Livingston
Out
as
Speaker,
Drug
Warrior
Hastert
Set
to
Take
Gavel
12/24/98
In the wake of last week's resignation of House Speaker-elect Bob Livingston, the latest casualty of the circus maximus that has become our national political scene, J. Dennis Hastert of the 14th district of Illinois looks to have the speakership sewn up. Hastert has been portrayed in the media this week as a "conciliator and a technocrat" (New York Times editorial, 12/22/98), but a closer look, especially in the context of drug policy reform, reveals Hastert to be more of an ideologue. Hastert was reelected to a sixth term in 1998, receiving 64% of the vote in the suburban/rural 14th district. Prior to his apparent ascension to the speaker's chair, he was Deputy Majority Whip under Tom DeLay. More relevant to drug reformers is Hastert's co-chairmanship of outgoing speaker Newt Gingrich's "Speaker's Task Force for a Drug Free America" (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/040.html#battle). Hastert was also a co-sponsor, with Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, of language in the 1999 District of Columbia Appropriations Bill forbidding the district from spending money to count or certify the results of this fall's medical marijuana initiative, I-59 (see below). Hastert, who was recently given a 100% favorable rating by the Christian Coalition, was also one of the architects of "super-ban" legislation which would have prevented federal anti-AIDS monies to be distributed by states and localities to any entity that practices syringe exchange, whether or not the federal monies would go directly to such programs. This bill (S. 1959) would have permanently barred the Department of Health and Human Services from lifting the funding ban. Not surprisingly then, Hastert has indicated that he stands in favor of spending more federal dollars on prison construction, increasing penalties for drug offenses, mandatory minimum sentences, and the death penalty for those convicted of drug smuggling. Hastert has also served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs and Criminal Justice. It was Hastert's subcommittee that sponsored, in September of 1997, hearings titled "Needle Exchange, Legalization, and the failure of the Swiss Heroin Experiments." The hearing, curiously titled as it was held days before the results of the successful Swiss heroin maintenance trial were released, featured testimony from opponents of syringe exchange, included testimony from the sponsors of Switzerland's "Youth Against Drugs" initiative. That initiative would have outlawed syringe exchange and opiate maintenance in Switzerland, and sent that country back down the road of punitive prohibition. The initiative lost 71% to 29% (see http://www.drcnet.org/wol/013.html). In a press release after the hearings, and just weeks before the referendum would be voted upon, Hastert badly underestimated the level of Swiss support for reform when he said of the opiate maintenance trials, "this is a national security issue, and I can only say that we applaud the Swiss people for understanding the nature of the threat and organizing to oppose the immoral act of giving away heroin and expanding the risk of even higher youth drug use. The Swiss have long resisted forces such as Germany in World War II and Cold War Communism, and they are again resisting a threat to both our cultures when they stand up to this insidious, international effort to legalize these poisons." Hastert's strong ideological opposition to public health measures such as the availability of sterile syringes and legal access to marijuana for medicinal purposes stands in philosophical contrast to his long-time support for "patients' rights." In 1995, Hastert was the co-author of the Food and Dietary Supplement Act of 1995 (H.R.1951), an FDA reform measure allowing for the communication of "truthful, non-misleading" health information regarding natural supplements to consumers via packaging and advertising, and forbidding the FDA from classifying foods and dietary supplements as "drugs." Such efforts seek to open doors for citizens to become informed about and incorporate natural substances into their health care regimen. J. Dennis Hastert, a relative unknown on the national political scene, thus steps into the void created first by the resignation of Newt Gingrich and then by the resignation of Bob Livingston. Hastert's other interests appear to include making the Internet "safe for children," as evidenced by his support of both the Communications Decency Act of 1995 (struck down as unconstitutional) and of a similar bill in 1997. In short, Hastert has shown that while he might not share the high profile of some of his better known "social conservatives," he is certainly no stranger to intruding, from his federal perch, into the private lives of citizens, both here and abroad, in an effort to make them conform to his own ideas of morality. (To learn more about J. Dennis Hastert, including the identities of his major contributors, go to the web site of the Center for Responsive Politics at http://www.crp.org.)
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