U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor says “NAFTA’s environmental provisions are a model for new international cooperation. Under them, no country in the agreement can lower its environmental standards— ever.” . . . Bill Clinton hopes to persuade Speaker Tom Foley to round up Democrats in support of NAFTA. Foley was quoted recently: “Individual members are going to make up their own minds on NAFTA.” . . . “When it comes to the environment, Bush was bad, but Clinton, presiding over one of the biggest land-grabs in American history, is worse,” says the Left’s venerable Alexander Cockburn, referring to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s draconian new plan to save wetlands. Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens calls the policy “a rubber stamping of the Wilderness Society.” . . . Michael Boskin, chairman of Council of Economic Advisors under Bush, says the current Administration’s “rhetoric about the private sector reminds me of my conversations with the then-Soviets and East Europeans in 1989. They had learned the vocabular of private markets, but they had no conceptual basis and little experience to understand what it meant.” … It is Maine tradition that the first Atlantic salmon of the season taken from the Penobscot River is presented to the President. But this year 81-yearold Scott Westfall became impatient after waiting four months to hear from White House about appointment for the presentation. Eventually, he said “to heck with it” and ate it himself.
Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder (D.) wants to be senator. He also wants Bill Clinton to repudiate endorsement of incumbent Sen. Charles Robb, whom Wilder is challenging for Democratic nomination. Supporting governor’s request: Inaugural poet Maya Angelou, Democratic Black Caucus Chairman C. Delores Tucker, and former D.C. mayor Marion Barry. In a letter, black leaders reminded Clinton that “the African American community furnished … 30 per cent of your total vote.” . . . New York Sen. Al D’Amato (R.) wants to be governor. He has plans for late-September $l-million fundraiser to help his challenge of Mario Cuomo. D’Amato added however, that if for some reason he doesn’t run, “I’m not going to abdicate my responsibility” to influence who GOP candidate is. . . . Edward Kennedy wants to remain a senator, but recent fundraiser that was expected to draw 250 donors attracted only 25 or so. Kennedy, however, has raised more money ($2.5 million) this year than any other senator. . . . Constituents of Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D., Pa.) gave her an earful upon her return from Washington, where she decided at last minute to support the President’s tax hike. A sign at protest rally played on her nickname, Three M: “More Taxes. More Spending. More Waste.” . . . Staffers of embattled Ways & Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski “all have their resumes out,” reports New York Post’s Cindy Adams. (Perhaps they’re looking for jobs at the Post).
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