Augusta focus. ([Augusta, Ga.) 198?-current, November 23, 1995, Image 8

Augusta focus., November 23, 1995, Page 8, Image 8

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Newspaper Page Text8 November 23,1995 AUGUSTA FOCUS "WHEW! AS WE'VE SAIP ALL ALON 6 — WHAT A FINE MAN ! | 492 a,’e &V a 2, W (> X%r;’j "2 - )':}) 7y U 3 : - = ;L 2 -/,‘L"‘p g \'lfk%"’ \€ J A " o b MO [ A PEN) AN B e B 2 {@?A N\ ot b= -,;,f’»:\',) % * S f"j; X, 2o Yoot e ' ‘ : ‘3;s\s_\* %3; ¢ PG, RS A 3 =t 52 M D L 5 i "" e “;’-’“. "g"' .; Rl <g\ £ - SN A ©1995 AMERBLOCK Now we've learned who Clinton is not In place of his regular column, Mr. War ing is featuring guest columnist Barbara Reynolds, USA Today, Nov. 17 edition. ntil now, I couldn’t find the right U words to describe President Clinton. Waffle? Sponge cake? Nothing fit. During this budget battle, however, Clinton is emerging as the Light Knight. He is showing us not so much what we gain from following him but how much we lose by following his political rivals. Clinton is defining who he is by standing in the way of our worst nightmare: them. Clinton rides to the rescue of the elderly as Republicans attempt to raid the Medicare budget for $245 billion in tax cuts, largely for the affluent. Toearn his armor, however, Clinton must do more than stand up for seniors, who command a lobby with votes and campaign funds. He must defend kids, millions of whom could lose Head Start, health check ups, school lunches and public housing, says Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund. Last week the Clinton administration confirmed that 1.2 million more children will join the 10 million now living in pover ty if the Senate’s welfare-reform package becomes law. The House plan almost dou bles that number. In Edelman’s view, unless Clinton ve toes welfare reform and other punitive measures in the reconciliation bill, about 7 million children will lose basic health-care coverage, 14 million will suffer from food and nutrition cuts, and more than 150,000 children with disabilities will lose Supple mentary Security Income. Meanwhile, tax changes will cost low-income families $41.5 billion over seven years. For a nation that prides itself on family values, thisisimmoral. The National Coun cil of the Churches of Christ in the USA Since 1981 A Walker Group Publication 1143 Laney Walker Blvd. ‘ M According to USA Today cal umnist Barbara Reynolds, "To earn his armor, . . . Clinfon must do more than stand up for se niors, who command a lobby with votes and campaign funds. He must defend kids, millions of whom could lose Head Start, health checkups, school lunches and public housing, says Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund.” eG i B S 3 A 3 58 £TR ST R Y TG R EoE 2 says leaders representing faiths with more than 150 million members call the GOP’s assault on welfare, education and health “unholy.” Council General Secretary Joan Brown Campbell says, “We fear legislation will make countless children more poor, sick, hungry or atrisk of abuse and neglect, while providing tax breaks of at least $12,000 to the richest 1 percent of Ameri cans.” Edelman says, “Block grants remove the safety net, which means more kids would sit in class hungry. Others will die or lose their hearing or sight because their family can’t afford medical care.” A close friend. of the Clintons, she hopes politics won’t overtake the president, resulting in his vetoing the reconciliation bill and signing a separate welfare bill to appeal to conservatives. Reforming welfare of all kinds would be great. It would include corporations, the Pentagon and large farms. It would provide job training and child care for the needy. Clinton can finally prove what kind of leader he is, not by what he does for the powerful, but by standing up for kids, who can do absolutely nothing for him in return. Charles W. Walker Publisher Frederick Benjamin Managing Editor Dot T. Ealy Marketing Director Rhonda Jones Copy Editor Rhonda Y. Maree Reporter Derick Wells Art Director Lillian Wan Layout /Graphics Specialist Sheila Jones Office Manager /Sales Rep. Jimmy Carter Circulation | Photography Editorial THIS WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT FEC vs. Black independents ifein Black Americais I a life of constant deg radation. From Death Row to the courthouses to the streets ofourinner cities, Black people are singled out for abuse. It is also true that there is a special kind of abuse that is reserved for African-American leaders who are radicals and inde pendents, who have not cast theirlot particularly with the political establishment, in cluding the Black establish ment. There is no question that the abuse heaped upon radicals like the Panthers and Malcolm X, upon inde pendents like Minister Lou is Farrakhan, happens