Pubdate: Sat, 07 Oct 2000 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News Contact: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Fax: (408) 271-3792 Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Authors: Jodi Enda and David Goldstein, Mercury News Washington Bureau BUSH PLEDGES FUNDING TO FIGHT TEEN DRUG USE Gore Talks Tax Cuts At Rally In Florida CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush accused the Clinton-Gore administration Friday of firing blanks in the war against drugs and proposed to increase spending by $2.8 billion over five years to curb illegal drug use, particularly among teens. "Unfortunately, in the last 7 1/2 years, fighting drug abuse has ceased to be a national priority," Bush said. "Drug policy has been pursued without urgency, without energy and without meaningful success." Meanwhile, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore teamed up with his running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, at an outdoor rally of several thousand people in Orlando, Fla. Gore focused on tax cuts again, saying his own are targeted to help the middle class, while Bush would give most of his proposed $1.3 trillion tax reduction to people who earn more than $1 million a year. "Those facts aren't fuzzy," Gore said. "Those facts are real. They may be inconvenient, but they're not fuzzy." In their debate Tuesday, Bush had accused Gore of using "fuzzy math." In a 20-minute speech to about 150 people at a family-resources center in Cedar Rapids, Bush proposed spending $25 million over five years to help non-profit agencies assist parents in battling drug use by teenagers. In the same period, he would increase spending by $100 million on making schools drug-free zones, double funding for community and religious anti-drug programs to $350 million and provide $250 million for drug-treatment programs for teens. Bush also proposed spending an additional $1 billion over five years to treat people who are addicted to drugs and aren't receiving treatment, a category estimated at up to 3 million people. Most of the remaining money would go toward preventing drugs from entering the United States. "One of Mr. Clinton's first acts as president was to slash the staff of the drug office by 80 percent," Bush said. "The number of workers there went from 146 to 25 -- in other words, about half the size of the White House public-relations operation. That says something about priorities." A representative of Gen. Barry McCaffrey, head of the White House drug-policy office, said the Texas governor was using "ancient numbers." Bob Weiner said the office initially lost staff when Clinton slashed overall White House employment, but that it now had 154 employees -- more than when President George Bush, the Republican candidate's father, left office in 1992. Weiner also said the Clinton administration had budgeted about $7 billion more to fight drugs -- the amount for fiscal 2001 is nearly $20 billion -- than did his immediate predecessor, President Bush. Weiner also cited a recent study showing that drug use among 12- to 17-year-olds declined 21 percent the past two years. GOP nominee Bush acknowledged that teen drug use had "leveled off" the past two years. But he gave the Clinton administration no credit. Doug Hattaway, a Gore representative, said the administration had proposed the largest anti-drug budget to date, and noted that Gore already had proposed spending an additional $5.3 billion to crack down on drugs. "Once again, Governor Bush has misfired in attacking the progress of the past eight years," Hattaway said. Gore representative Chris Lehane said the vice president last year proposed a crackdown on methamphetamine production. He has called for better treatment options, strengthening the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, expanding drug courts and doubling the number of areas designated as high drug-trafficking zones to better coordinate law enforcement and toughening penalties for those who sell drugs to children. In Florida, Gore fired up a rally Friday at Orlando's band shell beside Lake Eola. Amid swaying palm trees and near-100-degree heat, he called the state, with its 25 electoral votes, "the key to the election, and central Florida the key to this state." He also declared Lieberman the winner in Thursday night's vice presidential debate with Republican candidate Dick Cheney. "That was as clear a win if I ever saw one," Gore said. Lieberman, basking in the crowd's cheers, said jokingly, "You're making me feel like `Rocky.' " His GOP counterpart said bluntly that Gore stretches the truth, in remarks to reporters Friday while traveling to Shreveport, La. "He seems to have a compulsion to embellish his answers, or as I mentioned the other day, his resume, and this is a man who has got significant accomplishments," Cheney told reporters aboard his campaign plane. "He has held national office for 24 years, yet he seems to have this uncontrollable desire to periodically add things to his reputation that are not true." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D