ELECTION YEAR SERIOUSNESS AND FOOLISHNESS

Headwaters Hearings As the 105th Congress lurches to a close, there's little to celebrate except for its ending; like its ultra- conservative predecessor, this Congress particularly catered to special interests (including their own, as shown in the story below). Concerned citizens are likely exhausted from calling their reps to protest bills that continued the right wing assault on the environment, human rights, and civil liberties. In these crisis- driven times, it's easy to overlook public hearings or other important events that also need our attention.

If you're in California, one event is coming soon that you can't miss -- the public comment hearings for the Headwaters Forest Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). If you want to voice your objection to the political gamesmanship that created this deal, this is your best -- and probably, last -- chance. The Fish and Wildlife Service is required to address every issue raised in the final version of the HCP.

The entire draft version of the Plan is available from the state at: http://ceres.ca.gov/headwaters/ (good maps). The Trees Foundation's Headwaters Forest website offers excellent background, as well as HCP criticism. While you're there, take a few minutes and read the summary of their Headwaters Forest Stewardship Plan as a sensible alternative.

Hearings will be held in Los Angeles, October 27; Sacramento, October 29; Oakland, November 5; Eureka, November 11.

House Ethics Of the four stories in our last issue on ethics in the House of Representatives, many readers overlooked the article describing a pending change that will allow Congress to get away with far more skullduggery. As detailed in "Different Standards For Me And Thee," some members of the House are pushing hard to establish a Justice Department "Misconduct Review Board." Gary Raskin of the watchdog Congressional Accountability Project says it's a corrupt Washington politician's dream come true. "It would help corrupt politicians and other politically powerful defendants to interfere with and to subvert federal prosecutions against them."

Raskin says the Board would have extraordinarily broad subpoena powers to demand secret information about ongoing federal criminal investigations, and to harass federal prosecutors. Information, evidence, and testimony obtained by the Board -- including grand jury testimony, investigative files, identities of potential witnesses, and information covered by the Privacy Act -- would presumably leak to a Member of Congress facing federal prosecution, because the Board would have two non-voting Republicans and Democrats appointed by congressional leaders, and Board meetings would be open to the public.

Before mid-October (1998) it will be decided if this provision stays in the massive appropriations bill -- and so far, it looks like it's a keeper. Raskin asks that voters immediately contact Members of the Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary Appropriations conference committee (listed below) and urge them to strike the McDade-Murtha provision, also known as Title VIII in the bill. If you live in a state represented by a Member of the conference committee, call that Member first.

From the Monitor Government Resource pages you can select Public Megaphone to reach any elected official easily.

Senate members of this special committee are: Gregg (R-NH), Stevens (R-AK), Domenici (R-NM), McConnell (R-KY), Hutchison (R-TX), Campbell (R-CO), Cochran (R-MS), Hollings (D-SC), Inouye (D-HI), Bumpers (D-AR), Lautenberg (D-NJ) , Mikulski (D-MD), Byrd (D-WV)

House of Representatives members: Rogers (R-KY), Kolbe (R-AZ), Taylor (R-NC), Regula (R-OH) , Latham (R-IA), Livingston (R-LA) , Young (R-FL), Mollohan (D-WV), Skaggs (D-CO), Dixon (D-CA), Obey (D-WI) (October 8, 1998)

The real House scandals As every tiny detail about Clinton's sex life became public last month, commentators in the press noted that some of the President's loudest critics also have sexual skeletons in their Congressional closets. Old affairs by Reps Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, Helen Chenoweth, and Dan Burton were rehashed, to the dismay of growing numbers of the public that appear weary of still more discussion of adultery. Worse, the media completely failed its mission by flogging only these sex angles; in each case, the Representative mentioned was either guilty of extremely serious ethical violations -- or a possible candidate for censure, if the craziness of his or her true views were widely known.

Leading the disgrace of the House of Representatives is Speaker Gingrich, who's been repeatedly caught with his ethics exposed. As noted in the current issue, he agreed to (and then had to back off) a $4 million book advance from Rupert Murdoch, while relaxing the rules on Murdoch's ownership of multiple media outlets. Gingrich blocked a House ethics investigation -- which anyway would have been unlikely -- by involking a loophole in parlimentary procedure. Then there's Henry Hyde's dirty tricks and ethics violations , which include being a paid lobbyist for the Savings & Loan industry as it collapsed.

Far worse than her past adultery, Rep Helen Chenoweth of Idaho is infamous for championing some of the most extremist views on Capitol Hill. As the Monitor reported in 1995, she's said that of all the species on Earth, "It's the white Anglo- Saxon male that's endangered." She also charged that the government used black helicopters to enforce the Endangered Species Act.

The blue-ribbon for combined scandal, sleaze, and stupidity has to go to Indiana's Rep. Dan Burton. As the press has noted, Clinton's prominent critic fathered a child during an extra-marital affair. But they don't report that he's more famous for taking huge sums of money from questionable sources such as the governments of Zaire, Guatemala, and Turkey. In a recent article for The Progressive, Ken Silverstein, co-editor with Alexander Cockburn of CounterPunch, describing some of his other stunts:

Burton was so convinced Vince Foster was murdered that he reenacted his supposed killing in his backyard. As part of the reenactment, Burton fired a gun into what he described as a "headlike thing" and what others suggest was a pumpkin.

Burton also has an obsession with AIDS. Though no evidence has emerged to support his theory, Burton reportedly is convinced that restaurant salad bars are a breeding ground for the virus. All this and much more has led conservative journalist David Brock to state that "many colleagues in [Burton's] own party think he's nuts."

Readers may wonder: How do these characters stay in office? Both Gingrich and Hyde are famous for abusing their power to win pork barrel projects for their districts. But in the case of Burton, his opponent seems even more eccentric, according to press reports. "God has been very good to Dan Burton," Edward Turzanski, a political scientist at LaSalle University in Philadelphia told Associated Press. "I'd love to be running his campaign now, if this is his opponent."

A profile in the May 17, 1998 Indianapolis Star describes Democrat challenger Bobby Hidalgo Kern as a convicted felon (forgery) also arrested on prostitution and check deception charges. The Star notes that felony crimes prohibit him from seeking state or local office, but no law stops a felon from running for Senator or Representative.

Still more controversial is his history of impersonating a female county judge who was fighting terminal cancer. He told the Star that he used her name because he admired her and thought people wouldn't be rude to a judge. The article also provides evidence that he has often impersonated on the phone actress Tanya Roberts, best known for her role on TV's "Charlie's Angels."

Local Democrats are still trying to invalidate his primary victory, claiming that he fraudulently appeared on the ballot under the name Kern instead of his father's name, Hidalgo. Party leaders complain that this placed his name first on the list and made it sound less foreign than the name of the Democrat preferred candidate, biochemist R. "Nag" Nagarajan. Nor is Kern's recent behavior likely to be winning him friends. Just last month, he was accused of threatening a bank teller because his ATM card didn't work. According to the sheriff's report, he said he was going to get his Uzi and "shoot the man that opened the account and every time I pull the trigger, spell my name." (October 1, 1998)

Conspiracy theorist loses In a September primary runoff Oklahoma Republicans turned out state Rep. Charles Key, who has traveled the country peddling conspiracy theories concerning the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Key headed the petition campaign calling an investigation into the bombing by a county grand jury, which has been meeting off and on since June 1997.

Key was the top vote-getter in the August primary, but still received only 35 percent of the vote, throwing him into a runoff against John Nance who got 32 percent. Two other candidates divided the remainder.

Nance won last month's runoff, 55 to 45 percent. Key accused the state Attorney General, a Democrat, of recruiting Nance, who was then on leave as an investigator for the AG's office. Nance, who lost friends in the bombing, said he was asked to run by a number of bombing survivors. Key has also been criticized for missing many votes in the state House while traveling around the country giving talks to conspiracy- oriented organizations.

Key collected over $12,000 in contributions and loans, more than twice the funds reported by Nance. The Oklahoman reported that Key's chief financial contributors were George Wallace, a member of Key's Oklahoma Bombing Investigation Commission and of the John Birch Society ($3,000), and the Gunowners of America ($2,500). Nance's largest contribution was $1,000, an individual met during the campaign. (October 1, 1998)

Australian election satire Many lessons can be drawn from l'affair Lewinsky, but an important angle is completely overlooked: How the story illustrates our great American narcissism.

