000501
Feingold asks for a halt
to federal executions 


                   By Melanie Fonder
                   For The News-Chronicle
                   WASHINGTON - Even though the House of
                   Representatives will not return to the city until today,
                   the Senate was back in action Tuesday with one of
                   Wisconsin's senators introducing a major piece of
                   legislation. 

                   Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., sought support for the
                   National Death Penalty Moratorium Act of 2000 on
                   Wednesday, a bill that would halt all executions in the
                   United States until a commission reviewed the
                   process. 

                   In a speech Feingold gave in early April to students at
                   the Columbia University School of Law, he compared
                   Wisconsin, which abolished the death penalty in 1853,
                   to Texas, which uses the death penalty. 

                   "Wisconsin has been death penalty-free for nearly a
                   century and a half. In contrast, Texas is the most
                   prodigious user of the death penalty, having executed
                   about 200 people since 1976. But from 1995 to 1998,
                   Texas has had a murder rate nearly twice that in
                   Wisconsin," Feingold said. "The deterrent value of the
                   death penalty is more fable than fact. Because the
                   death penalty does not deter crime, the killing must
                   stop." 

                   The bill was introduced just four months after Illinois
                   Gov. George Ryan, a death-penalty supporter, put a
                   moratorium on executions in that state after several
                   people on death row were proven innocent. 

                   Feingold has asked President Clinton and Attorney
                   General Janet Reno to declare a moratorium on
                   federal executions. 

                   Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., is an original co-sponsor of
                   the Feingold measure. A similar bill has been
                   introduced in the House by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.,
                   D-Ill. 

                   McCAIN-THOMPSON 2004? In the ongoing
                   quest to guess the likely vice presidential picks of the
                   presumptive nominees, Vice President Al Gore and
                   Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the New York Times
                   published prospective "short lists" for veep last week,
                   and two Wisconsinites previously mentioned here
                   made the cut. 

                   On the Democratic ticket, Feingold, listed fifth on the
                   Times' list, "could add credibility to (Gore's) new role
                   as torchbearer for campaign finance reform." The
                   article said the senator could help Gore capture
                   Midwestern voters but "he may be too culturally
                   liberal." 

                   Gov. Tommy Thompson barely makes the Times'
                   Republican short list, coming in ninth out of 10
                   candidates listed. Citing Wisconsin's welfare reform,
                   school vouchers and charter school program, the
                   governor has the "experience Mr. Bush would want." 

                   A minus for Thompson is he leads a "Democratic
                   leaning" state worth only 11 electoral votes. Alas,
                   Thompson's "strong personality could easily
                   overshadow the less experienced and opinionated Mr.
                   Bush." 

                   Perhaps an experience-packed and well-known John
                   McCain-Thompson ticket could wait until 2004. 

                   FIGHTING FOR COWS On the other end of the
                   spectrum, three of Wisconsin's lawmakers were
                   presented with less prestigious awards - "The Diddly
                   Awards: Honoring our Do-Nothing Congress" - in the
                   May/June issue of Mother Jones. 

                   Mostly pummeling Republicans, the awards are aimed
                   at the 105th and 106th sessions of Congress, which
                   "managed to rename National Airport in honor of
                   Ronald Reagan but was left too spent to ever soar to
                   such legislative heights again." 

                   For "those who've done so much without doing squat,"
                   the Democratic representative trio of Dave Obey of
                   Wausau, Tom Barrett of Milwaukee and Ron Kind of
                   La Crosse received the honor of the award for "Best
                   Prop in a Congressional Performance." 

                   The magazine dressed up a Hill staffer as a cow and
                   presented Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., with boxing gloves
                   for his down-to-the-wire battle for dairy subsidies last
                   year. 

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