held in this country," said Meehan later on the House floor.
At approximately 10:30 p.m. last night, Meehan vowed to continue debate until "4 a.m. if necessary" to defeat amendments being offered to scuttle the bill. The final vote came shortly before 3 a.m.
The Republicans offered two alternative bills and more than a dozen amendments to the Shays-Meehan bill. Four amendments were passed by the House. Among other things, they would increase the limit on individual hard money contributions to House candidates from $1,000 to $2,000 per election; increase fundraising limits for candidates running against wealthy self-financed opponents; and eliminated language from the Shays-Meehan bill that would have given preferential rates to political candidates for buying television advertising time.
During a day of highly contentious debate, Republicans blasted last minute changes to the bill, including delaying implementation until after the November election. Republicans unsuccessfully offered an amendment to have the legislation take effect as soon as it is signed by the president.
"This bill is a sham," said Bob Ney (R-OH), whose alternative to Shays-Meehan would have totally eliminated soft-money contributions, was rejected 377-53. Ney said there were so many loopholes in the Shays-Meehan bill that "you could drive an Enron limousine" through it.
President Bush also criticized the change in the effective date of the bill, telling the Associated Press it "ought to be in effect immediately." His spokesman, Ari Fleisher, added that the White House found the change to be "unfair, unwise and unwarranted."
Bush has indicated to Congressional Republicans that he could not be counted on to veto Shays-Meehan if it passed in the House.
Meehan and other supporters of his legislation said it was impractical to try to implement a major change in election law just a few months before an election, when the bill would likely be ready to be signed by the president.
"By then, we would be three quarters of the way into the election," said Meehan in an interview.
Republicans also questioned the constitutionality of the bill's advertising restrictions, saying that they silence free speech.
"People should not be gagged in this country," said Ney (R-OH).
Supporters argued that the bill would not restrict free speech, since it will still permit ads paid for with limited contributions.
"This bill is balanced and fair to both parties," said Meehan. "The American people get it. The American people are watching the debate to see who is for real reform."
Published in The Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Mass.
Jewish Leaders Speak Out on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13--They soldiered onto Capitol Hill armed only with their political ideologies and Jewish faith, hoping to achieve religious and economic goals through the support of their Connecticut delegation.
"We are here to let them know that the Jewish community cares about what's going on in legislation," said Dr. Tamara Goodman, a 27-year-old dentist who traveled earlier this week with 14 other members of the Jewish Community of Greater Hartford to participate in a biennial conference known as Washington 13.
The three-day event, hosted by the United Jewish Communities Young Leadership (UJC) at the Washington Hilton, gave Goodman and nearly 2,000 adult Jewish leaders the opportunity to sit with their states' congressional members to discuss critical social and political issues they believe to be of Jewish communal concern. The UJC is an umbrella organization representing 189 Jewish federations and 400 independent communities, which annually raises $2 billion for special projects and endowment funds.
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, the first Jewish candidate nominated for Vice President, called the Greater Hartford delegation the "future" in terms of meaningful political advocacy.
"I strongly support their views on combating terrorism, standing by Israel and gaining Russia's commitment to religious freedom," said Lieberman, who was also the conference's keynote speaker last Sunday. "In addition, I am pleased that my legislative initiatives to encourage charitable giving are consistent with the [Jewish Community Relations Council's] emphasis on federal support for community-based services.
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., said the Greater Hartford federation's "commitment and leadership on a wide variety of issues" also impressed him.
The group solicited support from Lieberman, Dodd and Representatives John B. Larson, D-1st, and Nancy L. Johnson, R-6th, on several local and international initiatives, including restoration and expansion of community-based services for seniors, continued religious freedom in the Russian Federation and the isolation of terrorist groups in Israel as well as the preservation of American-Israeli relations.
According to West Hartford resident Scott Marglois, 28, Connecticut must focus on the care services available to its growing elderly population, especially through programs such as the Naturally Occurring Retiring Communities (NORCs), which allow the elderly to stay in their homes
Marglois and the state federation's leader, West Hartford Mayor Jonathan A. Harris, said NORCs offer seniors the option to remain in their housing complexes without uprooting them. The program, which provides home and personal care services, is a "cost-effective solution" for the elderly who are otherwise faced with expensive long-term care at nursing facilities, Harris said.
Connecticut's average nursing home can cost upwards of $81,400 annually, according to David Guttchen, director of Connecticut Partnerships for Long-Term Care, which is a state government-affiliated program working with the private health care insurance industry.
