CAMPBELL FLOATS DRUG, TAX-REFORM CONCEPTS

The GOP Senate Hopeful Avoids Partisan Attacks In His Danville Appearance,
But Defends His Votes To Impeach Clinton

WALNUT CREEK -- Rep. Tom Campbell, the leading Republican candidate for
U.S. Senate, on Monday proposed government distribution of illegal drugs to
addicts as a way to curb crime, and called for replacing the federal income
tax system with a national sales tax of 20 percent.

Campbell, R-Campbell, made the proposals during a 90-minute meeting with
Times editors and reporters after an appearance before a San Ramon Valley
Republican women's group.

For Campbell, it was a day of pushing the policy and political envelope,
yet steering clear of direct attacks on incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen.
Dianne Feinstein.

He is the leading Republican candidate for the March primary. The others
are state Sen. Ray Haynes, R-Riverside, San Diego County Supervisor Bill
Horn, and J.P. Gough, a banking consultant from Orange County.

Campbell, 47, is a Harvard-trained lawyer who holds a doctorate in
economics from the University of Chicago, where he studied under Nobel
economist Milton Friedman. Friedman has called for legalizing drugs, but
Campbell made clear he was not going that far.

The issue surfaced when Campbell was asked his ideas for reducing crime. He
said much violent crime can be traced back to drugs -- either users
stealing to raise money or dealers fighting for turf.

"Why not take those people who are already addicted and give them the drug
to which they are addicted at a government distribution center?" Campbell
asked.

He proposed allowing state and local governments to set up distribution
centers where users could consume drugs. There, they would also be offered
help to cure them of their addictions.

"I don't know if it will work," he said, "but I do know that the present
system is not successful."

A study of a similar program in Belgium found it led to reduced crime and
less addiction, he said. Less crime was not surprising, but the addiction
reduction was noteworthy because it suggested that "addiction has a supply
side," that drug dealers help foster it.

Campbell acknowledged his tax plan was also "a tough sell." He would
eliminate the personal income tax. The revenue would instead be collected
through taxes on sales.

Food and medicine would be exempted -- as would housing costs up to the
median price of homes. Corporate income and Social Security taxes would
remain in place.

Campbell said the plan would offer less intrusion into personal lives by
the Internal Revenue Service. He said he favored it over a flat income tax
like that proposed by Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes. "My
fear is the flat tax doesn't stay flat for long," he said.

Independence has been a hallmark of Campbell's political career. In 1996,
he led the drive for the open primary initiative, opposed by leaders of
both major parties, but approved by voters in every county in the state.

In 1997, he was one of seven Republicans to vote against Newt Gingrich's
re-election as House speaker because of ethics violations. In 1998, he
voted for impeachment of President Clinton -- which angered many in his
congressional district, which has a Democratic plurality.

"If it costs me my political career," he said Monday, "I'll never regret
those votes, both of them."

Asked at the luncheon appearance to discuss alleged Chinese espionage, the
soft-spoken congressman avoided highly partisan attacks.

Of course China spies on the United States, and the CIA spies on China, he
said. "The question is not so much 'Did China spy?' as 'How did they
succeed?'"

Campbell said he supports Energy Secretary Bill Richardson's moves to fix
security problems at the nation's nuclear weapons laboratories by creating
automatic reporting requirements and a more streamlined administration.

Campbell said he is willing to support an anti-missile system like former
President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. Lawrence Livermore
Laboratory was the major designer of an early anti-missile design known as
Brilliant Pebbles.