March 16, 1997

ID For Tobacco Buyers Ludicrous While Voters Exempt

Scandals, scams and stupidities are flowing out of the White House so fast these days that once-a-week pundits are hard pressed to keep up with them.

Two events intertwined last week to dismay even yellow-dog Democrats.

First, the Washington Post reported that Vice-president Al Gore had pressured the Immigration and Naturalization Service last year to induct one million new citizens before the November election.

The aim was to create new Democrats - particularly in California. INS Director Doris M. Meissiner, appointed four years ago by Bill Clinton, fell to with a will.

Meissiner ruled that any citizenship application not returned by the FBI within 60 days for the mandatory criminal background check would be considered approved. The usual wait had been two years.

The Bureau has been swamped with applications resulting from illegal-entry amnesty in 1995 and the fear by aliens of losing welfare under the 1996 reform law.

Documents subpoenaed by the House Committee on Government Oversight discloses that the goal set by Albert the Pure was surpassed - by an extra 100,000 new citizens.

Of the 1.1 million new citizenships granted in 10 months, 180,000 were without FBI clearance. Now, well after the election, it has been discovered that 71,000 have criminal histories with the FBI. Of these, 10,800 are for felonies.

Internal INS memos indicate the president and Mrs. Clinton also applied personal pressure on Ms. Meissiner to politize the citizenship drive.

Ho hum. Just another administration honest mistake.

In a different category of political machination, however, is Clinton's executive order requiring all stores that sell tobacco to demand photo identification of purchasers "who look 27 or younger."

While the president reveled in this micro-management of American life, his Justice Department killed a proposed Louisiana law requiring identification when voting.

Louisiana is one of the few states singled out by the Voting Rights Act to clear election changes first with Justice. The sovereignty of states is infringed here, but this is another story.

At issue now is the razor-thin election of Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu over Louis Jenkins. Several thousand "phantom" voters registered Democrat by mail without identification - and casting absentee ballots - have been found non-existent.

Jenkins is pursuing legal remedy.

Even greater voting fraud seems to have occurred in California - the primary target of the last-minute drive to register Latino and Asian immigrants.

Robert K. Dornan, a nine-term conservative Congressman, lost by 979 votes out of 95,000 cast. He finds it strange that he won handily in every precinct except those in Orange County's Latino areas. More than 10,000 immigrants were sworn in and registered at the last minute.

He charged fraud and subpoenaed 30 immigrant advocacy groups involved in the citizenship drive. Ms. Sanchez may yet be unseated.

Of all the states, California has the most corrupt voting system. No identification is required to register or vote. Once registered, voters are never purged from the list.

California election officials estimate that there are 3.5 million deadwood names on the voter rolls. Something over 20 percent of registered voters have died, moved or never existed.

What a handy bank of names this is from which to bolster shaky Democrat districts. Curiously - or maybe not - it is always Democrats who are winners there in closely fought elections tainted by fraud.

It is ludicrous that in the world's greatest democracy we should stew over identification of purchasers of a legal product - while recoiling in horror over identification of those perverting our most precious right.

Not all Democrats, of course, approve the tactics by liberals to dumb down their party to the lowest denominator of citizenship.

This month the Georgia Senate voted 48 to 4 for a bill that would require some form of ID at the polls. Surprisingly, only Florida and nine other states require identification proof.

As the swing of Southern voters and office holders to the Republican party continues, we can expect true reforms in voter registration, budget balancing and campaign spending.

Even second-generation Latinos and Asians turn conservative when they acquire property, start a business and pay taxes.

It is necessary to restrict the sale of tobacco in every legal way possible - whether to teenagers or mature adults.

The addiction is costly and injurious to health.

By the same token, preserving the integrity of voting is even more important. It is the cornerstone of American citizenship.

The Roman empire collapsed when immigrants were granted citizen rights without any requirement of personal responsibility. In the United States of America, the allotment of bread and circuses has reached an all-time high. What's next?

PARTING SHOTS

• The bad news was that President Clinton had to undergo surgery for a torn tendon. The good news was that he did not turn over the government to Vice-president Gore during the operation.
  
• The Pew Foundation picked up the $700,000 tab for the "civility retreat" at Hershey, Penn., where Congress members could kiss and make up. Unfortunately, they did not fudge over their differences.

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers