-lay 29,2001
■aesday. May 29, 2001
NEWS
Page 5
THE BATTALION
^Congressman dies of leukemia
n UC",
Joseph Moakley passes away months after announcing he has incurable cancer
MOAKLEY
•e£ and ThE BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Rep.
ich on trad Moakley, D-Mass., whose poJiti-
ion. Thatp,! career took him
number °f» om the poor streets
of 2000 to of South Boston to
I man ypo-|a P it ol Hill, died
rs still to Monday from compli-
Btions ofleukemia.
beginning, ■ Moakley, who an-
g year, said nouncet | j n February
II • FfJ^Iat he suffered
;r Exhibitorl^j^ an incurable
Rrm of leukemia, died at the Bethes-
tion-adu ^ Naval Hospital in suburban Wash-
according to associates and
_ flmily members.
/ > £ ’ t ow i fr'B Moakley, who died at 3:30 p.m.
)T stars friends and family including
J} Sa e an Bra of his brothers at his side, was 74
'him spins; 11 u
^ yens old.
■ The affable Moakley was the quin
tessential, old-time Boston Irish politi-
, 1 fjB an - ^f ter narrowly winning his first
a spe a Bjngressional election in 1972, he
hough genet - I i , r tt
ritics ^ terms in Congress. He was
n b T TibeLasH t0 ^ ^ emocrat t ^ ie P ower frd
"‘tiinn •it Bouse Rules Committee.
1 H ^ oe Moakle y not onl y taught us
how to live ... he taught us how to die
compe g reat c l ass ant l with great dignity
e the expects-f I 6 667
s< > that
ie in, 'all you
Bruckheime:
; is enormous
ling time, jus
ours, preclud
: records, saic
icy, which re
ducer Jen,
d director E •,
solving the
r in the fien
irbor.
and even with a little humor,” said
Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., a
former top aide to Moakley, at a news
conference.
McGovern said Moakley considered
being a congressman “the greatest job
in the world” and that he continued an
swering mail, working on legislation
and with his constituents “up until the
very end” when his condition turned
for the worse over the Memorial holi
day weekend.
President Bush, during a stop in
Mesa, Ariz., asked the crowd to observe
a moment of silence for Moakley,
whom he called a veteran “who loved
America,” and one who will “be sorely
missed.” Moakley joined the Navy as a
teen-ager and served in World War II.
In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino
ordered flags flow at half staff.
“He was a lunch'pail, neighborhood,
standup, go-to kind of guy,” said former
Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn of
Moakley. “He was somebody who nev
er forgot where he came from.”
Moakley entered the hospital on
May 21 for a routine blood transfusion
that normally lasted a couple of days.
But he remained hospitalized and on
Sunday was described as being in grave
condition. His family and friends were
close by when he died.
Moakley has had a history of illness.
He previously had a liver transplant, a
«
joe Moakley not only
taught us how to live ...
he taught us how to die
with great class and
with great dignity and
even with a little
humor.”
— Rep. James McGovern
D-Mass.
kidney removed and his hip replaced.
After disclosing his illness from
leukemia on Feb. 12, Moakley an
nounced he would not seek a 16th term
in 2002.
Moakley’s death leaves three vacan
cies in the House where Republicans
will now hold a 221 -209 edge over De
mocrats. There are two independents.
Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift, a Re
publican, must call a special election to
determine Moakley’s successor.
Moakley’s brothers, Bob and Tom
arrived from Massachusetts to keep vig
il. They were by his side when he died.
Moakley was a widower. His wife of
nearly 40 years, Evelyn, died in 1996 of
brain cancer. They had no children.
In the months after his announce
ment, he was showered with acco
lades. Congress has declared the fed
eral courthouse in Boston to be
named thejohnjoseph Moakley U.S.
Courthouse.
Signing the legislation in March at a
White House ceremony, President
Bush saluted Moakley as “a man of
strong opinions and broad respect.”
“And in this town,” the president
quipped, “it isn’t always easy to com
bine the two.”
“I always thought growing up that
my name would be on some federal
building,” Moakley responded. “But I
thought it might be written in chalk
with some political expletive right be
hind it.”
A longtime friend of former House
Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill,
Moakley lived in South Boston his en
tire life, commuting from Washington
on weekends. With his Irish features
and strong accent, the outgoing law
maker mingled colorful stories into dis
cussions on otherwise serious topics.
“Joe embodied the highest ideals and
values of the nation, and public service
is a more noble profession because of his
life and the example that he set,” said
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. He
said Moakley as dean of Massachusetts’
congressional delegation “touched the
hearts of all of our people.”
During his 28 years in Congress,
Moakley spent much of his time in sup
port of local projects such as building
the courthouse that bears his name, the
$14 billion Big Dig highway project
and the multi-billion Boston Harbor
cleanup.
While not known for his foreign pol
icy expertise, during the 1980s, Moak
ley fought to cut off military aid to El
Salvador and bring to justice the mur
derers of Jesuit priests there. He led a
congressional probe that uncovered ev
idence that the El Salvador military,
which had been heavily subsidized by
U.S. aid, had roused the priests from
their beds and shot them in the head.
Chief of staff takes blame for
Jeffords decision to quit GOP
' many peop
ing to do u P I WASHINGTON (AP) -
5 million d President Bush’s top staff aide
jst unrealist took the blame for the defection
length of t. 1 of Sen. James Jeffords from the
obert Bud Republican Party to become an
ice analyst f independent, a move that shift-
. “This was; e d control of the Senate from
g,” the GOP to the Democrats.
ini f “I think I’ve got to do a better
job of communicating with peo-
• J pl e on Capitol Hill, but the pres-
Cl l^^flident has done nothing wrong,”
said White House chief of staff
Andrew Card Sunday on CBS’
1 T*C “Face the Nation.” He added
^ that Bush has no plans to retail
ed as one oftk ate against Jeffords, saying: “He
technologic [s not a * )OU t political retribution
arojects unde[ ar paybacks. ...
rid War II hat-B W™ 16 pie d g ln g to work wlth
issouri
the White House, incoming
Senate Majority Leader Tom
Daschle, D-S.D., said some
items on Bush’s wish list, in
cluding drilling for oil in Alas
ka’s Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge, are “dead.” He also told
NBC’s “Meet the Press” he
could not envision building
more nuclear power plants, as
Bush’s energy task force recom
mended, before figuring out
how to dispose of nuclear waste.
Card responded: “It sounds
to me like he (Daschle) doesn’t
have an agenda other than an
agenda of ‘no.’ ... This should
not be about just saying no to
any agenda that the president
puts forward.”
Losing control of the Senate
to Democrats will not deter
Bush from pressing ahead with
his agenda, Card said.
“We’ll be able to get the pres
ident’s agenda put forward be
cause it’s an agenda for America,”
The president has
done nothing
wrong.”
— Andrew Card
chief of staff
he said. “This president wants to
tyork toward future changes for
Amerijca that are important to
him. He campaigned on them,
and he’s going to deliver them.”
Card said the president bears
no responsibility for Jeffords’
defection, wlpch the senator said
was prompted by his inability to
reconcile his moderate positions
with the conservative agenda set
by Bush and other GOP leaders.
Daschle said Bush has “shut us
out” of major decisions. He re
counted a telephone conversa
tion he had with the president af
ter Jeffords’ announcemept last
week: “I said, ‘Look, if there’s
ever been a time for us to begin
working together, this is it. Now
we’ve got to find a way with
which to talk more effectively.’ ”
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., the
outgoing Senate majority leader,
said on ABC’s “This Week” that
he believes some Senate De
mocrats may try to “ram their
agenda” through Congress and
stymie Bush’s agenda with un
warranted investigations.
Other Republicans said Jef
fords’ switch was a wake-up call.
Some in the GOP “have be
come a bit arrogant,” said Sen.
Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.
“You become arrogant, you
get sloppy, you disconnect. Pol
itics is about people; elections
are about governance, and you
can’t disconnect the two,” Hagel
told CBS. “This is not cata
strophic for us, but we should
learn here.”
U.S. offers to buy
Russian weapons
miles of
rated by Ava;
Ridge, N.J.
uedat$100,0d|
200 video osM.
: ship to an on-
enter providing
ss to 30 informs WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration intends
ie cameras wi to offer Russia a broad range of arms purchases, military aid and
ed visitors to fo joint anti-missile exercises in a bid to ease Moscow’s objections
mghout thesh to White House missile defense goals.
a tour. p The package is being prepared for Bush’s meetings in June and
he “Alternati' July with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and similar incen-
•” will be ablet fives will be extended to other allies skeptical of the administra-
es and intervie' 1 fion’s push to dispense with the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty,
>f the three wan said a senior administration official.
r II, the Korea: The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the pro-
Gulf War —posals are likely to include an offer to buy Russian-made S-300 sur-
souri served tx face-to-air missiles that could be used to defend Russia and Europe.
Slavy decommit Many of the proposals have been sketched out to allies and
!. -mentioned publicly in broad terms by Bush and his aides, but the
e system will f Acid York Times was the first to report Monday that S-300 mis-
USS Missotf ! siles may be part of the package,
line tours and li' : “We want to convince the Russians that it is in their best in
dents, including terest to move beyond the ABM treaty and to develop a new re-
:eremonies. lationship with us,” National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice
-up Internet presold the newspaper.
the “Mighty Mo* — —
n the 400,000 vi‘
gets every ye#
will ever compat
aice of being off
; said.
experience * JvtERJDA, Mexico (AP)
u iave to ^ 7j CCnte Fox’s National Action Party ap-
have to smell m J r
, nears to have scored
: to stand on tff
ck and feel tb nother m ^ or vlctor y
irr , j .gainst the party that
,s said. “Thats-fr • r
, uled Mexico for sev-
:n decades, winning
he governorship of
he southeastern state
id/rom
1 0 With 63 percent of
s of the other, Te vote counted on
less women wMonday, PAN’s Patricio Patron had 51.7
efind irony), jercent of the votes to 45.2 percent for
Md will be blo' Jrlando Paredes of the Institutional Rev-
he majority oft Jut ionary Party, or PRI.
e B+) Sunday’s vote was the first state elec-
—JeffM
Race riots erupt in
northern England
LONDON (AP) — Riot police battled fire
bomb-hurling youths for the second straight night
in a racially tense town in northern England, ar
resting a dozen people, police said Monday.