We've come to assume that we'll naturally control any debate in which we take part, and that everyone on the globe is utterly fascinated with all things American. Thus if the Lewinsky story captures headlines in The New York Times, it should also be a top story in their own country. But for the most part, the world has shown little interest in our President's sophomoric sex scandal. Why not? Our media pundits are baffled.

Our narcissism also keeps us from caring much about the world outside our borders. We generally don't know much about other nations and other cultures, and foreign news rarely gains our attention -- a frequent topic of these 404 reports. This is particularly sad now, because recent events in Australia give new perspective to our own sex and politics tussle.

As Australia's October 3 national election neared, many there worried about that the hard- right "One Nation" party would continue its 1996 gains, when party leader Pauline Hanson won a seat in the Australian House of Representatives.

Hanson is best known for her complaint that Australia was being "swamped" by Asians, and for her hatred of single mothers and homosexuals -- although she also claimed to be the "mother of all" Australians. Her campaign platform contained racist themes, such as cutbacks in public assistance for Aboriginal people ("preferential treatment," she called it) and limits on Asian immigration. The One Nation party has strongest among the growing number of unemployed workers. In June, polls in the state of Queensland predicted that her party might receive 1 vote out of 4 -- enough to make them an important third national political party.

Then Pauline Pantsdown entered the news.

Pantsdown -- really Simon Hunt, a a 36-year-old lecturer in multimedia studies and son of a former Supreme Court judge -- ran for the Senate in a different state, dressed as an outrageous drag parody of Hanson, complete with falsetto voice, arched eyebrows, red hair, and brightly colored dresses.

Pantsdown told IPS that by mimicking Hanson his message was serious. "I wanted to send a message that she is not real," he said. "I wanted to send an anti-racist message with a funny- comical character. Anyone can have a bad red hair day and bad dress sense."

Pantsdown says Hanson's strategy is to give the people an enemy, establish that the country is under attack from outside and inside. For Hanson, he says, the outside enemy is Asia while inside, it's a dehumanization of the foe. "She is a populist politician," said Pantsdown. "A figurehead of rightwing extremists. She probably doesn't understand."

Pantsdown said his work was clearly political satire, and described himself as a keen watcher of the prevailing prejudices in society who tries to make political statements through his work, including using his art to fight for gay rights in Australia.

To Hanson's dismay, Pantsdown -- now legally his name because Australian law requires real names on the ballot -- did more than just campaign in ugly dresses. He also recorded "I'm a Backdoor Man," a rap song ridiculing her anti-gay views using audio samples from Hanson's own speeches. The recording zoomed to the top of the Australian pop music charts.

Calling Pantsdown "a disgusting little pervert," the One Nation party quickly obtained a court injunction against radio broadcast of the song. In response, Pantsdown wrote another song in the same manner: "I Don't Like It." This also quickly became a Top 20 hit.

True to form, Hanson sought someone to blame as her ratings fell. She decided that the press were responsible, and banned media from her public appearances. This gave all the more attention to her opponents, of course, as well as more publicity for Pantsdown, who was busy autographing copies of his CDs.

When the votes were tallied on October 3, Hanson and her party were routed. Not only did she lose the party's only seat in Parliment, but the One Nation pulled only 8 percent of the national vote -- less than one-third of their June prediction. No small measure of thanks for her defeat should go to Pantsdown, who's brilliant guerilla theatre probably went far to help voters understand what was wrong about her ideas.

Pantsdown lost as well, collecting only 1,582 votes, or about .05 percent. But remember that he was running for the Senate in a different state. In that race, there were two other spoof candidates just targeting One Nation party Senate candidate David Oldfield. Besides Pantsdown, "David Mouldfield" was on the ballot, as was "Handsome Handpuppet."

That wacky Aussie humor aside, it's clear they take their politics seriously. In the state of New South Wales, 3 out of 4 registered voters went to the polls. (October 12, 1998)