WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- News notes, political rumors, and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.
A harmless typo or a new nickname? -- As most people know, President Bush has a penchant for handing out nicknames to the people he meets. But has he hung a new moniker on himself? A headline that appeared Monday morning on U.S. Newswire, a news release distribution service that can be accessed on the Internet, raises the question. Anyone going to its Web site at www.USNewswire.com would have found a link to the transcript of Bush's remarks to California citizens entitled "Transcript of remarks by President Busy in Town Hall Meeting, Ontario, Calif."
In and out -- As previously reported in Capital Comment, Colorado Lt. Gov. Joe Rodgers will not be a candidate for re-election in 2002. Instead, Rodgers, a black Republican, is considering a run for Congress, probably in the state's new 7th Congressional District, once it is drawn in the redistricting process. This will come as no surprise to political junkies. Rodgers was expected to be dumped from the ticket by GOP Gov. Bill Owens, the first Republican to lead the state in 24 years, with whom he has feuded for some time. To that end, state law was changed during Owens' term to place the state's top two elected officials onto a ticket, rather than have them run separately as they had in the past, giving Owens more leverage as to whom his running mate would be.
A judicious compliment -- Justice John Paul Stevens, the U.S Supreme Court's senior associate, interrupted the beginning of Monday's session to thank Chief Justice William Rehnquist on behalf of himself and his colleagues.
Stevens noted that Monday marked "30 years in service to your country" -- Rehnquist was sworn in as an associate justice on the high court on Jan. 7, 1972, and was named chief justice by President Reagan in 1986. That record approaches the tenure of legendary Chief Justice John Marshall, Stevens noted (Marshall served 34 years). On behalf of the entire court, Stevens thanked Rehnquist for his impartiality and "good humor." Rehnquist said, "Thank you," and got on to regular business.
Butter makes you fat -- The American Legislative Exchange Council, a bipartisan membership organization of over 2,400 state legislators, has come out with a report showing that state lawmakers increased spending by 63 percent on average during the economic boom of the 1990s.
According to the report, roughly two of every three surplus dollars that went into state coffers since 1996 has gone to new spending, not to tax reduction. If states had limited spending increases to the growth in population and inflation, states could have cut taxes by $300-$400 per person.
Eisenhower unplugged -- On Wednesday, the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kan., will open for research compact discs of 38 "Dictabelt" sound recordings of the president's conversations between Dwight D. Eisenhower and others in his office at Columbia University.
All of the conversations to be released were recorded between September 1949 and June 1950 while Eisenhower served a president of Columbia University in New York. Highlights of the 21 separate conversations include a Dec. 20, 1949, discussion with John Foster Dulles, who later served as Eisenhower's Secretary of State, centering on whether Eisenhower would seek political office.
The remaining belts, which will be made available at the National Archives Building in Washington, record conversations on a wide range of topics including politics, military history, loyalty-security, Eisenhower family history, the Middle East, charitable works and world economics.
Squeeze play -- The New York GOP is turning up the heat on the opposition, denying newly named N.Y. Democrat Party Chairman Denny Farrell a honeymoon period.
Farrell, chairman of the State Assembly's Committee on Ways and Means, is planning hearings on how the current financial woes have impacted upstate New York, a political stronghold of GOP Gov. George Pataki. N.Y. State GOP Chairman Sandy Treadwell calls the hearings a conflict of interest. He wants the Democrats to pay for the hearings, charging they are "politically motivated."
By charging conflict, Treadwell is likely trying to make it hard for Farrell to us his position as chairman of the tax writing committee to raise funds for Democrats during the election cycle without taking political hits for it. For his part, Farrell stands by the decision to hold the hearings.
Getting out of the way -- Oklahoma GOP Rep. Wes Watkins is not going to seek re-election in November 2002. The decision was motivated by his desire to aid the other Republicans in the state's congressional delegation, which loses a seat due to redistricting.
Watkins, who represents "little Dixie," is a former Democrat who followed legendary former House Speaker Carl Albert in the seat -- at a time when it would have sent a "yellow dog" to Congress before it would have sent a Republican.
Until Watkins announced his retirement, it was a certainty that the Democrat-controlled state legislature would create a congressional map that force two sitting Republican to run against each other -- with the most current rumor holding that GOP Reps. Rep. Ernest Istook and Frank Lucas would have drawn the short straw. Now with the vacancy, it may be easier for the other Republicans to carve out seats for themselves.
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