Dole Hits Clinton Administration For Drug Policy

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AllPolitics, July 25) -- Picking up where Newt Gingrich left off, likely GOP nominee Robert Dole blasted the Clinton Administration for a casual attitude toward drug abuse, which the Kansan said contributes to a surge in drug use nationwide.

The Clinton White House overrode Secret Service objections to 21 employees for past use of cocaine and hallucinogens, Dole reminded a Pennsylvania audience. That won't happen in a Dole Administration, he promised: "No wonder we're losing the war on drugs when you've got such a big, big problem in the White House itself."

Clinton drug czar Barry McCaffrey released a paper Wednesday which stated: "No Americans should be precluded from serving their country in any position as long as they now reject all illicit dug use." Maybe so, Dole spokesman Nelson Warfield responded, but "if you smoke crack until the minute you walk into the White House gate, the past is not very far behind you."

In another matter, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney joined the Dole campaign as a strategic adviser. A sometimes-mentioned veep possibility, the six-term Wyoming representative has been running an engineering and construction company since leaving government service. He will help develop Dole's national security policy.

Cheney characterized Clinton's foreign policy as disjointed. "Do we want to elect a president with a clear understanding of foreign affairs or one who stumbles from one international crisis to the next?" he asked in a statement.

Dole's soon-to-be released economic plan may call for $600 billion in tax cuts over six years, a source familiar with the proposal told CNN. Amounting to a "dramatic" restructuring of the IRS by altering withholding schedules, the changes will take 40 million people off the tax rolls, the source said, and would be coupled with regulation and litigation reform.

Dole Hits Clinton Administration For Drug Policy

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