Newspaper Page Text
Darden Against $50,000 Raise
from front page
Tommy Toles, editor of The News, follows:
Q. What will be the first order of business in the new
Co%ress? :
- The first order of business will be to elect a new
sgieaker of the House. It will be Jim Wright of Texas. |
think he will be more conservative and more to the political
center than Speaker (Tip) O'Neill has been and now that
he is not a part of the leadership team but a leader himself,
I think you'll see the House of R:&resentatives on a more
moderate course. This year, he's already served notice that
the first week we're going to consider several pieces of
sngr’}'l}fllcactit legislation.
e Clean Water Act, which President R
at the end of the 99th Congress, will be brou‘?lia::pvgtéfig
for a votewl()iy both the House and the Senate and the House
is expected to pass this act the first or second day.
. Another piece of legislation we'll take up the first week
is the authorization for the interstate higgway construc
tion. Last year, the bill was passed by the House and the
Senate but the‘y had a deadlock in the conference commit
tee because of some demonstration projects that some
members were insisting on so they reached a deadlock and
were unable to pass the bill. So we'll take that up as a first
priority because we need to get that money autl‘m)orized for
construction of interstate hig%xways. Incidently, this money
that we'll authorize has already been collected by gasoline
taxes, so while we authorize considerable amounts of
money, this is money that's already been actually collected
by federal taxes on gasoline.
There’s also some discussion about some type of trade
legislation being debated the first week but that is not for
sure {et.
Of course, we will also create a special panel which will
deal with mvestigatinfi the Iran arms controversy. As you
know, (Geor{a‘s Ninth District) Congressman Ed Jenkins
has already been designated to serve on that panel. The
arrangements have already been worked out between the
ma;(gntfi and minority so I'm sure it'll gass overwhelming
ly. The Republicans and the Democrats have already agreed
on its members.
So that's basically “;hat v:'e'll l:e doing that first week.
Q. What do you think will be some other major topics
to come before Congress during this session?
A. The trade issue will be one of the most significant
ones of all. Especiall‘\; as you tie it to the agriculture issue.
This past year, for the first time in many many years, we
had more agriculture products imported into this country
than we exported. That's a totally unacceptable situation
when we lose millions of dollars in storage and spoilage
evew day of surplus agricultural products.
e have got to make American products and American
manufacturing more competitive. I see our manufacturing
bases completely eroding in this country and we're becom
mfi a service economy. A friend of mine pointed out the
other day — a good Republican, by the way — I don’t see
how our economy can sustain itself building airplanes and
selling hamburgers. In other words, in areas not aided by
large defense expenditures, you're seeing an overall
deterioration of our entire manufacturing capability and
I think this ties in also with national security problems with
us. We're becoming dependent on other countries for com
modities which af?ect our national security.
I think the trade issue — opening up markets for our
products in the world, providing penalties for those coun
tries which discriminate or keep our products out and
establishment of an overall trade policy — has got to be
one of our Erimary problems, as well as Emerican
agriculture. That ties into the trade issue. We haven't seen
it quite as serious in Northwest Georgia but it's total
disaster in the South and Southeast and Southwest
Georgia. I think our overall agriculture policy has got to
be reexamined to make it more market oriented and less
subsidy-oriented. Those are the two issues I see as most
important.
Of course, as soon as we get back in session, I'll in
troduce mdy balanced budget amendment which I've always
supported. I think the eventual answer is to get this coun
try gack on a pay-as-you-go basis. It's going to cause a lot
of tempor sacrifices but I believe we have got to do
somethinga;iout this ever-growing national debt that we
continue to increase and pass on*to coming generations.
* *
Q. There have been a lot of complaints about a proposal
to increase the pay of federal judges, for example, up to
$50,000 a year. Eould you explain that and where do you
stand on such raises?
A. Let me give you an overall view . .. The president
has a Quadrennial &)mmission on compensation which, as
the name implies, every four years makes recommendations
to the presi(f::nt about what the salary ought to be for some
3,000 elected and appointed officials at the upper echelon
of the government. And that Commission has recommend
ed that the salaries of members of Congress, both senators
and representatives who make the same, be elevated from
its present $75,100 to $130,000. It recommended that
federal judges be increased to about $140,000, that cabinet
members %e elevated from about SBO,OOO to about
$160,000, and like raises for a number of federal officials.
First of all, I have no problem with substantial raises
for top level government officials who are not members of
Congress, including federal J'udges. I think a raise of that
size 1s so large that it would be unconscionable and while
federal judges ought to be entitled to a substantial raise,
I think a raise of this type would be totally inappropriate.
I'm going to support and cosponsor a joint resolution
which I thini will be more in line, with maybe a 10 percent
or 15 percent raise for the judges.
A couple of things I want to point out about the report.
The president of the United States must first review the
report of the Quadrennial Commission and he can either
make increases or reductions, as he sees fit. Then he sends
it to the Congress and in 30 daly;s it becomes law if the Con
gress doesn't override either the entire resolution or parts
of it. I expect the president to reduce considerably the
recommendations o?that Commission so it's hard to say
what will be voted on until the president sends it over.
But I want to say right now that I knew what the job
paid when I ran for it. Most members of Congress don't
serve for the money and the only thing we expect is just
adequate compensation to meet our expenses and to live
at substantialfy the same standard of living that we have
now.
I anticipate a three percent raise and I intend to sup
port the ef&rts where members of Congress are concerned
to hold it down to the three percent category. As far as
other government officials are concerned, though, 1 have
no pr(fi)lem with larger raises but not to the extent that
has been proposed .. . : :
It's set up so that if we don't reject it, it Eoes in effect
automaticalll;', and I think it very shorts;f ted on Con
ess’ part, it would be to let a substantial raise of raise
fii‘(e that go through because we're in the business of be
ing public officials and trying to keep the confidence of the
\fi)fic but nothing undermines the peoples’ confidence in
gongress and the government than to see what amounts
to our voting ourselves big raises. L
Now, we could make the distinction — and it is a cor
rect legal distinction — to say something to the effect, ‘well,
we dign’t vote for it, we just didn’t refieal it," but the
average guy on the street doesn't see a whole heck of a lot
of difgerence in it. It's fine if you want to argue about it
in a court of law but . i (ch:xckli:lg).
Q. Let me ask you about something that affects this
Northwest Georgia area, that Georgia Department of
Transportation gommissioner Tom Moreland discussed
just before Christmas when he spoke to the Optimist Club
here. And that is about Highway 27 going through
Chickamauga National Military Park or around the east
or west side. He said that the DOT had estimated that
widening the highway through the park would cost less
than $4-million while the Park Service's proposal to so west
of the park would cost somewhere between $32- and
$35-million . . . What do you think the odds are on solving
this particular problem and what do you think the odds
are on resolving it?
A. This is the most serious transportation problem we
have here in the Seventh District. As you know, it has been
deadlocked for almost 30 years. In an effort to resolve it
early last li'ear. I invited the director of the National Park
Service, the Southeastern Regional director for the Park
Service and all the local officials to Chickamauga Park to
discuss and overfly and look at the situation because the
Park Service hady reviously ruled that under no cir
cumstances could tfie present roadbed be widened. The
state of Georgia had a standing offer that it would be ful
ly responsible for all costs to go through the Park and widen
it on the existing roadbed.
In fact, this is what the battle of Chickamauga was
fought over back in the mid-1860s. As you probably know,
that was the last major battle that d)l’e South won.
But, anyway, the National Park Service through its
director has stated that under no conditions will they give
permission for that road to be widened on the existing
roadbed which puts the (DOT) commissioner, me and the
local county commissioner in the position that we're go
ing to have to try to find the funding to go around the west
side of the park . . . I've made my view known that it would
be more practical, far more efficient to go through the park
but they have stated that under no circumstances will they
allow it, so we're in a position now of having to go around
the west side.
And I think, quite frankly, that Commissioner Moreland
has reconciled himself to the fact that we'll be going around.
He and the local representatives were in Washington
several times last year toward the end of the 99th Congress
and we all met with Sen. (Sam) Nunn and Sen. (Mack)%at
tingly about it. We received a commitment from the
Secretary of the Interior recently for some funds to begin
the initial surveys in order to locate a route around the park.
I'm a member of the National Park Subcommittee of
the Interior Committee and I'm going to be sticking funds
to authorize money to go around the park. I thinfi if the
federal government is responsible for not allowing the state
to go through the park, tfien it ought to be responsible for
the vast majority of the cost. The state had said it would
make that amount of money available that it would take
to go through the park for tlZe project to go around it. And
I think the state would be willing to go somewhat further
than that. I think the major responsibility lies with the
federal government since tLey're the ones who don’t want
it to go through the park.
