GORE AND THE PRISON VOTE

To the editor:

In her November 22 letter to the editor, Janelle Clemens disputes the facts
stated in my recent letter about Vice President Al Gore's electoral stumble
in Florida. The facts, however, are clear. According to Human Rights Watch
and The Sentencing Project, 31 percent of African-American men are
permanently barred from voting in Florida. That's more than 200,000
potential African-American votes, only a fraction of which Gore would have
needed to win the state decisively. Florida is one of only thirteen states
that deny the vote to ex-offenders who have served their sentences.

As for the Democrats' commitment to a war on drugs that unfairly targets
African-Americans, the facts are also clear. Al Gore's political record is
one of unwavering support for increasingly harsh criminal penalties for
non-violent drug offences. According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports, the
Clinton/Gore administration has presided over record numbers of drug
arrests, over 700,000 marijuana arrests in 1999 alone, far outpacing any
previous administration. Human Rights Watch reported this year that
African-American men are sent to state prisons for drug offences at
thirteen times the rate of white men nationwide. At this writing it is not
yet known which candidate will be our next president, but it is clear that
Al Gore's own disastrous war on drugs cost him a decisive and uncontestable
win in Florida.

Larry A. Stevens, Springfield