"We are involved in a war," said Johnson, who is also the chairwoman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health. "There have never been so many troops on the field in Connecticut seeing who is going to pay for [health care]."
Because of other states' similar concerns, Johnson said, Congress is looking more often at systematic reforms, such as certificate programs that could aid workers who are seeking higher-paying jobs, as well as ways to improve case management on an individual basis.
Marglois said he is especially backing NORCs because it is upsetting to see his grandparents forced to live apart after 50 years of marriage.
"My grandmother is at the Hebrew Home [& Hospital] in West Hartford, and my grandfather is living at Chatfield [a nursing home] near the West Farms Mall," Marglois said. "It's really sad at this point that they can't live together after·so long."
Mayor Harris and Cara R. Youssiem, also of West Hartford, called on Congress to support legislation that would increase the Social Service Block Grants program's spending to $2.8 billion from the current $1.7 billion.
The federal funds, Youssiem said, have been cut in the past seven years, which has hampered many Connecticut social services, including youth-at-risk programs, adult and child protective services and employment training for immigrants and refugees.
"The programs are essential," she emphasized, "not only to Jewish services, but to social services in general."
Other participants focused on needs outside of Connecticut but that were also of great concern to many of the 101,000 Jews in the state, constituting 3.1 percent of the state's total population.
According to Dave Mathog, 29, legislation must focus on the 1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which denies equal trade status to Russia and other countries that restrict their citizens' right to emigrate. Congress is considering dropping Russia from the amendment's provisions because of liberalization of its laws on Jewish emigration.
"We offer you as Jews and as Americans the understanding that Russia's changed," Mathog said. "We welcome the next step, but in doing this we ask Congress to understand the goals of the amendment and allow it not to be changed."
The UJC group noted that Israel still suffers from terrorist attacks on those who follow Judaism.
"[Israelis] feel much stronger when we have the American nation behind us," said Shy Shalom Alon, a student from Afula, Israel, who joined the Connecticut constituents to promote peace in the Middle East.
Alon and West Hartford resident Jeff Landal, 34, urged Johnson and the other congressional leaders to support President George W. Bush's $2.7 billion economic and military budget package against terrorism and to ask the president to include several militant factions of Palestinian extremists on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtin, R-Fla, have circulated a letter within Congress that solicits the President's condemnation of three groups - Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, the Tanzim militias and Force 17 - that many Jewish-American and pro-Israeli communities say have committed the most brutal attacks on Israeli cities and towns.
To Israelis like Alon, the deliberate victimization of Jews often has a personal impact..
"In 1994, a suicide bomber blew up a car next to a bus. The bus driver was my uncle - he died in that bus," Alon told Johnson. "It is very tough in Israel right now. Every day is another incident. People are dying."
Johnson said she understands the devastation currently wracking the Middle East, but she also asked the Jewish young leaders to be patient with legislation and not to prejudge the countries surrounding Israel because America needs the region's united support in eliminating terrorist activities.
"Congress needs to show a real interest on backing the administration" on these kinds of decisions, she said.
Youssiem, who may be granted dual citizenship from the United States and Canada, her native country, said she will consider her congressional members' voting records if she is able to vote by the November elections.
"Americans do not realize how privileged they are: the opportunities, the freedoms, the right to vote. It's endless," Youssiem said. However, she will not take her ballot lightly if given the chance to vote. I'm not going to take [political issues] for granted," she said.
Published in The Waterbury Republican-American, in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Smith Hopes to Garner Federal Funds for Granite State Roads
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13--A week after he introduced legislation that would make up for millions in cutbacks in federal transportation funds for New Hampshire for the upcoming fiscal year, Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) pledged to rewrite transportation laws next year to bring 40 percent more in federal funds to the Granite State for projects such as the widening of Interstate 93.
The bill Smith introduced last Thursday would restore more than $20 million that President Bush's budget proposes to cut from New Hampshire's highway funds next year.
"There is a lot of support for this," Smith said on Wednesday. "I sent a 'Dear Colleague' letter out, and it already has up to 25 co-sponsors in the Senate on both sides of the aisle. I think the law is very clear that we should stay at authorized funding levels."
Carol Murray, the commissioner of New Hampshire's Department of Transportation, who on Tuesday told state lawmakers that highway spending was in jeopardy, said on Wednesday that she fully supports Smith's bill. She warned the New Hampshire House's Public Works and Highway Committee of looming cuts, she said, because she wants the legislature to be frugal when drafting a new 10-year plan in case Smith's bill fails.
"I'm asking my counterparts in other states to step forward and support Senator Smith in what he is trying to do," Murray said. "But there is no way one senator can do it all. The more the other state DOTs talk to their congressional delegations, the better the chances are that the senator's bill is successful."
