Pubdate: Sun, 13 Aug 2000
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2000 The Washington Post Company
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Author:  Cathy Newman

DEMOCRATS TO SPEAK OUT AT 'SHADOW' CONVENTION

Two Democratic senators will risk irritating their party today by speaking
in Los Angeles at an alternative convention, which aims to embarrass the
Democrats into facing up to issues such as campaign finance reform.

Sen. Russell Feingold (Wis.), an ardent proponent of campaign finance
reform, and Sen. Paul D. Wellstone (Minn.), a campaigner against the growing
gap between rich and poor, are among the speakers on the opening day of the
five-day "shadow" convention, the brainchild of columnist Arianna
Huffington.

Late Friday, Huffington was still negotiating with Jesse Ventura to persuade
the independent Minnesota governor and former wrestler to do a star turn at
the event, a version of which also took place earlier this month at the
Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. Huffington wants
Ventura--who put at the heart of his third-party campaign and upset victory
in Minnesota a proposal to treat drug addiction as a public health problem
rather than a crime--to talk about drugs, one of the themes of "Shadow
Conventions 2000: A Citizens' Intervention in American Politics."

Scott Harshbarger, president of the advocacy group Common Cause, dubbed this
week's Democratic National Convention a "made-for-TV infomercial
characterized largely by lavish corporate-sponsored receptions." He added:
"The reason for doing the shadow convention is that neither of the major
conventions are addressing very important issues that affect a lot of
people." But Harshbarger noted that the presence of senior Democratic
elected officials demonstrated that "there is at various levels in the
Democratic Party a real desire to have it return to some extent to its
roots."

Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (Ill.) will speak Monday on poverty and the wealth
gap, and other Democratic senators and representatives, including Rep. John
F. Tierney (Mass.), will join the discussions later in the week on issues
such as the "failed war on drugs."

GOP Hops on Sanchez Flap

Even though Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) dropped plans to hold a
fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles this week, Republicans
believe the very fact that she proposed holding the event there makes her
vulnerable this fall.

Jim Wilkinson, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional
Committee, said the party has put Sanchez's Orange County seat back on its
target list. Sanchez took the seat from the GOP in 1996, becoming an
immediate Democratic star by knocking off conservative Rep. Robert K.
Dornan.

"We think that Latino swing voters in the district will say that Sanchez and
[the Playboy Mansion event] are not reflective of their values," Wilkinson
said, adding that the GOP will now get heavily behind Sanchez's GOP
opponent, schoolteacher Gloria Matta Tuchman, with fundraising assistance
and other electioneering efforts.

Tuchman could use the help. Federal Election Commission reports show that
she had just $67,660 in her campaign account as of June 30, compared with
$1.5 million for Sanchez. Political analysts considered the seat safe for
Democrats before the Playboy controversy, particularly after Sanchez easily
outpolled Tuchman in California's open primary in March.

Tuchman wasted little time pouncing on the controversy on Friday, telling
the Associated Press that Sanchez has "embarrassed her party and embarrassed
the people of the 46th Congressional District."

Sierra Club Answers Bush Ad

The Sierra Club has gone on the air with a new television ad criticizing
George W. Bush and responding to a Republican National Committee ad that
went up last week praising the Texas governor's environmental record.

The Sierra Club ad, which is running in Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin
and Michigan and will also air in Ohio and New Mexico beginning Monday, says
that Bush's environmental record is "worse than he has claimed." In its ad,
the RNC said Bush "is cleaning up Texas," citing the Environmental
Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory as evidence that pollution is
going down in the Lone Star State.

The Sierra Club claims in response that 23 states have done a better job
than Texas in reducing toxic pollution.

Staff writer Ben White contributed to this report.
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