In the Public Interest

New leaders assume their posts this month in the Senate and House of Representatives — Robert Byrd (D-WV), the Senate Majority helmsman, and Jim Wright (D-TX) as the Speaker of the House. What difference will these men make? Will they be caretakers or leaders? Will they break new ground or plow old paths? I would…

The letters are starting to pour in and their opposition to the gigantic salary increases, proposed for top government officials and members of Congress, is strong and indignant. When Olga Sanders of Dallas, Texas, heard that a Presidential Commission on top government salaries recommended a $57,600 a year salary increase to Senators and Representatives, she…

Ross Perot knows what the problem is. But Roger Smith does not. When Smith, the boss of General Motors, can oust Perot, a billionaire entrepreneur and GM’s largest individual shareholder, from the company’s Board of Directors for being too openly critical of top management’s bureaucratic ways, then Roger Smith becomes Perot’s exhibit number one. Perot,…

Is your electric, gas, water or utility meter the last word in determining your bills? That seems to be the answer that too many state utility regulatory commissions are giving to people who complain about strangely high bills. In last week’s column, I noted some typical cases where residential ratepayers were the victims of what…

It started, as is so frequently the case, with letters from consumers. People wanted to know how come their electric or gas bill stayed the same even though they were on vacation that month or two in the summer or winter. Others found their water bill staggeringly higher even though their water usage was the…

College students are subject to more stereotypes over the past twenty five years than most ethnic groups. In one clutch of years during the late Sixties, the media described them as radicals. In another period during the Fifties, they were seen as party-goers and deliberately lightheaded before heading out to “the cold, cold world.” Now…

Ann Sproull was quite indignant as she faced the press recently in Flint, Michigan. Out of her grief over medical malpractice affecting her child, she helped form Michigan Citizens Against Incompetent Medicine (MAIM), and became its president. Now she is exposing what she calls a “blacklisting, and intimidation tactic.” She was referring to a move…

Milwaukee, WI — “What do you think of the Kasten-Garvey race for the U.S. Senate,” I asked an air traveler at the airport. She replied: “Lots of mudslinging there.” Milwaukee Common Council president, John R. Kalwitz called the campaign “the lowest level gutter campaign I’ve ever seen — on both sides.” He is quite mistaken…

Shippensburg, PA — They call themselves “The Great Peace March For Global Nuclear Disarmament” and they deserve the grandeur of their name. Now numbering 750 people of all ages and occupational backgrounds, they have marched from Los Angeles to the local Fair Grounds where they are encamped for the night. The trek started March 1…

PHILADELPHIA—-Reporters at the Philadelphia Inquirer were surprised one noon recently when they saw Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) campaigning for re-election between their desks. After having spent millions of dollars on television ads, he might have concluded that working reporters were about the only people likely to vote who had not seen his message on the…