The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, April 06, 1992, Page 2, Image 2

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    NT OTA7 Q I "I C'f" Associated Press
JL ^1 W f V C5 l£l V C5 V Edited by Roger Price
New York vote crucial
Brown, Clinton
go on offensive
in lively debate
NEW YORK — Bill Clinton and
Jerry Brown sparred pointedly over
abortion rights and Brown’s flat tax
proposal in a lively debate Sunday as
each faced a fresh personal contro
versy two days before a crucial pri
mary triple-header.
The debate was emblematic of the
campaign itself—
full of unusual
twists and con
founded by con
troversy. After
spending the first
half hour on the
attack, the Demo
cratic presidential rivals turned gen
tlemanly, complimenting each other
and taking a few shots at President
Bush.
With voters in New York, Wis
consin and Kansas going to the polls
Tuesday, Clinton, the Arkansas gov
ernor, was leading in New York and
in a light race against Brown in Wis
consin, according to polls.
A wild card is former Massachu
setts Sen. Paul Tsongas, who sus
pended his candidacy two weeks ago
but said Sunday he would consider
re-entering the race, depending on
how well he and Clinton did in New
York. Tsoneas is still on the ballot
and a draft-Tsongas group is airing
ads.
Clinton’s new controversy had an
old ring to it: more questions about
his draft status at the time he prom
ised to enter an ROTC program to
avoid military service in Vietnam.
Clinton, who had said he had a
high lottery number and was never
called to serve, acknowledged this
weekend he received a draft notice
while he was at England’s Oxford
University in 1969, before he pledged
to join ROTC — something he did
not disclose when asked about his
draft status earlier this year.
“I have never had anything to hide
on this,” Clinton said.
Earlier in the campaign, Clinton
said he expected to be drafted that
summer but never said he had actu
ally received a draft notice and re
ceived permission to complete the
term. “I would have been more than
happy to tell you this if it ever oc
curred to me to bring it up,” Clinton
told reporters.
For Brown, a newspaper report
suggesting that as governor he awarded
judgeships to big financial backers
was a jarring contrast to his cam
paign’s central theme that political
contributions have corrupted the sys
tem.
“It’s false if there’s any implica
tion that I was influenced by any
campaign contributions,” Brown said
of the Los Angeles Times story.
Both Brown and Clinton, in their
Sunday morning debate, owned up to
ELECTIONS
New York
Electoral
profile:
Delegatee
from elate:
Democratic: 244
Republican: 100
Total delegatee
in U.S.:_
Democratic. 4,288
Republican: 2,209
New York electorate.
1990 population
Eligible voters
Registered voters
■nrm
1 Other-20.7%
-Republicans-31.9%
-Democrats-47.4%
AP
personal imperfections, an exchange
that served as a reminder of growing
worries within their party that its
candidates might not be able to beat a
vulnerable incumbent president.
Perot campaign
starting to roll
WASHINGTON — From coast
to coast, an enthusiastic volunteer
army is on the march to get Texas
billionaire Ross Perot on the presi
dential ballot in November. Judg
ing by early reports from recruits,
the goal may be met in short order.
“It’s a wildfire,” said organizer
Michele Kubck of Anchorage,
Alaska, who expects to round up
the more than 2,000 signatures her
state requires in a matter of days.
“The phone rang all day yester
day” with requests about Perot,
said Patsy Casey, a worker in the
secretary of state’s office in Ken
tucky. In Las Vegas, an organizer
reported gathering 300 signatures
on a busy street corner in just two
hours.
Interviews by The Associated
Press with elections officials and
volunteers in all 50 states over the
past week show that response to a
prospective Perot candidacy has
been swift and overwhelming.
Perot, with a net worth of over
$2 billion, started the ball rolling
last month by saying he would run
as an independent if people could
get his name on the ballot in all 50
slates.
With the outspoken industrial
ist and his employees prodding the
H. Ross
Perot
Brian Shellito/DN
process from Dallas — and with
the help of a high-lcch 800-number
—the Perot petition effort has been
barrelling along.
