National Journal articles from July 1999

National Journal archives from July 1999

Not so conservative: the Supreme Court and the disability decisions.
July 3, 1999... The "bold conservatism of the Rehnquist majority" (to borrow from a June 27 front-pager in The Washington Post) was once again a dominant theme in news coverage of the Supreme Court's annual end-of-term June rush. There is some truth in...

Confused about the economy? That's OK. So is Alan Greenspan.
July 3, 1999... The world's financial markets paid rapt attention on June 30 when Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, announced the first rise in the Fed's benchmark interest rate since the spring of 1997. As expected, the increase was...

Education Nation.(public schools' social responsibility)
July 3, 1999... WHEN SOCIETY SEEMS TO BE BROKEN, AMERICANS DEMAND MORE FROM THEIR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. From the first, Americans have expected--indeed demanded--an awful lot from their public schools. It was the Puritans who originally set up publicly financed...

Summer Is Here, Schools Are In.(Congressional education bills; includes related article on Rep William F. Goodling, chair of House panel on education)
July 3, 1999... THERE'LL BE NO SCHOOL RECESS FOR CONGRESS AS BOTH PARTIES SEEK TO PASS EDUCATION REFORMS. It was a sunny, upbeat, and colorful scene as Republicans unveiled their latest education proposal on June 22 in front of the Capitol. Cheering kids...

An Apple for Voters.(education policy of presidential candidates for 2000 election)
July 3, 1999... EVERY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE KNOWS: IT'S THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, STUPID. When Bob Dole accepted the Republican presidential nomination at his party's convention in August 1996, he had scathing words for the nation's teachers' unions. "If...

Silicon Valley's Reform Bug.(California high-technology center's educational reform policies)
July 3, 1999... [HIGH-TECH IS WADING INTO THE DEBATE OVER HOW BEST TO REVAMP PUBLIC EDUCATION. Across the nation, many high-tech companies donate new and used computers, software, and employees' expertise to schools. Microsoft Corp., for instance, has...

Vouching for Vouchers.(US Supreme Court may decide on educational vouchers)(Statistical Data Included)
July 3, 1999... SCHOOL VOUCHERS ARE PASSING MUSTER IN LOWER COURTS, BUT MAY FACE A FINAL VERDICT AT THE U.S. SUPREME COURT. The fundamental legal issue facing school voucher programs is whether a state government is endorsing religion by funding education...

The resurrection of John Boehner.(Ohio Republican Representative)
July 3, 1999... Following the House Republicans' shellacking in last November's elections, heads naturally had to roll. Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., resigned within days to avoid a protracted GOP power struggle. Rep. John Linder, R-Ga., a Gingrich protege...

Republican overboard?(New Jersey Rep Marge Roukema)
July 3, 1999... For anyone following this year's limited legislative activity, it has been hard to miss Rep. Marge Roukema, R-NJ. Roukema's somewhat iconoclastic approach often sets her apart from her party's mainstream. Now, however, she may have gone too far...

The west wing's go-to laborer.(White House presidential aide Karen A. Tramontano)
July 3, 1999... In the basement of the White House, there is a low-ceilinged, windowless office painted a mischievous shade of cotton-candy pink. On the door to this office there ought to be a sign: Department of Sticky Problems. But no one in the White House,...

Update of the drug wars.(Office of National Drug Control Director Barry McCaffrey)(Interview)
July 3, 1999... When retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey became the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in 1996, he inherited one of the most thankless jobs in government. Though he held a Cabinet-level position, the "drug czar" was viewed as...

Brilliant, baffling Bill.(President Bill Clinton)
July 3, 1999... Bill Clinton is feeling the march of time these days. In the President's sometimes-freewheeling remarks to Democratic contributors, in his answers to reporters' questions, in his instructions to his top aides, can be heard the simmering anxiety...

Shifting gears on Superfund.(hazardous waste cleanup program)
July 3, 1999... After more than a decade of clamoring for a complete overhaul of the Superfund law, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has shifted tactics. It has joined a new group that's pressing for limited reforms that would exempt developers of abandoned and...

