CHICAGO -- What I saw here on a recent summer weekend was a sight I never imagined. I am not referring to two-year-old Millennium Park, the stunning mixture of greenery and architecture that has been built over the old railroad yards east of Michigan Avenue. I am talking about another of Mayor Richard M. Daley's legacies, the mixed-income townhouse and apartment developments south and west of the Loop that have replaced those 16-story monuments to drugs, despair and degradation that were the landmarks of Chicago's public housing for 50 years. [continues 726 words]
It was a classic stealth maneuver -- and it worked. Two days after Christmas, with President Bush at his Texas ranch and most of official Washington on vacation, the White House announced the rejection of regulations that would have barred companies that repeatedly violate environmental and workplace standards from receiving government contracts. Few in the press noticed, and those papers that printed anything about the decision buried the stories on inside pages. But this was no trivial matter. A congressional report had found that in one recent year, the federal government had awarded $38 billion in contracts to at least 261 corporations operating unsafe or unhealthy work sites. The regulations Bush killed were designed to stop that. [continues 672 words]
IT was a classic stealth maneuver -- and it worked. Two days after Christmas, with President Bush at his Texas ranch and most of official Washington on vacation, the White House announced the rejection of regulations that would have barred companies which repeatedly violate environmental and workplace standards from receiving government contracts. Few in the press noticed, and those papers that printed anything about the decision buried the stories on inside pages. But this was no trivial matter. A congressional report had found that in one recent year, the federal government had awarded $38 billion in contracts to at least 261 corporations operating unsafe or unhealthy work sites. The regulations Bush killed were designed to stop that. [continues 672 words]
It was a classic stealth maneuver -- and it worked. Two days after Christmas, with President Bush at his Texas ranch and most of official Washington on vacation, the White House announced the rejection of regulations that would have barred companies that repeatedly violate environmental and workplace standards from receiving government contracts. Few in the press noticed, and those papers that printed anything about the decision buried the stories on inside pages. But this was no trivial matter. A congressional report had found that in one recent year, the federal government had awarded $38 billion in contracts to at least 261 corporations operating unsafe or unhealthy work sites. The regulations Bush killed were designed to stop that. [continues 674 words]
ASA HUTCHINSON, the former Republican representative from Arkansas now serving as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, has a reputation as a straight shooter. When he was up for confirmation a few months ago, even Democrats who had strongly opposed his views as a manager of the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton testified in support of his nomination. The other morning, Hutchinson was the guest at one of the breakfast interviews arranged by Godfrey Sperling Jr. of The Christian Science Monitor. Asked what the events of Sept. 11 had done to the war on drugs, Hutchinson readily admitted that the diversion of government resources to the antiterrorism campaign had left his agency stretched thin. [continues 682 words]
Asa Hutchinson, the former Republican representative from Arkansas now serving as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, has a reputation as a straight shooter. When he was up for confirmation a few months ago, even Democrats who had strongly opposed his views as a manager of the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton testified in support of his nomination. The other morning, Hutchinson was the guest at one of the breakfast interviews arranged by Godfrey Sperling Jr. of The Christian Science Monitor. Asked what the events of Sept. 11 had done to the war on drugs, Hutchinson readily admitted that the diversion of government resources to the anti-terrorism campaign had left his agency stretched thin. [continues 680 words]
Asa Hutchinson, the former Republican representative from Arkansas now serving as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, has a reputation as a straight shooter. When he was up for confirmation a few months ago, even Democrats who had strongly opposed his views as a manager of the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton supported his nomination. The other morning, Hutchinson was the guest at one of the breakfast interviews arranged by Godfrey Sperling Jr. of The Christian Science Monitor. Asked what the events of Sept. 11 had done to the war on drugs, Hutchinson admitted the diversion of government resources to the anti-terrorism campaign had left his agency stretched. [continues 653 words]
WASHINGTON -- Asa Hutchinson, the former Republican representative from Arkansas now serving as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, has a reputation as a straight shooter. When he was up for confirmation a few months ago, even Democrats who had strongly opposed his views as a manager of the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton testified in support of his nomination. The other morning, Hutchinson was the guest at one of the breakfast interviews arranged by Godfrey Sperling Jr. of The Christian Science Monitor. Asked what the events of Sept. 11 had done to the war on drugs, Hutchinson readily admitted that the diversion of government resources to the anti-terrorism campaign had left his agency stretched thin. [continues 683 words]
Asa Hutchinson, the former Republican representative from Arkansas now serving as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, has a reputation as a straight shooter. When he was up for confirmation a few months ago, even Democrats who had strongly opposed his views as a manager of the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton testified in support of his nomination. The other morning, Hutchinson was the guest at one of the breakfast interviews arranged by Godfrey Sperling Jr. of the Christian Science Monitor. Asked what the events of Sept. 11 had done to the war on drugs, Hutchinson readily admitted that the diversion of government resources to the anti-terrorism campaign had left his agency stretched thin. [continues 683 words]
The high esteem in which former representative Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is held by his colleagues was demonstrated by the 98 to 1 Senate vote confirming him last month as the new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Even more telling was the fact that Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and an ardent opponent of the impeachment of President Clinton, appeared at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to praise Hutchinson, who had been one of the Republican House managers presenting the case against Clinton to the full Senate. [continues 693 words]
WASHINGTON The high esteem in which former Representative Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is held was demonstrated by the 98-to-1 Senate vote confirming him last month as the new chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration. In his four and a half years in the House of Representatives, Mr. Hutchinson, a Republican and former U.S. attorney, earned an estimable reputation as a thoughtful conservative and fair-minded advocate. He will need all his skills in his new job, for America is clearly about to embark on a long-overdue debate on the so-called war on drugs. [continues 612 words]
The high esteem in which former Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is held by his colleagues was demonstrated by the 98-1 Senate vote confirming him last month as the new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Even more telling was the fact that Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and an ardent opponent of the impeachment of President Clinton, appeared at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to praise Hutchinson, who had been one of the Republican House managers presenting the case against Clinton to the full Senate. [continues 690 words]
The high esteem in which former Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is held by his colleagues was demonstrated by the 98-1 Senate vote confirming him last month as the new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Even more telling was the fact that Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and an ardent opponent of the impeachment of President Clinton, appeared at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to praise Hutchinson, who had been one of the Republican House managers presenting the case against Clinton to the full Senate. [continues 687 words]
The high esteem in which former Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is held by his colleagues was demonstrated by the 98-1 Senate vote confirming him last month as the new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. In his 4 years in the House, Hutchinson, a former U.S. attorney, earned an estimable reputation as a thoughtful conservative and a fair-minded advocate. Hutchinson will need all his skills in his new job, for the nation is clearly about to embark on a long-overdue debate on the so-called "war on drugs." The DEA is, as the name implies, primarily a law- enforcement agency, but John Walters, Bush's choice to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, has been in limbo, awaiting a confirmation hearing since May. Many of the same Democrats who welcomed Hutchinson's nomination have argued that Walters' hard- line approach, emphasizing interdiction and incarceration over education and treatment, makes him the wrong choice for "drug czar." At least until Walters' fate is resolved, Hutchinson is in the hot seat on Bush administration policy toward drugs. [continues 359 words]
WASHINGTON - The high esteem in which former Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is held by his colleagues was demonstrated by the 98-1 Senate vote confirming him last month as the new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Even more telling was the fact that Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and an ardent opponent of the impeachment of President Clinton, appeared at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to praise Hutchinson, who had been one of the Republican House managers presenting the case against Clinton to the full Senate. [continues 689 words]
The high esteem in which former representative Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is held by his colleagues was demonstrated by the 98 to 1 Senate vote confirming him last month as the new director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Even more telling was the fact that Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and an ardent opponent of the impeachment of President Clinton, appeared at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to praise Hutchinson, who had been one of the Republican House managers presenting the case against Clinton to the full Senate. [continues 691 words]
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- The largest city in the Granite State is blessedly free of presidential candidates this summer, but it is not devoid of controversy. A rock concert that drew an estimated 10,000 young people to a city park last Sunday night produced more than 80 complaints to police and touched off what Mayor Robert Baines told me was, for him, an unprecedented furor. As late as Thursday, the front-page headline in the Union Leader, New Hampshire's biggest paper, read, "Concert War Rages." A day earlier, when I came to town to do some totally unrelated political reporting, the paper ran two separate editorials denouncing the event. [continues 662 words]