* * *
Q. In an issue that’s of interest to local officials, as well
as nationwide, is there any possibility that since the Senate
will have a Democratic majority and the House has a few
more Democratic members, that Congress will revive
Revenue Sharing during this coming session?
A. I don't think that's very likely %ecause that decision
has been met by Congress this past year and I think in our
current fiscal situation, I don’t think the money's there.
You see, under the Gramm-Rudman (Act), it mandates
— we did meet our deficit reduction mandate targets this
year even though there might be some discussion on
whether or not the funds from the sale of some federal
assets are actually in the treasury yet. Basically speaking,
under Gramm-Rudman, we reduced the deficit down to the
first requirement. This year, under Gramm-Rudman, we've
got to bring about another SSO-billion down off the deficit.
And 1 frankly don’t see an item like Revenue Sharing,
which is about $4-billion, being a very likely expenditure
by the federal government. I think tfiat once we've said
we didn’t have the money for it, we see no circumstances
that would allow us to bring up a big ticket item like that
— about $4-billion. '
* * *
Q. What do you think Congress might do insofar as sup-
K}orting or cutting funds off to the freedom fighters in
icaragua?
A. I think that the issue in Central America still needs
to be resolved based on the current situation down there
and America’s security interests, not what may or may not
have occurred as to funds that were allegedly diverted to
the Contras. I'm afraid, though, I'm afraid what is going
to take place is that aid to the Contras which, supfiort of
which had a hard time getting through Congress in the first
place, is going to be jeopardized by what i;s taken place
in the Iranian arms deaf I do not believe personally that
this situation ought to change . . . I feel that it may make
a difference in a number of members’ attitude about it. I
still intend to continue to support the President’s policy
in that area because I do not Eelieve we can allow another
Marxist-Leninist government, which makes no secret of the
fact that it is supported by Moscow . . . The primary street
of the city (in Nicaragua) is Ho Chi Minh Boulevard and
the name of the hospital is the Karl Marx Hospital, so
they're certainly not our friends down there and we have
an obligation to prevent the spread of communism in Cen
tral America. ..
* * *
Q. What's going to happen regarding the Iranian situa
tion with the U. S. supplying arms to Iran?
A. Basically, what c{i’stur%s me most about the entire
affair of the Iran arms deal controversy is the United States
has been apparently caught saying one thing and doing
another. We insisted that our allies not have any dealings
with countries such as Iran who are responsible for ter
rorism as national policy and that no ransom ever be paid
for hostages under any circumstances and that we remain
totally neutral in the Iran-Iraqui war. But it turns out that
we have been violating all three of those stated foreign
policy percepts and it has been done by individuals who,
whether acting on their own accord or with the direct super
vision of the president of the United States, were acting
within the authority of the president of the United States
without any input from the Department of State or the
Department of Defense. The most shocking thing to me
is that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ... was
totally excluded from the process. The Secretary of
Defense, the Secretary of State were totally excluded from
it and they are policy-making people. Evidently, a small
group of people was able to totally circumvent our foreign
policy mechanism and make foreign policy at that level.
Whether or not Congress should have been consulted
doesn't bother me as much as the fact that we departed
from our stated foreign policy at the same time we were
telling the Europeans something else. Obviously, if it turns
out tEere were t}l)mds that went to the Contras which were
unauthorized at the time, that may well be a violation of
the law. That doesn’t concern me as much as the fact that
we actually sold arms to Iran and we dealt with Iran and
we paid what I consider a ransom for hostages and we
changed our policy of neutrality in that war really while
we were maintaining publicly to the world that we were do
ing something else.
I think the loss of American credibility without allies
and throughout the world is the most serious fallout from
all this. e Lo
Q. Do you think that this is comparable to the
Watergate situation or is it just wishful thinking on part
of the national press?
