8A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 17, 1996
McKinsey & Company
The Business Analyst Program
Experts: Welfare suits
will not affect system
WASHINGTON (AP) - Ever since
President Clinton signed the new wel-
fare law in August, advocates for the
poor have prepared to attack it in court:
The American Civil Liberties Union in
California became the first this week.
But even if such challenges succeed,
they are unlikely to achieve many
meaningful results, legal experts say.
That is because judges seldom go a step
further and actually order a state legis-
lature to spend more.
"A court can find that a state govern-
ment or a local government has violated
its own laws with regard to protecting the
poor," said Liz Krueger of New York's
Community Food Resource Center. "But
it rarely orders a legislature to change
how it spends its revenue."
Yet many advocates for the poor, as
they consider or prepare lawsuits, are
zeroing in on state laws that obligate
governments to care for the poor.
Twenty-two states have such laws, often
in broadly worded language.
As the federal government turns wel-
fare spending authority and program
design over to states, those laws have
become vitally important for advocates
seeking to restore aid.
The California lawsuit filed Tuesday,
for example, argues in part that a threat-
ened end to prenatal care for illegal
immigrant women would violate a
California state law requiring "medical-
ly necessary pregnancy-related ser-
vices:' regardless of immigrant status.
The stakes are especially high because
the new federal law gives states the
option of shaving $40 billion from pub-
lic assistance programs in addition to the
$54 billion reduction the federal govern-
ment plans over the next seven years.
But those who have sued govern-
ments say taking on a government can
be a long, frustrating battle full of illu-
sory triumphs.
As an example, Krueger cited a
string of court rulings over the past 10
years holding New York City in con-
tempt for failing to provide enough
homeless shelters.
"New York has been beaten up in court
for the past 10 years,"she said. "Have w
assured the right to shelter? No."
Even when judges declare a city or
state in violation of laws, they often
leave it to the municipality to correct
the problem, noted Steven Banks, a:
lawyer who represents the homeless for,
New York City's Legal Aid Society.
Only if that doesn't happen is a judge
likely to order some specific remedy -
for example, more money for homeles-
shelters or feeding programs.
And governments often appeal tho
rulings, meaning the entire process caf
take years.
"It's possible to make a difference in
the long run," Banks said. "In the short
run, it's very slow going in most st'
court systems."
In the District of Columbia, for
example, advocates have long battled
the city over its foster care program.
A federal judge first ruled against the.
city in 1991, ordering sweepit4
changes in indigent care.
..
I
Party time
One of thousands of supporters of Nicaraguan presidential candidate Amoldo Aleman, one of the Liberal Alliance party,
recoils as a he fires a home-made mortar yesterday. It was part of Aleman's closing campaign rally in the capital.
01
DEBATE
Continued from Page IA
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LSA junior Jamie Price said Dole
fared well in an uphill battle last night.
"Although the debate (format) was
slanted in Clinton's favor, 1 think that
Dole did a good job in defending his
position," Price said.
Republicans were ecstatic at Dole's
performance, saying he had delivered a
broad Clinton critique without appear-
ing mean or overly negative. But White
House aides noted that not one of the
19 questions from voters was about
ethics - and suggested Dole would
suffer for ignoring several questions to
instead deliver attack lines.
Traugott called Dole's attacks "weak,"
especially in light of expectations of
more aggressive character charges.
But Republicans were looking for a
stronger showing last night to tighten
the race and boost the Republican
image not only for Dole, but for House
and Senate candidates across the coun-
try, said University communication
CAMPAIGN
Continued from Page1A
views budgeting for social well-being
programs with this summer's passage
of the new welfare bill. The legislation
takes welfare out of the entitlement pot
and allocates funding for the program
in one lump sum to the states.
Changes to the way Social Security
is funded probably won't affect the vot-
ing block of senior citizens that candi-
dates are so worried about losing if
they suggest new ideas for allocating
benefits, Gramlich said.
"Those are people who probably
won't be getting very much affected,"
Gramlich said.
Candidates regularly court the senior
citizen voting block and experts have
drawn correllations between these vot-
ers and the issues tackled by the politi-
cians they elect.
Maynard said members of Congress
who "went after" Social Security dur-
ing their terms weren't re-elected part-
ly based on that issue.
Younger voters should be concerned
studies Prof. Trevor Thrall.
"He did sort of a middle of the road
job," Thrall said. "He needed to do bet-
ter than he did tonight."
Clinton was called the narrow win-
ner by five of six high school and col-
lege debate coaches who judged it for
The Associated Press. TV network
polls found more than half thought
Clinton won, about a quarter favored
Dole and a smaller share rated it a tie.
"I basically found that nothing really
changed because of this - I guess you
could say it was a nonevent," said LSA
first-year student Tobias Burmeister.
Clinton's strategy was to defend his
double-digit lead and stay above the
fray. In doing so, he left many of Dole's
salvos unanswered, including Dole's
demand that he rule out pardons for
Arkansas associates targeted in the so-
called Whitewater investigation.
Clinton also did not respond directly to
Dole's criticism of the administration's
collection of more than 900 sensitive
FBI files, including those of several
prominent Republicans.
"I don't want to respond in kind for
all of these things," Clinton said. "I
could. I could answer to all these things
tit for tat. But I hope we can talk about
the future"
Over and over again, Dole turned
to the issue of trust. He said Clintcn
had promised in 1992 to cut taxe@
and then raised them. He said
Clinton spoke of his opposition to
racial quotas and preferences, but
had ended only one of 168 federal
programs that allowed them. And he
said Clinton was grossly distorting
Republican positions on Medicare
and the impact of Dole's $548 bil-
lion tax-cut package.
"When you are the president of the
United States, you have a public tru t !
and you have to keep that public trust
Dole said. "And I think now that trust is
being violated.
On a night of spirited exchanges,
one moment of political theater
came when Clinton labeled Dole's
tax plan a "scheme" that would
either inflate the deficit or require
devastating cuts in Medicare and
other vital programs.
SEARCH
Continued from Page1A
public meeting. Though this transaction
was not barred in the court ruling,
Harrison said logistical difficulties pre-
vented the information from going out
early.
Harrison said the most recent plan
for the search's final stages could not
be finalized until pending legal issues
were settled.
"We were prohibited from announc-
ing the process or doing anything under
it by the temporary restraining order,
which said we could not proceed with
the search,' Harrison said.
But the temporary restraining order
expired at the court hearing Tuesday.
The administration waited to release
the newest calendar for the search until
after Morris signed a court order at
about 6 p.m. yesterday to formalize her
prior ruling.
Harrison emphasized that the court
order defines what is prohibited in the
search - not the way the overall search
is to be conducted.
why can't the regents just look at the
applications themselves and discuss
that information?
"If Lehman is there, that means that
they want to get more information than
what is on the application" Lowenstein
said.
Representatives for the three plaintiff
newspapers could not be reached last
night.
Chemistry Prof. Thomas Dun*
who chairs the faculty's governing.,
body, said the faculty will benefit
from having greater access to infor-
mation on the candidates. He said he
is anxious to see the names recom-
mended by PSAC.
"I'll be there at 9 o'clock in the .
morning to see what unfolds. We'll take
it from there, I guess."
Fiona Rose, president of t
Michigan Student Assembly, said t
delay shouldn't affect the search crite-
na.
"It is most important that we have a
leader who has the trust and respect of
this University," Rose said. "If it takesa.
few days longer, so be it."
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