WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (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.
Back in the saddle again -- As reported this week in Capital Comment, President George W. Bush used his Thursday speech to the United Nations to announce that the U.S. would be rejoining UNESCO. "As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will return to UNESCO. This organization has been reformed and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights and tolerance and learning," the president said.
One senior Capitol Hill aide, clearly disappointed by the decision, told Capital Comment, "There are some folks at the State Department who have wanted to get the United States back into UNESCO for years found an opportunity and took advantage of it. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that UNESCO is any better at advancing western Democratic values then it was in 1984 when Reagan pulled the U.S. out." The move back into UNESCO will not be accomplished, say insiders, without thorough congressional scrutiny of how U.S. funds will be used.
The Clinton connection -- Voters in Tuesday's primaries were not kind to several Clinton administration alumni making bids for elective office. In Florida former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno came in a very close second to lawyer Bill McBride in the Democrat primary for governor amid allegations of problems with the voting machines. Reno has yet to concede and is saying she may contest the outcome if she is declared the loser.
In Arizona former Clinton administration Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Fred DuVal appeared to have finished fourth in the state's new 1st Congressional District Democrat primary. DuVal had received public support from both Clintons and both Gores in the race. On the flip side, former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, who conspicuously did not campaign on his Clinton connection, ran away with the Democrat nomination for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, winning 43 percent of the votes cast among nine candidates.
New York news -- Two items worth noting out of Tuesday's New York congressional primaries. Longtime GOP Rep. Sherwood (Sherry) Boehlert, chairman of the House Science Committee, won renomination, fending off a challenge from political unknown Cayuga County legislator David Walrath. However, Boehlert slim margin of victory -- 52 percent to 48 percent -- against a candidate who spent almost no money likely propels Boehlert to the top of the list of those to be challenged from the right in 2004.
On Long Island, former U.S. Rep. Dan Frisa failed in his attempt to secure the nomination on the GOP line against Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y. Frisa, who served only one term in the House, was defeated by McCarthy in 1996, distinguishing himself by failing to show up for his campaign victory party and failing to concede the race.
A familiar strain -- As the White House press pool was being led out of New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel and into a waiting motorcade Thursday evening, who should they bump into but former President Bill Clinton, who now works in Gotham on the Hudson. Decked out in black tie and sporting a tan, the 42nd president smiled and shook hands with those he recognized from White House days.
"Good to see you," he said to one photographer. And, just as naturally, Clinton slipped back into form when tossed a question about Bush's speech to the United Nations. "I was working," Clinton said, explaining that he didn't hear the speech. "But I think going to the U.N. was a good thing."
Do the funky chicken -- Voters in several states will find animal protection issues in the ballot when they enter the voting booth in November. In Florida, voters are being asked whether gestation crates for pregnant pigs should be banned. In Oklahoma, State Question 687, an initiative to outlaw cockfighting, was placed on the ballot by retiring Republican Gov. Frank Keating. If it passes, Oklahoma will become the 48th state to ban them. In Arkansas, voters will have a chance to toughen penalties through Initiated Act 1, which makes extreme animal cruelty a class D felony. "Animal protection emerged in the 1990s as a dominant issue on statewide ballots," Dane Waters of the Initiative and Referendum Institute says. "Animal protection, drug policy reform, and education are the top three ballot issues in this year's election cycle."
School's in, work's out -- -- A new $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor will be used fund a Child Labor Education Initiative project in Zambia. The project is intended to complement and expand upon existing activities in the southern African nation. Deputy Under Secretary for International Affairs Tom Moorhead says, "The Child Labor Program takes a holistic approach. We look not only to remove the child workers from abusive labor situations but also to address the underlying causes of child labor. Moreover, we know we need to provide these young people with the opportunity for a better future. That alternative is education." According to the department, the program will work to reduce child labor in Zambia through: improved community awareness on the importance of education for children engaged in the worst forms of child labor; strengthened quality of educational opportunities in government and alternative schools; increased ministerial and non-governmental organization capacity and inter-institutional coordination; and improved resource mobilization.
Out in the open -- The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, a political action committee supporting the campaign efforts of openly homosexual candidates, is trumpeting the victory of state Rep. David Cicilline in the race for the Democrat nomination to be mayor of Providence, R.I. According to the fund, "In (this) overwhelmingly Democratic city, that amounts to a win in the general election. It also means that Providence will replace Tempe, Ariz., as the largest American city with an openly gay mayor." "What's really exciting about Cicilline's victory is the high profile of the mayor's office," Bob Kearney, political director of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund said. "He'll represent one out of every seven Rhode Islanders, and if he does a good job, he'll be rewarded with a bright political future -- perhaps making it to the governor's office or to the U.S. Senate."
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