From the K Street Corridor.(Washington D.C. news)
July 3, 1999... For Republican Eyes Only The K Street Crowd, an informal club of roughly 7.5 Republican lobbyists, has launched a Web site to forge closer ties between downtown Republicans and those on Capitol Hill. The public portion of the site...

The huddled masses breathe a little easier.(public aid to immigrants)
July 3, 1999... In just four years, there's been a dramatic change in the political climate surrounding the formerly white-hot issue of what welfare and other government benefits should be given to immigrants, both legal and illegal. As recently as late...

Smokestacks into greenbacks.(renovating former industrial sites)
July 3, 1999... BETHLEHEM, Pa.--In search of prosperity under the rules of the new economy, this battered old mill town is building a theme park dedicated to the old economy. A landmark on the Bethlehem skyline is the Ore Bridge, a massive raised structure...

Do you trust polls or not? (or are you undecided?).
July 3, 1999... We are a poll-driven nation. Every night of the week, Americans answer questions about politics and policy for scores of opinion surveys. Poll statistics accompany news coverage, political commentators throw them around like water balloons, and...

Views on the American scene.(public opinion poll on various political subjects)(Statistical Data Included)
July 3, 1999... The First Candidate Rate your feelings toward Hillary Rodham Clinton: very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, or very negative. (margin of error : [+ or -] percentage points; Peter D. Hart and Robert M. Teeter for NBC...

The debt wolf at the door.(US national debt)
July 3, 1999... When the fabled shepherd boy cried "Wolf!" before the predator was actually attacking his sheep, he forever became the ignominious symbol of the consequences of raising a false alarm. But in one way, the boy got a bad rap. Although he misled...

People.(news on politicians and journalists)
July 3, 1999... At the Bar Michael Bromwich, a watchdog's watchdog, is stepping down after five years as the Justice Department's inspector general. Justice's longest-serving IG, Bromwich, 45, has decided to enter private practice and is taking a job with...

ALL IN THE (DOLE) FAMILY.(Elizabeth H. Dole and nephew John Hanford)
July 3, 1999... Elizabeth Dole's nephew has a simple message for anyone who doubts his aunt's credentials as a religious conservative: "Her faith is at the center of her life," says John Hanford, 44, a former assistant pastor who's now an aide to a Republican...

Why Kerrey Prefers Bradley.(Sen. Bob Kerrey, Sen. Bill Bradley)
July 3, 1999... Despite a flurry of last-minute objections from some of his financial allies and importunings from Vice President Al Gore's camp, Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., is preparing to endorse former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., for President. Bradley is...

BRADLEY'S STARTING LINEUP.(former Sen. Bill Bradley)
July 3, 1999... Given that former Sen. Bill Bradley is a presidential candidate whose campaign style has been called "Zen-like" or just plain "quirky," it's not surprising that Bradley's senior cadre of political advisers is made up of "true believers." ...

WHY GORE WAS SMART TO FAULT CLINTON.(includes related article on public opinion poll results)(Statistical Data Included)
July 3, 1999... Overly protective White House aides who have been critical of Vice President Al Gore for distancing himself from President Clinton should take a look at the polls before calling the Veep an ingrate. The Democratic Party, in general, and Vice...

Hotline Extra.(includes related article)
July 3, 1999... Bush Fairs Mar-velously The theme for this year's fair at the Del Mar Fairgrounds near San Diego, Calif., is "The Rush Is on." And it certainly was for the media--The Hotline included--dashing through California this past week covering...

WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD BUSH?(George W. Bush, presidential campaign)
July 3, 1999... Seattle--In a recent speech here to the Association of State Democratic Chairs, Doug Berman, Bill Bradley's presidential campaign chairman, stressed how important the top of the ticket may be to the Democrats' hopes of recapturing the House...

BUSH IN, GOP CONGRESS OUT?
July 3, 1999... Gov. George W. Bush has conquered Washington. He didn't come last month to campaign for Republican support. He came to receive tribute from the Republican establishment. The capital was at his feet. The Texas Governor has already been endorsed...

