000410

                   Short census
                   form goes to
                   at least four
                     Wisconsin
                    lawmakers 

                                       Senate Majority Leader Sen. Trent
                                       Lott, R-Miss., leaves the set of
                                       "Face The Nation" after his
                                       appearance on the talk show
                                       Sunday, April 9, 2000, at the CBS
                                       studios in Washington. (AP
                                       Photo/Face The Nation, Karin
                                       Cooper)


                  By Melanie Fonder
                  For The News-Chronicle
                  WASHINGTON - The census has created yet
                  another communications nightmare this election cycle
                  for Republicans after Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and
                  presidential nominee Gov. George W. Bush gave
                  mixed responses to reporters on whether people
                  should answer every question on the forms. 

                  Both politicians did an about-face and have since
                  urged everyone to fill out their forms, but the damage
                  may have already been done with an April 1 deadline
                  to return the forms. On Thursday, House Speaker J.
                  Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., tried to clean up the GOP
                  message on the census with a statement that said:
                  "My remarks on the census will be brief because as
                  Republicans our message is simple: count everybody
                  because everybody counts." 

                  Rep. Tom Barrett, D-Milwaukee, who received the
                  short form said, "Unlike George Bush, I actually filled
                  out my census form." 

                  All four of the Wisconsin representatives who
                  responded to queries on which form came to their
                  household - Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison,
                  Gerald Kleczka, D-Milwaukee, Tom Petri, R-Fond
                  du Lac and Barrett, said they received the short
                  form. The other five must be busy filling theirs out. 

                  PROTESTERS LOBBY CONGRESS
                  A group of Wisconsinites traveled last week to the
                  steps of the U.S. Capitol, as they do every year, to
                  urge the shutdown of the School of the Americas, a
                  military institution that has been dubbed the "school
                  for dictators" by its detractors. 

                  While in Washington, the protesters met with Reps.
                  Mark Green, R-Green Bay, and Baldwin. 

                  Both lawmakers, along with the rest of the Wisconsin
                  delegation, voted against a $1.7 billion aid package
                  to Colombia that passed the House two weeks ago.
                  Green opposed the bill strongly because of the death
                  of Keshena native Ingrid Washinawatok and has
                  been working, with no success, to extradite one of
                  her killers. 

                  Marc Frucht of Green Bay said the half-hour listening
                  session with Green went exceptionally well and that
                  Green was "really way too cool for a Republican." 

                  The protesters said they hope Baldwin will take to
                  the House floor to decry funding for the school. 

                  FEDERAL HOME-BUYING HELP
                  Two measures authored by Green, attached to the
                  American Homeownership and Economic
                  Opportunity Act, passed the House Thursday with
                  tremendous support in a 417-8 vote. 

                  The first would create a program to help police
                  officers buy homes in "at-risk" neighborhoods with
                  zero-down-payment loans. Green intends for the
                  program to build on the idea of community policing.
                  The other measure would help people with
                  disabilities buy their homes using money from the
                  Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

                  Green's measures were first introduced last year on
                  their own but were included in the larger
                  homeownership bill last month. 

                  CHINA WATCH
                  Hastert announced last week that a vote on
                  establishing permanent normal trade relations with
                  China is scheduled for the week of May 22. 

                  The contentious debate that has sharply divided
                  Republicans and Democrats in their own ranks will
                  intensify as the lawmakers grapple with how to
                  assuage both big business and organized labor in
                  their districts. ` Kleczka, who serves on the
                  30-member Ways and Means Committee that is
                  slated to vote soon on the issue, is one of 14
                  committee members who are undecided or
                  unannounced. 

                  This column by Fonder, a staff writer for The
                  Hill, a Washington-based weekly newspaper that
                  covers Congress, appears every Monday in The
                  Green Bay News-Chronicle. You can email her
                  with comments at melfonder@yahoo.com.