not just because they are Black, but because they were or are outsiders. And, in my mind, thereis alsonoquestion that the governmental attempts now underway todestroy me and the political moverment I lead came about not simply because I am Black, but be cause I too am a radical and an independent. Just over a year ago, the Federal Election Commis sion staff had completed an extensive audit of my 1992 presidential campaign. When you receive matching funds in a presidential cam paign such an audit is stan dard. In 1992, as you may recall, I received $2 million in matching funds. The au dit called for a repayment of $1,300, whichlamtold is the lowest in FEC history. But, days before the audit was to become official, a Washing ton, D.C. weekly notorious for its racist bias — The City Paper — published an arti cle alleging that my cam paign, and the New Alliance Party which I chair and which sponsored my two campaigns for the presiden cy,did not exist. Accordingto the article my entire cam paign was actually a scam CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL E ® , @ Washington’s war on children hat is going on in W Washington these days will have a chilling effect on the most vulnerable of our nation — our children. Itiscalled wel fare “reform” or ending the war on poverty, but it is really a war on the poor and it signalsan end of a funda mental ethical principle of this nation — that every child should be protected by our federal government as a last resort, when all else fails. Numbed by the steamroll erofthe Contract with Amer ica and the rhetoric of a Con gress that has chosen to de monize poor mothers and their children, many Ameri cans just don’t understand what the welfare reform bill will mean for children in this rich nation. Seven million children will no longer have health-care coverage and childhood im munization will nolonger be guaranteed. Three million children will no longer re ceive income from Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Fourteen million children will lose food and nutrition programs, includ ing school lunches and in fant formula under the WIC program. In other words, millions of children will be sicker and hungrier and cold- G R 3232 e 2 G ~ ~ onthe new Saturday = . breakfast buffet at BL’s Restaurant Ne, Weler B “There is no question that the abuse heaped upon radicals like the Panthers and Malcolm X, upon independents like Minister Louis Farrakhan, happens not just because they are Black, but because they were or are outsiders,” decries Dr. Lenora Fulani. designed to defraud money fromthefederal government. The three sources for the article — all former political colleagues of mine — alleged that my campaign paid pub licists, attorneys, clerical workers and organizers for work they did not do. They alleged that I was, in effect, the political puppet, theblack femaledupe, of my campaign manager Dr. Fred Newman, who was really the guru of a cult; that the New Alliance Party was a front group for the cult; that the vendors hired to do the campaign’s work were paper organiza tions that did not work; and thattheentire campaignwas a fraudulent scheme. The article carrying these out landish claims was circulat ed tothe Commission, which suddenlyrejected theresults of its own audit and ordered a new inquiry. The results of the second audit were re leased in Augusta. That’s when the FEC determined that my campaign spent morethan $1 million onnon qualified expenses and that Ishouldrepaythe U.S. Trea sury $612,557.32. In other words, the federal govern ment picked up, nearly ver batim, the fraud accusations made by the former political associates of mine who have sworn to destroy me. . Who were these detrac tors? The first is William Pleasant, an African-Ameri can journalist, formerly em ployed by the National Alli “Seven million children will no longer have health-care coverage and childhood immu nization will no longer be guaranteed. Three million children will no longer receive in come from Aid to Families with Dependent Children. 14 million children will lose food and nutrition programs, including school lunches and infant formula under the WIC program,” notes Bernice Powell Jackson. er this winter. Theirony of all these cuts isthatthey comeatthesame time Congress is giving the richest 1 percent of Ameri cans a tax break of at least $12,000 per year and a $92 billion capital gains tax to the wealthiest 3 percent of Americans. Theironyisthat these cuts come at the same time Congress is giving the Defense Department $243.3 billion — almost $7 billion more than the Pentagon asked for. The irony is that these cuts come at the same time when Congress is giv ing the largest 1 percent of corporations a sl2l billion depreciation tax break over 10 years and has refused to cut corporate