ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 TAG: 9701290030
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
In the newspaper ad, Republican Party chief Haley Barbour appeared confident. He was holding up an oversize cashier's check for $1 million, payable to ``Your Name Here'' for the first American who could prove Republicans were cutting Medicare.
Eighty people tried. What they got was a summons and a lawsuit to get them off the Republicans' backs.
``People responded, and now they're being sued,'' Amy Isaacs, national director of the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, said Tuesday. ``If you open your door and say `come on in,' you can't then come back and say `I didn't invite you in.'''
The Republican National Committee filed its pre-emptive lawsuit in federal court in Jackson, Miss., after one claimant sued in the Superior Court in the District of Columbia.
Although the 80 people claiming the $1 million reward live in many states, the party chose Mississippi on the grounds that it is Barbour's home and that one of the claimants, Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor, is from there. Barbour ended his four-year term as party chairman this month.
The court papers say the Republicans ``are subject to the potential of piecemeal litigation'' and want one ``complete, consistent settlement of the matter.''
``This is the only means we have from a legal standpoint to let everyone who responded know that if they choose to make a legal claim for $1 million, they have to do it at this particular time in one court,'' said Mary Crawford, spokeswoman for the party.
The claimants were named as defendants in the suit and sent summonses Jan.16 giving them 20 days to respond or perhaps be denied any further action.
Of the claims themselves, Crawford said, ``We are completely confident that no one has or could possibly prove us wrong.''
Says the suit: ``The RNC denies that under terms of the publication, it is obliged to pay any of the claimants $1 million. Barbour denies that he is obliged to pay any of the claimants $1 million.''
The Republicans posted a $1 million bond with the court.
The ad appeared in USA Today on Dec.12 and in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call two days later at a time when Democrats were criticizing the Republican Medicare plan as cutting $270 billion in benefits over a seven-year period.
``Heard one about Republicans `cutting' Medicare?'' says the legend behind a smiling Barbour, striking an Ed McMahon-like pose. ``The fact is Republicans are increasing Medicare spending by more than half. I'm Haley Barbour, and I'm so sure of that fact that I'm willing to give you this check for a million dollars if you can prove me wrong.''
A checkoff box specified the prize would go only to the first American who did that.
If the Republicans win in Mississippi, the action would appear to bar the D.C. Superior Court from hearing the action brought there by Robert Shireman, former legislative director to retired Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill.
But Jack Blum, lawyer for Americans for Democratic Action, said the D.C. court might fight encroachment on its jurisdiction. He said his organization had not decided whether to contest the Republicans' request for an injunction when it comes up in the Mississippi courtroom Feb.3. The ADA's communications director, Robert Carolla, is one of the claimants.
``Unfortunately, your response is incorrect,'' the RNC told him - and presumably the others.
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