Category: Spring 2002 Newswire
Granite State Pols React to State of the Union
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29–New Hampshire members of Congress and state political leaders lauded President George W. Bush, a war-time president with sky-high approval ratings, for drumming up support on the war and homeland security in his State of the Union address last night, although several thought he skimmed over key domestic issues.
“He was rightly focused on a core of key priorities for the country· the war on terrorism, homeland security, the economy,” said Rep. John Sununu (R-NH). “We have a great opportunity because legislation that will boost economic growth has already been passed by the House·an economic recovery bill has been passed by the House,” said Sununu adding that these key pieces of legislation “will lay the groundwork for this years’ economic recovery and for future growth.”
But, Sununu warned, important economic legislation awaits action in the Senate. “To delay action on these bills as a political tactic is simply wrong,” he said.
Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), was singled out by Bush in his speech for his contribution toward education reform. And in a statement Gregg said “I obviously also appreciate his kind acknowledgement of my efforts that developed bipartisan proposals such as the education bill.”
Though Bush did not directly address special education, a key issue for New Hamphshire voters, Congressman Bass (R-NH), says it is on Bush’s mind. “He did refer to education when he recognized Ted Kennedy and George Miller,” said Bass. “I think special education will be addressed in his budget, and I think we’re going to see not only a significant increase in special education funding but through a reauthorization of special education which will make it work better.”
Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) said he was pleased to hear Bush talk about prescription drug benefits for seniors because he has a bill to provide prescription drugs at no additional premium with up to $5,000 in coverage. “Some people need prescription drugs to maintain their health and in some cases stay alive,” he said. “I’m hoping I can get some part of that plan put into law because I made it a priority.”
New Hampshire political insiders listened keenly to Bush’s words.
John Dowd, the New Hampshire state chairman of the Republican National Committee, applauded Bush’s emphasis on jobs. “Education, energy, taxes – everything he said all came back to jobs,” he said, “and I think he’s dead right on that.”
But Rep. Raymond Buckley, the New Hampshire House Democratic Whip, thinks Bush skimmed over some key issues.
“When you look beyond the words tonight, there wasn’t much of an economic plan for the millions of people who have become employed,” he said, “We heard a lot on homefront security, but economic security got the short shrift. I hope he’s not reading from the same script his Dad did, because at that time New Hampshire’s situation suffered greatly.”
“In the coming weeks we hope we hear specifics on how we’ll turn nation around and how economic security is paid attention to,” said Buckley. “He didn’t deal too much with education – a lot of people see education as very much a part of future security of nation.”
Smith disagrees. “The bottom line is what happened since 9/11 is dominate in the minds of Americans all over the country and all over the world,” said Senator Smith. “When lives are on the line, national security is first and foremost, and domestic security has to follow. We can’t have social security and job protection if we’re at war.”
Last night’s speech was Bush’s first State of the Union and only third speech to joint sessions of Congress. The first was on February 27 and the second followed the September 11 attacks.
As expected, Bush did not mention the Enron accounting scandal.
RNC chairman Dowd believes Bush’s popularity in the polls will help him convince congressional Democrats to accept the economic stimulus package and tax cuts. “The numbers are just overwhelming. I think Senator Daschle will look at that and say it’s time to work with him on this and break the logjam.”
Smith corroborated, saying he is “confident that if Congress acts in a bi-partisan fashion to support the President, we will win the war on terrorism and address America’s needs here at home.”
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
New Durham CEO Testifies Before Senate About Pollutant-Controlling Legislation
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29--New Durham-based Powerspan's CEO Frank Alix touted his firm's pollution-control technology Tuesday at a hearing by a Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee. Sitting across from Senator Bob Smith (R-NH), the committee's senior Republican, Alix testified that federal legislation is needed to spur technology like that of his company's that reduces harmful emissions from coal-fired electric generating plants.
"Environmental technology is driven entirely by environmental regulations," said Alix, one of more than 30 New Hampshire constituents Smith has invited to testify before the committee during the past two years. "If you don't have the regulation, you'll never have the technology."
Alix explained how Powerspan's electro-catalytic oxidation technology, a multi-pollutant control process that replaces commonly used single-pollutant systems, reduces emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and fine-particulate matter.
"By implementing a multi-pollutant approach, Congress can provide certainty to both the electric generating industry and the environmental technology community to ensure the deployment of the most advanced, cost-effective pollution control technologies," Alix said in a statement.
The Clean Air, Wetlands and Climate Change Subcommittee received testimony from Alix and executives from seven other energy-related organizations, including the U.S. Energy Department. They discussed new technologies that help power plants comply with emissions standards proposed in the Clean Power Act of 2001, which are more stringent than those in the existing Clean Air Act.
The new bill, sponsored by Sens. Jim Jeffords (I-VT) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), would cut power plant emissions and end "grandfathered" exemptions older plants enjoy under the Clean Air Act.
Smith, for his part, opposes the Clean Power Act, calling the proposed regulations ineffective. He has also long complained that the current law's power plant regulations have created an inefficient regulatory maze.
An advocate of free markets, Smith favors a "cap and trade" system that allows power generators to exceed the mandatory emissions cap through "trades" with other companies that are under the cap.
"I know there's some critics on the left and the right, but we have the system, we have the Clean Air Act, and nobody's going to repeal it anytime soon; so we need to be working within that act," Smith said.
Smith contends that the cap and trade system would reduce emissions sooner because of its market incentives.
"I'm hopeful that we'll be able to work together to give tax incentives for innovation to reduce these pollutants," he said.
Powerspan's Alix, however, thinks the Jeffords-Lieberman bill's regulatory scheme could work if a more lenient deadline for lowering power-plant emissions is allowed.
"We'd like to see a little more time and a little more of a stage for reduction," he said. "It looks like there's a critical mass forming around the issue which is quite likely to result in legislation this year, which would help us."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Government Affairs Committee Investigating Enron: Sen. Collins Looks Into Conflicts of Interest
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24--Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Governmental Affairs Committee, yesterday called the Enron case "a tragedy" for the small investors and employees who have lost their retirement accounts. She spoke after participating in a hearing on what the government might have done to prevent the financial debacle.
"The Enron scam should never have happened. It represents a colossal failure of all the mechanisms that are supposed to safeguard the investing public," Collins said.
Arthur Levitt Jr., the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), testified that the Enron scandal was an example of the "cultural, economic erosion created by a business community that is highly competitive."
Levitt was among five witnesses who talked about how the Enron collapse could have been prevented and what should be done to make sure something like it does not happen again. The hearing launched the first phase of investigations that will also look at alleged internal malfeasance and conflicts of interest by Enron and its former accounting firm, Arthur Andersen LLP.
Committee chairman Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) said the panel will consider "changes in law and regulation that will strengthen the watchdogs in and out of the federal government so that nothing like the Enron scandal ever happens again."
Much of the talk during the hearing concentrated on how Enron hid from its employees the failing stock value of the company and on a possible conflict of interest involving its former accounting firm.
"There are too many conflicts of interest that affect the presentation of fair financial statements," Collins said. "In the case of Arthur Andersen, not catching and not revealing to the public the deceptive financial data on Enron's financial statements is a kind of conflict of interest."
Conflicts of interest between companies and their auditors, the witnesses and committee members agreed, are one of the major causes of corruption.
Collins and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, will look into the inner workings of Enron's collapse, while the full committee will investigate how federal agencies and federal laws could have better protected the thousands of Enron employees from losing pension funds.
According to Collins, independent investors are the losers when the investment analysts who are supposed to be recommending stock choices fare better financially when the stock does well.
On the other hand, Collins said, two brokerage firms downgraded the stock when Enron-affiliated investment analysts falsely told employees the stock was strong. The firms were identified as Merrill Lynch and Prudential by Collins's press secretary, Felicia Knight, who added that the two firms had no ties to Enron.
