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True accountability to the masses could be a real blast
WASHINGTON Many years
ago, I read a science fiction story
about a country that could not find
anyone to be its leader.
The job was a good one: unlim
ited pay, unlimited privileges,
unlimited power. You could do any
thing you wanted.
But, still, nobody wanted the
job.
A visitor to this strange land
could not figure out why. There
were no onerous duties attached to
being the leader. In fact, as far as
the stranger could find out, all the
leader had to do was wear a cere
monial collar around his neck. This
was his sole duty.
But then the stranger finds out
what the ceremonial collar is all
about: Whenever a citizen of the
country is upset with the leader, the
citizen casts a negative vote.
And when enough negative
votes are cast, the collar explodes,
decapitating the leader.
Democratic insiders want change
at top of Gore’s campaign team
WASHINGTON Well-placed
figures in the Democratic Party are
pressing for Secretary of Commerce
William Daley to replace former
Rep. Tony Coelho as Al Gore’s cam
paign chairman.
Vice President Gore’s inner cir
cle long has argued that ethical
investigations of Coelho are irrele
vant politically because people are
not voting for him as president. Gore
advisers admit, however, that it is
peculiar for a presidential campaign
to have a chairman who is unable to
go on television because of the ques
tions he would be asked.
Daley is an effective TV
spokesman whose four years at
Commerce have been successful,
crowned by House approval of the
Chinese trade agreement. Some
party insiders believe he should join
the Gore operation even if he does
not replace Coelho, but it is hard to
imagine Daley taking any post less
than chairman.
Rubin’s reluctance
Although former Treasury
Secretary Robert Rubin is being
seriously considered as Al Gore’s
running mate,
friends doubt the I
multi-million- I
aire financier I ’
would accept a I
vice presidential I ' ‘''77
bid.
When he I
left the Treasury I
last year, Rubin I
said he had no I
interest in
becoming chair- Rubin
man of the
Federal Reserve Board or in running
for governor of New York. The vice
presidency might be another matter,
but his wife Victoria would balk at
that, according to friends. She never
moved to Washington during his
Clinton administration service and
has her own interests in New York
City.
Rubin as a Jewish New Yorker
represents two constituency groups
already in the Democratic camp. But
Gore insiders see Rubin’s record at
the Treasury reinforcing public iden-
A gruesome tale, I thought as a
child, but now that I am an adult, I
am not so sure. Maybe this would
be democracy in its purest form.
The will of the people would be
expressed in a direct, though devas
tating, way.
Would this be enough to keep
politicians honest? I don’t know, but
at the very least, it would keep
some of them from trying to run the
country.
Consider: Would Orrin Hatch, a
U.S. senator from Utah, really have
mounted a campaign for president
this year if he knew that he might
have to wear a collar that could
explode if he won?
Does everybody wonder why
Hatch, a conservative Republican
best known for exploiting the pubic
hair-on-the-Coke-can incident dur
ing the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill
brouhaha, was running in the first
place?
To say that he had no chance of
Robert
Novak
tification of the 2000 Democratic
ticket with the good economy.
Stiffing McCain
Efforts by Sen. John McCain’s
political operatives to arrange a big
celebration for the former presiden
tial candidate at the Republican
National Convention in Philadelphia
encountered a cold shoulder from
Gov. George W. Bush’s supporters
in charge of convention arrange
ments.
Philadelphia plans of McCain’s
Straight Talk committee were
deemed too expansive and were
rejected. McCain political aides who
went to the convention city were
told there was insufficient hotel
space.
This rejection did not alleviate
the chill between the two camps that
has continued despite McCain’s
endorsement of Bush. Animosity
between senior aides of both candi
dates remains intense.
Birthday boy
Washington lobbyists have
received a letter from former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich’s daughter
asking them to celebrate her father’s
57th birthday on June 17 by sending
a suggested $5,000 or SIO,OOO to his
political action committee.
