North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 10/09/1996

It's Wednesday October 9. Tonight profiling the media strategy of Senator Jesse Helms in North Carolina. Now right right. Good evening I'm reading to try and welcome to this Wednesday edition of North Carolina now on tonight's program we continue our in-depth political coverage Robin Miniato speaks with her district Congressman Walter Jones and Bob Garner brings us a report on how Senator Jesse Helms and his handling of the media during his current senatorial campaign. Also on the program we'll look at a church group in Lumberton that is managing to remain responsive to the needs of the poor while struggling to maintain its own economic viability. But first Jesse Helms with less than a month to go before the election the Senate race between Helms and Harvey Gantt is still close.

Well Gantos the challenger is actively campaigning and speaking to reporters Helms has declined to debate his opponent hasn't appeared publicly much today and hasn't granted many interviews with the media. How has his decision to avoid the process strikes some observers and reporters as puzzling. Bob Garner has our report. Senator Jesse Helms is talking very little to journalists these days. Why. For one thing Helms has said he thinks reporters generally try to make him look bad. And many of his supporters agree the senator was outraged last year by the reporting of his statement on President Clinton's alleged unpopularity among the military in North Carolina. Helms said the president might need a bodyguard if he came to the state. The senator said later that reporters should have realized he was joking and should not have reported the remark is a serious statement. Reporters said they simply report the facts. Is there an element of truth to Helms as feelings about the media. Well the senator supporters might point to a recent profile of the Helms Gant race on ABC as Nightline as one example of subjective reporting

during the segment reporter Chris Mury provided a sound bite of him speaking to the Christian Coalition then offered his assessment of what Helms said. This country is. And they probably talk about a gram the other day. And he said we're in the last day that extreme view of course is hardly unusual for Senator Helms. Many voters do believe Helms holds extreme views and that he is too closely allied with the Christian right. However the belief that the world is in the end times according to biblical prophecy is in fact anything but an extreme view among many churchgoers including the Reverend Billy Graham who actually made the remark. And then there are the implications that Helms is a racial bigot. Barry had this to say in his Nightline Report six years ago Senator Helms made this blatant appeal to white voters. You needed that job and you were the best of five. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota.

There are big gains as it is. Yuri refers to this now famous 1990 ad as a blatant and there are many who believe that it represented at the end will you be able to reveal to racist tendencies. But there are also many Helms supporters and others who argue that what they see as misguided interpretation of affirmative action policies was and is a legitimate campaign issue one that Helms has a right to raise without being branded a racist. Harvey Gantt is trying to convince voters he's against same sex marriages. But that as Helms avoids the media spotlight himself he continues relying heavily on television ads like Helms as earlier spots portraying him as a warm caring family man have been replaced by ads claiming to present his opponent's true views on same sex marriages and gay rights. While Gavin did apparently make the statements reported in the ads are the challenger and news media groups that study campaign ads say Gantz remarks were taken out of context and don't represent his current

position. The ads are vetted films according to political scientist Ted Arrington if you NC Charlotte the senator's ads some people call unfair but they are hard hitting issue based ads. He says this is where I stand and this is where my opponent stands on issues. Errington says Helms is tough political style keeps many people from seeing the side of him that his supporters deeply appreciate. He does seem to be two different people. When you talk to him one on one when you deal with him in that way he's a very genteel almost gentle very much self-effacing very much courteous kind of a person. But you get him in front of a microphone and he really does practice slash and burn politics whether Helms is reluctance to talk to reporters revolves around a sense of having been burned too often and awareness that he doesn't possess the natural smoothness of his opponents or some other reason. Conventional wisdom says he still holds the firm loyalty of around 45

percent of the state's electorate while another 45 percent wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances. In the past the campaign's outcome has been settled among the remaining 10 percent. Jesse Helms has never won by a landslide he's always won by a narrow margin so I guess his most successful margin was 55 percent and that's considered by most people a close election. But the state's electorate has changed significantly since 1990 with many thousands of new voters moving into North Carolina especially in the Raleigh Durham area and the Piedmont Crescent only what remains to be seen whether Helms can continue to avoid the media and hold on to his traditional 45 percent and attract the majority of swing voters he needs to win. On several occasions we have invited Senator Helms here to our studios for interviews and have offered to travel to the senator's Washington D.C. office for an interview. In each instance Senator Helms has declined our invitation. Still ahead on

North Carolina now a conversation with Congressman Walter Jones. But right now it's time to check in with Michel Louis for a statewide news update. Good evening match. Thanks Maria. Good evening everyone. Topping our news a poll rating the job performance of all 100 US Senators places North Carolina senators Jesse Helms and La Fere cloth in the bottom half of the list. The ratings compiled by Mason-Dixon political media research list Senator Helms and 60 fifth place with 53 percent of North Carolinians surveyed giving him positive marks for performance while 46 percent gave him negative marks. Senator fair cost was eighty fifth with 46 percent giving him a positive margin and 47 percent negative overall 74 senators had a positive job performance of 50 percent or better. Republican gubernatorial candidate Robin Hayes has come out with a number of proposals for fighting crime. Candidate Hayes advocates chemical castration for violent sex offenders and the death penalty for drug kingpins.