A. That's what's known as a rhetorical question, the
kind of one that suggests an answer. (Laughing). I wouldn’t
say it's wishful thin%dng but I would say that attempts to
compare it to Watergate are overly ambitious. I thin;l,( you
have two entirely (fifferent situations here. We have a
foreign policy crisis which has been brought about by what
1 consitfizr to be a foreign policy blunder. I think it was a
mistake that we've made. We need to admit this mistake
and dismiss and discipline those responsible and then put
this behind us and go tj())rward. I don't think that Democrats
ought to take any glee in the fact that this has happeped
because I think now being in control of both the House of
Representatives and the Senate that we've got to establish
our credibility with the American people that we have the
ability to govern based on our addressing of the issues and
not only on the ineptitude and the incompetence that might
have been demonstrated by some of the members of the
opposition party. In other words, Democrats have got to
earn their place in the White House on their own. 'lghis is
not a free pass or a free ticket that we're getting because
of this disaster. I think that this fiasco is sometiing that
hurts our whole country and I'm hoping it’ll be resolved
and put behind us as soon as possible.
I do agree with Nancy Reagan, by the way. I think the
president has not been well-served by staff and I feel if the
president did not know — and I have to take him at his
word if he said he did not know the full implications of what
was gom'fi on — he should have known and those persons
who should have made him aware of this, frankly, ought
to be replaced.
. - 9
Q. Who do gou think ought to be replaced?
A. Well, I think tl::fenon who controls access to the
president of the United States, his chief of staff who is
responsible for the allocation of the president’s time and
the president's attention and who controls the information
that he gets — and that's the chief of staff.
But let me point out, though, that it's up to the presi
dent to say who he wants on his staff. I think it would be
presumptuous of me to say, ‘Mr. Reagan, fire your chief
of staff.’ He's got that perogative but in my view, I'm in
clined to afiree with Mrs. Ragan that his su{f has not serv
ed him well. As long as the present team stays there, there
will be some serious questions about the presidency to func
tion. I think the president is missing that ongmal team that
he had of Denver, Meese and Baker . . . I think the original
team would never havg allo:ved t.his to happen.
Q. What do you look for between the Air Force and
Lockheed Georgia Corp. in the controversy over the C-5B
contract where the Air Force is saying the company made
a whole lot more monei.than it lhoulgd have and the com
pany is Eointing out that it came in under budget.
A. The Air Force has siFnificant.ly revised its earlier
estimates of any excess rro its and now I think that they
would feel éust as well if the matter would go awaly. The
Energy and Commerce Committee has apparently ost in
terest in it and Lockheed Georgia, if you'll remember, is
still under a firm, fixed-price contract and once their pro
fits tgo over a certain level, then those profits go bu‘f to
the federal government anyway. The Air Force is current
ly renegotiating its contract with Lockheed and I see no
reason w:r it won't be resolved. I think there was a lot
of hullabaloo and a lot of exaggeration at the beginning
but now I think both sides are at the table and I think it's
going to be resolved wit.hou.t any. further problem.
Q. A lot of U. S. companies are going to the Japanese
plan of maintaining a low inventory and depenng on
smaller companies in the immediate area to manufacture
parts and so forth as they are needed. Do you foresee the
possibility that Lockheec{ might be going more that route
and benefit Chattooga Count{ with smaller companies
locating here and in other outlying areas and supplying
Lockheed, to your knowledge?
A. Asyou know, that’s being done in the inmediate area
of Lockheed right now. I'm not familiar with ?ecific dpro~
posals but, quite frankly, I think it's a good idea and I'll
encourage the officials at Lockheed Geon;iia to do that. I
think similar subcontracts of very high %u ity and low cost
goods could be produced right here in Chattooga County.
I apfireciate the suggestion and quite frankly, I need to urge
Lockheed to look in that direction. You're talking about
a $2-billion contract and that's on a fiearly basis. It's about
'57.88-billion contract but about $2-billion for fiscal (year)
1 5
s& * ©
Q. What do you think will be the cuts in defense spen
ding this year? Do you think that the SDI (Strategic
Defense Initiative) will be funded, to phase parts of it into
operation?
A. First of all as to the defense budget generally speak
ing, I think you will see it flatten out. The only increase
that you will see in the defense budget will be an allowance
for inflation, maybe two and one-half or three percent but
you won't see the large defense budget increases g'ou’ve
seen in the past seven or eight years. So the defense budget
will flatten out, in my view.
The real decision’s going to be in the Pentagon — since
their funds are going to be limited — to what extent do
they want to deplog and carry on SDI at the expense of
other research and evel%)ment pr%ects and procurement
programs. Secretary (Caspar) Weinberger proposed
$2.8-billion supplemental request several days ago which
I think will be considered in the fiscal 1988 budget rather
than the supplemental app;gpriation.