“This has been the most incred
ible groundswcll, just ordinary folks,
com ing out of the woodwork,” said
Barbara LeBey, a former Georgia
judge who’s an Atlanta organizer.
Pcrol needs 27,(XH) signatures
by July 14 to gel on Georgia’s
ballot. Organizers say they will
shoot for 60,000 just to be safe.
The Texas industrialist says if
he runs, he’ll foot the bill himself
— and is prepared to spend SI (K)
million — making a Perot candi
dacy unparalleled.
500,000 march in pro-choice rally in Washington
WASHINGTON — An estimated half mil
lion abortion-rights demonstrators marched on
the nation’s capital Sunday to show political
muscle that they hoped would sway politicians
and a conservative Supreme Court.
Julie Doyle, a Harvard Law School student,
said, “The more we learned about the law at
Harvard, the more we realize how fragile these
rights are.”
Patricia Ireland, president of the National
Organization for Women, said at a morning
rally, “We’re going to turn out of office people
who don’t support us ”
It was the first abortions rights march on the
capital in three years, and Ireland called it “the
largest ever of any kind in this nation's capi
Crowd hopes to show support for abortion
tal
U.S. Park Police estimated the size of the
crowd at 500,000.
As it docs with all major demonstrations on
the Mall, park police photographed the crowd
from a helicopter and then superimposed a grid
over the composite photo to esti mate the crowd.
The estimate is made under a formula derived
from calculating the number of people who
would normally fit into a certain number of
square feet.
NOW had said it expected between 300,000
and 700,000 people to take part.
“We do couni and there are an awful lot of
us and they should watch out,” said Isabel
Glass of New York.
Democratic presidential candidate Jerry
Brown sat quietly for about an hour, but left
without speaking to the main crowd. He did
stand on a folding chair on the back of the main
stage to address a small crowd with a bullhorn.
A NOW spokeswoman, who refused to be
identified by name, said the group decided not
to allow any presidential candidate to speak.
Bill Clinton, who like Brown took time out
from campaigning for the New York Demo
cratic primary to attend the assembly, marched
in the rally surrounded by supporters who
chanted, “pro-choice, pro-Clinton.”
Both sides in the abortion issue see this year
as a possible turning point for legalized abor
tion in America. The Supreme Court is sched
uled to hear arguments April 22 on a Pennsyl
vania case that imposes restrictions on abor
tions.
People on both sides of the issue believe the
court will use that ease to undermine or even
overturn Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision that
made abortion legal.
«■■■■■■ ■ i ■ ■ ■ ' -I
Drug czar uses threats to torce budget increases
W AS HINGTON — The orricc of
National Drug Control Policy has
waged intense, behind-the-scenes
battles to force six recalcitrant Cabi
net agencies to seek $115.3 million in
additional funds for the war on drugs,
according to documents obtained by
The Associated Press.
The office’s real power lies in its
ability to expose agencies seeking
what it believes is too little money to
carry out the president’s anti-arug
strategy.
But revealing such problems re
quired a breach of the administra
tion’s normal reluctance to tell out
siders — that is, Congress — about
family squabbles.
Nevertheless, the drug control
policy office threatened to do just that
late last year after less drastic meas
ures failed to persuade six depart
ments to increase their anti-drug budget
proposals for fiscal 1993.
After the warning, the six increased
their total budget requests by SI 15.3
million, most of that for drug demand
reduction programs, according to the
documents sent to the Senate Judici
ary and House Government Opera
tions committees by the office of
ONDCP director Bob Martinez.
Martinez said last week that the
Bush administration had requested a
total $12.7 billion in drug-related
funding for fiscal 1993.
Thus far, the office has not used its
ultimate weapon: sending letters signed
by Martinez to a department head
declaring the department’s drug-war
funding inadequate.
Because the congressional com
mittees requested the drafts as well as
Marlinc/.’s signed letters certifying
every department’s final budget re
quest as adequate, the threats to ex
pose the reluctant drug warriors be
came, unintentionally, public.
The documents show the secretar
ies of Education, Health and Human
Services, Treasury, Housing and Urban
Development, Veterans Affairs and
Labor received draft letters.
