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Editorials
Monday, August 14, 2000Democrats look silly
in fuss over PlayboyThe issue: Democratic Party officials forced a California congresswoman to cancel a fund-raiser at the Playboy mansion.
VICE President Al Gore ought to be striving to look presidential as the Democratic National Convention gets under way. Instead he came off looking prudish.
Gore ran into a tiff involving Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a California congresswoman who planned a fund-raiser for a Hispanic voter registration program. That mission was certainly OK with party officials but not the location -- the Playboy mansion.
With the Democrats desperately striving for an image of respectability following the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, association with Playboy is the last thing they want.
But they overreacted hysterically by removing Sanchez from a speaking role at the convention and threatening additional punishment. Sanchez backed off under the pressure and agreed to move the fund-raiser to a less sensitive locale. In return, officials restored her convention role.
Gore foolishly got into the fray, saying he supported the party's decision to distance itself from the event despite his own acceptance of contributions from Playboy executives, including Hugh Hefner. He argued unpersuasively that there was a big difference between accepting Playboy contributions and holding an event at the Playboy mansion.
In fact the mansion hosts six to 10 fund-raisers and charity events each year. Past events have included fund-raisers for then-Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and then-Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. To make such a fuss over this was ridiculous and suggests that the party is terribly worried that the Republicans will succeed in tarring Gore with Clinton's scandalous behavior.
Continental Airlines
IMPROVEMENT of service by an airline serving Hawaii is usually a rather routine news story. However, Continental Airlines' investment of about $500 million in its Pacific island service, switching to a fleet of 10 Boeing 737-800s for its Continental Micronesia subsidiary, is worth noting.
The new planes fly higher and are more fuel-efficient than the Boeing 727s they are replacing and earlier generations of 737s.
The switch demonstrates Continental's continuing commitment to linking Hawaii with Micronesia, an area it has served for more than three decades. By the end of the year Continental will have all 10 of the 737-800s flying between Honolulu, the Marshall Islands, Guam, Saipan, Tokyo and Taiwan.
The airline provides a vital service connecting the islands, not only for tourism and commercial purposes but also transporting islanders for medical treatment. In many cases, Continental Micronesia is just about the only way the islanders can get around.
William Meehan, president of Continental Micronesia, said they bring all sorts of items aboard, including motors, air conditioners, even livestock.
Convenient and reliable air service for Micronesia is also important for Hawaii because of its role as a leader among the Pacific islands. In addition, Continental's marketing of its Pacific island destinations will benefit Hawaii because tourists will stop over here on their way to the islands.
Lech Walesa cleared
THERE'S nothing like being certain. But this is absurd. A special court in Warsaw has cleared Lech Walesa, the founder of the Solidarity movement, which ousted Poland's Communist regime, of collaborating with the Communist secret police.
Walesa, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was investigated under a new law that requires candidates to declare whether they ever cooperated with the Communist secret services. There is no penalty for admitting collaboration, but anyone found by the court to have lied is banned from public office for 10 years.
The court ruled that information against Walesa in the secret police files that he spied on fellow dissidents was not credible because it was written by agents who were assigned to discredit dissidents. The decision left Walesa free to run for president. He was defeated in his 1995 re-election bid.
Newly disclosed documents indicated that the secret police plotted to discredit Walesa when Solidarity was fighting to topple the Communist regime. An Interior Ministry report detailed the use of forgers to fabricate documents to make it appear that Walesa was a paid agent.
The report said forged papers even were sent to Nobel committee members in 1982 in a bid to prevent Walesa from winning the peace prize. He won it anyway in 1983.
Walesa isn't the only prominent figure to face such charges. President Aleksander Kwasniewski, an ex-Communist who defeated Walesa in 1995 and is favored to win again Oct. 8, was cleared of similar allegations.
The screening law is flawed because it requires hearings even on flimsy evidence. It appears to be an invitation to witch hunts that can only distract the nation from the task of strengthening democracy. That even Walesa was summoned to defend himself is the ultimate proof that the law must be changed.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert 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
