• Rudy Not Invited
• A Questionable Choice
• Gore Criticizes Dole
• Minnesota Reform Party Endorses Barkeley For Senate
• Democratic Governors On Welfare

Rudy Not Invited

ALBANY, N.Y. (AllPolitics, June 24) -- New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will not go to the GOP national convention as a member of the state's delegation, Empire state GOP Chairman William Powers has announced. Powers said Giuliani would not be invited because the mayor himself had said he was not interested in going. Still, it's part of the GOP rift in New York. Giuliani angered Republicans by endorsing Democrat Mario Cuomo for governor over Republican George Pataki in 1994, and this year the mayor has so far refused to endorse likely GOP nominee Robert Dole. But Powers said New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey Ross, whose GOP loyalty has been questioned after run-ins with Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-New York) and other party leaders, would be chosen as a delegate.

A Questionable Choice

DETROIT (AllPolitics, June 24) -- Businessman and congressional wannabe Douglass Diggs said it was "rephrensible" that African American Rep. Barbara-Rose Collins (D-Michigan) missed the House vote on a bill to crack down on church burnings. An aide to the Detroit Democrat explained that because Collins was confident the bill would pass (it did), she instead chose to attend a riverboat casino opening in Indiana as part of an effort to bring casinos to Detroit. That was wrong, Diggs declared in the Detroit News, to choose "that over being there to fight and make a stand on the church burnings."

Gore Criticizes Dole

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 24) -- The '96 Dole campaign has taken more money from tobacco industries than from any other contributor, said Vice President Al Gore in a continued attack on the GOP presidential hopeful. Gore criticized Dole's comment last week that smoking was not necessarily addictive for all people, and the vice president said Clinton has been the only president "to have the guts" to take on the tobacco industry. Clinton supports a proposal that would allow the FDA to regulate nicotine as a drug. Dole opposes that proposal but has supported legislation restricting cigarette advertising that targets children. Dole says he has confirmed reports that, as a U.S. Senator, Gore accepted tobacco company contributions and even grew tobacco on his farm before his sister died of lung cancer.

Minnesota Reform Party Endorses Barkeley For Senate

ST. PAUL (AllPolitics, June 24) -- Minnesota's Reform Party has chosen Dean Barkley as its candidate for the state's U.S. Senate seat this fall. Due to Barkley's 5.4% showing in the 1994 senate race, the third party enjoys major-party status in the state, receiving the same public funding and ballot access perks as the two major parties. Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota) and the state's former GOP Sen. Rudy Boschwitz also spoke at the Reform Party's endorsement convention, but neither gained the party's support. The party also passed a resolution supporting former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm if he decides to run for president under the Reform Party's banner.

Democratic Governors On Welfare

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AllPolitics, June 24) -- Democratic governors criticized the Republican Congressional leadership for failing to pass bipartisan welfare reform. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala said Republicans should vote to continue Medicaid support even after welfare time limits are up, help states with job training and provide non-cash vouchers if the welfare recipient can't find a job. Nevada Governor Bob Miller said he hopes welfare reform can be accomplished independent of Medicaid reforms. Other governors stressed the need for better government child care programs, the costs of which would be offset by more people working and less people collecting welfare.