Iran bombs bases in Iraq
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Iranian
warplanes bombed an Iraqi rebel
base near Baghdad on Sunday, the
first air strike by Iran on Iraqi terri
tory since a 1988 cease-fire hailed
their eight-year war.
Iraq claimed its forces shot down
one of eight Iranian fighter-bomb
ers and captured the two-man crew.
State-run Baghdad radio, monitored
in Cyprus, called the raid an act of
“blatant and unjustified aggression”
and warned Iran of “grave conse
quences.”
Rebel supporters in Europe re
sponded by attacking Iranian em
bassies in at least six countries.
The air raid marked a sharp
deterioration in relations between
ban and Iraq, which have not signed
a peace treaty to formally end their
1980-88 war and have been wag
ing increasingly strident propaganda
campaigns against each other.
Tehran said the air strike was in
retaliation for a raid by guerrillas
of Mujahedeen Khalq, or People’s
Holy Warriors, on two villages in
western Iran on Saturday. It also
blamed the Mujahedeen for recent
attacks on Iranian diplomats in
Baghdad.
But the raid may have been an
attempt by Iranian President
Hashemi Rafsanjani to shore up
support five days before parlia
mentary elections, in which he is
try ing to crush opponents of moves
to improve relations with the West.
Yeltsin says he will fight efforts
to limit the powers of president
MOSCOW — President Boris
Yeltsin said Sunday he will fight ef
forts in Russia’s parliament to trim
his powers and will use his full au
thority to press ahead with painful
economic reforms.
“Only one way can exist today —.
the continuation of radical reforms,”
he told a gathering of supporters.
His comments came on the eve of
a crucial session of the Congress of
People’s Deputies that will debate a
new constitution to replace the politi
cal system left by the Communists.
Parliament leaders are demanding that
Yeltsin relinquish some powers and
ease the hardship caused by his mar
ket reforms.
Barely four months after presiding
over the death of the Soviet Union,
Yeltsin could face a political firestorm
during the session of the 1,048-member
body, which convenes Monday in the
Grand Kremlin Palace.
But a key Yeltsin aide, State Sec
retary Gennady Burbulis, said pro
reform groups agreed tentatively
Sunday to form a parliamentary bloc
to defend the president. He said the
bloc included^ majority of lawmak
ers.
In return, Yeltsin agreed to consult
with the bloc in making government
appointments and formulating pol
icy.
Acknowledging criticism from
lawmakers, Yeltsin said he would
continue to shuffle his Cabinet and to'
make “partial corrections” in his re
forms, which sent prices soaring.
NetJraikan
Editor Jana Pedersen
472-1766
Managing Editor Kara Wells
Assoc. News Editors Chris Hoptensperger
Kris Karnopp
Opinion Page Editor Alan Phelps
Wire Editor Roger Price
Copy Desk Editor Wendy Navratll
Sports Editor Nick Hytrek
Assistant Sports Editor Tom Clouse
Arts 5 Entertain
ment Editor Stacey McKenzie
Diversions Editor Dionne Searcey
Photo Chief Michelle Paulman
Night News Editors Adeana Leftin
John Adklsson
Wendy Mott
Tom Kunz
Art Director Scott Maurer
General Manager Den Shattll
Production Manager Katherine Pollcky
Advertising Manager Todd Sears
Sales Manager Erie Krtnael
Classified Ad Manager Annette Sueper
Publications Board
Chairman Bill Vobejda
472- 2568
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473- 7301
FAX NUMBER 472-1761
The Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is
published by the UNL Publicat,ons Board, Ne
braska Union 34, 1400 R St.. Lincoln, NE,
Monday Through Friday during the academic
year; weekly during summer sessions
Readers are encouraged to submit story
ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan
by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a m. and 5
p m Monday through Friday. The public also
has access to the Publications Board. For
information, contact Bill Vobejda, 472-2588
Subscription price is $50 tor one year.
Postmaster: Send address changes to the
Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R
St.,Lincoln, NE 66588-0448 Second-class
postage paid at Lincoln, NE.
ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT
_1992 DAILY NEBRASKAN_