Editorials
Thursday, May 21, 1998

Congress should OK
Cuba sanctions deal

TWO years ago Congress passed legislation imposing sanctions on foreign companies doing business with Cuba, Iran and Libya. Faced with pressure to take a hard line against Fidel Castro's Cuba and terrorist-sponsoring Iran and Libya, President Clinton signed the measures into law despite international protests.

The legislation was aimed at foreign companies that invested in oil and gas production in Iran and Libya and companies that acquired properties in Cuba that had been confiscated by Castro from American citizens. A provision of the Cuban law denied U.S. visas to executives of those companies.

The measures drew sharp protests from U.S. allies and trading partners, including Mexico, Canada and the European Union, on the ground that the laws violated their sovereignty by punishing their citizens for actions they considered legal. Mexico and Canada passed retaliatory legislation and the European Union challenged the measures at the World Trade Organization.

The laws haven't been enforced thus far. Clinton has invoked temporary waivers authorized in the Cuban legislation and refrained from imposing sanctions under the Iran-Libya act.

Now he has announced an agreement with European leaders that could end the confrontation. Under the steps announced by the president in London, the administration would grant permanent waivers under the Cuban law. Clinton said he also would try to ease the provision denying visas to executives of the affected companies.

In exchange, members of the European Union agreed to join in creating a global registry of property confiscated by Cuba and other governments that would remain off-limits to investors.

Clinton also announced that he had decided against imposing sanctions on a consortium led by a French oil company for investing in Iran.

At the close of the semiannual summit between the United States and the European Union, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said, "We have avoided a showdown on the sanctions with which we don't agree." However, a spokesman for Sen. Jesse Helms, a co-sponsor of the Cuba legislation, called the deal "way too small a loaf" and said Congress would not amend the laws as required by the agreement.

That would be unfortunate. These laws needlessly damage relations with America's allies. The solution is to win their cooperation on appropriate action against Cuba, Iran and Libya, not to try to ram our policies down their throats.

Tobacco legislation

THE principal goal of tobacco legislation now before Congress is to reduce the rate of smoking among children, since most adult smokers began the habit during their youth. The debate in the Senate this week had to do with whether that can be accomplished by significantly raising the price of cigarettes. If the doubts about the consequences of raising prices are correct, the business executives who set prices for their products may want to reassess their policies.

The fact that price increases for cigarettes result in reduced smoking by youths is well-established. When Canada doubled cigarette prices from 1981 to 1991, youth smoking rates fell by half. Studies have shown that every 10 percent increase in price would bring up to 7 percent reductions in the number of children who smoke.

Researchers at Cornell University have attempted to debunk those studies. They say they found little difference between start-up rates for smoking among teens in states that raised taxes and those that didn't between 1988 and 1992. Cultural or social factors were more important, they say.

The tobacco companies know better.

Officials from Philip Morris expressed concern in a 1987 company report that a round of tobacco price increases may have cost them 700,000 adults smokers and deprived them of 420,000 potential young smokers. "We don't need to have that happen again," the report said.

The tax hikes cited in the Cornell report may not have altered youth smoking habits much because they averaged only 7 percent. The Senate bill would increase them by $1.10 a pack over five years; the Senate defeated a proposal to raise taxes by $1.50 a pack, which would have been a 50 percent increase over Hawaii's cigarette prices.

Smoking among young people has risen in recent years, and bold steps must be taken to counter that alarming trend. The best method would be an increase in cigarette taxes that would be large enough to deter potential smokers, particularly youths with little money to spend.

Civil rights ruling

THE attorney for Robert Wallace, found by a state commission to have violated the civil rights of a black fan at a University of Hawaii basketball game by using a racial slur, says he will recommend that Wallace appeal the ruling to the courts. We hope he does.

Wallace, the son of UH coach Riley Wallace, was the team's student manager when he got involved in an exchange of insults with Eric White, a fan who was loudly criticizing the coach at a 1995 game. The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission ruled that Wallace violated White's civil rights by calling him a "nigger." It ordered Wallace and the university to pay a total of $30,000 to White, an award that attorney Jeffrey Portnoy called "ludicrous" and "mind-boggling."

The First Amendment guarantee of free speech protects offensive language as well as polite language. The Civil Rights Commission has no power to repeal the First Amendment in the name of political correctness. A court test could make this clear.

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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO

John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro, Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor