European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 15, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Larry Thorson Kaifu has t much time to lift troubled9 party after a two month false Start Japan s governing party is on another clean Start to Reform itself. The false Start was under Shusuke Uno who became prime minister june 2 with pledges of political Reform but soon was pursued by allegations of having kept paid mistresses. Now another Veteran legislator with no personal Power base has been pulled up to Lead the Liberal democratic party. There was an eerie sense of Dejavu in Toshiki Kaifu s acceptance remarks. If he had Uno s glasses and Streak of while hair it would have been hard to discern that Japan had a new Leader. Uno was Clear of involvement in the recruit influence buying scandal that caused his predecessor no Boru takes Nila to leave office prematurely. Kaifu bears the minor taint of receiving the equivalent of $110,000 in donations from recruit co. Over five years but he did not receive profits from Cut Price Stock deals As did most of the party leaders now sidelined. That scandal Uno said on june 2, has had a dramatic of Eccl on our party. I would like to take this Opportunity to reflect on this development so we can make a clean Start in politics and regain the Confidence of our  Kaifu said after winning the party presidency that it was a crucial  he called for debate through which we can gain the people s understanding of our  i want to carry out reforms and pass Reform legislation based on our deep self reflection he said. We must carry out political reforms and shed our old  like Uno and Takeshita and almost everyone else in his conservative party Kaifu said the Liberal democrats were in a crisis. The crisis appears deeper than Ever and the Calendar is moving steadily toward the next encounter with the electorate. In elections july 23, the Liberal democrats lost control of parliament s upper House for the first time in the party s 34-year history. Elections for All scats in the lower House must be called by july 1990, but the socialist led opposition in the upper chamber will try to create a legislative dead lock to make the government hold them sooner. So Low is the Liberal democrats popularity that analysts expect they would lose their majority in the lower House. The reasons arc Many and not easy to overcome. Despite a pledge not to impose a new major tax the governing party bulldozed a 3 percent sales tax through parliament. When it was coupled with reductions in personal in David Broder come and inheritance taxes the net effect was a reduction in the average household s lax Burden but the sales lax remains unpopular. It also produces 10 percent of govern ment Revenue which makes abolishing it expensive. Although the recruit scandal ended officially in april with the indictment of two legislators on bribe taking charges it lives on in the minds of Many who eel party leaders should not have escaped prosecution. Among those who did was Yasuhiro Naf Cason who preceded Takishita As prime minister. The easy Money politicians reaped from the recruit co. Was spread so widely that nearly All top Liberal democratic figures were tainted making it impossible for them to succeed Takishita or Uno. They remain powerful however and voters know Many Hope for future High office. To the sales tax and recruit scandal which created an image of arrogance and Unac countability. Was added the insult to women of Uno s alleged affairs. The result was the thrashing the Liberal democrats look inthejuly23 election. Takako Doi the first woman to Lead a party in Japan is popular and has been Able to fuzz Over her socialist party s policy of an unarmed Neutral Japan which is not the majority opinion. She attacks inc sales lax and the governing party s image. Kaifu is new and untried. He is 58, still Boyish looking Young enough in japanese politics to suggest anew generation and has Reform cred Nials from serv ice under Takeo Miki a or. Clean prime minister of inc 1970s.Kaifu has until october when the party Voles again on ils preside no to show he has made a Good Start on rescuing the deeply Iron blvd party. If he does to Japan could be looking for its fourth prime minister of 1989. To woo if Tow associated pro tit Asia news editor present Day governors not Mere political Hacks a number of years ago Charles k. Mcwhorter. A High level lobbyist for american Telephone and Tele graph co. And a Man whose passion in life is music  an exp crime in bridging the world of poli pics and inc arts. As he told me Wilh wry amusement much later he invited the Ihen governor of Illinois a longtime resident of Chicago to hear the orchestra of the National music Academy at Interlochen mich., perform Al Chicago s orchestra Hall. The governor accepted inc invitation and then asked where is orchestra Hall thai Anc Dole from the 1960s came to mind when the current governor of Illinois James r. Thompson played Host at a downtown Chicago Hole to the National governors association s annual summer Meel ing. On sunday the first night of the meeting he look the governors to Dine among the magnificent paintings in inc Art Institute of Chicago. The next night he brought inc world renowned Chicago symphony or Chc Sua from ils Michigan Avenue Home. Orchestra Hall to play for the governors and their guests. To be sure Many of the Early arriving governors could be found Wilh Thompson on saturday afternoon Al a shrine of popular culture called Wangley Field. Some sceptics might mistakenly suggest thai the sat urday diversion showed the governors to be incurably Low brow. They would be wrong. The Way the cubs have been playing baseball lately it s another Art form every Bil As satisfying to the connoisseur As the an Institute s Scuras and Zurbaran. Cultural tastes Tell a lot Aboul people. In the 60s and 70s, inc  at i Csc annual Gover nors me clings were a Good Deal More lavish than icy Are today. Dul icy demanded no sophistication lean ing heavily on fireworks limbo dancing Patter from Bob Hope or songs from John Denver. In Miami Beach a nightclub comic told a joke Hal provoked a walkout by Michigan s mormon gov. George rom nay. In Hershey pa., everyone Rode the bumper cars. But in this decade governors arc More worldly and their entertain Cal Refl cols the change. Thumbing through inc mini biographies in the conc lion pro Gram i coun cd 41 graduate degrees among the 47 men and Ihrck women who run Szalc govern cols. True most of Ihm Are them Are from Law schools a Ulincy also hold Masier s or doctor alas in Urban plan Ning economics political science journalism social work biology chemistry and dentistry. There Are two who made Illo Oxford As Rhodes scholars and iwo who came Oul of Harvard business school Wilh the  Hal could have guaranteed them big Bucks on Wall Street had they chosen to go thai route. Instead they picked politics and within that Broad Field stale government one of the Harvard  is freshman  Roemer of Louisiana. Roemer has had a notably Lough initiation hauling his fellow democrats in the legislature Over budget cuts and losing a voters referendum on a massive tax Reform. But after 16 months in office the 45-year-old Rocker says i figure i m at the Peak of my profession. My state s got the highest unemployment rate in the coun try and maybe inc worst dropout rate so i be got the big Gisl Challenge of anyone in government whal More could you ask in inc 1980s, inc governors have become inc Princi  catalysts for education Reform and the great advocates for invest men in the schools. No one is More Fern Cal about education than those who have seen in change their lives Asil did for goes. Bill Clinton of Arkansas or Garry e Carrel hrs of new Mexico among of hrs. Clinton came out of Hope ark., and. Went to Georgetown Oxford As a Rhodes scholar and Yale Law school. Carruthers grew up on a farm near. Aztec n.m., got two degrees from new Mexico stale and finally a doctoral in economics at Iowa state. They arc two of inc 13 governors who have earned credentials in education by spending some of their productive years in College teaching. ,. These governors Are politically committed and  unit imitated. They invite Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan who May be the smartest Man in Washington As their keynote speaker and throw prob ing questions Al him. They Are anything bul parochial. Many of Ihm have come to know european Community % commissioners or japanese Trade officials As Well As they know their own legislative leaders. V. So its not surprising that they know Mahel torn Monet and Rossini from a Spighi. They Are making state government As stimulating As an Outing at the Art Institute an evening with the Chicago symphony or even an afternoon at Wangley Field.,.wonflgtonpom " "