Smith is the senior Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which originates highway and bridge legislation. His bill proposes using funds from the Highway Trust Fund, which has $20 billion in untapped funds, to make up for spending shortfalls in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), the primary surface transportation law.
Smith's legislation would increase total federal highway funds to the levels authorized in TEA-21, which Bush's budget would cut by 27 percent, or by $8.6 billion. Under Smith's bill, co-sponsored by members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, $20 million of the amount that Bush proposed to cut from New Hampshire's share of highway money would be restored, so that the state would receive close to $140 million, or approximately what it received this year, according to Smith's spokeswoman.
"Quite frankly, to a small state like New Hampshire, those cuts are a huge amount of money," Murray said. "If in fact the administration's budget goes through, the projects we have planned now for the 10-year plan [such as expanding I-93, building an access road to the Manchester Airport and improving the Route 101 Corridor from Bedford to Wilton] would still happen, and stay in the order they're in, but the dates would be adjusted."
If reelected, Smith would play a key part next year in reauthorizing TEA-21 for the first time in six years. Smith said he would seek to increase Granite State transportation funds by $200 million to $1 billion.
At the top of Smith's list of priorities for that extra money is the expansion of I-93 from Manchester to Salem, about which he has met with state transportation leaders a half-dozen times, he said.
David "Jeff" Brillhart, the manager for the initiative to add extra lanes to the congested I-93, said his group is now sorting through an environmental impact statement for the pending project. "It's two inches thick," he said. "Once we know it's up to par we'll set dates for the next meeting." The next set of meetings will hammer out the project's final design before construction begins in March 2004.
"I want to put my personal reputation on line for putting I-93 on time," Smith said. "It is a very important project for New Hampshire. A lot of lives are lost on 93."
Smith has selected the I-93 project as a pilot for a streamlined approach to collaboration among all officials and agencies involved.
"All of the stakeholders from all kinds of federal and state agencies are all there around the table and working in a concurrent manner," he said. "We have gotten great feedback, and other areas such as San Diego are interested in modeling themselves after it."
Smith met with transportation industry leaders last week to discuss highway priorities and TEA-21 reauthorization and will continue to seek their views when working on legislation.
Smith also said he will invite people from New Hampshire who build, repair and use the roads to testify.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Bass Votes in Favor of Shays-Meehan
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13--Despite fierce opposition from the House Republican leadership and last minute efforts to derail it, the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform legislation passed in the House of Representatives last night on a vote of 240 to 189.
Forty-one Republicans including New Hampshire Republican Rep. Charles Bass, voted in favor of the legislation and 12 Democrats voted no. Rep. John Sununu, R-N.H., voted against the campaign reform bill. Debate on the bill went on almost 18 hours, with the final vote coming at almost 3 a.m.
The bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Chris Shays, R-CT, and Marty Meehan, D-MA, will prohibit political parties from accepting "soft money," the unregulated and unlimited contributions from corporations, political action committees and unions. It would also restrict interest groups from running political advertisements in the two months before an election.
"Most Americans feel that the current system is inherently corrupting the political process and eliminating the individual's right to play a significant role in the election or defeat of candidates in that person's district," Bass said. "Regardless of what the issue of the day might be or the scandal, we need to get rid of soft money. Neither party needs soft money to survive."
Four amendments were added to the legislation last night including ones that would increase the limit on individual hard money contributions to House candidates from $1,000 to $2,000 per election; increase fundraising limits for candidates running against wealthy self-financed opponents; and eliminate language from the Shays-Meehan bill that would have given preferential rates to political candidates for buying television advertising time.
Bass voted for the amendment to increase the limit on individual contributions. Opponents of that amendment argued that an increase of the contribution level would benefit wealthy donors, marginalize minorities and economically disadvantaged candidates, and ultimately benefit congressional incumbents who generally receive larger donations.
"A token increase for individual contribution limits does nothing to change this fact, [that] the bill creates an even bigger loophole for millionaire - or billionaire - candidates who can pour their own wealth into a campaign," said Rep. John Sununu, R-N.H., although he also voted in favor of the amendment.
Bass supported another successful amendment that allows a candidate running against a wealthy self-financed opponent to exceed the contribution limits and match the expenditures of their "millionaire" opponent. "The millionaire amendment addresses one of the more serious systemic problems in campaigns these days," Bass said.
Bass and Sununu both voted in favor of an amendment striking from the Shays-Meehan bill a requirement that broadcasters sell advertising time to political candidates at rates lower than that charged to commercial customers.