Kathy Gingrich Lubbers includ
ed in the mailing a birthday card to
be signed and presented to her father
but also stressed the need for money
by the Committee for New
,American Leadership. “A birthday
) contribution from you to the com
mittee now would be a big help... as
Dad continues to challenge politi
cians and public officials to take the
long view,” said the letter.
This is a so-called 527 commit
tee, the identity of whose donors
need not be disclosed.
Activism by small businesses does work
By Jack Farit
Federation of Independent Business
Have you ever wished you could walk up to
the head of the IRS and say: “This just isn’t
fair”? If you have, you will appreciate what Bill
Weiller, a small-business owner from Atlanta,
Georgia, did in June of 1998. You will also
appreciate, perhaps even more so, what happened
because of the action Bill took.
Bill came to Washington, D.C., that year to
attend the first Congressional Small Business
Summit. The Summit was hosted by the National
Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the
nation’s largest small-business association. Bill
came to the meeting to learn more about the
issues facing small businesses across America
and to lend his voice to a group of business own
ers who, that week, told Congress what their pri
orities for reform were on a host of issues like
taxation, regulation, health care and legal reform.
But another issue was heavy on Bill’s mind.
He was having trouble with the IRS on a very
specific matter. On his taxes the year before, he
had deducted the costs of implementing a quality
standards program at his air filtration company.
(Called ISO 9000 certification, it enabled his
company to sell its products overseas and
winning was to put it mildly. But
nobody could even figure out why
he wanted the job. He had a pretty
cushy job already: the U.S. Senate
is a private club with only 100
members, lots of privileges and no
heavy lifting.
It was ambition, pure and sim
ple, that fueled Hatch’s run. He
wanted to be the president simply
because the presidency was the top
job.
But if the top job carried an
exploding collar with it, well, you
can see how the overly ambitious
might want to reconsider a little.
It would also make the overly
wealthy reconsider.
Spending vast sums of his fami
ly’s fortune to run for president was
nothing to Steve Forbes. Or to Ross
Perot, who spent S6O million of his
own money in vain attempts to get
the top job.
Both men have oodles of money
left. But would they have squan-
A birthday con
tribution from you
to the committee
now would be a
big help... as Dad
continues to chal
lenge politicians
and public officials
to take the long
view.
99
The letter, extolling the former
Speaker’s impact on the current
campaign, underlines this statement:
“The fact that George W. Bush has
now embraced our idea of ‘Social
Security Plus’ ... shows that New
Gingrich is still the most visionary
thinker in America.”
Labor endangered
Rep. Lois Capps of Santa
Barbara, Calif., the poster girl for
Democrats nationally after her 1998
special election victory in a swing
district, could fall victim to the
Chinese trade agreement.
The Teamsters intend to cam
paign actively against her because of
her pro-Chinese vote. That could tip
the balance for Republican chal
lenger Mike Stoker, a former
California state official who is run
ning a well-financed campaign
against Mrs. Capps. A career nurse
who succeeded her late husband in
Congress, she is popular but consid
ered ineffective. Polls show George
W. Bush leading Al Gore in her dis
trict by 20 points.
A footnote: Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy is expected to announce
support for the Chinese agreement.
He had held off at the request of
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney,
who hoped Kennedy’s silence would
produce unanimous opposition of all
10 Democratic House members from
Massachusetts. Actually, Reps.
Martin Meehan and Richard Neal
broke ranks to vote yes. \
Novak is a nationally syndicated
political columnist.
enables thousands of American companies to
stay in business). And IRS agents, as part of a
routine audit, had recently told him that he could
not deduct the cost, and he’d have to pay a fine
for having done so.
Bill was unaware of this wrinkle in the tax
code. He had deducted the cost because deduc
tions for things like worker training is standard
practice, perfectly legal. When he told this to the
IRS agents, they simply threw up their hands and
said they had no choice but to enforce the rule
and the fine. Unless, of course, Bill wanted to go
to court and fight to change the law.
Bill was shocked that this would be his only
recourse. He didn’t have the money to fight an
expensive legal battle ... finding the money io
cover the fine was going to be tough enough.
