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GOP Hits ‘Outsiders’ in Elections
By Jules Witcover
Washington Post Staff Writer
At a large Republican
rally in Cincinnati the other
night, Gerald R. Ford, Vice
President of the United
States by way of Grand Rap-
ids, Mich., warned the local
faithful about an invasion of
“outsiders” attempting to in-
flict a third straight defeat
on a GOP candidate in a spe-
cial congressional election.
“We are facing a crisis,”
he said as he spoke in be-
half of Republican Bill Gra-
dison, a former Cincinnati
city councilman running for
a vacant House seat that has
failed to go Republican only
once since New Deal days,
but is now in jeopardy.
“Now you’ve got a bunch of
outsiders coming into this
congressional district. They
overwhelmed and took over
Johnstown, Pa.....Outsid-
ers moved in, took over, or-
ganized, ran a campaign.
“We had a sad experience
up in my district, Grand
Rapids. They came in with
massive out-of-state money.
They had out-of-state PR
and advertising people.
They came in with outside
organizers. They skillfully
exploited certain economic
circumstances in this dis-
trict.”
Then Ford lowered his
voice and spoke almost con-
spiratorially. “They’re mov-
ing in here,” he said.
“They’re trying to do the
same thing in the First Dis-
trict of Ohio.” And then he
rhised his voice again.
“Let me ask you,” he
shouted. “Do you want a
bunch of outsiders telling
you who to send to
Congress?”
“Hell, no.” an exuberant
listener in the crowd
shouted back.
The exchange was one of
the rare times since Jerry
Eord has taken to the stump
in 1974’s special elections
that he had put some fire in
his normally straight, une-
motional delivery, and it
seemed to surprise the
crowd.
The “outsiders” of whom
Ford spoke were more spe-
cifically identified by Sen.
Robert Taft Jr. (R-Ohio) in a
the Johnstown and Grand
Rapids elections, labor poli-
tical bossism is.
“Let no one be deceived.
The greatest power play our
country has ever seen is now
woes, rather than any at-
tempt to defend him di-
rectly.
Ford, in speaking for Gra-
dison the other night, care-
THE WASHINGTON POST Tuesday, Feb. 26,1974 All
dinner speech for Gradison
earlier that night.
“From Johnstown (Pa.),
the busloads of Meany’s pol-
iticos rolled into Grand Rap-
ids, Mich., where they suc-
cessfully defeated another
Republican candidate in a
special congressional elec-
tion,” he intoned.
Organized labor manned
300 phones in Grand Rapids
and made more than 90,000
calls from union headquar-
ters and hiring halls and
contributed $34,000 in cash
to the Democratic candi-
date, Richard F. Vander-
Veen, he said.
“And now the word is that
they have come to Cincin-
nati,” Taft warned. Money
for Thomas Luken’s Demo-
cratic campaign, he said,
“came not only from labor
unions in Cincinnati but
from unions throughout the
state of Ohio and the na-
tion.”
“Meany’s politicos” are
members of the staff of the2
AFL-CIO’s Committee on clearly conveyedwhat the Luken, he says. In the regu-
politidl Education (CODE) strategy, for now at least, will lar congressional elections
Roical education E be: Continue to ignore Water- of 1972, he says, National
which has Indeed been . , 1 .
working hard for Democrats gate and the President’s other COPE gave an average of
s -oets troubles, and find a whipping $3,090 to candidates for the
enectionstearly special House boy.4
:. . In Johnstown, there were “We don’t send traveling
Their massive effort in two Republican whipping boys teams around,” he says. It is
Johnstown was part of a —COPE and the press. The possible some COPE work-
very narrow Democratic vic- losing candidate, Harry Fox, ers who were in Grand
tory, but that district, also railed at big labor’s pres- Rapids also are working in
Fords old district in Michi- ence in his district but at- Cincinnati, he said, because
gan and the Ohio district tacked another group of the local COPE operation is
now being contested, had "outsiders"—reporters from a two-state organization em-
long been in Republican the national television net- bracing both Michigan and
hands. works and major-city newspa- Ohio. : „ a the March 5
In Johnstown, the winning pers who came in looking for Th„ugh this official says siamtRA n a talk with
Democrat, John P. Martha, signs of Watergate’s impact in COPE is not making any election,
had soft-pedaled Watergate the Johnstown race,
and President Nixon as. is-
sues and concentrated on
local issues, and he barely
squeezed through. In Grand
Rapids, though, the winning
Democrat, VanderRreen went
all-out against the President
and won decisively..
That result appeared to
send a messaige not only to
Mr. Nixon but to other Dem-
ocratic candidates: cam-
paigning head-on against the
beleaguered President is
good politics this year.