"For a system that places heavy reliance on the obligation of some to safeguard the interests of others," Collins said, "we are remarkably lenient - perhaps even lax - in allowing conflicts of interest."
Published in The Bangor Daily News, in Maine.
Bass Signs Shays-Meehan Bill
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24--In a boost for campaign finance reform, Rep. Charles Bass, R-N.H., yesterday signed a discharge petition that will force a House vote on the Shays-Meehan Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert's refusal to bring the issue to the floor influenced Bass's decision to sign the petition, a Bass spokeswoman said. The discharge petition, which requires 218 signatures, an absolute majority of the House, will force the bill out of committee and to a House vote despite the House Republican leadership's opposition.
Bass met several times over the past months with Hastert to try "to persuade him to bring the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill to the floor for a fair vote, [but] unfortunately we were unable to reach agreement," Bass said in a statement yesterday.
Bass agreed several months ago to sign the petition if, with his signature, it had enough signers to put it over the top. Until yesterday, the petition had 214 signatures.
Rep. Christopher Shays, R-CT, who launched the petition drive last summer, yesterday applauded the "extraordinary day" that he hoped would erase "the corrupting influence of big money on politics."
Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., hailed the victory but cautioned, "We're moving into a new phase of what will be a long fight."
After a private meeting with Hastert yesterday morning,. Bass and Tom Petri, R-WI, signed on. Later that day, Corinne Brown, D-FL, and Richard Neal, D-Mass., sealed the discharge petition with the final two required signatures.
Bass is one of only 20 Republicans who signed the petition.
At a press conference yesterday afternoon, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt stressed the bipartisan effort that led to the success of the discharge petition. He called it "an important day for American democracy and the American people."
Last month Gephardt traveled to New Hampshire's First District to endorse Democratic hopeful Marta Fuller Clark for Representative. He stressed the importance of campaign finance reform in the coming congressional session, promising a bipartisan effort to erase what he characterized as "the corrupting influence" of unregulated "soft money" in politics.
The Enron hearings, which also began today, seemed to have a direct influence on the outcome of the campaign finance petition effort.
Bass participated yesterday morning in the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the destruction of Enron-related documents by personnel of its account firm, and said that he was both "disturbed and alarmed" by the shredding of documents.
Nevertheless, Bass's spokeswoman said that the Enron investigation had no influence on Bass's decision to sign the discharge petition.
"I think it would have been difficult for Congressman Bass not to sign the discharge petition, having been a star supporter of campaign finance reform in the past," said Mike Dennehy, a Republican National committee member from New Hampshire.
Once the bill is brought to a vote, Bass has said, he would vote for it in its current form, though some possible amendments might sway his vote. For example, his spokeswoman said, "he expressed some disappointment that the bill doesn't entirely ban soft money."
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Bass Plans Guantanamo Bay Visit
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24--Rep. Charles Bass, R-N.H., announced yesterday that he would join a Congressional delegation to visit Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba on Friday.
According to Bass' spokeswoman, the delegation's purpose is "to go down and see for themselves the accommodations for the prisoners of war and hold discussions with officials."
About two-dozen members of Congress will meet with military personnel and visit the Camp X-Ray detainment facility, Radio Range, and Level III Hospital. The fact-finding mission will survey the conditions of the prisoners and thank military officials stationed at the base.
Bass said the detainees should be treated humanely, but considering their suspected involvement in terrorist acts, "precautions are necessary to ensure the safety of the military men and women responsible for their captivity and the safety of people around the world."
In the past week, the foreign press has been critical of the incarcerated al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters' living conditions. In response, the military has gone to great lengths to show reporters the humane treatment of the captives. Among other things, prisoners received hygiene items such as soap, shampoo, towels and buckets for washing, as well as copies of the Koran and halal produced meals, London's Independent reported yesterday.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld defended the treatment of the al-Qaeda detainees. "We have a just criminal system in the United States, and people do get treated right. And I think any suggestion to the contrary's basically coming from people who are not well-informed," he remarked on Sunday's edition of NBC News' Meet The Press.
Although Bass has yet to offer any personal evaluation on the prison conditions, a spokeswoman quoted Bass as saying that the camp is "better than the caves in Afghanistan."
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Enron Renews Interest In Campaign Finance
By Kelly Field
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23--With members of Congress rushing to return campaign contributions they received from Enron Corp., the authors of a perennial bill to ban "soft-money" contributions say they're confident that this will be their year.
Rep. Marty Meehan (D-5th), co-sponsor of the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill, said the Enron debacle has reinvigorated his cause by renewing the debate on influence peddling in Washington. Enron was one of the nation's biggest political contributors, giving more than $5.77 million to campaigns over the past 12 years, much of it in unregulated, unlimited soft money.
Critics say that Enron and powerful auditing agencies like Arthur Andersen "bought" access to the administration and Congress, using their campaign contributions to achieve electricity deregulation, lax auditing standards and corporate tax breaks.
"Enron was a classic reminder of how soft money buys access and undermines public confidence in democracy," Meehan said.
Enron "put a human face" on the bill, said Jeff Cronin, a campaign finance reform advocate with Common Cause. "It showed that influence-peddling isn't a victimless crime."
Though the Senate approved a similar bill last year, the Shays-Meehan measure has stalled in the House, where Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has refused to consider the bill unless he is compelled to by a discharge petition signed by an absolute majority of the House. The petition is now only three signatures shy of the 218 it needs to force a vote, with Rep.Corrinne Brown (D-FL) citing the Enron case as she added her name to the list of signers.
Hastert conceded yesterday that the bill's supporters are likely to reach their goal. He also indicated that he wouldn't resort to extraordinary measures to block the petition effort. "I think eventually it's going to happen," he said in an Associated Press interview. "Nobody is going to suborn the rules of the House."
Meehan said he expects to receive the remaining signatures "within" a week, pointing to 10 members who have supported campaign finance reform in the past and are now on the fence. One of these members is Congressman Charles Bass (R-N.H.), who has said he would sign the petition if the Speaker refused to bring the bill to the floor under the regular order.
"I plan to meet soon with [Hastert] and urge him to bring the bill to the floor for a fair vote," Bass said. "But I am not ruling out signing the discharge petition."
Bass is the only New Hampshire member to support the bill, and one of only 19 House Republicans to do so. All of the Massachusetts members have signed the discharge petition except Democrat Richard E. Neal, who has committed to being the 218th signatory if only two more signatures can be obtained. Neal, like Bass, opposes the use of discharge petitions, said William Tranghese, Neal's press secretary. But "he made an exception because the issue is so important."
President Bush has denied that Enron exerted any influence over his administration, saying that government officials rejected appeals from Enron's leaders to bail out the company. But proponents of campaign finance say that the Enron scandal has tarnished the government regardless, causing an erosion of public confidence in the political system.
The Shays-Meehan bill, supporters say, would help Congress distance itself from the Enron scandal.
"Members of Congress are going to want to put some daylight between themselves and the finance system that contributed to this problem," Common Cause's Cronin said.
Published in The Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Mass.
Lieberman Back In Anthrax-Free Offices
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23-Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and his staff Tuesday finally began moving back into their seventh-floor office in the Hart Senate Office Building after being displaced by an anthrax contamination that has closed the building since Oct. 16.
For three months, Lieberman's nearly 35 employees have been chafing elbows with another 35 committee staffers in the temporary work space set up next door in the Dirksen Senate Office Building's Committee of Governmental Affairs office. However, The U.S. Capitol Police gave the Connecticut Democract the OK to tour his office space Tuesday afternoon before allowing his personal employees to start moving back boxes later that day.