welfare or farm subsidies. It is estimated that in 1994 the federal govern ment spent $lO4 billion in corporate welfare —in bail ance newspaper (a weekly publication of my political movement, which extensive ly covered the New Alliance Party, independent politics and Black politics.) Pleasant had split from me after polit ical disagreements emerged between us. He began pub licly attacking our political movement and deriding my alleged “puppet” role in it when the National Alliance stopped paying him a week ly salary at the end of 1992 because hehad done nowork for over nine months. The second attacker was Kellie Gasink, a 27-year-old white woman whois current ly a law student and Pleas ant’s self-described fiancee (although Pleasant is still married to his wife). The third was Elizabeth Gilchrist, a white attorney who had a long-term sexual affair with Pleasant (while he was married) and who was disbarred by the Missis sippi State Bar in 1993 for unprofessional and unethi cal conduct. But while a white woman, Kellie Gasink, is the official complainant to the FEC, the ultimate sourceofthe attacks on me is William Pleasant, an African-American, who has never issued a sworn statement nor been deposed, though he is mentioned as the source of information no lessthan 77timesin Gasink’s deposition. In my opinion, this is because for Pleasant himself to attack me would outs of failed companies, in export promotions, loans, debt forgiveness, interest free financing and below cost sales to corporations. It was corporate welfare that paid the Walt Disney Com pany $300,000 to put on a fireworks display while pay ing McDonald’s $466,000 to subsidize the advertising of chicken mcnuggets in Tur key. It was corporate wel fare that paid Lockheed Martin Corp. SBSO million when it merged Lockheed and Martin Marietta air craft companies and then paid the top executives of those companies an addi tional SIOO million as a re ward for a successful merg er. It was farm subsidies that paid Sam Donaldson, the millionaire television correspondent, $97,000 in agriculture subsidies for his New Mexico ranch. be too risky in Black political circles. Thereisnodoubt why he set the attack up as a proxy fight — his white girl friend against my white cam paign manager. But make nomistakeabout this: whom ever Pleasant’s target sup posedly is, I am the victim. I am liable for the repayment. I take full responsibility for eachandeverydecisionmade in the campaign. I intend to make sure that the complete account of Pleasant’s role — and those who have assisted him —is put before the Afri can-American community. Now the FEC review pro cessisunderway. I have been in touch with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, as well as other Black activists, attorneys, church and civil rights lead ers, many of whom are sub mitting letters to the FEC urging thattheinvestigation be depoliticized. In his letter to the Com mission, which strenuously protestsboth the conduct and the content of the FEC'’s in vestigation, Congressman Charles Rangel made the point that I have won the respect of many people, in cluding those who may dis agreewithmy political views. I am most grateful to Con gressman Rangel for his re mark. After all, Congress man Rangel is a most main stream Black politician. He and I rarely see eye-to-eye. Indeed, I walked the streets of Harlem campaigning for his opponent in the last elec tion. But Congressman Rangel is well aware of the inherent dangers to the en tire Black community when a Black radical — under at tack by the government, a hostile press and divisive el ements in our own commu nity — is allowed to be de stroyed. In her open letter to Pres ident Clinton, Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense: Fund, wrote, “It is moral hypocrisy for our nation to slash income, health and nutrition assistance for poor children while leaving un touched hundreds of billions in corporate welfare, giving new tax breaks of over S2OO billion fornon-needy citizens and giving the Pentagon al most $7 billion it did not re quest.” Our nation now is in the unenviable position of having the richest children in the in dustrialized world, and the poorest children as well. Right now, before these cuts, one in every four American children ispoor. Right now, beforethese cuts,oneinevery 12 childrenis hungry. These proposed cuts will meanthatour countryhas chosen to protect the future of * the richest children at the ex-- pense of the poorest children. Idon’t believe that is what our nation is all about — makingexpendable the most vulnerable of our society. For what will it profit us to gain the whole world and lose our souls? Call President Clinton to day to ask him not to aban don our children. Phone: (202) 456-1111. E-Mail: president@whitehouse.gov