
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994                    TAG: 9406220020 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A8    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Medium 
DATELINE: 940622                                 LENGTH:

CONGRESS SHOULD STAY OUT: MICKEY MOUSE HEARINGS

{LEAD} ``Congress has no role in this,'' said Walt Disney Corp. Chairman Michael Eisner when he was told a Texas congressman had introduced legislation to halt the development of Disney's America theme park in Northern Virginia. Somebody carve those words in granite. They are all too rarely heard in America these days, where Congress feels free to inject itself into anything it pleases.

Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., convened a hearing yesterday of a subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to discuss the Disney project. (Amazing how quickly Congress can act when it wants to, so unlike the much-delayed Whitewater hearings.) He justified the hearing by saying Congress ``has a duty to consider the potential impact, if any, this project will have on the battlefield.''

{REST} Gov. George Allen, who testified at the hearing, denied Congress had any jurisdiction over the matter and pointed out that it would bring jobs and development to this state. Six senators on the panel agreed Congress should butt out. ``The U.S. Senate has no business refereeing . . . every Mickey Mouse dispute around the country,'' said Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, D-Colo.

The proposed $160 million subsidy the state will provide Disney, a rich corporation with an uncanny ability to wrest taxpayer money from local governments, is a mistake. Nevertheless, Disney has purchased the land or development rights in the Haymarket area in Prince William County from private landowners in order to build the park. Expressing understandable irritation last week, Eisner said his company has the right to build and Congress has no right to stop it.

The Manassas battlefield that so many critics profess to be protecting is a red herring. As Governor Allen pointed out, the park won't be on the battlefield. A few tangential skirmishes might have taken place in the area where Disney's America is to be located, but no actions of any historical importance.

So far as anyone knows, none of the Pulitzer Prize-winning historians or rich hunt-country types who have come out against the Disney development have offered to compensate Disney for the millions of dollars it has invested in site acquisition and other costs. Should the company's shareholders simply eat their investment? Do any of these critics believe in property rights?

The objections to congressional involvement, though, are intriguing. They indicate that maybe, just maybe, there might be some life in the twitching corpse of American federalism yet. As it is, Disney will have to satisfy the Environmental Protection Agency and myriad other federal overseers before the first turnstile spins.

And if Congress would leave Mickey alone, it could get busy looking at some real scandals, like Whitewater and first lady Hillary Clinton's cattle futures.

by CNB