Pubdate: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Copyright: 2007 Journal Sentinel Inc. Contact: http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/submit.asp Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265 Author: Audrey Hoffer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) UWM UPWARD BOUND DIRECTOR FIGHTS CHANGE He Lobbies Lawmakers On Proposed Study Washington - Lobbyists are not always slick, smooth-talkers who try to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge. Sometimes they are simply academics looking after their students. Donald Singleton, director of the Upward Bound program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, was in that role when he headed to Washington last spring. His intent: to discuss with the Wisconsin congressional delegation a potentially flawed study proposed as part of the Upward Bound application process. In Wisconsin, 15 colleges receive U.S. Department of Education funding for Upward Bound, including UW-Milwaukee, Marquette University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The colleges use the funds to recruit low-income high school students. The students get academic tutoring, financial workshops and mentoring sessions on campus and go off-campus for cultural field trips and college visits. Under the proposed provision, colleges would have to deliberately recruit twice as many students to Upward Bound as could actually participate. Half the recruits would be assigned to a control group and not allowed to reapply to the program. This control group would be evaluated for its academic failures, in comparison with the presumed success of Upward Bound participants. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) considered the study both flawed and unethical, according to her chief of staff, Win Boerckel. Singleton said he heard echoes of the Tuskegee Study, the notorious experiment in which African-American men were knowingly denied treatment for syphilis while the spread of their disease was studied. Moore inserted an amendment to repeal funding for the study in last July's House education appropriations bill. The amendment was included in the omnibus labor, health and human services and education spending bill passed last week by the House and Senate. The bill is expected to be signed soon by President Bush. War on drugs: Riding the coattails of momentum generated by the U.S. Sentencing Commission's decision Dec. 11 to allow individuals serving time on crack cocaine convictions to seek sentence reductions, Moore has signed on to the Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) introduced the legislation last week to urge Congress to eliminate both sentencing disparities between powder and crack cocaine and the mandatory minimum sentencing requirement for first-time offenders and those possessing the drug in small quantities. Jasmine Tyler of the advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance said law enforcement officials should be going after major drug dealers. "This isn't a war on drugs; it's a war on black and brown people," Tyler said. "We should be looking for educational opportunities instead of trailing 'em, nailing 'em and jailing 'em," Moore said. In recent years, she said, Milwaukee has had the notorious distinction of having the highest incarceration rate for blacks in big cities. Lee hopes the House will look favorably on the bill, while adding, "We're not going to sit back on accusations that we're soft on crime." Relaxing at home: The Wisconsin delegation reports plans to stay close to home over the holidays: Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and his wife, Cheryl, will visit her mother in Sturgeon Bay on Christmas Day. Rep. Tom Petri will see his parents-in-law in Indianapolis. While there, he'll check out the 285-foot-tall "tree" in the city center, actually tree-shaped decorations on the state Soldiers and Sailors Monument, a 44-year-old city tradition. Reps. Paul Ryan and Ron Kind will spend time with their kids. Ryan plans to go sledding and build a snowman with his children outside their home in Janesville. He also plans to go hunting with his father-in-law. Kind plans to take his two boys squirrel and rabbit hunting on their property in Jackson County and watch the boys perform the Christmas story at church. Sen. Herb Kohl traditionally takes a few of the Bucks players on rounds at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa. Sen. Russ Feingold is going to watch Brett Favre lead the Packers into the playoffs. Rep. Tammy Baldwin will settle down with a couple of books. She'll finish colleague Dave Obey's memoir and Thomas E. Ricks' book "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq." Then, she'll loosen up with cross-country skiing. Early January will find Baldwin back in political mode, stumping for Hillary Rodham Clinton in Iowa. New Year's Eve will find Gwen Moore at home in Milwaukee cooking up gumbo soup with jumbo shrimp, crab and lobster for a family feast. Very likely, she says, she'll be the one doing the dishes at 4 a.m. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath