Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues,americast.usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Fri, Sep 4 1992 Date: Fri, 4 Sep 92 04:34:27 EDT Message-ID: 09-04 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update Sept. 4-7, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Friday morning in USA TODAY: Baseball, Incumbency, Neuharth. TODAY'S DEBATE - BASEBALL COMMISSIONER: USA TODAY'S OPINION: The baseball pennant races are heating up. Teams are making deals: The New York Mets sent ace pitcher David Cone to Toronto. The Oakland Athletics traded slugger Jose Canseco to Texas. ... Now owners are finagling the biggest deal of all by foolishly trying to throw Commissioner Fay Vincent - and his job - out of the game. Chicago White Sox's Jerry Reinsdorf says the commissioner's job should be nothing more than a "CEO for owners." He's wrong. Baseball needs more - a strong, independent commissioner who will protect owners from their own greed and look out for the fans' interests. Someone who will restrain greedy owners who would abandon local fans for lucrative offers from other cities. Someone to suspend gamblers like Pete Rose or repeat drug abusers like Steve Howe when owners might prefer to sweep the problem out of sight. From the day Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis became the first commissioner - to repair baseball after the Chicago "Black Sox" fixed the 1919 World Series - the eight men who have held the job have led an uncertain existence. Landis ruled baseball with such a big bat ... that owners couldn't wait to get rid of him. ... Now it's Vincent's turn. And what are his sins? He thinks St. Louis and Chicago should play in the National League West .... He wisely thinks TV superstations should pay to invade local markets. Fans today are a sophisticated bunch. They know a foul when they see one. In their interests and in the interests of the game, the owners should leave the commissioner alone. OTHER VIEW: THOMAS V. DIBACCO, a business historian at The American University: If history is any guide, baseball fans should be wary of commissioners carrying power bats. Recall federal Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first commissioner, whose task in 1921 was to rid the diamond of scandal. He cleaned up the infamous "Black Sox" mess, but with scant regard for due process. Then he went on to exert authority over traditional owner prerogatives, including decisions on the minor-league farm system. ... little wonder that owners rightly took back control of their sport after Landis' death in 1944. Since then, owners are unquestionably the decision-makers of baseball; in their collective wisdom, they decide what's best for the sport .... The commissioner is ... appointed for a set term to oversee the sport in their interests. And if he loses the confidence of the majority of owners before the expiration of his contract, he should resign. That his decision should prevail over those of owners is tantamount to turning over capitalist enterprises to employees. Some recent commissioners have overstepped their bounds because owner decisions ... have been unpopular with some fans. But that doesn't mean that fans are baseball's shareholders, as former commissioner Peter Uebberoth contends. ... Running baseball is a business. And there's no evidence that the game needs a power-laden commissioner to restore credibility - or to be tempted by Judge Landis' dictatorial example. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON GEORGE BUSH'S INCUMBENCY: RENTON, Wash., Barbara Nilson, 64, reporter: The advantage definitely goes to the person who's in office. A lot of the things he is doing right now are political. That helps him. Giving 100% to the hurricane cleanup, when usually it's 75%, and the job-training program he's come up with both help him. HOUSTON, Texas, Vree Barksdale, 39, computer operator: People see him being connected to eight years of Ronald Reagan, and that's what is going to lose the election for him. He's making promises he didn't keep in the first election. And more than anything else, people see him as being part of the economy. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Merlin D. Esselman, 46, condo security officer: It's going to hurt his bid. He did not fulfill the promises he guaranteed the American public. Taxes are going to be increased to pay for the hurricane-relief efforts. He made two trips into the area, promising relief packages. It was more of a political move than out of the heart. FLINT, Mich., Pete McRae, 28, unemp. disc jockey: I've watched the last four years closely and I find nothing comforting in the thought of seeing him in office for another four years. Anything he does can be construed as loading the ballot box in his favor. NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio, James G. Musat, 72, retired: In theory, it probably should help him. But he is being challenged so strongly he can't depend on his past record; he has to design a new future in order to be retained. He's going to get back in; he's looked at the issues from a new standpoint. TOPIC - PEROT'S POLICY: Al Neuharth is the founder of USA TODAY. Both George Bush and Bill Clinton keep evoking Harry Truman's name. But non-candidate Ross Perot has practiced what Truman preached. ... "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen," Truman said. Perot couldn't. So he did. But he stayed nearby, hiding in the cupboard. That's un-Trumanlike. Now ... Perot's saliva is running again. He's plotting how and when to kick the kitchen door open. ... He fears the "quitter" label is what historians will put on his tombstone. He tapped on the kitchen door Sunday, with a long Op-Ed page piece in The New York Times outlining a 24-point "wake-up" call for both parties. He warned that the 5.5 million petition signers who put him on the ballot in 46 states, soon to be 50, "can be the swing vote that determines who will win Congress and the White House in November." Perot decided he couldn't be king. Now he wants to be kingmaker. Here's the scenario seen by Perot and his few remaining political advisers: During September, keep challenging Bush and Clinton to embrace Perot's economic platform, something he knows neither will do; right after the scheduled second Bush-Clinton debate Oct. 4, reactivate Perot's candidacy; conduct a whirlwind four-week campaign, concentrating on Texas and California, where 96 of 538 electoral votes are at stake. Perot's advisers think if he wins both, or perhaps either, he can deny Bush or Clinton an electoral vote majority. ... Could Perot win enough electoral votes to become kingmaker? Probably not. But he could make October's political winds as unpredictable as were Hurricane Andrew's. ADVISORY: Decisionlines will not be published Monday, Sept. 7, in observance of Labor Day. Decisionlines will resume publication Tuesday, Sept. 8. Issues & Debate Editor: Kate Coughlin. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM