European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday january 29, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13- \ Graven Clinton staff scares leaders from serving Robert Reno ought it not occur to the presi Dent that there is a reason so Many peo ple were reluctant to become his Secre tary of defense this Job used to be the jewel of the Cabinet the promotion or Choice for every seasoned bureaucrat politician or Industrial Titan to whom the ultimate aphrodisia was not just Power but the Power implied when every serv ing Admiral be comes your Cabin boy. Right no you d imagine its main duty is to us. Pervise the cleaning of  Aspin is walking away from it with More serenity than regret. Adm. Bobby Ray Inman was so indifferent to the opiate of its Power As to make up a perfectly incoherent excuse for pulling out. Sam Nunn who never met a weapon system he did t like prefers a constituency the size of Georgia to running the War machine of the world s superpower. Warren b. Rudman who gave his name to the politics of budget cutting shrank like a Violet from the Job of performing the biggest fiscal downsizing in history. And finally William j. Perry accepted the nomination by giving a reasonable imitation of being handed a hot stove. Surely it is not just the Petty terror of William Safire operating his personal version of the Nixon administration i exile from the fortress of his office at the new York times which is causing strongmen to Wilt before the exposure of this office and if it is How Long can it be before Cabinet  will have to be cleared with watergate conspirator g. Gordon Liddy might it be More Likely that too Man people Are getting the idea i wonder where from that being a Clinton appointee is particularly perverse form of m martyrdom Zoe Baird is one attorney who can surely Tell what it feels like to have the White House spin wizards behind you in a Tough fight. Mob lawyers blow cases and sleep better at night. Lani Guinier will Tell you that All intakes is for a few Cro Magons in con Gress to yell quota Queen for everybody in the White House to shriek and jump on chairs like they d seen a mouse. Or. Joycelyn elders had barely stopped wondering out loud about the possibility of limited decriminalization of drugs a position that is on its Way to becoming boringly mainstream among serious students of the problem than the White House spin machine broke into the sort of hysterical swoon that suggested she d lost her mind. Donna m. Shalala s department or dered states to use medicaid funds to Payfor abortions for the victims of. Think of it rape and incest. When he heard the president had a cow. He was livid. Would that he could work himself into a More principled rage at the idea that until now Many states adn t been attending to the medical wants of poor women who were being forced to Bear the children of the beasts who d ravished them. In a self confident presidency Cabine appointees can be invaluable As figures who make principled often politically in expedient decisions and then take a lot of the heat that might otherwise scorch the president. In the Clinton administration we Are left with the impression that they Are there to do the principled thing so Long Asit is not politically expedient for the White House to break their Kneecaps. This May not be what the presi Dent has in mind. But it is an impression that is being subtly not to say assiduously cultivated in the Media by some of the More talkative not to say Craven Mem Bers of his staff. C now Day crime problem needs remedies not rhetoric Lincoln Steffens should be writing this column not me. ,. The great muckraking journalist of the progressive Era at the Start of this Century is the Man to warn Citi Zens to be wary when the press pumps up a crime scare and Washington politicians jump on the  his autobiography Steffens confessed that As a Young Newspaperman in new York he had participated in creating several crime  All that was required to Send spasms of alarm through the citizenry and boost newspaper circulation Steffens said was taking routine items off the police blotters and laying out the gory details of cases that normally would have gone unpublicized. Had Steffens lived to see us. News & world report do a giant takeout on violence in americ and Abc news devote a full week of programming to America the violent i think he would have known what was up. T. At a moment when the economic news is relatively Good the International scene relatively quiet and the preferred issues of political leaders such As health care and welfare Reform dismaying by Complex America audits Media Are Ripe for another crime wave. Crime is real. But there is no rational reason to be panicked by it. Last november the Justice department reported that Overall crime rates have continued to de Cline from their 1981 Peak and violent crime is also David s. Broder Creage of households victimized by crime was the lowest since that measure was introduced in 19but a crisis atmosphere is being used to Rush through dubious Federal remedies. It s an old pattern. For More than 20 years now Ever since Richard  discovered the Potency of Law and order As a slogan Washington has indulged in crime Faddis from indeterminate sentences to Boot Camps it has legislated the anti crime fix of the month attempted to impose it on the nation but sent Little Money to a for the supposed cure. It is doing that again. The Senate passed what it advertised As a "$22 billion anti crime Bill last novem Ber promising to spend Money the Federal government does not have to fight crime often in ways that have Only the slightest connection tothe kind of crime that rightfully worries  other things the Bill would direct scarce Justice department resources to com Bat the introduction of Nonin dig Enous Plant and animal Spe cies into Hawaii and report on the feasibility of recruiting for Mer Royal Hong Kong police officers into . Law enforce ment  creates scores of new fed eral crimes Many of them punishable by the death penalty further burdening an All but overwhelmed Federal judiciary. Its main promises to help finance an additional100,000 police officers in the next five years and build More jails to hold the people they arrest Are Contin gent on finding savings in other programs. Once the Washington politicians have grabbed their election year headlines the cities and states expecting help May find they have been handed a rubber  is and ought to be primarily a local and state responsibility. But presidents and Mem Bers of Congress love to flex their Muscles and pretend they re  John Felde and Donna Huneker staff members of the National conference of state Legislatures note Din a recent article less than a month after a Maryland Mother was dragged to her death in a gruesome car jacking that jolted the nation. Congress had passed legislation making carjacking a Federal offence punishable by up to life in  no matter that virtually All states already had Laws covering that crime and that Maryland had sent the culprits to jail for life. V thanks to our vigilant Congress there Are no More than 3,000 crimes classified As Federal offences. Does that make you feel safer what Congress and the president could do about crime is simpler less headline grabbing but far More productive Stop writing new criminal Laws or fiddling with the criminal Justice system and focus on getting More Money into the hands of local Law enforcement Agen cies. If fresh Federal funds Are available get them to the police departments. Alternatively curb the unfunded Federal mandates which the . Conference of mayors says now Cost cities More than $54 billion Money that otherwise would be available for preventing and fighting crime. Reduce the Supply of guns. This is an area where Federal Laws Are needed because interstate Trade makes local gun control efforts largely ineffective. Get serious about redeeming president Clinton Campaign Promise to make drug treatment available to everyone who needs it. Crime and drugs Are closely linked and few communities have the resources even to treat the drug addicts they jail. Drug Czar Lee brow now says it is unlikely the Clinton Promise will be achieved in the next five years. That is not acceptable. Fill the More than 100 vacant Federal judgeship and provide the support staff Federal judges and prosecutors need. The Federal government is a major Force against organized crime but it s being hampered by All these vacancies. Finally Washington politicians could Stop beating their chests about How Tough they Are when others Are doing All the hard work in the anti crime Effort. C the Washington Post