Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 3, 1993 TAG: 9303030340
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KELSO MILL LENGTH: Medium
PROMISES BROKEN, FARMER SAYS
DURING LAST YEAR'S campaign, the newspaper reported on how five local households made their decisions on voting for president. Now we're asking them how they think President Clinton is doing.
The prospect of Bill Clinton as president worried Roger Grant.
Now the reality of it has the Bedford County dairy farmer deeply distressed.
A month into Clinton's presidency, Grant already believes Clinton's credibility has been seriously damaged by his not following through on many of his campaign promises, among other things.
It all started soon after Clinton's election in November, when he started lining up Cabinet appointees. During his campaign, Clinton had promised new faces and new ideas, Grant said. Instead, he delivered Democratic stalwarts such as Lloyd Bentsen and Warren Christopher. He rewarded party Chairman Ron Brown with the secretary of commerce post.
"If he's a new face, forget it,' said Grant, 59.
Then, Clinton started waffling: on his promise to cut the federal deficit in half, on his tax break for the middle class, on his assurances to curb lobbying and influence-peddling in Washington and on his Haitians policy.
"So far, from the things I have seen, he's done just what the Republicans said he was going to do. It's Slick Willie."
The inauguration came next. Grant called it a disgraceful waste of money, and he said it sent the wrong signal. It would have been better for Clinton to take his oath and then unceremoniously punch the clock over at the White House, he said.
There was the flap over his nominees for attorney general. "Evidently, he didn't do his homework." There was the gays-in-the-military issue. "Obviously, it was a political pay-back. Me, personally, I would rely on the military expertise to make that decision."
Grant called "too short" the six-month moratorium on lobbying by members of Clinton's transition team after they leave the administration. He said talk of any serious campaign finance reforms has been conspicuously missing.
On the Haitians: "He was going to open the doors, but he hasn't done it."
More deeply troubling, however, is Clinton's economic package and deficit-reduction proposals, Grant said. Grant believes the biggest issue facing the country is its ballooning debt.
On the deficit, he said, Clinton isn't cutting federal spending nearly enough. "A few token cuts" is how Grant described it. "I haven't seen anything to indicate that they're going to be anywhere near where they need to be."
Grant would like to see the federal work force substantially reduced. He believes there are a multitude of federal programs that have outlived their need and easily could be axed.
He cited the Rural Electricity Authority, a New Deal agency established to bring electricity to America's heartland. Now it mostly assists in upgrading urban electrical systems, he said.
"We've got to focus on the essential things."
Grant also was annoyed at Clinton for backing off from his position to cut the federal debt in half within five years - coming after former President Bush's deficit figures were higher than estimated.
"That's nothing but a cop-out," he said. "You don't depend on your opponent's deficit figures. You depend on your own. He had access to the same information. He supposedly has smart people working for him."
On Clinton's economic stimulus package, Grant is equally critical. He worries that new programs will lead only to more bureaucracy and bigger government. "They can turn into monsters that nobody really controls," he said.
He said he read recently that the average cost to taxpayers to support a new federal job created by one of Clinton's programs will be $55,000. "I don't know if they're going to pick up trash or what they're going to do, but that's pretty high. It's a disturbing figure."
Grant isn't necessarily opposed to Clinton's tax-increase proposals. However, he doesn't want to see that money go toward more government programs and spending. It should solely go toward the debt, he said.
"If we're going to pay more, then we've got to get something for our dollar."
Right now, he doesn't see that happening. "It seems to me that he thinks he can sell people a bill of goods; and so far, I think he's doing it."
Three previous assessments of Clinton's first weeks in office that ran in this newspaper Sunday, Monday and Tuesday all gave the new president favorable reviews.
Grant sincerely hopes that those assessments are the more accurate, and that he is way off base.
"I know I'm coming across as totally negative. I'd like to say he's doing a great a job. For the good of the country, I hope I'm wrong."