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Page * NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Thursday, August 29,19t5 Opinion Revenge -- capital style WASHINGTON - Politicians re­ member every slight and snub -- and it's mandatory to get even, because not to do-so spells weak­ ness. The following story is a per­ fect example of Washington-style revenge. Robert J. Wagman Donald J. Devine, an arch-con- servative, headed the Office of Personnel Management during President Reagan's first term. It was his mandate, he thought, to cut back on the federal bureaucra­ cy's size, pay and perks, and to reduce the power and prestige of the government's employee unions. Devine tackled the job with a combativeness seldom seen in offi­ cial Washington. He brought into OPM a number of men of like mind, who quickly became known as "the hatchetmen." Then he be­ came a point man for numerous highly unpopular Reagan adminis­ tration initiatives. Obviously, De- vine's style and mission didn't win him friends, especially among gov­ ernment employees and their many supporters on Capitol Hill. Under the law that changed the old Civil Service Commission to the OPM, the director is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate for a four-year term. At the end of that term, the incum­ bent may be reappointed, but is a g a i n s u b j e c t t o S e n a t e confirmation. Devine's term expired on March 25, and, as required by law, he tendered his resignation. It was clear that his reconfirmation hear­ ing would be long and bloody: The six Democrats who sit on the 13- member Governmental Affairs Com.nittee announced that they would try to block his reconfirma­ tion because he "politicized" OPM. Loretta Cornelius, OPM's deputy director, was named acting direc­ tor and Devine was hired as her "administrative assistant." Everyone expected Devine to start running things, but a funny thing happened: Ms. Cornelius had never gotten along that well with Devine and several of his key as­ sistants. Now, with her new power, she began to fire some of Devine's key appointees and replace them with her own people. However, as quickly as they were fired, they were back at their desks. The agency swiftly fefl into near- chaos, and the Senate committee became a bit curious about what was going on. It found that on the day Devine resigned, he had signed a "delegation of authority" that gave all the powers of the director to the "administrative as­ sistant" -- in other words, to him­ self. He used this to countermand many of Ms. Cornelius' orders and decisions. The General Accounting Office said this was an illegal attempt to circumvent the law. Devine went before the Senate committee and apologized, saying that the agen­ cy's legal counsel told him that the delegation was legal, and that Ms. Cornelius had known about it and agreed to it. But Ms. Cornelius didn't back him up. She said that she had not been aware of the document until Devine used it to countermand one of her orders. Then, she said, De- vine had asked her to lie if she were asked whether she knew a b o u t a n d a g r e e d t o t h e delegation. This was the last straw even for some Republicans on the commit­ tee, who announced they would vote against Devine's reappoint­ ment. Devine then asked the White House to withdraw his nomination. A wild celebration ensued in the federal workforce: Loretta Corne­ lius had "gotten" Don Devine. None of this endeared Ms. Cor­ nelius to Devine, to conservatives within the administration or to many Devine loyalist at OPM. Un­ derstanding the rules of Washing- . ton, retribution was in order. Sometimes it takes months, or even years, to get even; in this case, it just took a few weeks. The government'sOffice of Gov­ ernment Ethics received a letter from an OPM employee charging that Ms. Cornelius had used agen­ cy employees, on government time and using government facilities, to research and write papers she needed to get her doctorate from the University of Southern Califor­ nia. The letter also charged that her administrative assistant, Lura Dillard, had done the same to gain academic credits at Catholic Uni­ versity that counted towards her master's degree from Marymount College. The story was leaked to the Washington Times -- the Rev. Sun Yung Moon's ultra-conservative daily, which was among Devine's strongest supporters. The paper gave the story front-page play and a banner headline. It quoted uri- nammed OPM staffers who said that they had prepared course work for Msrcornelius. One staff­ er claimed Ms. Cornelius copied a paper he had prepared for course credit at another university and submitted it to USC. The charges have not