SENATE D'S 'SEND MESSAGE'; ASHCROFT STILL 'IN'. Senate Democrats couldn't bring themselves to block the confirmation of John D. Ashcroft as attorney general on Feb. 1, but the 42 votes opposing the former Missouri senator signaled that the Democrats should be able to sustain a filibuster if President Bush turns to the Republican Party's right wing for other top appointments, most importantly for the Supreme Court and other judicial assignments. While all 50 Republicans and eight Democrats supported Ashcroft, despite his extreme record on civil rights, abortion and other issues, the 42 "no" votes were one more than needed to sustain a filibuster. Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton was the only other Bush nominee besides Ashcroft who aroused significant opposition, but 25 Democrats joined the 50 Republicans to support her.
Democratic leaders said the Ashcroft vote carried the clear message that the party was prepared to draw the line at future nominations from the GOP right, particularly on judicial nominations, but Salon.com's Alicia Montgomery noted that Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, gloated about Ashcroft's victory to the press. Though he claimed that he was gratified to have any support from Democrats, Hatch replied, when asked if he had feared a filibuster by Democrats, "They didn't have the guts."
D's who voted for Ashcroft included North Dakota's Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, John Breaux of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Zell Miller of Georgia and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. All incumbent Democrats up for election in 2002 voted against Ashcroft. Some progressive D's are sending their senators lozenges to urge them to filibuster against right-wing initiatives and appointees (c/o US Senate, Washington DC 20510).
STATES UNDER BUDGET CRUNCH. The slowing economy has sharply reduced state tax revenues, forcing a growing number of states around the South and Midwest to cut their budgets for the first time in a decade, the New York Times reported Feb. 8. As many as 15 states that depend on sales and manufacturing taxes are suddenly facing spending cuts of up to 15%, producing the first reductions in education and health care programs in years.
In Texas, where George W. Bush used state tax cuts in 1997 and 1999 as a platform to run for president, the state is finding itself short of cash as the economy is softening. Budget-writers find that that the state may have as little as $300 million in its $108 billion budget available for new programs or expand existing ones.
Meanwhile, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warned that repeal of the federal estate tax not only would cost the federal government about $50 billion a year; it also would cost state governments more than $5.5 billion, based on provisions of the federal estate tax that give taxpayers a dollar-for-dollar credit against their federal estate tax liability for state estate and inheritance tax payments up to a specified amount.
MEXICAN TRUCKS GET US ACCESS. The Bush administration will not fight a Feb. 6 ruling by a NAFTA tribunal that allows Mexican trucks to have access to all US roads, raising concerns that substandard inspection in Mexico will lead to unsafe trucks flooding the US. NAFTA, which took effect in 1994, required the US to allow Mexican trucks access to all border-state roads starting in 1995, and to drive anywhere in the country by January 2000. The Clinton administration refused to expand their access beyond a 20-mile radius from the border. The US may enforce its own standards on any trucks traveling in the US, but the US lacks personnel and facilities to check most Mexican trucks. Public Citizen reported that fewer than 1% of the 4 million Mexican trucks entering the US now are inspected (and 35% of those are taken out of service for safety failures; see www.citizen.org.)
JAILED MEXICAN 'ENVIRO' HAILED. Imprisoned environmentalist Rodolfo Montiel received the Sierra Club's "Chico Mendes" award Feb. 6 for his courage and leadership in defending old-growth forests of Mexico's Sierra de Petatlán at the cost of his personal freedom. Montiel and his colleague, Teodoro Cabrera, are in prison for their efforts to halt the rampant logging in their farming community. Montiel organized farmers to oppose the rampant, and possibly illegal, logging in the mountains in Guerrero, Mexico. In May 1999, Montiel and Cabrera were arrested by members of the Mexican Army, who beat them, threatened them at gunpoint and allegedly tortured the two men, forcing them to confess to trumped-up charges of drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons, defenders say. In mid-July, the Mexico Commission on Human Rights declared that Montiel and Cabrera had, in fact, been tortured, that they have been improperly detained and that they were not in possession of firearms when arrested, as the military had claimed.
MORE STRIFE AT PACIFICA RADIO. Juan Gonzalez, the co-host of the Pacifica Radio Network show Democracy Now!, quit the show Jan. 31, citing harassment and muzzling of free speech in the most recent dispute at the five-station network. In his on-air resignation, he said "the current management situation at Pacifica has become intolerable ... the last straw being the Christmas Coup at this station, WBAI [in New York], last month" -- a reference to recent unexplained firings and bannings of top staff. "I've come to the conclusion that the Pacifica board has been hijacked by a small clique that has more in common with modern-day corporate vultures than with working-class America," he said. Gonzalez announced a "national corporate campaign" to oust the Pacifica Foundation's new leadership, which he accused of "illegally chang[ing] the Foundation's bylaws." He called on listeners, instead of donating to Pacifica, to contribute money to groups challenging the board's legitimacy and working to democratize the network. For more information about Gonzalez and the Pacifica Campaign, phone 212-871-9322 or see www.pacificacampaign.org. Meanwhile, six dissidents on the Pacifica Foundation's board want Pacifica's national leadership to reverse course on its takeover of WBAI, and to "build democratic decision-making structures throughout Pacifica."
JAILED MEXICAN 'ENVIRO' HAILED. Imprisoned environmentalist Rodolfo Montiel received the Sierra Club's "Chico Mendes" award Feb. 6 for his courage and leadership in defending old-growth forests of Mexico's Sierra de Petatlán at the cost of his personal freedom. Montiel and his colleague, Teodoro Cabrera, are in prison for their efforts to halt the rampant logging in their farming community. Montiel organized farmers to oppose the rampant, and possibly illegal, logging in the mountains in Guerrero, Mexico. In May 1999, Montiel and Cabrera were arrested by members of the Mexican Army, who beat them, threatened them at gunpoint and allegedly tortured the two men, forcing them to confess to trumped-up charges of drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons, defenders say. In mid-July, the Mexico Commission on Human Rights declared that Montiel and Cabrera had, in fact, been tortured, that they have been improperly detained and that they were not in possession of firearms when arrested, as the military had claimed.