For the Record

On eve of congressional vote for $14 million in aid to Contras, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger said aloud what Administration has been thinking about Nicaragua and Congress: “I simply cannot understand why a Communist regime so close to our borders has so much support in Congress.” . . . Exactly how much support Contras don’t have was clear when Congress voted. Senate voted in favor of $14 million in aid 53 to 46. Ten Democrats voted with 43 Republicans for the aid; only one of the ten, Alan Dixon of Illinois, was from outside the South. Nine Republicans voted with 37 Democrats against Contras. But White House proposal lost in House. To win Democratic converts, White House agreed to alter aid package, but Democrats budged little. Major sticking point was that Democrats wanted White House to talk with Nicaragua’s Communist government, while White House wanted discussions between Nicaraguan government and Contras. A bitter Sen. David Durenberger (R., Minn.), chairman of Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said compromise effort collapsed because “It’s too difficult to accommodate that part of the Democrats who want to write every part of Nicaraguan policy on the Senate floor.” . . . House vote on Contra aid, according to House Republicans, was lost by House Minority Leader Bob Michel rather than won by House Majority Leader Tip O’Neill. Week before vote Michel publicly told White House it had no chance of getting Contra aid through House, thereby enraging Administration and giving some Republicans an excuse to join the winning side. House voted twice on aid for Contra freedom-fighters. Aid plan lost by votes of 248 to 180 and 215 to 213. . . . During House deliberations, Nicaraguan ruler Daniel Ortega announced his fundraising trip to Moscow. . . . In campaign against Contra aid, protestors outside White House used variation on a familiar chant: “Hey, hey, Uncle Sam. We remember Vietnam.” So does Midge Decter’s Committee for the Free World, which marked the tenth anniversary of the fall of South Vietnam by releasing a report from Aurora Foundation about life in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Since 1975 more than one million Vietnamese have been sent to “re-education camps,” i.e., prisons. At least sixty thousand Vietnamese remain imprisoned. The number of refugees from Vietnam is undoubtedly well over three-quarters of a million; between 1978 and 1983, 660,000 people fled. . . . A Wall Street Journal article by Jacqueline Desbarats and Karl D. Jackson, two UCal Berkeley teachers, says at least 65,000 Vietnamese were executed between 1975 and 1983.

The Great Election Robbery: House Republicans are on the war path after Democrats moved to have Democrat Frank McCloskey assume the contested seat for Indiana’s Eighth Congressional District. McCloskey is winner of third recount to determine whether he or his Republican opponent, Richard McIntyre, won last November’s election. McIntyre won first two recounts, conducted by Indiana officials, but House Democrats voted twice to refuse to seat him and conducted a new recount, under the auspices of one of their own, Rep. Leon Panetta (D., Calif.). McCloskey won this one by four votes (out of more than 230,000 votes cast), and the House Administration Committee unanimously voted to seat McCloskey (its Republican minority walked out in protest rather than vote). . . . Even even-tempered Republicans are furious. “I think we [House Republicans] ought to go to war,” said Minority Whip Trent Lott, famous for his ability to build bridges in House. “This has put a breach in the House like nothing I’ve seen in my ten years here,” said Rep. Henry Hyde (R., Ill.).

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On eve of congressional vote for $14 million in aid to Contras, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger said aloud what Administration has been thinking about Nicaragua and Congress: “I simply cannot understand why a Communist regime so close to our borders has so much support in Congress.” . . . Exactly how much support Contras don’t have was clear when Congress voted. Senate voted in favor of $14 million in aid 53 to 46. Ten Democrats voted with 43 Republicans for the aid; only one of the ten, Alan Dixon of Illinois, was from outside the South. Nine Republicans voted with 37 Democrats against Contras. But White House proposal lost in House. To win Democratic converts, White House agreed to alter aid package, but Democrats budged little. Major sticking point was that Democrats wanted White House to talk with Nicaragua’s Communist government, while White House wanted discussions between Nicaraguan government and Contras. A bitter Sen. David Durenberger (R., Minn.), chairman of Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said compromise effort collapsed because “It’s too difficult to accommodate that part of the Democrats who want to write every part of Nicaraguan policy on the Senate floor.” . . . House vote on Contra aid, according to House Republicans, was lost by House Minority Leader Bob Michel rather than won by House Majority Leader Tip O’Neill. Week before vote Michel publicly told White House it had no chance of getting Contra aid through House, thereby enraging Administration and giving some Republicans an excuse to join the winning side. House voted twice on aid for Contra freedom-fighters. Aid plan lost by votes of 248 to 180 and 215 to 213. . . . During House deliberations, Nicaraguan ruler Daniel Ortega announced his fundraising trip to Moscow. . . . In campaign against Contra aid, protestors outside White House used variation on a familiar chant: “Hey, hey, Uncle Sam. We remember Vietnam.” So does Midge Decter’s Committee for the Free World, which marked the tenth anniversary of the fall of South Vietnam by releasing a report from Aurora Foundation about life in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Since 1975 more than one million Vietnamese have been sent to “re-education camps,” i.e., prisons. At least sixty thousand Vietnamese remain imprisoned. The number of refugees from Vietnam is undoubtedly well over three-quarters of a million; between 1978 and 1983, 660,000 people fled. . . . A Wall Street Journal article by Jacqueline Desbarats and Karl D. Jackson, two UCal Berkeley teachers, says at least 65,000 Vietnamese were executed between 1975 and 1983.

The Great Election Robbery: House Republicans are on the war path after Democrats moved to have Democrat Frank McCloskey assume the contested seat for Indiana’s Eighth Congressional District. McCloskey is winner of third recount to determine whether he or his Republican opponent, Richard McIntyre, won last November’s election. McIntyre won first two recounts, conducted by Indiana officials, but House Democrats voted twice to refuse to seat him and conducted a new recount, under the auspices of one of their own, Rep. Leon Panetta (D., Calif.). McCloskey won this one by four votes (out of more than 230,000 votes cast), and the House Administration Committee unanimously voted to seat McCloskey (its Republican minority walked out in protest rather than vote). . . . Even even-tempered Republicans are furious. “I think we [House Republicans] ought to go to war,” said Minority Whip Trent Lott, famous for his ability to build bridges in House. “This has put a breach in the House like nothing I’ve seen in my ten years here,” said Rep. Henry Hyde (R., Ill.).