The violence trailed off before dawn Monday
and was less intense than the outbreak of fighting
the previous night in Oldham, just outside Man
chester about 150 miles northwest of London.
Britain’s worst racial violence in years came less
than two weeks before a June 7 general election.
“Riots put race back on poll agenda,” the Times of
London said in a headline Monday.
The initial fighting Saturday night and early
Sunday, involving whites and youths of Indian,
Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin, appeared to
catch police by surprise. On Sunday night, police
were out in force before the trouble began.
About 100 officers in full riot gear sealed off
main roads and patrolled with dogs. Police vans
were parked on every corner in the neighborhood
that was the scene of the previous night’s violence,
and a helicopter circled overhead.
Despite the heavy police presence, a local
newspaper office was firebombed, shop windows
smashed, bricks hurled into at least one pub, and
barricades of furniture and tires were burned.
At one point, about 30 white people walked
through the streets, singing and chanting racist
slogans until police dispersed them. By 4 a.m.,
the streets were quiet, and no new injuries were
reported.
Twelve people were arrested Sunday night and
early Monday in connection with the violence, ac
cording to Greater Manchester police.
Oldham has been the scene of increasing racial
tensions in recent months after a series of rallies
staged by members of the National Front, a small
right-wing extremist group with racist views.
Fox's party earns victory in Mexico
President
FOX
tion since Fox took office as Mexico’s
president in December, ending 71 years
of PRI rule. It showed a continuing ero
sion of support for party that long dom
inated every aspect of Mexican political
life and governed every state.
Yucatan was one of the PRI’s southern
strongholds and was governed by one of
the party’s more influential politicians,
Victor Cervera Pacheco, who was famed
for passing out refrigerators, bicycles and
building materials at election time.
The National Action Party’s victory
helps it break out of its traditional base in
conservative northern states.
Fox angered local PRI members by
calling to congratulate Patron late Sun
day after only exit polls showed he was
the winner.
Patron said his first task “will be to heal
the divisions and polarization” caused by
the hard-fought election, which saw fed
eral election officials intervene to throw
out a PRI-dominated state electoral board.
As for the PRI, Patron said, “I see a dif
ficult future for them. I think they will
simply disappear in Yucatan.”
The PRI candidate, Orlando Paredes,
was refusing to concede. He led in early
returns from rural regions, but the trend
shifted toward National Action as votes
were counted from the capital, Merida,
where nearly half of the state’s people live.
PRI leaders on Monday accused Fox
of interfering in the vote by pushing the
state to adopt fairer electoral rules.
“Vicente Fox has to learn that democ
racy does not mean destroying your op
ponents,” said the party’s national leader,
Dulce Maria Sauri, a former Yucatan
governor. “His whole plan seems aimed
at bringing us to our knees.”
Patron borrowed Fox’s campaign slo
gan and symbol, but it was unclear how
much he was helped by Fox, whose re
cent tax-increase proposal has been un
popular.
Patron also was backed by the leftist
Democratic Revolution Party, which is
the third-largest nationally but which has
been weak in Yucatan.
News in Brief
Girl killed when
van crashes, flips
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A
speeding van crammed
with children on their way
home from a party plowed
into several cars and flipped
over, killing a 4-year-old girl
and injuring 12 other chil
dren and one adult.
"He was bumping off
cars like a pinball
machine," said Laura
Lannuzzi, 21, who saw
Sunday night's crash from
her stoop.
Police apprehended 50-
year-old Willis Mitchell of
Philadelphia on Monday
and said he was the van's
driver. Mitchell, who police
said fled after the crash,
was hospitalized with
minor injuries and was
being questioned by detec
tives. No charges had been
filed Monday afternoon.
"At some point, he'll
be charged, but we're not
ready to talk about what
charges yet," Philadelphia
police Capt. Ted Sideras
said.
The van struck several
parked cars, hit a construc
tion trash bin and over
turned, Sideras said.
"We believe it was well
in excess of the speed
limit," he said.
Four children, ranging
in age from 4 to 12, were
ejected. Two children
remained hospitalized
Monday.
Resort evacuated
by Nev. wildfires
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A
4,000-acre wildfire prompt
ed evacuations Sunday in a
resort community about 40
miles northeast of the city.
Fire information officer
Phil Guerrero said a 60-
space recreational vehicle
park in the town of
Sutcliffe on Pyramid Lake's
west shore was evacuated
after the fire burned as
close as half a mile to it.
The blaze also forced
the evacuation of about 75
campers and closed
Nevada Route 445. No
major injuries were report
ed, but two firefighters suf
fered minor injuries.
High winds foiled more
than 250 firefighters'
efforts to stop the spread of
the fire. The winds also
grounded three planes that
were fighting the blaze.
Officials had just
declared the lightning-
caused fire fully contained
at 2,511 acres Saturday
evening when gusts of up
to 40 mph caused embers
to jump fire lines and the
blaze to roar out of control
-l