UPI's Capital Comment for April 21, 2003

WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- Daily news notes, political rumors, and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.

The first black Republican...

Jennifer Carroll, the former executive director of Florida's Department of Veterans Affairs, has become the first black Republican woman to be elected to the state's House of Representatives. Carroll, who had twice before run unsuccessfully for the congressional seat held by Democrat Corrine Brown, defeated fellow Republican Linda Sparks, a former Duval County School Board chairman, to win the District 13 House seat in a special election.

The district includes the Westside area of Jacksonville and the northern part of Clay County. The incumbent had resigned his seat to run for tax commissioner.

Carroll said she was aware her election would be historic and is pleased with her victory. "It makes me feel good because I can be used as a role model for many young people coming up that may aspire to politics," Carroll told the local media after winning the seat. GOP sources in Florida are touting Carroll as the party's newest rising star and are predicting big things for her.

Smackdown shakedown?

The Capital Research Center, a conservative group that analyzes patterns of corporate philanthropy, is weighing in on the dispute between World Wrestling Entertainment -- formerly the WWF -- and the World Wide Fund for Nature, an environmentalist group also known as the WWF. The CRC's John Carlisle reports in the latest Foundation Watch newsletter that the green group wants $90 million from WWE "to settle a bizarre legal dispute."

The World Wide Fund, which is based in Switzerland, alleges that its ability to raise money has been hampered because the WWE still uses the abbreviation "WWF" -- for World Wrestling Federation, its former name -- on some of its products, even after the wrestling group changed its name as a result of a complaint originally made by the environmentalists.

"Twenty years after World Wrestling Entertainment first used the WWF initials," CRC President Terry Scanlon says, "a multi-million dollar demand for damages is being made coincidentally at the time wrestling in the U.S. and Europe has become a big profitable business. World Wrestling's net profits went from $3.2 million in 1996 to $58.9 million in 1999 and the Federation bought out its competitor, Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling. A Swiss nonprofit is using European courts to target the franchise operations of a successful U.S. company."

According to Carlisle, the $90 million demanded by the environmentalists is equivalent to more than 25 percent of the group's total fundraising worldwide.

They say it's your Earth Day...

The Labor Environment Alliance, a new group promoting pro-job, pro-environment policies, is recognizing Earth Day by presenting U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., and Teamsters Local Union 312 with the Frederick Law Olmsted Award at Philadelphia's John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. The two are being recognized for their commitment to preserving the environment while promoting economic growth. The presentation is the first of many such activities planned by the new group whose leadership consists of veteran environmental and conservation activists working together with James P. Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Catastrophe for Castro...

The U.N. Human Rights Commission, currently meeting in Geneva, has condemned the abuse of human rights in Cuba by a 24-to-20 vote with nine nations abstaining. The passage of resolution L-2 is being hailed as a victory by anti-Castro groups, who called the censure "particularly timely because of the recent brutal crackdown in Cuba that led to the arrests of more than 75 members of peaceful opposition groups who were sentenced to a combined total of 1,454 years in prison, as well the execution by firing squad of three Cubans." The L-2 resolution, urging the Havana government to receive U.N. Human Rights Commission representative Christine Chanet, was introduced by Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay.

"It is a victory for the democratic opposition in Cuba," Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation, said. "Those votes represent the voices of men and women like Raul Rivero, Victor Rolando Arroyo and Marta Beatriz Cabello, voices that convey the desire of the Cuban people to be free and that cannot be silenced despite the regime's brutal repression."

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