Source: Los Angeles Times
Author: ROBERT SCHEER (Rscheer@aol.com)

Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 2132374712

August 12, 1997

COLUMN LEFT / ROBERT SCHEER
Jesse Helms, the Senator From Hell

A fanatical advocate for a killer drug blocks a vote on a man favoring
benign pot use.

Oh, to be blessed with an enemy the likes of Jesse Helms, that
bilious spewer of hate who stains all that he embraces with
his trademark brand of verbal toxic waste.

It was Sen. Helms (RN.C.) who derided the 1964 Civil Rights
Act as "the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever
introduced in the Congress" and later opposed a national holiday for
that "pervert" Martin Luther King Jr. And it was Helms who, while
millions throughout the world faced death from AIDS, sought to
block funding for medical research on that dread disease to punish
the "revolting conduct" and "unnatural acts" of gays.
Whomever this oaf attacks must be given the respect due those
on the side of decency. So it was when Helms threatened that
President Clinton would need a "bodyguard" to enter Helms' state
after Clinton dared to differ with the senator on gays in the military.
And so it is now with Helms' efforts to block the appointment of
William Weld as ambassador to Mexico.
Surely Weld, a superbly qualified Republican appointed by a
Democratic president, should sail through the confirmation process.
And he would, if only the full Senate could vote. But the Senate
hasn't acted because the Republican leadership has ceded
dictatorial powers over foreign policy to a man whose only claim on
his position is the length of his stay on Capitol Hill.
That the Senate remains an old boys' club dominated by bizarre,
even kinky, ritual is evidenced by the advice of Sen. John McCain
(RAriz.) that Weld "kiss Jesse's ring or some part of his anatomy.
That's the way Washington works."
What's at stake, as Weld stated, is a "battle for the soul of the
Republican Party." Is there room in that "big tent" that party leaders
evoke at election time for a moderate prochoice Republican leader
who believes gays have constitutional rights? Not according to Bill
Bennett, the Republicans' selfdesignated Mr. Virtue, who said of
Weld: "His positions are so far to the left on stuff like gay rights, I
don't think he'll be a persuasive witness for winning the hearts and
minds of Republicans."

That's the real issue: Will the party puritans who want a big
brother government to force us to be "virtuous" accommodate those
of a more libertarian bent who really do believe individuals should
have some sovereignty over their own lives? But instead of facing
up to the irreconcilable differences of conservative politics, the
reeking red herring of the drug war has been dragged in to foul the
debate. Quoting Bennett again: "You want to send a clear signal
about drugs; whatever Weld is, he's not a clear signal."
Weld, as governor of Massachusetts, approved needle
exchange programs that have curtailed the transmission of the HIV
viruscrime of crimes! He also supports a physician's right to
prescribe marijuana if it serves the medical needs of a patient.
Better add to the list of criminals Dr. William Beaver of
Georgetown University School of Medicine, who last week
reported the unanimous conclusion of a panel of eight health
professionals appointed by the NIH that "marijuana looks promising
enough to recommend that there be new controlled studies."
Weld is not "soft" on illicit drugs. He was appointed by Ronald
Reagan to be chief of the Justice Department's criminal division, and
John C. Lawn, then head of the Drug Enforcement Administration,
points out that drug prosecutions and convictions rose more than
40% during Weld's tenure. Weld resigned in protest over charges
of corruption against his boss, Atty. Gen. Ed Meese, who now is
pushing Helms to block Weld's appointment.
Is the medical use of marijuana so extreme a threat that it would
force one into an alliance with the Senate's point man for the
tobacco lobby, which claims 400,000 American (and God knows
how many foreign) lives a year? Bennett should know that tobacco
is a far more powerfully addictive drug than marijuana, having been
a chain smoker for most of his life. Yet not only does he oppose
Weld's nomination, but as drug czar in 1990 he actively campaigned
for the reelection of Helms, Mr. Tobacco, to the Senate.

It's outrageous that tolerance of the medical use of marijuana
could bar a man from serving as ambassador to Mexicoespecially
when his nemesis is a fanatical advocate for the drug that most
clearly threatens the health of the world's people. Helms' position
gives him veto power over the entire range of U.S. foreign policy.
This is no longer a matter of one man's vile buffoonery, but
represents a dangerous degradation of the nation's politics.


Robert Scheer Is a Times Contributing Editor. Email:
Rscheer@aol.com

Copyright Los Angeles Times
Jim Rosenfield