Bass opposed a number of amendments sponsored by House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, and Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio that were designed to gut the bill or derail its final passage. These so-called "poison-pill" amendments, if adopted, would force the Shays-Meehan bill into a conference committee with the Senate and could indefinitely delay its passage.
"I'd rather have it passed the way it is and sent directly to the President," Bass said.
One amendment sponsored by Armey proposed to ban any parts of the bill that violated the First Amendment. Though defeated, the amendment triggered a lengthy debate between the amendment's defenders who believed "hard money" contribution limits would muzzle free speech, and opponents arguing that the effect of allowing large contributions from wealthy donors would reduce the influence of economically disadvantaged citizens.
"If that's your position on this legislation, then you must also oppose the entire Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which imposes limits on contributions and political action committees, and in fact the whole political process," Bass said. "I don't think you can be for the current system and oppose the Shays-Meehan changes because I think that argument applies to the entire political regulatory system in general."
Bass was instrumental in bringing the Shays-Meehan bill debate to the House floor. A discharge petition bill received the necessary 218 signatures last month to force the Republican House leadership to schedule a debate of the bill. Bass was among the last four Congressmen to sign the petition. Bass was an original co-sponsor of the bill when it first appeared in 1998, and had since expressed his support of the Shays-Meehan bill.
Bass's office reported that on Monday they received about 25 calls from New Hampshire residents who wanted Bass to vote in favor of reform and one urging him to vote against it.
"I think I have the reputation here of taking time to deliberate the issues and once I make up my mind, I think people realize it's not going to be productive to try and make me vote the other way," Bass said.
The U.S. Senate must now review the bill before it is sent to President Bush, who has warned House Republicans not to count on a veto from him.
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Republican Leadership Pushing to Defeat Shays’ Campaign Finance Reform Bill
By Justin Hill
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12--House Republican leaders have vowed to fight the campaign finance reform bill co-sponsored by Rep. Christopher Shays (R-4th) from becoming law after Shays bucked his party's leadership last month by forcing the bill to a House vote next week.
At a meeting with Republicans Wednesday, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) likened the coming vote on Shays's bill to "Armageddon", the final battle between good and evil, Shays said. An official at the meeting told the Associated Press that Hastert said to his colleagues that Republicans "might lose the House" if the bill passes.
"I think he's dead wrong," Shays said yesterday of the Speaker, adding that the Republicans and Democrats roughly raise the same amount of campaign money. "If [the bill] doesn't pass we will continue to see the abuses" in government caused by unregulated "soft" money, he said.
The House is scheduled to vote next Tuesday on the rule governing debate on the bill and to vote on the bill itself the following day. Under the rule that the House Rules Committee approved yesterday, the House would also debate and vote on a last-minute substitute sponsored by House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas).
A spokesman for Armey said that the legislation was "close to completion."
Hastert feels that Shays's bill would "enhance the power of special interests, especially Democratic special interests," said John Feehery, spokesman for the Speaker.
The Shays-Meehan bill would ban soft money donations which corporations, labor unions and wealthy individuals can now make to political parties. It would also forbid independent interest groups from broadcasting political advertising in the period right before an election.
Shays said he was unsure if he has enough votes to pass his bill, which is similar to the McCain-Feingold measure the Senate approved last year. But many believe in the wake of the Enron scandals, this is the best chance in years to bring about the significant changes in campaign spending rules.
"It's hard to know how my colleagues will respond to various pressures," he said. "Each member will have to vote their conscience."
In addition to Armey's substitute, the House will also have to deal with another substitute bill that House Administration Committee chairman Bob Ney (R-Ohio) is offering. Shays and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.), the co-sponsor of the bill, said they feared amendments that could either "gut the bill" or shatter the coalition that has formed in support of the bill.
"The Ney bill is an opportunity for members who don't want to vote for reform to pretend they are," Meehan said. "It's more to cover their butts" than to accomplish anything.
Last summer the House GOP leadership managed to shelve Shays's bill but last month Shays and campaign finance reform supporters forced the bill to the floor after securing 218 signatures -the necessary majority of all House members -on what is called a discharge petition.
A number of interest groups have been active in pushing for passage of real campaign finance reform.
"[We have been] mobilizing hundreds of groups across the country in favor of Shays-Meehan," said Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen. He said the non-profit group's members were sending 1,000 letters to Congressmen urging members to vote for Shays's bill.
For his part, Shays said, "I'm just trying to answer questions that people have about the bill."
Published in The Hour, in Norwalk, Conn.