While he was attending the Summit, a mem
ber of the NFIB staff listened to Bill’s story and
encouraged him to approach IRS Commissioner
Charles Rossotti, a speaker at the conference.
Bill worked up the nerve, approached Mr.
Rossotti after his speech, and told him the whole
story. Rossotti listened carefully to Bill, and he
did not like what he heard.
Rossotti tasked his staff with getting to the
bottom of the puzzle and, if possible, fixing the
problem. They, in turn, worked with staff from
dered that money couldn’t some
good have been done with it instead
of wasting it on campaign consul
tants and TV commercials? if the
pay-off was a collar that the people
could instantly judge you by?
In fact, the idea is such a good
one, it should not be limited to the
political arena.
By law, a v-chip has to be
inserted in new television sets so
parents can prevent their kids from
watching violent TV shows (Yeah,
right, let’s see a parent really pro
gram the thing.)
So, by law, a small explosive
chip an e-chip could be
inserted in all cell-phones, for
instance.
And when an idiot driver yap
ping on his cell phone cuts you off
in traffic, you could register a vote.
And when the driver got enough
votes let’s be compassionate and
make it 100 votes the cell phone
would explode.
J|OF FORSYTH COUNTS
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many local women who
have contributed to our Tgl
i growing community. 7 j
WW 'V/t I If Women Use Any Os
■wk. AiMK; Your Services Or Shop At
Your Place Os Business,
®IW ' ’ T^'s ls Your Tar 9 et
U 18-w' Advertising Market
j \ •Ad space reservation
l f 1 deadline is June 15th
at noon. JS|
-BE fIL Section publishes
IKWMfi Sunday, June 25th.
it aft’ j I
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wH| / Advertising
ti 71 I ] Representative
It I at
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yyA Forsyth County News H
L- 7 Fax (770) 844-9779 [
FORBYTH COUNTY NEWS Wdn—day, June 14, 2000 I
Does anyone think the driver,
who endangers dozens of lives each
day by his irresponsible behavior,
doesn’t deserve this? Can anyone
really say he has not observed hor
rendous driving by cell-phone yap
pers?
My solution is direct, fair and,
most of all, democratic. It puts real
power in the hands of the people.
Nor do we have to stop with cell
phones.
How about people who pull up
next to you in cars or vans with
radios that are blaring so loudly it
rattles your teeth? Why not put a lit
tle e-chip in those radios?
And when enough votes are col
lected I think a dozen would be
more than enough then ... blam!
That’s all she wrote!
And cigarettes and cigars. You
could easily fit a chip in them. And
when the smoke bothered enough
people, well, that would teach
smokers all about responsible
NFIB and other trade associations who compiled
more evidence, more stories of business owners
with the same problem. And guess what: Today,
business owners are allowed to deduct the cost of
ISO 9000 certification.
Mr. Weiller is an American success story in
more than one way. He is a success because his
business provides jobs to the men and women of
his community... but he is also a success because
he got involved. He saw his government doing
something that didn't make any common sense,
and he told them so. And it worked.
This June, the Congressional Small Business
Summit will be held for the second time. And if
it produces just one more story like Mr. Weiller’s,
it, too will be an American success story. Our
constitution gives us the freedom to tell our gov
ernment when we think it’s wrong ... but it is up
to us to actually get involved. I think it’s good to
know that we should always do so, that activism
does work.
Jack Faris is president of the National
Federation of Independent Business, the nation’s
largest small-business advocacy group. A non
profit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1943,
NFIB represents the consensus views of its
600,000 members in Washington and all 50 state
capitals.
■ Roger
Simon
behavior, wouldn’t it?
I know some will consider my
solution extreme, but it is hard to
argue with the will of the people.
In fact, there is only one activity
I would exempt from my new e
chip: They could not be inserted in
the word processors of newspaper
columnists.
Because we wouldn’t last a
week.
Simon is a nationally syndicated
columnist. To find out more about
him and read features by other
Creators Syndicate writers and car
toonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate Web page at www. cre
ators, com.
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