News Digest Associated Press
Mudslinging appears early in furious race for president
Tom Raum
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP)—A slack economy,
a spirited independent challenge and the les
sons of 1988 are combining to turn an already
nasty presidential campaign season into an
earlier-than-usual three-way brawl.
The mud is flying fast and furious and in all
directions.Yet the Democratic Convention
doesn’t begin until Monday, the Republican
convention is a month and a half off and
President Bush is still the only candidate with
a running mate.
Vice presidential candidates usually bear
“hatchet man” responsibilities — a role Dan
Quayle has assumed with gusto in recent days.
With Democrat Bill Clinton zeroing in on a
running mate, even prospective Democratic
vice presidential nominees arc facing questions
on their negative-campaigning prowess.
“I’m not usually thoughlofasan attackdog,
but I can give a pretty good partisan speech,”
Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., one short-list
contender, told reporters Tuesday.
Clinton and Texan Ross Perot seem to be
doing fine in slam-dunk politics without rely
ing on running mates. And Bush isn’t leaving
all the dirty work to Quaylc.
Here’s why this year’s contest is shaping up
to what could be the nastiest ever:
•The failure of the economy to improve,
bom out by recent unemployment and other
statistics, is robbing Bush of what had been his
best high-road issue, forcing his campaign to
put more emphasis on negative tactics.
•Perot’s popularity has prompted a wave of
early attacks on his character and record from
both parties, especially from Republicans.
Perot has shown no reluctance to strikeback.
•Cl inton seems determined not to repeat the
political miscalculation made in 1988 by Demo
cratic nominee Michael Dukakis, who failed to
respond quickly to charges hurled at him by the
Bush campaign.
Bush senior campaign adviser Charles
Black said Bush ads should start appearing
between the two conventions. Perot ads may
come even sooner.
Meanwhile, Bush campaign officials will
send Cabinet members, GOP governors and a
variety of other prominent Republicans troop
ing to New York next week to provide a GOP
counterpoint to the Democratic convention.
“We will be a visible presence,” said Bush
campaign spokeswoman Toric Clarke. “We’re
very well aware of the fact that Bill Clinton
will get a bump out of this convention and his
vice presidential nomination.”
Much of the slash-and-bum skirmishing is
a prelude to television ads to come, suggests
Karen. Johnson Cartcc, a University of Ala
bama political scientist and a specialist in
negative campaigning.
“They want to discredit their opponents
before their opponents start attacking them
with negative ads,” she said.
When Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a
Republican, visited Arkansas on Monday to
bash Clinton’s record as governor, two Clinton
aides sat in the audience to immediately dispute
his assault and to criticize Weld’s own record.
Clinton followed his aides, blasting Weld as
“one of the attack dogs for George Bush.”
When reports surfaced last week that
Democrats had hired investigators to research
Bush’s finances and the savings-and-loan deal
ings of son Neil, Bush grumbled: “Let them
muck around in my garbage can. They aren’t
going to find anything.”
But presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwatcr
took it one step further.
“The Plumbers are back,” Fitzwatcr said.
Fitzwatcr later said he didn’t mean to
equate the Democratic opposition-research in
vestigation and Perot’s alleged inquiries with
the criminal 1972 break-in of the Democratic
headquarters at the Watergate Hotel by a group
known as the Plumbers.
Fitzwatcr probably was wise not to press the
point. After all, it turned out that the Plumbers
were working for a Republican president’s re
election committee.
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! CSCE will ban Yugoslavia
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — The
Conference on Security and Coop
eration in Europe suspended Yugo
slavia Wednesday, saying it could
not participate in the 52-nation group
for three months.
Russia had been the main holdout
in weeks of negotiation son what kind
of punishment the 20-ycar-old orga
nization could mete out to Serb-led
Yugoslavia for violating CSCE prin
ciples.
After an all-night session, Russia
agreed with 50 othcrstaies to isolate
Yugoslavia for fomenting violence in
the former Yugoslav republic of
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The decision was adopted by con
sensus.
Yugoslavia, which now consists
only of Serbia and Montenegro, had
already said it would boycott the sum
mit of national leaders here on Thurs
day and Friday.
The 52-member CSCE said it
would ban Yugoslavia from the sum
mit any way, and from all meetings
of the group until Oct. 14.
Vladimir Pavecevic, the head of
the Yugoslav delegation, said, “We
asked for 100 days,” referring to a
letter sent to the CSCE on Tuesday by
Yugoslavia’s Prime Minister Milan
Panic asking for a grace period to stop
the Bosnian fighting. “We will be
back on Oct. 14.”
In Munich, Germany, President
Bush was preparing to go to Helsinki
later in the day to attend the security
sum mil,following his meeting with
other leaders in the Group of Seven
industrialized nations.
Bosnia’s ethnic conflict is ex
pected to dominate the session Thurs
day and Friday.
The CSCE will adopt a NATO
proposal to establish mechanisms for
dealing with such threats to Europe’s
post-Cold War stability, a U.S.
officialsaid in Munich.
Local suspected in murder
LINCOLN (AP) — A woman
was arrested here on a murder
warrant in connection with the
death of her husband in Indiana 12
years ago, police said.
Rose B. Deck, 50, was arrested
without incident at her home on
Tuesday, Lt. David Beggs said.
Deck was being held without bond
on a murder warrant issued by
authorities in Allen County, Ind.,
Beggs said.
Indiana authorities suspect
Deck in the death of her husband,
James M. Kurt/., formerly of Leo,
Ind., Sgt. Joe Bickel of the Allen
County Police Department said.
Allen County is in northeast Indi
ana.
Kurtz had Lou Gerhig’s Dis
ease and was believed to have died
from natural causes, Bickel said.
But Allen County detectives
recently received information that
indicated Kurtz had been smoth
ered by Deck, who at thetime was
married to Kurtz, Bickel said.
Authorities exhumed Kurtz’s
body and performed an autopsy.
The autopsy results coincided with
what authorities had been told,
Bickel said.
A neighbor of Deck’s said Deck
had moved from Indiana to Lin
coln two months ago.
The Allen County police de
partment and coroner’s office re
opened the case last month after
Kurtz’s daughter, Janet Sproat,
told police she saw her mother
suffocate her father.
Deck confessed to a county po
lice officer during an interview last
week that she smothered her hus
band with a pillow, said Phillip E.
O’Shaughnessy, Allen County cor
ner.
O’Shaughnessy said he also re
viewed the March 17, 1989, drown
ing death of Deck’s son, 4-year
old Nathan R. Kurtz, and the death
of a 1 -month-old boy who died of
sudden infant death syndrome at
Deck’s house.
O’Shaughnessy said he re
viewed the two deaths to deter
mine whether Deck was involved
and “to see whether we did our
jobs.” O’Shaughnessy said he
found no evidence that she was
involved.
bproat, who was 14 when her
father died, said Friday she be
lieved his death was not a mercy
killing. She said hermother was
tired of taking care of Kurtz and
“wanted to get him out of the way.”
An autopsy showed hemorrhag
ing in Kurtz’s trachea,indicating
he was suffocated,O’Shaughnessy
said.
“That wasn’t conclusive, but it
was consistent with what we were
told," he said.
Deck was being held Tuesday
in a Lincoln jail, awailingan extra
dition hearing. If she waives extra
dition, she could be returned to
Allen County this week. If she
does not waive extradition, authori
ties in Indiana will seek legal mea
sures to force her extradition, said
Jim Schwcickart, county police
public information officer.
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