University Daily Kansan, October 12, 1983
Page 11
'Secret meetings' exclude consumers
Report says business sways regulators
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — Secret meetings between corporate officials and Reagan administration regulators have influenced health and safety policies at five major agencies, a research group said yesterday.
Administration officials "in their zeal to deregulate . . . have encouraged, if not institutionalized, a process of secret and one-sided business influence," said a report by Democracy Project, a non-profit research group.
Although similar meetings have taken place in previous administrations, such contacts are "business as usual" for Kean's regulators," said the report.
As a result, "consumers, workers and environmentalists are denied their due process rights to equal participation in issues affecting them," the group charged.
REGULATORY OFFICIALS should be required to put all substantive communications on pending rules in the public record, said the report.
Rep. Richard Ottinger, D-N.Y., said, "The time has come for Congress to investigate the full scope of improper influence on the regulatory process."
EPA officials responded to the report by saying, "Regulated industry has a role to play in the development of EPA standards and licensing decisions. Congress specifically requires the agency to communicate directly with licensees or registrants in pesticide cases, for example."
It charged, among other things, that:
THE 35 CASES in the study occurred at the food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Health and Safety Agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Office of Management and Budget, the report said.
*On three occasions, NITSA's Office of Defects Investigation shared test results with the auto industry but not with the public. Two instances concerned brake failure and one involved a crash test, failure by Ford's EXP.
In the case of Ford, NHTSA Administrator Raymond Peck phoned Chairman Philip Caldwell to warn him of the test failure and to inform the agency to help the agency look for errors that would invalidate the test," the report said.
Ford spokesman Richard Judy acknowledged that Peck spoke with Caldwell but said, "It was not a secret contact, it was a normal extension of our communication with NHTSA that goes on all the time."
- OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Cowan gave Scott Railton, an attorney representing companies that deal with dockworkers, a copy of the book
agency's final draft of a proposed lead exposure standard, which led to the industry's exemption from the standard in the final rule
Cowan, now chief of staff for Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan, was out of the country and not available for comment. OSHA spokesman Doug Clark said Railton's comments "were fully and openly discussed in a setting ... that took into account all legal and technical considerations."
- The EPA in one day changed a 10-year policy limiting phosphate in detergents after Deputy Administrator John Hernandez met in March 1982 with representatives of FMC Corp., a Chicago-based firm that supplies detergent manufacturers with phosphates.
The Democracy Project describes itself as a non-profit educational institute that "critiques conservative and develops progressive alternatives."
Court to reconsider case against Johnson protege
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court yesterday ordered a district judge to reopen the 17-year-old fraud and tax evasion case against Lyndon B. Johnson protege Bobby Baker, and new evidence Baker says will clear him.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia told U.S. District Judge Oliver Gassch to reopen the case that led to Baker's conviction.
Baker, a political protege and aide to Johnson long before the Texas Democrat became president, told the appeals court that information he obtained from the governor was information Act showed the government knew he had not committed any crime.
BAKER WAS FOUND guilty of stealing $9,600 and evading $23,914 in taxes in 1961 and 1962. He was sentenced in 1987 to serve one to three years in prison for theft, tax evasion, larceny and fraud. He spent 16 months in prison.
His lawyer, Michael Tigart, told the appeals court on Sept. 20 that Baker had uncovered proof that prosecutors withheld evidence that would have proved that Baker did not steal the money.
Tigart said Gasch ignored the new information presented to him at an earlier nearing. The new information, he said, was that the FBI knew Baker had given the money to Sen. Robert Kerr, Oklahoma democrat.
The appeals court agreed with Tigar that the information was sufficient to at
least order Gasch to look at the papers and consider Baker's claim that the government withheld the information at his trial.
BAKER HAD TESTIFIED at his trial that he gave Kerr the money he was given by savings and loan associations, but returned, he said. Kerr loaned him $50,000.
The government charged that, instead of giving the money to Kerr as the savings and loan officials asked, he denied it for himself. Baker denied the charges.