been prov­ en, and it's reported that both the the Office of Government Ethics and USC are investigating the matter. If the charges are proved, both Ms. Cornelius and Ms. Dillard might lose their jobs and their newly won degrees. At best, they're now involved in a very long -process to-clear their names; -------- And that's just one tale of getting even, Washington style. Donald Devine's conservative policies and cost-cutting cost him his job as the government's per­ sonnel chief, but he got even a few weeks later. (Robert Wagman is a columnist for Newspaper Enterprise Association) WW WORW V HUtMf? >-0 WHICH iSTrtEtAWNGCMSLOF _ em-MUV;NG FATTIES iN ilSUOS? NORTHWEST HIRALO '"Hard work is the best investment a man can make." Charles M. Schwab ROBERTA. SHAW Editor and Publisher LEONARD M. INGRASSIA Executive Editor STEVEN H. HUNTER Marketing Director MICHAEL E. MORSCH Newt Editor/Regional • . DENNISM. McNAAAARA Editorial Page Editor RONALD L. STANLEY Circulation Director*. TBMlNp CONTRACTORS *4/ Florida: The law is the law? Gov. Bob Graham of Florida tells us that he has acted as he has in the matter of Roswell Gilbert because of the "unique facts of this case." Well, they are not unique, but one shouldn't get too exercised about^the governor's saying that they are. Roswell Gilbert killed his wife, to whom he had been married for 51 years. He confessed to having killed her. She was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, from the pro­ gressive memory loss that goes with that disease, and from osteo­ porosis, a bone ailment that, we are advised, causes great pain. Mr. Gilbert did not deny killing her, pleading simply extenuation given his wife's condition. He was properly convicted of murder in the first degree, which it certainly was: He no doubt j>re^ meditated the murder over a peri­ od of weeks, perhaps months. He was properly sentenced under the law -- life imprisonment with no possibility of parole until h%J)is served 25 years. AlthougirtSrric* tual case is open and shut, there are, of course, appeals. Under Jne law, you can appeal a finding that two plus two equal&Jrar. Gov. ? Graham, feeling the considerable public sentiment in the matter, elected to invoke Florida's strange and complicated clemency provisions. These provide that a governor may grant what amounts to sus­ pension of a sentence at any point in the process, but only provided that he can persuade three mem­ bers of his six-member Cabinet to concur in his judgment. So Gov. Graham announced that Mr, Gil­ bert could go home and wait there until the appellate courts were through with his case. Two mem* bers of the Cabinet concurred, two opposed, and two are undecided. So Mr. Gilbert remains in prison unless, and until, one of the unde­ cided goes with the governor. What everybody is engaged in do­ ing, obviously, is waiting until pub­ lic sentiment finally crystallizes. Gov. Graham's moral and intel­ lectual problem is precisely that the facts of the case are not unique. There are others -- many WiNiam F. 19 Buckley others -- like it: instances of a spouse killing a spouse, or even of a mother killing a child, because of afflictions deemed intolerable and pronounced incurable. No doubt many of these go undetected. No doubt many of these are aujl detected, but hot prosecuted, and allowed to tiptoe away. It is not easy to prosecute someone whose only motive in killing is the relief of pain that cannot otherwise be relieved. And yet -- a point on which most people agree -- no one can legally be given the power to kill someone else. The law needs to be absolute in making these rules. But it is because laws need to be absolute that tradition^givesns two leavening tribunals. The first is the jury: Sometimes juries take the law into their own hands, and when they do, there is nothing any­ one can do about it. And, finally, there is the factor of clemency, eiuifisily devolving in the state of Florida on the governor and three elected members of the Cabinet. This, presumably, to guard against executive caprice. UO'i How should Gov. Graham -- or other governors -- be guided in such matters? Obviously they must not act as though they are enacting a fresh policy: Go ahead and murder your wife. If you $an prove that your motives were pure, I'll pardon you. That is why Gov. Graham stresses that this case (Gilbert) is unique, which of course it is not. A few years ago, Gov. Hugh Carey of New York, who was solidly opposed to capital punishment, vowed that if the res­ toration of capital punishment were done over his veto, he would retaliate by giving executive clem­ ency to everyone subsequently convicted of murder and sentenced to the chair. That was contumacy on a grand scale: If a legislature writes a'law and the chief execu­ tive announces that he will frus­ trate the legislature by systemati­ cally circumventing the law, why, here, if ever, you have impeach­ ment time. We need to remind ourselves ihat^&£l& are moral subtleties that the law cannot hope to accost, and that for that reason we have the factor of clemency. This is not to argue that clemency cannot be abused. It is abused. But it is to argue that public odium should be reserved, in such a case as Ros­ well Gilbert's, not for his deed, as for a careless institutionalization of the right to kill under similar circumstances. * It is hard to be angry with Ros­ well Gilbert. The law must not .be be asked to be more resilient. Clemency is the right instrument, and Gov. Graham should be ap­ plauded for using his authority athwart the protests that murder is murder is murder, which is a legal judgment, not a moral judgment. (William Buckley is a columnist for Universal Press Syndicate) Reader Forum The American way To the Editor : There are two types of characters in the world. The first is out to use us as a means to their end. The second, who build 'I - thou' relationships, are concerned about the other guy as well as the welfare of self. Fortunately in America, most are of the second type. We hold a higher preamble than self. We roll up our sleeves when there is work to do, get the task done, and then get together to play. Unfortunately, the few who serve self at the cost to others, also are among us. Countless thousands of fellows prayed and worked and held their breath until the hostages came home ... yet some still sue. Let us hope that Transworld Airlines does not become a victim of One of those guys who use us to serve their end. But the rest of us will still plug along -- working and enjoying America's true essence -- knowing that if we had to bail a fellow out of trouble, we would do it, 'cause that is the American thing to do! Mrs. Karen Hardtke Cary Tax referendum To the Editor: I would like to compliment the new suoerintendent < realization that the feellrtgs of the average "person on the street" is the most Important consideration when it comes to asking for a tax increase. Of course, the humiliaing defeat of the referendum in February may have had something to do with this. It is obvious by now that the February request failed for two basic reasons: 1. The amount asked for was obscene and totally unnecessary. 2. The lack of credibility and faith in the administration. Although 1 am still not convinced that any increase is required, at least the figure is more palatable. I n a d d i t i o n , t h e n e w superintendent does seem to be on the right track in attempting to keep in touch with "the people". The previous superintendent was so out of touch that he was more of a liability than an asset to District 47 in the February campaign. Finally, we don't need anymore of the supposed high-powered citizen committees trying to ram something down our throat. That tactic failed miseably in February and incurred more animosity than anything else. To repeat such a grievous error would be stupid. John F. Moog Crystal Lake i US! Send letters to Reader Forum The Herald, " 7803 Pyott Road Crystal Lake IL 60014. Letters must the author'* ad- fress and telephone number for the editor's reference. We recommend letters of 300 words or less. All iet- ters are subject to editing for clari­ ty and brevity. Park District response To the Editor: The purpose of this letter is to clarify the position of the Crystal Lake Park District regarding the settlement of the Woehlbrandt lawsuit reported last week. The Park District was neither consulted nor even informed about the settlement. The disposition ;of such cases is completely controlled by the insurance company. If Park District were not to accept settlement, it would beco financially responsible for the c beyond that point. We are at a loss to imagine by w steps we might have prevented . unfortunate series of events leadi up to the tragic drowning. The P. District has no authority to prev people from leaving its proper Further, it was specifical prohibited by the courts fr regulating the entire lake at the ti This case contrasts with t previous lawsuit where a jury fou the Park District not liable and the plaintiff received nothing. That casi, incidentally, received no press coverage. As of July 1,1985, the Park District is insured by a risk management policy that provides for consultati#i of any future settlements. The impact of such caseit on tl e escalating costs of municipil insurance is obvious. Jane Franz President Board of Commissionei s Crystal Lake