Before going to Cincinnati
last Wednesday Vice Presi-
dent Ford spent two hours
with Mr. Nixon, discussing
among other things the
VICE PRESIDENT FORD
...warns of crisis
Michigan defeat. The Presi-
dent recognized the impact
of Watergate, Ford reported
later, but had no advice to
pass on to Gradison to deal
with it.
fully talked of policies at
being perpetrated behind the home and abroad that Gra-
ask Watergat i dison supported. They were,
these self-riotious announce- clearly, the policies of Rich-
ments made by the impeach- ..__
ment lobby, it is clear that ard Nixon, but Ford seldom
the real aim is to seize politi-
cal power in this nation with-
out changing people’s minds
on the basic issues endorsed
„ in 1972.”
A spokesman for National
COBE denies that out-of-
state COPE officials have
been involved in any of the
races except for one nation-
al staffer working among mi-
norities in Cincinnati. He
conceded, though, that some
international unions have
sent workers in independ-
ently.'
National COPE gave $6,-
500 to Murtha in Johnstown,
invoked the name of his
leader.
With the President’s popu-
larity in the polls consist-
ently low, and with the en-
ergy crisis and inflation hit-
ting the voters directly, the
traditional task of a Vice
President — to stump for
the party in off-year elec-
tions — is no picnic this
year.
But if there is word for
Jerry Ford, that word is
dogged. Some suggest that
if he is smart, he will be a
conciliatory, nonpartisan
Vice President, the better to
nonsto
Atlanta
$4,000 to VanderVeen in run the country if destiny
But Ford’s speech pretty Grand Rapids and $5,500 to should elevate him to the
run the country if destiny
White House, or to attract
bipartisan support should he
run for President in 1976.
In 25 years in Congress,
though, he was a good, parti-
san soldier in GOP ranks,
smiting the opposition, in-
cluding organized labor,
with diligence and zest. For
all his new circumstances,
he continues to be just that.
In Cincinnati the other
night, Ford called on the
local Republicans “to turn
the tide and to stop this
That focus, Fox argued later,
diverted the voters’ atten-
tion from local issues.
In Grand Rapids, though,
it was the Democratic candi-
date who drew hte voters’
special effort in congres-
focus to Mr. Nixon and
Watergate, and especially
not labor or the press.
Still, the whipping-boy
strategy seems set for the
Cincinnati election March
5. Taft, in his speech, spell-
ed it out:
“One thing should be very
clear to all of us. Neither
Watergate nor Richard Nix-
on are on the ballot for the
First District of Ohio. But
it appears that not unlike
sional races this year, on
the state level COPE has
extended itself, especially in
the Pennsylvania race. Mike
Johnson, executive director
for Pennyslvania COPE, was
so optimistic about his own
labor effort in Johnstown
that he was predicting a 2-1
sweep for Murtha before the
vote.
Cincinnati, where the
name Taft has long been sy-
nonomous with Republican-
ism, running against big la-
bor is nothing new. What
makes the tactic interesting
now is that it apparently has
been seized as the antidote
to Mr. Nixon’s personal
reporters he rated the Re-
publican’s chance — in a
GOP stronghold — at about
50-50. This is not very opti-
mistic talk, but Ford is not
alone among Republicans
sounding it.
In the past, in times of
Republican adversity, rais-
ing the specter of big labor
poaching on local elections
has had only mixed results
for the Republicans.
Whether the old device is
good enough to overcome
what used to be called the
Watergate problem, but in-
creasingly is being called
the Nixon problem, is the
question now being posed in
the Ohio special election.
Strauss to Press Changes in Reforms
By David S. Broder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Democratic National Chair-
man Robert S. Strauss said
yesterday he has decided to
ask for substantial changes in
the party’s new delegate-selec-
tion reforms and the expan-
sion of the committee that is
supposed to enforce them.
Strauss said he had deter-
mined to take on the fight at
the meeting of the Democratic
National Committee and its
executive committee Thursday
and Friday “even if I take
some scars.”
The main business of the
ment is to destroy it won’t
sell.”
In an interview, the party
chairman said he would rec-
ommend expansion of the
compliance committee from 17
to 23 or 25 members and dilu-
tion of some its enforcement
powers.
He also said there was a
“serious division” of opinion
on the proportional represen-
tation requirements in the
new delegate selection process
and said he had gotten “un-
shirted hell” from state party
chaimen on some other sec-
tions of the proposed rules
two-day meeting is to act on as well.
the recommended rules
changes agreed to last Decem-
ber by a committee headed by
Baltimore City Councilwoman
Barbara Mikulski.
The dispute is a carryover
from the bitter “quotas” battle
at the 1972 Democratic con-
vention.. The Mikulski com-
mission, appointed in 1973,
scrapped “quota” require-
ments for blacks, youths and
women, and substituted an
“affirmative action plan” pro-
cedure for state parties to
seek out participation by those
and other groups.
