Banner Graphic, Volume 22, Number 154, Greencastle, Putnam County, 3 March 1992 — Page 2

THE BANNERGRAPHIC March 3,1992

A primer for today’s elections

WASHINGTON (AP) For Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who claims to be the most electable Democrat, it’s Georgia or bust today. For former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas, it’s time to display road strength in presidential primaries far from his New England territory. AND FOR THREE other Democratic candidates, the target is to be successful enough to claim the money and backing to keep going for at least one more week. In Republican competition, President Bush faces the persistent Patrick Buchanan in three states and once again faces the risk of losing embarrassing shares of the GOP vote. Buchanan contends he has a chance of making a second New Hampshire out of Georgia, his chosen target among today’s contests. He got 37 percent of the primary vote in New Hampshire two weeks ago. Other protest votes took another 10 percent away from Bush, who wound up with 53 percent THE WHITE HOUSE got another signal of discontent last Tuesday in South Dakota, when Bush, alone on the ballot, lost 31 percent of the vote to Republicans who opted for an uncommitted slate of delegates. Buchanan campaigned briefly in Maryland and skipped Colorado. So the GOP numbers to watch are the challenger’s share of the Georgia vote, and the protest turnout against Bush in the other two, all against the benchmarks of the prior primaries, as a measure of trends for or against the president. Democrats are competing in seven state primaries and caucuses today, while Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, lowa Sen. Tom Harkin and former California Gov. Jerry Brown all are looking for the headway to hold on and become the

Bill would scrap decision on IRS reviews

WASHINGTON (AP) A House tax-cut bill would negate a landmark court decision that requires the Internal Revenue Service to prove its claim that a taxpayer has under-reported income. The IRS successfully argued to lawmakers that the court ruling would undermine the effort to catch tax cheats through computer matching of returns with documents listing wages, interest and dividends. That matching finds S2O billion a year of unreported income.

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alternative to front-runners Tsongas and Clinton. TSONGAS GOT to the front rank by winning New Hampshire and surviving an unexpectedly close call against Brown in the fol-low-up caucuses in Maine. Kerrey won in South Dakota, next door to his home state. Harkin swept his home caucuses in lowa. That’s three winners and a near winner, and none of them Clinton, the candidate who gained an early advantage in campaign contributions, endorsements and organization on the strength of his argument that he is the most electable of the field against Bush on Nov. 3. Now he’s got to start proving it, beginning in Georgia. That’s one the Arkansas governor must win. It is the first of the Southern primaries, which come in a bunch of seven next Tuesday, along with four other states. CLINTON HOLDS a 9 percentage point margin over Tsongas in today’s CBS-New York Times poll. He’s spent more time campaigning in Georgia than any other

“THE ENTIRE TAX system will eventually crumble” if the decision stands, IRS Commissioner Shirley D. Peterson told Congress. An amendment to effectively overrule the court decision was one of scores of provisions tacked onto the Democratic tax bill behind closed doors before it was passed by the House last week. Most other amendments would have far less impact. One eventually could result in taxpayers using a credit card to pay the IRS.

Democrat, part or all of six days in the past two weeks. In Georgia, Tsongas can claim the outsider’s lot, just as Clinton did in New Hampshire. Clinton ran second there, eight points behind Tsongas, and called himself “the comeback kid,” proclaiming a moral victory to come that close after confronting and denying claims of an illicit affair and of avoiding the Vietnam draft. Tsongas is trying to overcome his critics’ claims that he’s only a regional candidate, without national standing. To make his point, he needs to win the Maryland primary; that would go double should he capture Colorado too. He has held the edge over Clinton in public opinion polls in both primary states. “I AM A prisoner of your expectations and judgments,” Tsongas said Monday in Greenbelt, Md. “I have to do well here.” Then again, with victory in Maryland or Colorado to go with a regional win in Georgia, Clinton could make the same case for him-

Another would change the tax rules for people who hire domestics. Another would help ease the automobile luxury tax on handicapped people. ALL THESE provisions are riders on a bill that would give wage earners a tax credit of up to S4OO a year in 1992 and 1993, cut capital-gains taxes on some investments and offer businesses investments for buying equipment this year. President Bush has said he would veto the bill because it would raise taxes on the well-to-do. The disputed court decision last June threw into question a longstanding policy that when the IRS issues an assessment of taxes owed, it is generally presu.ned to be correct. If, for example, a bank reports to the agency that it paid in-

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RE-ELECT JUDGE VAUGHN Republican

self as a candidate who can win away from home. The fourth Democratic primary is in Utah, which never has held one before; Tsongas was preferred in a poll conducted last Tuesday and Wednesday, but with far more Democrats undecided. THERE ARE Democratic caucuses in Minnesota, where Harkin looks to an organizational push to give him a chance at matching his home caucus victory; in Washington state, where Tsongas and Clinton are rated the leaders, but a small turnout could make forecasts useless; and in Idaho, where candidate prospects are even cloudier. For all those uncertainties, there is a clear, crucial and probably elusive target for at least one Democrat. Brown needs a 20 percent share of the vote in one of the primaries to reclaim federal campaign subsidies, which he lost for lack of a 10 percent showing in the first two. A Colorado poll published Sunday showed him a tantalizing two points short, at 18 percent.

