Public Citizen

WASHINGTON -- It's grist for historians now: 4,250 pages of newly released grand jury testimony in the U.S. Justice Department's case against Alger Hiss, who was accused of being a Communist spy. Had his lawyers succeeded in their effort to see the secret material 50 years ago, however, one historian and an advocacy lawyer say, they would have had a strong argument for getting the former State Department official off the hook.As it was, the Baltimore native and Johns Hopkins University graduate went to federal prison for nearly four years after being convicted of perjury in 1950, launching a debate about his guilt or innocence that for decades has reflected the shifting politics of the day. Now come more fodder for the debate, new leads for scholarly inquiry on Cold War politics, more reasons to wonder "what if?"

WASHINGTON -- A group of prominent social conservatives called on President Clinton yesterday to withdraw the nomination of Dr. David Satcher to be surgeon general.To help marshal their case, they invoked the views of the American Medical Association and a prominent public health physician who works for an arm of Ralph Nader's Public Citizen.However, when contacted later, both the president-elect of the AMA and the physician disputed how their views were represented and said they strongly support Satcher's nomination.

Two national consumer groups yesterday accused the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of concealing significant safety problems at a government-owned, Bethesda-based uranium producer in July, just as the company was about to issue its first public stock offering.Public Citizen and the Union of Concerned Scientists, consumer groups that focus on nuclear issues, both released internal NRC reports that identify numerous safety violations at two uranium facilities in Kentucky and Ohio by United States Enrichment Corp.

WASHINGTON - Any time the Supreme Court and the nation lose a justice who has stood above the other jurists who have served there, monuments to that influence are lined up to be worshiped, like the solid and towering Druid relics at Stonehenge.Seldom does an observer stop to shed a quiet tear over a loss of civility and humility. Those qualities were two of the outstanding monuments left by Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., who died last week at age 90, passing away quietly in his sleep at home in Richmond.

A consumer health organization is accusing the Johns Hopkins University and other U.S. research institutions of violating international rules of ethics by withholding proven AIDS treatments from women and children in overseas experiments.Public Citizen Health Research charged that nine federally funded experiments could cause about 1,000 newborns in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean to die needlessly. Six of the studies are under Hopkins supervision."It's Tuskegee Part Two, and this time many more people will die," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the Washington-based advocacy group.

No wonder Dole is behind in the pollsThe recent bombings on TWA Flight 800 and in Centennial Olympic Park define the consequences and harsh reality of American independence.Bob Dole, amazingly, chose this moment in time to praise the patriotic values of the unreal movie, ''Independence Day,'' and its unreal portrayal of our national psyche.No wonder he is 24 points behind President Clinton in the polls.Mel TansillCatonsvilleWatchdog group harms public debateYour July 24 article addressing a study released by Public Citizen, a self-appointed ''consumer watchdog group," illustrates the pernicious effect that political correctness has on rational, objective public debate, particularly as it relates to technical and scientific issues.

WASHINGTON -- In an unusual consequence of Election Day's vast conservative shift, liberal interest groups are anticipating a period of prosperity. The main reason, their leaders say, is that Newt Gingrich, in line to be the speaker of the House, is an ideal fund-raising tool.Such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union, Ralph Nader's Public Citizen and assorted environmental lobbying organizations say they are almost certain to receive sharp increases in donations as a result of the shift in Congress that will give the Republicans majorities in both chambers for the first time since the 1950s.

CRIME AND health-care reform are the two issues that voters most care about. But in Washington, it's the money of special interests that seems to matter most to members of Congress.Will it be the same old, same old deadlock?Or, as the government watchdog group Public Citizen calls it, "greedlock"?Public Citizen coined the term "greedlock" in a recent press release urging Congress to act on campaign-finance reform. They got that right.The fact that campaign-finance reform bills approved by both houses several months ago have been placed on hold by the Democratic leadership in the House explains why other major issues -- such as health-care reform -- have stalled, too.Follow the special-interest money, and it may just lead you to an incumbent's vote for something that a political action committee would like done -- or not done.

WASHINGTON -- With President Clinton preparing to send campaign finance legislation to Congress, two advocates of reform produced a report yesterday designed to show that incumbents enjoy an unfair electoral advantage because of their ability to raise money.Two representatives from Maryland, Democrat Steny H. Hoyer and Republican Helen Delich Bentley, were near the top of the "spending advantage" list of 287 incumbents who had a "major party challenger" in last November's general election.