"Risk is a part of life," Lieberman noted during a walk-through of his personal office, "but (the clean-up crews) have reduced that risk as much as possible. I come back with confidence, but I honestly did say a prayer as I came through the door."
On Oct. 15, 2001, an aide to Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., whose office is also in the Hart building, discovered a letter tainted by the deadly anthrax bacteria spores, which prompted officials to close the nine-story, million-square-foot building while purification crews fumigated the area with carbon dioxide gas.
Hart's reopening was rescheduled a number of times.
Officials thought the building would reopen last Friday, but that plan was postponed when a bag containing gloves and a protective hazardous materials suit from the anthrax clean-up was discovered in a ceiling hole.
Despite Lieberman's confidence about the safety of the building, not all of his employees felt comfortable with the move, according to Dan Gerstein, the senator's communications director.
"People are happy and relieved, but there are a few staffers filled with apprehension," said Gerstein.
Although some Capitol Hill employees complained of a mildew-like smell coming from the building in past weeks, those who toured the building with Lieberman, including Gerstein, said any residual smells left from the disinfecting vapors had dispersed by Tuesday afternoon.
According to Llelwyn F. Grant, a Center for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson, the health agency - along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - has since gave Hart a clean bill of health.
"Based on the science and technology available (the CDC) felt that the building was ready and safe for reoccupancy with minimal risk," Grant said.
Gerstein agreed with Grant's assessment and made mention that most of the carpeting had been replaced and most of the office looked physically in order.
Gerstein said no important files or papers appeared to be missing from the office. "Let's put it this way. If you went in there and didn't know what transpired over the past three months, you'd be hard pressed to know there was a bioterrorism scare and intense testing by hazardous material teams," the communications director said.
Both Lieberman and Gerstein commended the staff members of the Committee of Governmental Affairs for readjusting their office space to make room for Lieberman's personal staff.
"It's been a summer camp-bunk bed experience," said Gerstein. "People made the best of an awkward circumstance. It's been an inconvenience."
For example, the staff member who handles Lieberman's schedule was without her Rolodex, which made her job of contacting people for the senator extremely difficult at times.
All in all, Lieberman said, "It's good to be home."
Published in The Waterbury Republican-American, in Waterbury, Connecticut.
AGs Fear EPA’s Whitman Won’t Aid Clean Air Fight
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23--State attorneys general from several northern states, including New Hampshire, emerged from a meeting with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Christie Whitman today discouraged that she would not help them fight the Bush administration's intentions to weaken emission controls on coal-burning power plants.
Speaking outside the EPA building in downtown Washington, the attorneys general said they believe Whitman is sympathetic to their concerns but will probably not have the last word in the administration on this issue.
"Christie Whitman's heart is clearly in the right place, but others are clearly calling the shots," said Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's attorney general. "She may be the face and voice for the policy, but we don't know that she's writing the script, and that is deeply troubling."
Blumenthal said the ambiguities that remain after today's meeting make him determined to watch the process closely.
The attorneys general reacted to published reports that indicate the Bush administration plans to relax enforcement of the Clean Air Act, specifically the New Source Review (NSR) amendment, which mandates that coal-burning power plants maintain pollutant-thwarting control systems. Easing enforcement would give plants more leeway to expand production.
"If the Clean Air Act is gutted, there will be a lawsuit from Connecticut and other states," Blumenthal said. "The public will be outraged. There will be a hue and cry from the environmental community and from the public in general because this kind of environmental protection goes to the core of protecting our quality of life."
G. Steven Rowe, the attorney general of Maine, said he and his fellow attorneys general were pleased to hear that Whitman will include the public in the process. "That was very, very important for us to hear," he said.
Joseph J. Martyak, a spokesman for the EPA, said the agency is working on a report that suggests improvements to the New Source Review aspect of the Clean Air Act. It will be completed in the next several weeks.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Group Asks Lieberman to Remove Himself From Enron Probe
By Justin Hill
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22--A Virginia-based watchdog group is urging Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) to recuse himself from any investigation into the probe of Enron Corp.'s bankruptcy by the senate committee he chairs because the senator received contributions from one of the failed energy company's creditors.
In a letter dated Jan. 15, the president of the National Legal and Policy Center Peter Flaherty asked the senator to remove himself from any investigation by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which is expected to hold a hearing Thursday to inquire whether federal agencies could have done more to prevent Enron's collapse. Lieberman received $112,546 from Citigroup Inc. from 1997-2002, making the company the senator's largest contributor for the past five years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
"In order to assure the public of the integrity of the Senate investigation and to avoid the appearance of a double standard, I hope you agree with me that recusing yourself is the only appropriate action for you to take," Flaherty wrote.
Enron doled out $35,000 last year to the New Democrat Network, a political action committee founded by Lieberman in 1996, according to Leslie Phillips, a spokeswoman for the senator. Enron's embattled auditing firm Arthur Andersen gave $12,500 to the political action committee last year, Phillips said.
"[Lieberman] rejected the call to recuse himself," said Leslie Phillips, a spokeswoman for the senator. "He's been very tough on Enron. He intends to conduct a very aggressive, through and thoughtful investigation. áWe are not looking into anything having to do with Citigroup. á He has no official connection to [the New Democrat Network]."
Lieberman announced earlier this year that investigations into the collapse of Enron will be the one of the committee's priorities in 2002.
Meanwhile Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), who is one of the largest recipients of Enron campaign contributions, removed himself from the Congressional investigations of the Houston-based company yesterday as Congressional investigators were expected to issue subpoenas for four senior officials of Arthur Andersen last night.
Questions about possible conflicts of interest between Lieberman and the Enron investigation surfaced after reports showed that Lieberman's former chief of staff Michael Lewan contacted Lieberman's office in June while he was working as lobbyist for Enron.
"Nothing inappropriate happened there. á It's not going to affect any conduct at the hearing. á I'm committed to conducting an investigation here that's comprehensive, aggressive and fair," Lieberman said.
Lewan, who served as the senator's top aide from 1989-1992and remains friends with Lieberman, contributed $1,000 to Lieberman in 1998, according to Federal Election Commission records.
"Nothing that was discussed with the Senator's staff had anything to do with the bankruptcy [of Enron]," said Lewan. "It was about legislative issues."
Published in The Hour, in Norwalk, Conn.
Senators Return to Hart Senate Office Building
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22--The Hart Senate Office Building reopened yesterday for the first time since mid-October, and most of the 50 Senators who have offices there, including Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, were prepared to return to their familiar haunts. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control closed the building on Oct. 17 after anthrax spores were found in a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota), whose office is in Hart.
"I come back with confidence," Lieberman said as he returned to the building, "but I honestly said a prayer."
Shortly after 2 p.m., Lieberman entered the almost-vacant building accompanied by his legislative director, Bill Bonvillian, and two security guards. Lieberman said he was relieved to return to his spacious seventh-floor digs.
Lieberman said Senators and their staffs should have few health concerns as the building re-opens.
"Risk is a part of life," he said, but those in charge of the cleanup "have really reduced the risk as much as humanly possible."
Senate staffs were scattered about Capitol Hill for the past three months, with Lieberman's staff of 35 squeezed into the office of the Governmental Affairs Committee, which the Senator chairs.. The committee's office is on the third floor of the neighboring Dirksen Senate Office Building. "I'm fortunate because I'm a committee chair," Lieberman said. The committee, he added, has "a fine office."
Lieberman told a small gathering of reporters that he was relieved to find his bibles "untouched, sturdy." He was also pleased to find a model plane and model submarine in his office in good condition, and was delighted to hold a doll that his daughter Hannah had given to him. "It's good to be home," he said.
Lieberman's staff spent the afternoon moving files from the temporary office in the Dirksen Building into his suite in the Hart Building. The office was scheduled to re-open to the public today at 9 a.m.
Written for the New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