terest to a person, that person has the burden of proving the ‘‘information return” is wrong. Ramon Portillo, a Texas house painter; contended that an information return overstated cash he had received from a job, but he had no way to prove he did not get the additional money. The IRS contacted the client, who acknowledged he had no records to substantiate his claim. NEVERTHELESS, the IRS issued a notice of additional taxes and Portillo sued in Tax Court. The sth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the IRS was wrong because it made no effort to determine whether the information return was correct. The presumption of correctness does not apply, the court held, when an assessment is “without any founda-

Overthrown ban on X-rated TV left intact

WASHINGTON (AP) possible to designate a time of day for “indecent” broadcasts that can be hidden from children? A Supreme Court action Monday put the burden on the Federal Communications Commission to fryTHE JUSTICES left intact a lower court ruling that had thrown out a 24-hour ban on such radio and television programming. The lower court had said the ban, enacted by Congress, violated constitutionally protected freedom of expression. There must be a daily “safe-har-bor” period when such material is permitted on the airwaves, the lower court said. While the case was pending, the

CONSTITUTION OF STATE OF INDIANA Bill of Rights Article 1 section 12 All courts shall be open; and every person, for injury done to him in his person, property, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law. Justice shall be administered freely, and without purchase, completely, and without denial; speedily, and without delay. •EXPERIENCE •LEADERSHIP •DEDICATION

PAID FOR BY RE-ELECT JUDGE VAUGHN COMMTTEE, HOWARD WILLIAMS, TREASURER

Indiana Republicans have almost wiped out debt

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Aided by a new influx of revenue from personalized license plate sales, Indiana Republicans have virtually erased the debt of their party’s state committee. The GOP state committee’s year-end report filed Monday with the State Election Board showed the party paid off $382,777 in debts last year. That left the GOP with only $34,536 in unpaid bills at the beginning of this year. “I’M HAPPY WITH that,” said state Republican Chairman Rexford C. Early. “But my longterm goal is not to come in and be a businessman and pay off long-term debt. I’m here to win elections, too.”

The Republican state committee had been saddled with debts since 1988, when it decided to borrow approximately $500,000 to help die gubernatorial campaign of Lt Gov. John M. Mutz. When Mutz lost the governor’s office to Democrat Evan Bayh, the GOP had trouble paying off the debt. After two state chairmen came and went, Republicans chose Early, a well-known fund-raiser, as their new chairman last spring. One of Early’s first actions was to decide to take vanity plate revenue earmarked for political parties revenue that previous chairman Keith Luse had decided to forego. ACCORDING TO finance records, the state auditor forwarded $503,303 in vanity plate revenue to Republicans last year. About half of that amount stays with the state committee and the rest goes to county party organizations. “No question, it would be tougher without the license branch money,” Early said.

tion whatsoever.” Taxpayer-advocate groups hailed the ruling as a major victory, saying it would end the notion that where the IRS is concerned, a person is guilty until proven innocent. House Ways and Means and Senate Finance subcommittees headed by Rep. JJ. Pickle, DTexas, and Sen. David Pryor, DArk., held hearings and wrote provisions designed to make the Portillo decision work for taxpayers with as little damage as possible to tax collection. WHEN HOUSE Democrats wrote the final version of their taxcut bill, they attached a version of Pickle’s bill requiring the IRS to take reasonable steps to corroborate the accuracy of information returns.

FCC informally decided the hours between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. was the time, under the theory that a parent had more control over children’s activities then. PEGGY CHARREN, president of Action for Children’s Television which fought the ban, said that was proper. If you push the time for material judged indecent much later into the evening, you may endanger some “very nice drama” dealing with adult situations from appearing in prime time, she said. She called the court’s decision not to take the case “a victory for people to know that the place to take care of children is the off button in the home.” But those fighting for the round-the-clock ban said that is silly.

Democrats also benefited from the vanity plate money last year when the party received $515,130. The two parties’ takes differ because each party has a different number of county organizations that accept their share of the funds. THE STATE Democratic committee had also foregone personalized license plate money during the period when Republicans wouldn’t take it. Ann M. DeLaney, executive director of the state Democratic Party, said the party began to accept the money again when it became clear Republicans would use it. “I’m not going to give him (Early) a quarter of a million dollar advantage,” she said. “It is not an insubstantial amount of money.”

SHE ALSO pointed out that a legislative proposal to end the distribution of vanity plate fees to the parties “got nowhere.” Both Democratic Chairman Michael A. Pannos and Luse had supported that proposal in 1990. Under present law, S3O of the fee for a personalized license plate is split between the two parties. The party finance reports showed the Democratic state committee raised and spent more money than Republicans last year. THE DEMOCRATIC committee reported receipts of $1.6 million and expenditures of $1.49 million. Republicans raised sl.l million and spent $1.05 million. Democrats finished the year with $109,811 in cash on hand. Republicans reported $58,741. The reports are separate from individual candidates’ reports.

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PRESIDENT BUSH Likely to veto bill

“MILLIONS OF children are in the audience 24 hours a day,” said James P. Mueller, legal counsel for Children’s Legal Foundation in Phoenix, Ariz. “There are so many radios out there, there is no way for a parent to monitor what their child is listening to at home or away from home,” he said. Indecent material, unlike legally obscene material, is constitutionally protected. It is defined by law as descriptions of “sexual or excretory activities or organs” in terms “patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium.”

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