European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 15, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes thursday october 15,1987  i Bah Bibb by  he Shii i try Mcgrory Dukakis lost soul and engine of his Campaign there was a consensus among democratic. -. I dates. It was that gov. Michael Dukakis had he a we Frt a ww�3stlili Imit Al Chi flu Money and he Best Campaign manager a Short Ritz Ubhi Faai Maloll i m i Phil  Genius named John Sasso. Mfg St  go ii if tit ill pfc. I j i i. N t _. My my my a my of a if ther candidates a that gov. Michael Dukakis had the most Mone d he Best Campaign manager a Short dark organizational. At a fund Rair three weeks ago Dukakis once again raised a million dollars. But two Days later he lost Susso. And the democrats were left asking what s left the sad Story begins As docs so much contemporary political history Wuh a tape. This was a reel splicing together a fiery Campaign commercial featuring British labor party Leader Neil Kinlock and an Iowa Defalc appearance by sen. Joseph Biden in which he repealed Kinlock s words without attribution. Time Magazine reported thai the Dukakis Campaign had Given the apes to the new York times the pcs Moines Register and Abc. Dukakis flaunting his reputation Tor squeaky clean Ness Lold a press conference that he would be astonished and very very angry1 if anyone in his Campaign had engaged in negative  but within Days the governor had belatedly Learned the truth and accepted with obvious reluctance Sas so s resignation. Paul Tully his National issues director Wen too. It was a bad Day for Dukakis a bad Day for democrats a bad Day for politics. On Capitol Hill where the democrats were making another futile Effort to make the president comply with the War Powers act there was wonder and dismay. The relationship Between Dukakis and his one time chief of staff was special in that Sasso was As one glum aide said the soul and engine of the  Sasso who Cut his Teeth in National politics by Man aging with considerable skill the troubled Campaign of Geraidine Ferraro had let it be known for months that he would leave Dukakis if he did t try for the presi Dency. He was widely credited with persuading the governor to take the plunge. He recruited a crack staff engaged a Peerless fund Raiser managed everything from who would ride the governor s car to How to win the South. Said his Friend Tom Vallely one of the few Massachusetts Politico who went with Biden John is a commander no Campaign manager had More Fansin the press. His Trump card was straightforwardness. He seems to have leaked the Biden tape because he had it it was cockiness said a grim Friend. Sasso is 40 years old his candidate was running Strong. Why did he go after somebody who was t going anywhere asked one wondering democratic senator. Anthony Lewis the speculation is that Sasso did not mean to Knock Biden out of the race Only to give him a Good poke because he was asking for it. Only the purest and these include Michael Dukakis would say that giving out a tape of a rival stealing a welshman s words is a particularly reprehensible thing to do. After All Biden borrowed in a Public forum Kinlock s impassioned words about being the first member of his family to go to College. Thousands of people in the Iowa auditorium heard him millions More on television. It was t gossip or innuendo or boudoir secrets. By Issei a the two track tape would have been an embarrassment to Biden. But its publication stirred other disclosures that Biden lied about his academic record Al a new Hampshire meeting that he had plagiarized in his freshman year of Law school. The accumulation toppled a shaky Campaign. The timing of the strike was a matter of some resent ment in the party. Democrats savaging other democrats is not considered Cricket especially when bide was chairing the confirmation hearings of Robert Dork who offends Large chunks of the democratic constituency. What was unforgivable was that Sasso did not even when the time Story was brewing Tell his candidate what he had done. He let him go before a press Confer ence and expose himself to ridicule and humiliation Dukakis inadvertently upping the Ante was at his most self righteous in proclaiming his intolerance for negative  Dukakis we allowed to take the a to the twin Pil Lars of his candidacy honesty and competence. In the Light of what occurred Dukakis was seen to be either lying or not knowing what was going on. For a critic of the Reagan hands off style of management it was a bad fall to be done in by hit own Campaign manager was the last thing anyone expected to happen to Dukakis. Sasso was regarded As a Paragon of loyalty. Dukaj Cis did not want to Lei him go. He refused initially to accept Sasso s resignation. He is the first victim of the character Issue by association Dukakis is now bereft of his two principal opera Tives. He still has the Money he still has the record of economic Miracle and a 3 percent unemployment rate. But the heart of his Campaign has been removed and a transplant seems unlikely. In bal Prthu syn Kilt of Rich cons Ruff Ontso permanently discarded twice during the hearings on the bark nomination foreign visitors re marked to me that they found the pro Cess deeply impressive. Watching the Senate judiciary committee Al work one said be understood thai the Ameri can system was regenerative in its open  for americans too the hearings on this supreme court nomination have been remarkable. They have instructed All of us on the court and the Constitution. They have confounded tic cynical View that everyone in Washington has base political motives. Yes there were members of the com Mittee who seemed interested Only in scoring Points for or against judge boric Bui a Good Many senators were intent on exploring real issues with him and the other witnesses trying to understand the Way judges interpret our fundamental Taw. One myth should have been permanently disposed of in these last weeks. Thai 11 the notion that there ii some Sim ple mechanical Way for judges to read the Constitution a formula that allows them to avoid any exercise of judgment in applying that 200-year-old document to contemporary facts. The reality is that All judges including Robert Bork necessarily weigh history and consequences and competing inter ests when they interpret the great clauses of the Constitution. The Point came out interestingly in an Exchange Between Bork and sen. Arlen Specter a a. Specter quoted an opinion of Bork s taking an expansive View of presidential Power and saying that the constitutions vague definition of executive Powers Eft room for their organic devel  Why was t the same thing True of the Bill of rights Specter asked Why not organic development for Liberty Why Only organic development for executive Power Bork did not give a direct answer. Bui it was Clear enough that the theory with which he is associated that judges should look to the original intent of those who framed the Constitution docs not begin to solve the Concrete cases brought to courts. Judges cannot escape judgment. A fascinating contribution came from offstage during the hearings. Judge Rich Ard a. Posner of the 7th u.5. Circuit court of appeals who is often coupled with bark As an outstanding judicial conservative wrote a piece for the new re Public savaging the theory of strict con  the idea is that legislators make the Law Posner said while judges merely find and apply it without weighing the consequences. Then he wrote there never has been a time when the courts of the United states state or Federal be have consistently in accordance wit this idea. Nor could they.," courts have to weigh policy considerations even in deciding private rights Pysner said. Should an heir who murders his Benefactor have a right to inherit if a locomotive spark sets a Field on fire should the Railroad or the Farmer Bearthes Cost such questions cannot be considered sensitively without considering the social  and that seven truer in Reading the Constitution. Posner was saying what the school of Legal realists said two generations ago that judges though they strive for Dispas Sion inescapably a Ringo decisions their built in assumptions. They arc not add ing machines. That is Why senators were so in tent on exploring How Bork would approach the Job of a supreme court jus Tice. That is Why they pressed him so hard on his criticism of the court s past decisions and on his changes of position during he hearings 20 such changes by one count. They and the rest of us know thai it matters who sits on lha court. One compelling illustration in the hearings was the question of privacy Bork said judges should enforce Only those values put in the Constitution by the framers and privacy was not mentioned. But he conceded that specific provisions of the Bill of rights protected aspects of privacy the guarantee against unreasonable searches for example. So a judge who does not see that value there or who gives it grudging recognition in making his own Choice. The hearings had their troubling Side. To see senators trying to extract what amounted to commitments from a supreme court nominee made me uncomfortable i prefer the old tradition of nominees refusing to discuss particulars. But in this Case the ideological purpose of the nomination has so Clear Tad Bork s past positions so provocative Hal there was no choke. And in the process we were All  you Trofi a nw1 Svic in of pvt Mim in my Canon i Ana Amhi of i pjs ref Tara not of int i on want to h no tip a Conw dmm at f to Mem big jul mn1 of tows tvs