WHY CONGRESS SHOULD FIX THE ASBESTOS LITIGATION MESS.
July 10, 1999... The more than 200,000 asbestos lawsuits pending around the nation are proceeding very nicely, in the view of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America--whose members are collecting contingency fees by the billions--and Congress should leave...

HEY, KISD! DON'T READ THIS!
July 10, 1999... I don't have children, so I can't say I know much about them. I defer to my many friends in the baby boom generation who are parents. They know everything about children. In fact, they know more about children than was known by all previous...

A World of Risk.
July 10, 1999... ONCE, GOVERNMENT BELIEVED IN PROTECTING PEOPLE FROM BAD LUCK AND BAD DECISIONS. NOT ANYMORE On the morning of Jan. 20, 1937, a freezing rain pelted Washington. The notables on hand for the second inaugural address of President Franklin D....

Blue-Ribbon Brawls.(includes related article on managing military bases)
July 10, 1999... WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, CONGRESS APPOINTS A COMMISSION. THAT'S WHEN INTEREST GROUPS AND THEIR LOBBYISTS ENTER THE FRAY WILLIAMSBURG, Va.--Here in the cradle of colonial America, questions of taxation and representation are once again...

IN SEARCH OF DEAL-MAKERS.
July 10, 1999... Sometime this fall, congressional negotiators and Administration officials might go into a room in the Capitol and cut deals on spending, tax cuts, Medicare reform, and Social Security. Or the opposite could occur: no deals, no bargaining...

FOR SHUSTER, THERE'S TURBULENCE AHEAD.(Rep Bud Schuster)
July 10, 1999... Since becoming chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee four years ago, Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa., has turned into a larger-than-life figure on Capitol Hill by winning last year's enormous highway spending increase,...

MR. FIX-IT LAWMAKERS.
July 10, 1999... These days, the denizens of Capitol Hill are acting like repairmen. Got a problem? Not to worry. No matter how small or pedestrian, personal or even spiritual, members of Congress are bound to come up with a fix. Worried about declining...

LOOKING LOCAL ISN'T ALWAYS EASY.
July 10, 1999... They say someday I'll run for an office. Well, I'd have to be chloroformed first! --Eleanor Roosevelt in a 1935 letter to a friend ONEONTA, N.Y.--Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has often tipped her hat to her predecessor from New York,...

BEYOND FAMILY CIRCUS.
July 10, 1999... Awhile back, newspapers noticed they were losing readers, so they came up with a brilliant solution: be "reader-friendly." The idea was that papers should act more like politicians: tell the public what it wants to hear, strive not to alienate,...

IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEBT?
July 10, 1999... Who would have thought that the old adage about absence making the heart grow fonder might one day apply to the federal debt? For decades, the government's pile of IOUs--a stack that peaked in World War II and then again in 1996--has been...

JAPAN'S SHADOW RECOVERY.
July 10, 1999... RECENT FEEL-GOOD NEWS OUT OF JAPAN IS A DANGEROUS DISTRACTION Question the reports that the Japanese economy grew at an annual rate of 7.9 percent in the first quarter of 1999. Ignore the headlines that the Japanese unemployment rate fell...

People.
July 10, 1999... At the Bar Richard Leon, an authority on congressional investigations, is joining the Washington office of Columbus, Ohio-based Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease to head its whitecollar crime and congressional investigation section. It's a...

Correction.
July 10, 1999... Last week's item on Jon Lenzner incorrectly reported that the Democratic press secretary's slot on the House International Relations Committee had been vacant since 1994. Celes E. Hughes left the job earlier this year.

PATTON'S NEXT CAMPAIGN.(Kentucky Gov. Paul E. Patton)(includes related article on Republican and Democratic National Committees)
July 10, 1999... A former engineer, Kentucky's Democratic Gov. Paul E. Patton is nothing if not deliberate. Indeed, State Sen. David Boswell of Owensboro calls Patton the "slide-rule Governor" for his methodical ways. Chris Nolan, an editor with two political...

BEHIND THE SUDDEN SURGE OF PESSIMISM.(includes related article on parental influence)(Statistical Data Included)
July 10, 1999... Even a cursory look at the national polls suggests that something happened this spring that fundamentally changed the way Americans see their country and their communities. Although the economy is booming and the United States is at peace, the...

Hotline Extra.
July 10, 1999... Mating Dance Too early to be looking at presidential running mates in 2000? Not according to these media speculators. The New York Times's Frank Bruni reported that the names of several women "dance in and out of conversations" about...

WHAT'S MONEY? MAYBE EVERYTHING.
July 10, 1999... THE EFFICIENCY OF THE GEORGE W. BUSH CASH-HARVESTING MACHINE IS A SHOCKER. The astonishing news that Texas Gov. George W. Bush corralled more than $36 million in the first six months of this year for his presidential campaign could have...

SCENT OF A WINNER.
July 10, 1999... BUSH HAS BEEN ANOINTED BY INSIDERS, BUT WHAT ABOUT VOTERS? In the old days, we're told, a self-appointed group of party bosses would get together in a smoke-filled room to decide on a presidential nominee. Convention halls filled with party...

VIEWS ON THE ECONOMY.
July 10, 1999... Confidence Game How much confidence do you have in big business? (margin of error [+ or -] 3 percentage points; Gallup Organization Inc. for CNN-USA Today) 6/2799 A GREAT...

THANK GOD FOR MAXINE WATERS (NO, REALLY).
July 17, 1999... A striking bipartisan consensus has emerged in the House of Representatives on the need to fix one aspect of the "war" against drugs that has ravaged the lives and liberties of millions of Americans over the past 25 years. This consensus...

THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE COMPUTER GEEKS. WRONG.
July 17, 1999... Now that the President has looked at some poverty and felt some pain, what should he be doing about it? The main things are obvious and fairly dull. Strong expansions like the one America's economy is now enjoying are highly recommended; they...

One in Six, and Counting.(Americans without health insurance)
July 17, 1999... AS THE NUMBER OF UNINSURED AMERICANS CONTINUES TO SWELL, REPUBLICANS LOOK TO THE TAX CODE TO REVERSE THE TREND. THINK BACK TO FIVE YEARS AGO THIS SUMMER. THE issue that had gripped Washington for more than a year health care reform--was...

Faces of the Uninsured.(health insurance)
July 17, 1999... WHEN HE DIAGNOSED KENNY Horsley with advanced skin cancer last December, neurosurgeon Joe Ordonez asked: "How long do you want to live?" "If you'll pardon my French," answered Horsley, 48, "I want to be an old fart." In February, when...

A Dozen Key Players.(health care reform debate)
July 17, 1999... HERE ARE SOME OF THE politicians, policy analysts, and industry representatives working on proposals to reduce the number of uninsured Americans. REP. DICK ARMEY, R-TEXAS Armey hadn't been considered a leader on health care issues,...

Kinder, Gentler Arm-Twisting.(lobbying for medicare drug prescription reform)
July 17, 1999... WHEN THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY went after President Clinton's health care reform plan in 1993-94, it didn't have to worry about subtleties. Its "Harry and Louise" television advertisements attacked the plan head-on, depicting it as a Big...

Torched-Earth Strategy.(Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Robert Torricelli)(includes related article on leadership political action committees)
July 17, 1999... AS THE SENATE DEMOCRATS' CHIEF CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST, THE HARD-CHARGING BOB TORRICELLI IS PULLING OUT ALL THE STOPS. Vice President Al Gore had big plans for a major fund-raiser in New Jersey earlier this year, but he abruptly dropped them....

The big squeeze for an anti-lemon law.
July 17, 1999... Last October, after years of intense lobbying, America's insurance industry and automobile dealers found themselves on the verge of a victory. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., had attached their long-sought legislation--setting a...

Archer vs. Roth.(tax policies of House Ways and Means Committee Chair Bill Archer and Senate Finance Committee Chair William V. Roth)
July 17, 1999... As the two congressional tax-writing committees this week began what will likely be a long-running melodrama to craft tax-cut legislation, they appeared to be moving in similar directions. Both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate...

The VA loses an innovator.(Veterans Administration)
July 17, 1999... Now we know, yet again, the price of innovation. At the Veterans Affairs Department, with its stodgy bureaucratic traditions and hyper-attentive constituencies, the Innovator in Chief has quit. Done in by the political forces he had stirred up,...

What's in a name? Money.
July 17, 1999... The Internet doesn't have a government, but it does have a central committee--something called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. And its potential power is the subject of an international whirlwind of lobbying that's...

McCurdy's survival instinct.(former Oklahoma Representative Dave McCurdy)
July 17, 1999... Last October, top Republicans on Capitol Hill pressured the Electronic Industries Alliance to drop plans to hire a Democrat, former Rep. Dave McCurdy of Oklahoma, as its president. But the GOP's strong-arm tactics failed. Nine months later,...

From the K Street Corridor.(Washington D.C. news)
July 17, 1999... The Straw That Stirs the Drink The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States has ventured beyond the Beltway to find its new leader. Peter H. Cressy, the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts (Dartmouth) and a retired Navy...

People.
July 17, 1999... Around the Agencies For John Hart, it's time to cash in on seven years of behind-the-scenes executive branch strategizing. He's resigning as deputy director of President Clinton's Community Oriented Policing Services (or COPS) program to...

Reducing out-of-wedlock births.
July 17, 1999... Thirty-four years ago, a then-obscure assistant secretary of Labor by the name of Daniel Patrick Moynihan released a report linking poverty among black children to the prevalence of illegitimacy. The result: Moynihan was labeled a racist, and...

Pas de deux, Chinese style.(relations with Taiwan)
July 17, 1999... There's a classic scene in Chinese opera: Two characters approach each other. Gongs are gonged. The characters glare, and strike menacing poses--and take each other's measure. Similarly, posturing and ritualistic hostility has long dominated...

Lights! Camera! More inaction?(international trade regulations for cultural products)
July 17, 1999... The ever-expanding basket of "cultural" issues--movies, books, recordings, and even the sanctity of a particular language or way of life--has long been an off-limits topic whenever nations gather to discuss ways of making trade less troublesome...

Hotline Extra.
July 17, 1999... The Lazio Days of Summer First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton isn't the only one causing intrigue in the race to replace Sell. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y. There's plenty on the Republican side, too. John Machacek of Gannett News...

A rundown of the most competitive House races.
July 17, 1999... It's still early, of course, but the 1999-2000 election campaign is already noteworthy for the House Democrats' single-minded determination to recapture the majority status they lost in 1994. The Democrats' ardor is matched only by the passion...

The summer of their discontent.
July 17, 1999... The decision by Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., to quit the Republican Party and run for President as a third-party candidate will have virtually no impact on the GOP nomination fight. Smith was a far right political cipher, whose bid for the...

Poll Readings.
July 17, 1999... VIEWS ON PRESIDENTIAL PERFORMANCE The Institution How much confidence do you have in the presidency? ([+ or -] 3 percentage points; Gallup Organization Inc. for CNN-USA Today) ...

The Clinton to watch.(Hillary)
July 17, 1999... First ladies have usually been seen as "above politics." Typically, they have been more popular and less divisive than the President. Not so for Hillary. During stretches when Jimmy Carter and George Bush were very unpopular, their wives...

A BRIDGE TOO FAR ON STATES' RIGHTS.
July 24, 1999... It's easy for conservatives to view with delight all seven of the major Supreme Court decisions since 1992 that have breathed new life into states' rights. It's also easy for liberals to view them with dismay. The Court's own alignments...

PARANOID, WITH DELUSIONS OF DISCRIMINATION.
July 24, 1999... What is one to make of the Supreme Court's ruling, in May, that schools are liable for student-on-student harassment that is "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive"? Objectively offensive?. Is that like "objectively beautiful"? How is it...

You Go, Girls.(growing support for women presidential candidates)
July 24, 1999... THE IDEA OF A WOMAN PRESIDENT ONCE SEEMED IMPLAUSIBLE, BUT NOT ANYMORE. WITH SOME 92 PERCENT OF AMERICANS SAYING THEY WOULD VOTE FOR A WOMAN, HOW LONG WILL WE HAVE TO WAIT? The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer, not...

Haley's Hustle.(former congressman Haley Barbour)
July 24, 1999... LOBBYIST STRATEGIST, AND FUND-RAISER, HALEY BARBOUR HAS PARPLAYED HIS GOP CONNECTIONS INTO A PROSPEROUS CAREER ON K STREET. IS THE FORMER RNC CHAIRMAN THE NEXT BOB STRAUSS? When J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., became Speaker of the House in...

A War of Limits.
July 24, 1999... ARMED WITH LIMITED POPULAR SUPPORT AND ONLY AIRPLANES AND BOMBS, BILL CLINTON IN KOSOVO WON ANOTHER BATTLE, AND NATO WON ITS FIRST WAR. If wars help define nations, the image of America mirrored in the recent Balkan War is of a country both...

HOUSE'S DOCTORS PRESCRIBE BITTER MEDICINE.
July 24, 1999... Republican glee over the Senate's recent approval of a conservative patient protection bill may soon give way to a headache. As the emotionally charged issue of managed care reform moves to the House, GOP leaders are struggling to settle both...

Poll Readings.(Statistical Data Included)
July 24, 1999... VIEWS ON THE AMERICAN SCENE Attention Deficit How much attention have you been able to pay to the 2000 election campaigns: a lot, some, not much, or no attention at all? ([+ or -] 4 percentage points; CBS News) ...

WHY THE EPA'S WHEEZING A BIT.
July 24, 1999... Alfred Munzer, a pulmonologist on the staff of Washington Adventist Hospital, was not surprised a few weeks ago to find his waiting room filled with people suffering from severe respiratory problems. He said the scene is a daily occurrence...

STAIRWAY TO JOB HEAVEN.
July 24, 1999... Every week, a handful of resumes from Capitol Hillites hoping to make the move to K Street lands on the desk of American Electronics Association President William T. Archey. A great many of those job-seekers emphasize that the AEA is not just...

From the K Street Corridor.
July 24, 1999... Packwood's Labor on Tax Bill The AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department has hired former Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., to push for changes in pension and tax laws. The union is the first labor client for Packwood, who has...

FIRST, SAVE ALL THE LAWYERS.
July 24, 1999... As characters in Washington scandals go, Franklin L. Haney, Democratic fund-raiser and pal of Vice President Al Gore, is just a bit player. The Justice Department tried--and failed miserably this month--to nail him on charges that he violated...

People.
July 24, 1999... Interest Groups Robert J. Walker, the president of Handgun Control Inc., is ceasing fire. Walker, 48, has announced he will leave the gun control advocacy group, chaired by Sarah Brady, by the beginning of next year. Although he has been...

GEORGE, AND THE ROAD NOT TAKEN.(George magazine)
July 24, 1999... When George magazine first appeared in October 1995, it had a famous editor and two good ideas. The world paid attention to George because of the editor, but it was those two ideas that made the magazine seem actually promising. They were 1)...

IN FLORIDA, GOVERNMENT GETS RELIGION.
July 24, 1999... MIAMI--Fifteen months before the 2000 election, there's one issue already entrancing the two leading presidential candidates, and dividing both liberals and conservatives. George W. Bush has seized on it as a key to convincing Americans he is...

THE GREENHOUSE THAT GREENSPAN BUILT.(Federal Reserve Board)
July 24, 1999... MONETARY POLICY The Federal Reserve Board ,has always been known for its vaultlike secrecy. Indeed, the soundproof Governors' Room in the Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington is regarded as such a secure place that President...

FEEDING THE TRADE SHARKS.
July 24, 1999... Former U.S. Trade Representative and longtime political deal maker Robert S. Strauss once likened trade negotiations to steering a canoe through shark-infested waters. He said he would first feed the sharks on his fight, fending them off in...