I think it will be tough sledding for SDI. I think there’s
%oing to be a lot of strict accountability in Congress and
think the SDI office, the implementing agency, is going
to be more challenged than ever . . . I think the president
will keep his commitment to SDI. General Abramson, who
I think is one of the most ca})able people heads up the of
fice of SDI has been recent d‘; promoted from lieutenant
general to full general . . . in 'cating the president’s com
mitment to upgrade that position. SDI can do like any other
program with more efficient operation and less dollars than
actually requested. I support the research of SDI. I realize
the deployment decisions are still a couple of years off
unless we get some dramatic announcements . . . I think
Congress will continue to surport the basic research but
will make the program a litt‘ e lea:\er and a little weaker.
Q. I'm sure you've noticed since you've been up there
and I noticed it when Congressman (ery) McDonald was
there, Congress always seemed to support research for
various projects but when it came time to put thin‘fs in ac
tual production, it always seemed to back off and start a
new research project and it seemed that a lot of things
never got to actual production because Congress always
kept saying there was something down the line that Con
gress thought might be a little better. Thinfs never seem
ed to come to fruition. Is that still a g‘rob em?
A. That’s still a generic problem we have, especially on
the Armed Services Committee and in the Pentagon. A
good examgle is — even though they have some problems
— was the B-1 bomber because we kept on waiting for the
stealth bomber up until we decided to go with 100 B-Is,
we were left with pilots fli'ing the B-52s who were actually
younger than the aircraft they were flying.
This is where the Soviets, I believe, take better advan
tage of the situation. What they do, theg decide on a par
ticular program and they build it. They build it in volume
and they build it at lower cost.
And we can't seem to get a firogram off the ground
because we keep addingl more bells and whistles and im
provements so that we have a prototype but seldom does
it go in production. Now the ATV or the stealth bomber
is coming along quite well but we can't rely on it {et. At
the present time, we can’t lose sight of the needs of today.
Instead of anticipating a global conflict 10 or 15 years from
lfww, we've got to provide for the present as well as the
uture.
This is going to be a challenging year because I think
ou're going to see in the RND (Research and Developmentg
éubcommittee on which Larry (McDonald) served an
which I became behind him, I think you're going to see
fewer programs. We're trying to consolidate some 3,600
programs we have now . . .
(10) New Case 580 Super E wheel loader Backhoes
equipped with case or wobble, stick control,
$32,500 each. Approx. 50 other pieces of construc
tion equipment. Call collect for prices and
description.
.
Remco Equipment
Ringgold, GA.
(404) 935-2378
Nights and Sundays (404) 861-4914 or 891-9522
The Summerville News, January 8, 1987 . .
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NURSES CONTRIBUTE TO BLOOD DRIVE
LPN Denise Wright; RN Nancy White
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DONORS MONITORED BY RED CROSS
Annette Purcell, Barbara Cavin, James Luster
Blood Drive
Short Of Goal
The holiday blood drive
sponsored last week by the
American Red Cross faired to
reach its %)al of 64 units, accor
ding to Shirley McCrickard,
assistant administrator at
Chattood%a County Hospital.
The drive collected 40 units
of blood from 48 respondents.
A goal of 80 units had been an
nounced previously by Red
Cross officials.
The drive was initiated in
response to a critical shortage
of blood in the region. The shor
tage was due to the high
number of holiday traffic ac
cidents, according to Red Cross
regional personnel.
In the blood drive, held at
Chattooga County Hospital
Dec. 30, goals were set at a
higher level because two drives
were combined into one.
“Due to the shortage of
time over the holiday season,
we combined the hospital drive
and the community drive into
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one,”’” Mrs. McCrickard said.
Response from the public
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Palmour Named
By Judge Esp~
It will be another week to a
week and one-half before Gov.
Joe Frank Harris appoints a
new solicitor for (ghatt,ooga
County State Court, Harris’ of
fice said Wednesday.
However, State Court
Judge T.J. Es‘gfi' has ap
pointed Summerville attorney
Albert C. Palmour to serve as
solicitor until the governor
makes a permanent appoint
ment. Palmour will serve dur
ing arraignment next week and
for the January term, Judge
Espy indicated.
15-A