• Morales Under Fire
• Green Ohio
• Moving To The Center
• Space To Protest
• Four Strikes?

Morales Under Fire

AUSTIN, Texas (AllPolitics, June 21) -- Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Victor Morales is under fire from a group known as the Deadbeat Patrol. Several college Republicans follow Morales on the campaign trail to call attention to outstanding student loans to Morales' wife, Dani. Morales announced last week that he will pay off the loans.

On Thursday, Leslie Howe, a Purdue student and Deadbeat Patrol member, filed a complaint alleging that one of Morales' staffers assaulted her by grabbing her arm during a rally. The Morales campaign claimed Sen. Phil Gramm has been paying these students to cause trouble, a charge that Gramm's camp denied.

Green Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AllPolitics, June 21) -- Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has all but added Ohio to a list of seven states where he is on the ballot as the Green Party's candidate. Nader needs to sign his name to the Ohio forms so volunteers can collect the 5,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot. Nader, who is not advertising or accepting campaign contributions, is running with Anne Goeke of Pennsylvania on a platform of ecological stability.

Moving To The Center

ALBANY, N.Y. (AllPolitics, June 21) -- Republican Gov. George Pataki, who made a name for himself last year by restoring the death penalty, trimming welfare, slowing state spending and cutting the income tax, is "sounding more and more like a Democrat every day," according to Democratic state Senate Minority Leader Martin Conner.

Moving toward the center, Pataki has recently proposed legislation to pay for environmental cleanup programs, ease New York's restrictive ballot access laws and get tough on attacks against homosexuals. Pataki denies he preparing for his '98 re-election campaign. "For a long time, I felt that these things were simply right," he said. "They're not conservative or liberal. It's right or wrong."

Space To Protest

SAN DIEGO (AllPolitics, June 21) -- Four civil rights groups have filed suit against the Republican National Committee and the city of San Diego, claiming that they are not being allowed a fair site from which to protest at the Republican convention. The National Organization for Women, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Chicano Federation of San Diego County and a gay and lesbian group called Voices '96 all charge the Republicans and the city want to deny them their First Amendment rights by moving the designated protest site farther from the convention hall.

"The protesters do not have the right to the absolute best site available," stated City Attorney Casey Gwinn. "They have the right to an acceptable site. Whether it's acceptable under the First Amendment, a judge will have to make that deliberation."

Four Strikes?

SAN FRANCISCO (AllPolitics, June 21) -- The state Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the "three strikes" law that imposes harsh sentences on repeat offenders is not mandatory and invited thousands of inmates to ask judges to reconsider their 25 years to life terms. Anyone with a previous serious offense who commits another violent or serious crime is given twice the usual sentence. Critics say that 85 percent of second and third crimes have been for nonviolent crimes including shoplifting. Two-strike offender Jerry Dewayne Williams of Los Angeles was given 25 years to life in 1995 for stealing a piece of pizza from children.

With crime a key issue this election year, the ruling could ignite a new debate on judicial independence. "We cannot tolerate a situation which permits judges who are philosophically unsympathetic or politically disinclined to 'three strikes' to reduce strong sentences," said Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, a strong backer of the law.