It also recommended cre-
ation of a 17-member compli-
ance committee to ensure that
the affirmative actions plans
are actually carried out.
Reform elements of the
party have been pressing for
adoption of the Mikulski rec-
ommendations intact.
But Strauss said he had con-
cluded after a canvass of party
leaders, including representa-
tives of the leading 1976 presi-
dential hopefuls, that “the
idea that to touch this docu-
What it adds up to is the
prospect of another pair of
stormy sessions—in the execu-
tive committee on Thursday
and the full national commit-
tee on Friday. But Strauss
said, “I believe we can show
people we can vote on oppo-
site sides and disagree and
still walk out with a common
thrust.”
How serious the fighting
will be may be influenced by
the outcome of a meeting
Strauss has scheduled for
Wednesday with Ms. Mikulski
and the two vice chairmen of
her commisssion, Gary, Ind.,
Mayor Richard G. Hatcher
and Chicago attorney Alex
Seith.
He hopes to convince Ms.
Mikulski and the others that
“tampering with their product
is not an effort to destroy the
reforms, but to improve
them.”
Strauss made the same pitch
last Friday to representatives
of such potential 1976 contend-
ers as Ohio Gov. John J. Gilli-
gan and Sens. Henry M. Jack-
ROBERT S. STRAUSS
...expects “scars”
son, Edward M. Kennedy, Ed-
mund S. Muskie, Walter F.
Mondale, George McGovern
and Lloyd Bentsen.
Party sources who disclosed
the Friday meeting said that
representatives of the five sen-
ators and Gilligan had not en-
dorsed Strauss’s proposals but
had indicated general sympa-
thy with the idea of revising
the Mikulski commission
draft.
At an earlier meeting with a
representive of Alabama’s Gov.
George C. Wallace, Strauss
was given Wallace’s recom-
mendations for changes in the
proposed rules.
One major focus of criticism
from state party officials is
the proposed 17-person compli-
ance committee.
Under the proposed rules,
Ms. Mikulski and Strauss
would each make five appoint-
mittee, with the other seven
slots filled by Ms. Mikulski,
Hatcher, Seith and one repre-
sentative each of' Democratic
governors, senators, represent-
atives and staet party chair-
men.
Strauss said he would urge
that the committee be ex-
panded to 23 or 25 members in
order to “give security to vari-
ous constituencies in the
party that their interests will
be protected.
Blacks, chicanos, elements
of organized labor and state
officials have complained pub-
licly about Ms. Mikulski’s ap-
pointees, and William France,
a Wallace leader from Florida,
said yesterday that Walla-
ceites would oppose any
scheme that would “let nine
appointed people act as king-
makers.” (The “nine people”
refers to a majority of the 17-
member committee.)
Strauss said in the interview
that he knew some reform ele-
ments would view any pro-
posal to expand the committee
as and effort by him “to take
it over,” but he denied that
was his motivation.
“If I just watned control,”
he said, “I could get it now. ‘I
could have a hell of a lot more
control with a 17-member com-
mittee than with 23 or 25.”
The party chairman said
that, rather than simply pro-
pose an increase in the com-
mittee’s size, he would give
the executive committee
names of specific people he
thought should be asked to
serve on the expanded compli-
cance body. He declined to
make public his choices, say-
ing he was still seeking agree-
ments to the compliance com- ment on the slate. •
Nixon Refused Jaworski Bid to Testif
WATERGATE, From Al
• cutive priviledge, Mr. Nixon
- refused the request and
made a “counteroffer” the
special prosecutor’s office
found unsatisfactory. Mr.
Nixon referred to the count-
eroffer last night when he
said he would respond to
to relevant questions unless
the witness chooses to ex-
ercise his fifth Amendment
rights.
Sources familiar with the
matter said last night that
Mr. Nixon’s reference to a
request “transmitted” by the
special prosecutor was signi-
ficant because the request
actually originated with the
“any interrogatories” or
meet personally with Jawor- grand jury, and not the
ski. special prosecutor, whose
According to knowledge- role was to transmit it by
able sources, Mr. Nixon’s of- letter.
fer was rejected because it
fell far short of the condi-
tions under which the grand
jury hears witnesses: under
oath and with the opportuni-
ty to demand full answers
Letters Hidden
By Mailman
ANCONA, Italy, Feb. 25
(AP)—Police arrested a
35-year-old mailman Sun-
day after finding a truck-
load of mail from abroad
in his apartment. Some of
it was several years old.
Lucio de Lorenzo, the
mailman for the nearby
village of Sirolo, was
charged with theft and
embezzlement.
The question of whether
the President would be
asked to appear under oath
by a grand jury was first
raised by the original Wa-
tergate prosecution team in
the U.S. attorney’s office
here last spring. Justice De-
partment lawyers then re-
searched the question and
reached a legal consensus
that a President could nei-
ther be indicted nor com-
pelled to appear before a
grand jury unless first im-
peached by the House of
Representatives and re-
moved from office, by a
. Senate trial.
On June 19, 1973, then-
Special Prosecutor Archibald
Cox said he was studying
anew the question of sub-
poenaing Mr. Nixon and add-
ed, “Whether it would be
the best way to pursue the
investigation and whether we
would have any legal
grounds are both open ques-
tions.”
According to informed
sources, Special Prosecutor
Jaworski had not reached a
final decision on whether he
wanted to request Mr. Nix-
on’s testimony when he was
asked by the grand jury to
seek it.
The sources declined to
speculate last night whether
either the special prosecutor
or the grand jury would at-
tempt to subpoena Mr. Nix-
on in the wake of his refusal
to testify.
Mr. Nixon also had re-
fused the request of the Sen-
ate select Watergate com-
mittee to testify before it
last summer.
In a letter to Sen. Sam J.
Ervin Jr. (D-N.C.) committee
chairman, last July 6, Mr.
Nixon said, “I have con-
cluded that if I were to tes-
tify before the committee,
irreparable damage would
be done to the constitutional
principle of separation of
powers. My position in this
regard is supported by am-
ple precedents with which
you are familiar and which
need not be recited here.”
Subsequent attempts by
the Senate committee to
meet with the President to
ask him questions have been
either refused or ignored.
Earlier this month, under a
resolution adopted by the
committee, Sen. Lowell P.
Weicker Jr. (R-Conn.) sub-
mitted 11 written questions
to the White House to be
answered by Mr. Nixon. The
White House has indicated
that the questions will not
be answered.
In his State of the Union
address last month, Mr.
Nixon said that he had al-
ready supplied the special
prosecutor “voluntarily a
great deal of material. I be-
lieve that I have provided
all the material that he
needs to conclude his inves-
tigations and to proceed to
prosecute the guilty and to
clear the innocent.
' “I believe,” Mr. Nixon
said, “the time has come to
bring that investigation and
the other investigations of
this matter to an end. One
year of Watergate is enough.”
Contributing to this story
was Washington Post staff
writer Lawrence Meyer.
In addition to expanding the
s ze of the compliance commit-
tee, Strauss said he would pro-
pose several important
changes in the description of
i s powers, in response to com-
plaints from state officials and
some of the 1976 presidential
hopefuls.
One basic change would re-
strict the mandate of the com-
mittee, by changing language
that now says it should
“administer and enforce af-
firmative action require-
ments” to read that it should
simply “administer” those re-
quirements.
Another set of changes
would shift the burden of
proof of alleged shortcomings
in the affirmative action plans
from the state party organiza-
tions to the challenging group.
A third major revision
would eliminate the authority
of the party executive commit-
tee to “form a delegation”
from a state whose own con-
vention delegation is judged
to violate the party rules.
Strauss said these changes
were designed to meet com-
plaints from state party chair-
men that they woud be “in
perpetual jeopardy” of chal-
lenges for a full two years be-
fore the national convention,
and to meet the fears of some
presidential candidates that
the compliance committee, if
controlled by a rival -con-
tender, could deprive them of
delegates they have won in
state conventions or prima-
ries. I
Presidential politics has also
entered the dispute over pro-
portional representation. The
Mikulski commission recom-
mended that states using cau-
cus-convention systems of se-
lecting national convention
delegates be required to apply
proportional representation
down to the precinct level for
any candidate who is sup-
ported by at least 10 per cent
of those in attendance.
Wallace backers favor pro-
portional representation, with
a even lower 5 per cent cutoff,
but supporters of several
other candidates want to re-
strict it to congressional dis-
trict conventions and raise the
cutoff point to 25 or even 35
percent. *
Strauss said in the interview
that he thought a possible
compromise might be reached
on a 15 per cent cutoff and an
application of the rule to the
next level below that at which
national convention delegates
are chosen in each state.
Since most of the non-pri-
mary states use a three-tier
system, that would mean that
proportional representation
would not be used at the low-
est level of delegate selection.
National committee aides
said that even if Strauss’s pro-
posed revisions are made,
enormous changes would be
required in the rules and leg-
islation governing most state
Democratic parties. Six of the
proposed delegate-selection
rules would require alteration
of the rules or laws of more
than two-thirds of the states,
and two rules would require
changes in every state.
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[Clipping: Text of President Nixon's Press Conference], clipping, February 26, 1974; Washington, D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1661374/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Southern University.