Nicaraguan rebels spark fire forcing 1,500 people to flee
By United Press International
MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Nicaraguan rebels tore open two fuel tanks with machine-gun fire, sparking a blaze that forced 1.500 people to flee a northern town, officials said yesterday. It was the second attack in 10 days on Nicaragua's scarce oil depots.
In Costa Rica, officials requested $10 billion in U.S. aid for the next decade, telling Henry Kissinger's National Commission on Central America the country needs more investment to fight against "extremist ideologies."
Nicaragua Defense Ministry sources said an attack on Puerto Corinto, 75 miles northwest of Managua, occurred just before midnight Monday. Two fuel tanks, torn open by heavy machine gun fire, burst into flames and burned at least five hours, town residents said.
THE BLAZE FORCED the evacuation of all 1,500 residents of Puerto Coriato, and sources reported five wounded, none of them seriously.
In Honduras, the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Democratic Force, known by its Spanish acronym FDN, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it used "mortar and fire" to attack the storage tanks
An independent source told UPI, however, that a "very fast launch" under a Sandinista flag entered the port on Monday night. The crew members fired at the tanks with automatic weapons, "possibly with
50-caliber bullets" the source said. Each tank had a capacity of 5,000 gallons, authorities said.
About 360,000 gallons of fuel, the entire civilian supplies for the Caribbean coast, were destroyed in the war and are held at Benjamin Zeidleton 10 days ago.
All of Nicaragua's petroleum needs, 10,000 to 11,000 barrels a day, is imported from Mexico.
THE REBELS ALSO claimed to have mined at least one port and warned they would sink Mexican tankers trying to bring more fuel.
Henry Kissinger and 10 of the 11 other members of the National Commission on Central America went to Costa Rica yesterday on the second leg of their 6-nation tour of the region.
President Luis Alberto Mongue told commission members his country "is going through the most delicate moment in history, because of turbulence and war."
Vice President Alberto Fait said Monday officials would tell Kissinger the country needs $1 billion per year of aid and loans for the next decade to achieve economic recuperation, or $10 billion in all.
IN A BRIEF airport arrival statement Kissinger said, "We the Commission" are dedicated to democracy, total justice and
"Costa Rica is the touchstone of what can be achieved in the area," Kissinger told Monge.
READING FOR COMPREHENSION AND SPEED (65 hours of instruction)
(Six hours of instruction.)
October 20, 27, and November 3 (Thursdays 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Register and pay the $14 materials fee at the Student Assistance Center, 121 Strong Hall.
Class size limited.
Relationships Between Women and Men (Exploring Changing Sex Roles)
Do you wonder . . .
—IF MAN AND WOMEN REALLY UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER!
—IF T'S O.K. A FOR WOMAN TO ASK A MAN FOR A DATE!
- IF A WOMAN SHOULD BE EXPECTED TO SPLIT EXPENSES WITH HER DATE?
- IF A WOMAN SHOULD KEEP HE MAIDEN NAME WHEN SHE GETS MARRIED
THE WORKSHOP WILL PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSS THE WAYS IN WHICH CHANGING EXPECTATIONS FOR MEN'S AND WOMEN'S RULES AFFECT RELATIONSHIPS.
Date: Tues., Oct. 25, 1983
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Place: International Rm. Kansas Union
FACILITATORS: ART FARMER
ilitators: ART FAMKER,
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
ORGANIZATIONS AND
ACTIVITIES CENTER
ELSEI PINNEY
ASSISTANT COORDINATOR
EMILY TAYLOR WOMEN'S
RESOURCE CENTER
Sponsored by
The Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center 218 Rich Hall, 804-3552
BREAKING AWAY
DENNIS CHRISTOPHER DENNIS OUARD DANIEL STEINER and JAKEE EARLE HALEY
are starring BARBARA BARREL PADDEL FRAUDIAN RUMMY DOUGLASS
Wednesday October 12
7:00, 9:00, and 11:00 $1.75
Shown in Downs Auditorium in Dyche Hall(next to the Union