10 Jan 2001 January 10, 2001
| Contents 159 Scientists, Economists and Public Policy Experts Available for Earth Day Interviews Talk Radio Was Right: 100,000 New Police Program Was Designed To Promote Clinton, Not to Stop Crime Top Ten Ways to Fix the Health Insurance Crisis Wealthy Blacks Join Project 21’s Call for Estate Tax Reform |
Bulletin Board: Newsbreaking new releases and statements from conservatives in Washington.
159 Scientists, Economists and Public Policy Experts Available for Earth Day Interviews
The Earth Day Information Center is offering a free Earth Day Interview Locator Service and Earth Day Fact Kit to journalists to assist them in interviewing environmental experts for Earth Day, April 22, 2001. The interview locator service offers access to 150 scientists, economists and public policy experts specializing in 28 environmental fields. Experts are available on such issues as global warming, urban sprawl, agricultural biotechnology, air and water quality issues, environmental regulatory policy and the Endangered Species Act.
Among the experts in the Earth Day Information Center’s extensive database are:
* Dr. Patrick Michaels, Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia and a nationally-recognized expert on global warming.
* Dr. Henry Miller, Hoover Institution Senior Research Fellow and Competitive Enterprise Institute Adjunct Scholar. He is an expert on the issue of agriculture biotechnology, the relationship between science and regulation, the Food and Drug Administration and federal regulatory policies in general.
* Dr. Steven Hayward, Senior Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, who is an expert on urban sprawl, air and water quality issues and energy policy.
* Dr. Margo Thorning, Chief Economist for the American Council for Capital Formation, who focuses on environmental regulation and economic growth, tax policy and pollution prevention, and international comparisons of environmental regulations.
Contact the Earth Day Information Center at 202-507-6398 or [email protected] or visit https://nationalcenter.org/EarthDay98.html.
Talk Radio Was Right: 100,000 New Police Program Was Designed To Promote Clinton, Not to Stop Crime
Washington insiders including former top Clinton aide Bruce N. Reed are knocking George Bush’s decision to cut the budget for Clinton’s 1994 "100,000 new cops" initiative. Critics say animus for Clinton is the motivation for the decision, carping that "this administration would cut the Washington Monument in half if they thought Bill Clinton had anything to do with it."
Beltway insiders, as usual, are ignoring the influence of talk radio, which widely blasted both the sincerity and effectiveness of Clinton’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, most likely heavily influencing Bush’s decision to end it. Talk radio programs were supported by studies such as one by The Heritage Foundation showing that "far fewer than 100,000 additional officers have been put on the street as a result of COPS." The Clinton Administration had claimed in 1999 that it had funded "the 100,000th officer ahead of schedule and under budget." Reed told the Washington Post, "This is a program that helped spur the longest, sharpest decline in crime in America There’s no good reason to pull police off the streets to pay for a tax cut."
From 1994-2000, the COPS program cost taxpayers $7.5 billion, yet, according to the Heritage study, FBI data "strongly support the finding that federal COPS funding has had relatively little impact on growth in the numbers of officers that agencies put on the street." The study also found that large grants were often made to regions with low levels of violent crime.
Our conclusion: talk radio called this one correctly.
The Heritage study can be found online at http://www.heritage.org/library/cda/cda00-10.html, Reed’s comments in the April 10, 2001 Washington Post or http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A76-2001Apr10.html.
Top Ten Ways to Fix the Health Insurance Crisis
There are ten (relatively) painless ways to fix the health insurance crisis, says James Frogue in the April edition of The Heartland Institute’s Health Care News. Frogue says the key is changes in tax and regulatory codes to make it possible for individuals and families to get away from the constraints of employer-provided health insurance. His list, along with straightforward explanations, is available online at http://www.heartland.org/health/apr01/topten.htm. Frogue is a health care analyst at The Heritage Foundation and can be reached at 202/546-4400 or [email protected].
Wealthy Blacks Join Project 21’s Call for Estate Tax Reform
Many of the nation’s top black entrepreneurs are independently joining the African-American leadership network Project 21’s long-standing call for a repeal of federal estate taxes. Taxing the legacy of successful black Americans, Project 21 members contend, creates a roadblock to black progress.
Estate taxes entitle the government to take up to 55% of a person’s wealth when they die. With income levels of black Americans tripling between 1987 and 1997 and the number of black-owned businesses doubling to almost one million, death taxes are becoming an increasing burden.
President Bush seeks to phase out the estate tax.
Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson organized over three dozen black business leaders in opposition to estate taxes, in part because wealthy white liberals like Bill Gates Sr. recently began defending them. Johnson notes that the majority of black wealth has been created since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and says estate taxes threaten to stop this wealth from being passed on to others in the black community.
Ads placed by Johnson’s coalition began running in newspapers on April 4.
"The government is essentially taxing us twice – once when we earn it and again when we leave," said Project 21 member Ak’bar A. Shabazz. "We are trying to succeed because we want to pass something on to our children. Death taxes prevent people who have worked hard and become wealthy from ensuring that their kids can benefit as well. It’s not good for anybody."
Contact David Almasi at (202) 507-6398 x106 or [email protected]. *