Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Headline Article Date: Wed, 28 Oct 92 15:01:10 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION;INSIDE THE BELTWAY \BY John McCaslin \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES QUAYLE ENDORSEMENT Dan Quayle, in a nationally televised interview yesterday from Springfield, Mo., was asked about the character issue as it relates to Bill Clinton and George Bush. What the vice president wasn't asked for was his prediction on the outcome of the presidential race, but he went ahead and gave it to us anyway. "The president has always said that character is an issue and that character is an issue in this campaign," Mr. Quayle said on "CBS This Morning." "What [vice presidential chief of staff] Bill Kristol was doing [in a speech last week] was simply reading from the Congressional Record and making a statement that Bill Clinton, if you apply the so-called John Tower test that the Democratic Senate applied to former Senator John Tower, that Bill Clinton would have trouble being confirmed in the Senate. Yet he appears to be perhaps being elected president of the United States." HUNGER PANGS In the High Sierras of Northern California, there are really no homeless people, for the simple reason that without a home you perish pretty quickly. But one of our Beltway Irregulars driving along a mountain road outside Placerville (formerly Hangtown) spotted a man standing on the shoulder with a hand-lettered sign: "Will vote Republican for food." DEMOCRATIC WATCHDOG Noting that the Clinton campaign spent its general-election money early to build its lead and, as a result, is now becoming "desperate," the Bush-Quayle camp yesterday issued an "urgent alert" for all Bush-Quayle personnel to watch for any enemy violations. "From now through the election we expect them to cut corners and completely ignore the federal spending limitations," the president's mostly volunteer field staff was told. "Please monitor the spending activities - advertising, telephone banks and leafleting - by or on behalf of Clinton-Gore in your area and notify us in writing of those activities promptly so that we can take appropriate action." HARD TO SWALLOW It's not easy being spokesman for the president of the United States. Just ask Marlin Fitzwater. Once, during a visit to Washington by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Mr. Fitzwater was literally hoisted into the air by KGB Ninth Guards Directorate bodyguards who mistook him for the average Joe. Now comes word that Mr. Fitzwater is a victim in Iowa, of all pastures. Mr. Fitzwater, as the story goes, was sitting down to a well-deserved dinner at a Des Moines restaurant after a day of campaigning Monday. Soon, another diner, obviously not in search of Sweet 'n Low, approached Mr. Fitzwater and angrily dragged the tablecloth, dishes and glasses right out from under the spokesman's mouth. Police outside the door of the restaurant heard the dishes crashing to the floor and promptly responded to arrest one Frank Smithson of Des Moines. Mr. Smithson was determined to be drunk and disorderly, was questioned by Secret Service agents, and was released after posting $390 bond. WILDER'S WINGS Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder had a new waste, fraud and abuse hot line installed earlier this month for state employees, and this week he got a complaint - with him as the target. Virginia Delegate Jay O'Brien, Clifton Republican, telephoned to complain that the governor has been using Virginia's official state aircraft - a Cessna seven-seat jet - to make repeated trips around the country on behalf of the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign. "Once again, Doug Wilder and his cronies have taken to the friendly skies . . . at taxpayers' expense," Mr. O'Brien charged. "Isn't it about time the governor stopped abusing the perks of his office?" Glenn Davidson, an Arlington native who serves as Mr. Wilder's press secretary, dismissed Mr. O'Brien's charge in a telephone interview yesterday, noting that other governors in the past, Democrat and Republican, have used state aircraft to stump for their party ticket. "The state is being reimbursed by Clinton-Gore for every penny of travel expense," Mr. Davidson said, adding that the governor has even found a way to make money for the state by bringing as many as five reporters along for the ride at $500 a pop. JUST RENTING The National Taxpayers Union Foundation commissioned a poll of 800 Americans over age 25 and asked them the maximum amount of time, if term limitations were passed, a member should serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. The largest group, or 34 percent, said to limit congressmen to two terms, or four years. PLEASE SIGN HERE Well aware of an increasingly disaffected electorate that's reared its head this election year, the Government Ethics Center, a division of the Josephson Institute of Ethics, has drawn up the "Ethics Pledge for Elected Officials" - a lasting, written statement of ethical obligations that an official can sign, date and be held accountable to. In signing the copyrighted code of conduct, the official would agree to a list of 12 rules dealing with public trust, public interest, rule of law, confidential and sensitive information, impartiality, and discretionary authority. Many politicos might have a hard time abiding by rule No. 2: "I will act to promote the reality and perception that government is conducted with honesty, integrity, and a concern for justice." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM