Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.wpost From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Gore's Curious ConstituentsBy Jack Anderson and Michael Binstein Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 05:02:45 EST Message-ID: <17.1992Nov16.050246@AmeriCast.com> Gore's Curious ConstituentsBy Jack Anderson and Michael Binstein Even the Mr. Clean of American politics sometimes has had to dirty his hands in the cause of constituent service. Vice President-elect Al Gore boasts one of the most spotless records in Congress. Hailed for his work on the environment and arms control, Gore has also been the consummate constituent poli- tician. The candidate President Bush dubbed the "Ozone Man" had his feet firmly planted on Earth about concerns touching Ten- nesseans. Letters Gore wrote to federal bureaucrats while in the Senate, which were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, illus- trate how he tended after all Tennesseans - be they horse breeders, strip miners or convicted drug dealers. Consider the case of Crosstown Drugs of Nashville, Tenn. In 1988, the drugstore's owner experienced trouble getting his registration reinstated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and so he wrote Gore a letter. Gore forwarded a copy, along with a letter of his own, to the DEA on Dec. 2, 1988. A Dec. 11 DEA reply to Gore offered a compelling reason for the rejection: "The DEA registration of Crosstown Drugs was revoked effective Aug. 1, 1986, pursuant to an administrative hearing in which it was determined that (the owner) had illegally sold con- trolled substances and had been convicted in 1983 of felonies re- lating to controlled substances." Gore, on March 22, 1989, wrote another letter to DEA on behalf of Crosstown Drugs, asking for "any assistance you may be able to provide," which would be "greatly appreciated." This time, Gore was apprised that the applicant was a convicted felon and had "materially falsified applications for DEA registration on two occasions." Store owner Lonnie Maze Jr. told us that he "sure ap- preciates all the effort Sen. Gore and others" made on his behalf. The point of the Crosstown correspondence is not that Gore is soft on crime and drugs, because quite the opposite is true. However, it illustrates that constituent activism in any congres- sional office can often get switched on automatic pilot, even for those constituents with questionable backgrounds. Gore's interests often proved eclectic. In 1989 he adopted the cause of cats after a group of doctors opposed to animal research wrote him about an Army research project using felines to research human head wounds. Gore wrote two letters to the Secre- tary of the Army demanding more information on how the deaths of "hundreds of cats" was contributing to human knowledge of head wounds. Gore was no bleeding heart concerning horses. He wrote the Department of Agriculture in 1987 along with congressional col- leagues to protest a lawsuit by the American Horse Protection As- sociation over an anti-cruelty regulation. The AHPA was suing Agriculture for failing to enforce a law prohibiting "soring" - a practice in which acid or other irritating chemicals are rubbed on a horse's front leg just above the hoof. Horses are then fit- ted with six-ounce metal chains that rub against the sore area and produce a higher gait that scores better in competitions. Soring was made illegal by the Horse Protection Act, but the AHPA claimed the regulations were not being adequately enforced. Gore's letter rejected the AHPA's argument. Ultimately, the horse rights group prevailed in court over the politically potent walk- ing horse industry. One apparent anomaly in Gore's constituent caseload concerned Rith Energy, a strip-mining company seeking a permit to do busi- ness in Tennessee. In this case, the Senate's leading environmen- talist fought to give strip miners their day in court. Rith En- ergy owner William Ring wrote to Gore and another Democratic se- nator from Tennessee, Jim Sasser, complaining that the permit was bottled up by the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining. Rith's owners thought the OSM was stalling unfairly, although federal officials noted that the information Rith supplied in its application had proved to be "not representative of the site." Gore and Sasser wrote OSM on Dec. 15, 1988, asking why a scheduled public hearing had been postponed. "Because of the economic hardships faced by Mr. Ring in these matters, we urge your expeditious handling of these questions," they wrote. "Both Mr. Ring's interest and the public's interest would be best served by quickly rescheduling this public hearing." Gore's stance eventually shifted somewhat after local residents grew vocal about Rith and its plans for handling the toxic by- products of strip mining. Gore wrote back to OSM - this time ask- ing that the EPA be allowed to review and comment on the OSM's assessment of the latest Rith plan for handling the toxic materi- als. He cited interest by "environmental protection groups." Rith was eventually denied its operating permit. 1992, United Feature Syndicate Inc.=02:19 11-16C9999----- Copyright 1992, The Washington Post. This story is from the Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar- chived or redistributed. For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor- poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)