WASHINGTON, May 31 (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.
If this is voter fraud, there has to be an easier way -- A man who told police he had been drinking to celebrate his birthday sent 37 voting machines tumbling across a New Mexico freeway Wednesday when he crashed the truck in which they were being transported. The machines, which were being sent to an Albuquerque-area high school for use in Tuesday's primary election, were damaged enough that they cannot be used. New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, a Democrat, says there are more than enough machines to handle the balloting so that the out-of-action machines pose little problem. The state is, however, no stranger to balloting problems. In the 2000 presidential election, a substantial number of ballot boxes from generally Republican precincts went missing for more than a few hours, an event that was later determined not to be an effort to produce a fraudulent election result.
Out of there -- Vince Patel, the interim director of e-government in the administration of California Democrat Gov. Gray Davis, has resigned. He is one of several Davis e-government officials to quit or be fired amid the growing controversy over a $95 million no-bid contract that was awarded to Oracle Corp. shortly before the company contributed $25,000 to the governor's re-election fund. According to sources in Sacramento, Patel was coming under fire over potential conflicts of interest posed by his brother's employment in a firm that was awarded a contract to work on a government Web site. Patel denies any wrongdoing.
You've got to be in it to win it -- Next week the Federal Election Commission will have the first of six public rule-making events as required by the new McCain-Feingold campaign law. This hearing will cover the so-called soft-money rules, something FEC watchers say may be "the most important" of the six. In a letter to all six commissioners dated April 10, 2002, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Marty Meehan, D-Mass., write: "We hereby request the opportunity for ourselves with counsel, or counsel on our behalf, to appear before the commission and testify in the public hearings during the rulemakings necessitated by the act." At Democracy 21's May 15 news conference urging FEC reform, McCain stated that they were "watching the FEC by the minute," while Feingold said he was updated in events "hourly," according to one person in attendance.
However, they have all now announced, according to an informed source, they will not testify at the hearing. Instead, they will submit written comments instructing the FEC to give great weight to their views as to how the law should be properly implemented -- but they will not present the commissioners the opportunity to ask them questions in person. One leading campaign law expert speculates they fear being shown up by the commissioners as the legislators do not know the details of their own law.
Tilting ivory windmills -- Young America's Foundation, a conservative campus organization, says the list of commencement speakers at the nation's most elite colleges and universities is once again leaning to the left. Foundation President Ron Robinson says those institutions of higher education favored addresses from "left-wing activists (like) Southern Poverty Law Center Morris Dees, actor Bill Cosby, Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, actor Alan Alda, and actress Whoopi Goldberg." By contrast, he says, only three well-known conservative figures make the list of speakers at the top schools: Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, author Tom Wolfe, and columnist William Safire -- while only three are directly related to the events of Sept. 11: NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge.
Up the banister -- Craig Shirley & Associates, the public relations and government affairs firm that represents a number of public policy clients in the center-right political coalition has a new name. It will now be known as Shirley & Banister Public Affairs as firm Vice President Diana Banister, with the firm for more than five years, becomes a partner. "In my years serving in the government affairs and public relations business, I have never met anyone as hardworking and dedicated to the task as Diana," Shirley said in making the announcement of the change.
It's OK to spy -- The Cato Institute, the center of libertarian thought inside the nation's capital, is giving the thumbs up to Attorney General John Ashcroft's new guidelines giving greater latitude to FBI agents to monitor Internet sites, libraries, and religious institutions without first having to offer evidence of potential criminal activity. Roger Pilon, vice president for legal affairs at the Cato Institute says: "The new FBI surveillance guidelines present no serious problems. Especially under post-Sept. 11 circumstances. Law enforcement monitoring of public places is simply good, pro-active police work that violates the rights of no one. The same is true for topical research not directly related to a specific crime, which the new guidelines will permit."
Pilon, a former Justice Department official, admits the potential for abuse does exist, however "that potential should not preclude officials from taking an active role not simply in prosecuting but in preventing crime as well."
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