Citizen Tom McMillen, the former 4th District congressman, is the latest casualty of the political game to find himself doing quite well, thank you, on the commercial side of life in Washington.Thrown by redistricting into the 1st District with Republican Wayne T. Gilchrest, Mr. McMillen made a bare-knuckled effort to stay in office during last year's election but came up a bit short.Now, though, he seems to be having a victory a day.He's not a lawyer, but he was recently hired by a 100-member law firm, Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand.

Everybody likes Gary Gensler. President Barack Obama nominated the Baltimore native in December to head an important federal agency that regulates commodities. Mr. Gensler's nomination cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee. He is supported by industry groups such as the Futures Industry Association and consumer groups like Public Citizen - no mean feat. So, if everyone likes him, why isn't Gary Gensler leading the Commodity Futures Trading Commission? Because a single U.S. senator, Bernard Sanders of Vermont, objects to the nomination.

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama says he does not want to use special-interest money to pay for inaugural events, but the lobbyists are coming anyway. The calendar is chock full of parties, receptions, brunches, breakfasts, lunches, dinners and prayer services, many and perhaps most designed to bring those who need influence into contact with those who wield it. A running and incomplete tally of official and unofficial inaugural events kept by a Washington lobbyist runs to 41 pages and at least 206 events crammed into the week that began Jan. 14. Obama's ban on money directly from lobbyists, corporations, political action committees and labor unions affects only official inaugural events overseen by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, a small subset of all the back-slapping and rug-cutting occurring in the capital.

A decision this week in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice means that consumers will be able to find out whether an automobile they want to purchase has been stolen or rebuilt after a wreck. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled Monday in California that Justice has until Jan. 30 to make this information available to consumers in a national database. Congress passed a law in 1992 to create such a database. It took a lawsuit filed in February by Public Citizen, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety and Consumer Action to make it happen.

If you mistakenly believe that the federal estate tax forces lots of families to sell off their farms and small businesses, you can pretty much thank 18 of America's wealthiest families for that common but false myth. We're talking about super-rich families whose wealth stems from not farms or small businesses but from having founded Wal-Mart, Campbell Soup, Cox newspapers, the Mars candy company, the Gallo winery and so on. Altogether, these families are worth an estimated $186 billion, according to a new report.

For years, local prosecutors have been turning to private companies to help collect on bad checks. But now consumer advocates worry that these companies will be exempt from federal consumer protection laws if legislation is approved by Congress. Public Citizen and National Consumer Law Center warned at a news conference in Washington yesterday that consumers who accidentally bounce a check for even small amounts could be subject to excessive fees and deceptive practices from for-profit debt collectors.

A Maryland appeals court will hear arguments today in a case that could help determine whether someone who makes an anonymous -- and disparaging -- Internet posting in chat rooms or on message boards could be unmasked. A decision could add to an emerging body of law shaping free-speech boundaries in the Internet age, when people using screen names as aliases regularly gripe online about politicians, employers and investments. The area is of great concern on Wall Street, where online postings have affected stock prices and tarnished corporate reputations.

LARRY SASICH WANTS to know why the Food and Drug Administration rejected parecoxib, a pain medication proposed for use after surgery. David Arkush wants to know about automobile safety defects reported by carmakers to the federal government, so that he can make sure the government is properly monitoring the auto industry. Both work for Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer-advocacy organization in Washington, and neither is getting what he wants. More and more public records aren't so public anymore.

The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen urged Maryland officials yesterday to revoke a $21.2 million contract awarded to a Reliant Energy Inc. subsidiary to supply electricity to state universities and sports stadiums because the Houston-based energy company has been indicted over its role in the California energy crisis. "It's outrageous that Reliant, a company under criminal indictment, has the audacity to try to profit from Maryland taxpayers while still benefiting from its record-setting profits allegedly stolen from California residents," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program.

WASHINGTON - The 30 companies that own most of the dirtiest power plants in the country, and their trade association, have raised $6.6 million for President Bush and the Republican National Committee since 1999, and were given relief from pollution regulations that would have cost them billions of dollars, according to a new analysis. Ten utility industry officials were so good at fund raising for the president that they were named Rangers or Pioneers by his campaign for bringing in at least $200,000 or $100,000, respectively, according to the analysis by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, and the Environmental Integrity Project, an environmental watchdog organization.

Rob Liversidge had reason to hope he was on the long road back from the severe mental illness that had derailed his life. Aided by a powerful anti-psychotic medication, the 39-year-old Silver Spring man planned to resume the government career that his bipolar disorder had interrupted. But in October, a week before he was to start a new job, Liversidge collapsed and was rushed to a local hospital. Despite doctors' efforts, he went into a coma and died four days later. "It was like he never had a chance," says his mother, Ellen Liversidge.