Hayes is offering no specifics on the two proposals but says the details would be worked out by his staff. Hayes says he would also like to see an increase in school based anti-drug initiatives and drug testing for new state employees. New medical developments on cigarettes and the elderly point to a link between smoking and blindness. The new information concludes more frequent and longer smoking as the most common cause of blindness in older people. Published research shows that pack a day smokers more than double their risk of developing macular degeneration. This usually untreatable condition is a leading cause of blindness. Another cause of vision loss cataracts has already been found to be caused by smoking. These new studies are published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Despite the death of a Columbus County man last week an increase in insecticide spraying for mosquitoes is not expected. The cause of death was determined to be mosquito borne equine encephalitis. This rare and often fatal virus spreads when mosquitoes

bite infected chickens then humans. Health officials have been taking measures to control mosquito populations in parts of the state but say extraordinary measures are not necessary. Federal officials say existing spraying and cooler temperatures should aid and control. Now for a look at tomorrow's weather most places aren't forecast to climb above the 70 degree mark on Thursday only Wilmington is expected to break 70 tomorrow. The rest of the state will range in the mid 60s and the mountains will be even cooler than that. Partly cloudy conditions will cover most of the Tarheel State mostly sunny conditions are however forecast for the coast. In business news a Masters in Business Administration from Duke University can now be attained through the computer. Duke has put together the new degree program utilizing virtual classes and the Internet. The $80000 global executive MBA program provides laptop computers to class and Rowley's and the professional students meet once every three months for a period of two weeks. The program has a current enrollment of 40 students who can communicate online

with fellow classmates from around the world without having to sacrifice time away from work. Now here's a look at what happened on Wall Street today. Tonight is our series

of congressional interviews continues you and see TV political correspondent Robin Miniato talks with incoming Republican Walter Jones Jr. who is seeking re-election to the 3rd Congressional District. Congressman thank you for joining us this evening. Robyn thank you I'm glad to be with you. The 100 fourth session of Congress certainly was interesting to watch for you as a freshman Republican in Congress. What are you most proud of. Robin pleased that we as a Congress kept our word to the people of the 3rd District in North Carolina and the people of America the people in my district and throughout the nation have been very concerned that we have a Congress with past Congresses that were not willing to balance the books so they speak. We have a debt of 5.3 trillion dollars that 5.3 trillion dollars millions of a child born in 1996 was about one hundred eighty seven thousand dollars the first time he or she takes a breath as a newborn. If we don't get to a balanced budget and they live to be 75 they will have paid one

hundred eighty seven thousand dollars just to pay their share of the interest on the debt. And I feel like a nation. You have to have a nation that can balance the books because we right now are not as economically strong as we should be and I think that a balanced budget we should achieve a balanced budget in the year 2002 will send a signal throughout the world that we can balance the budget. How do we how do we do that. Well Robin this 104 of Congress we eliminated approximately 270 programs and agencies. We had downsizing the government has gotten too big. When government grows it grows at the expense of the taxpayer and the government had just gotten too big and we were able to downsize government keep the programs that are good programs that help people that really need the help. And just like welfare reform we passed I think a very good welfare reform bill that will help people get off welfare. We'll give a limit of

five years. Of course we brought Grant to the states so the states can set the limit but we said in the bill no law no more than five years if you physically and mentally able. So I think that is a start. Since the days of the Great Society welfare has cost the taxpayers just about five trillion dollars. It's been a program that in my opinion did not help the individual get off welfare it perpetuated dependency instead of a program of Independence. Many critics have laid the charge at the feet of freshman Republicans and Newt Gingrich that this Congress attempted to go too far. Do you agree with that. No. You know whenever you change a direction of a government. And that's what we did the American people said that when they elected the new Republican majority we think America is on the wrong track. And what we tried to do and did. We created the debate. And I think we have

welfare reform. We got to deal with Medicare. Balance budget we've got to ensure that our military has the type of dollars to defend this nation. There were a lot of issues that we were willing to bring to the table for debate and I think that the American people maybe they just weren't. Convinced that we could do what we did and they were somewhat amazed that we were able to to get some of these issues before the Congress. What issues are still remaining that you'd like to see addressed if you're re-elected. Well we've got to continue to work to balance the budget. We have to in my opinion strengthen the Medicare trust fund because it is in deep trouble as you know that the trust fund is estimated by the Medicare trustees to be by in the year 2001 I think it could be sooner than that unless we try to strengthen the Medicare system and make some changes where they've been abused

and streamline the program. And again how do you go about doing that there's been a lot of talk about where you cut and where you don't cut and what steps you can actually take to save the program help. Robin actually what we tried to do was to just slow the growth down just reduce the growth from the 11 percent spending growth per year to seven point. And by doing that and they can the program so that the senior citizen could look at a government program or a private program approved by the government. That we could guarantee the senior citizen under our plan. In 1996 the average recipient will receive nationally about forty eight hundred dollars. Under our plan that would go up by the year 2000 into to seventy one hundred dollars an increase of twenty three hundred dollars. And yet we could still protect the sovereignty of the program. Medical Savings Accounts I think that the government must look at these alternatives for younger people like yourself and your family.

One of the issues it's very important in your district is tobacco a lot and I am back with farmers in the Third District. Absolutely. How do you go about protecting those farmers and do you agree with any part of President Clinton's plan to regulate tobacco. I wish Mr. Clinton cared enough about illegal drugs which he proved to us in the first four years of his presidency that he has not done the job dealing with illegal drugs in this nation. Tobacco pharma because of the Republican majority in the House and Senate for the first time there were no legislative efforts meaning within the House of Senate that were detrimental to the tobacco farm and the tobacco program. And that's because of the Republican majority. In 1993 you switched like many of your constituents from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. What motivated that on your part. Robin I wanted to be in a party that was proud to be an advocate of Judeo-Christian principles. I wanted to be in a party that was an advocate of working people.

I want to be in a party that was an advocate of help and business both small and large continue to grow and expand. And I found the Republican Party to be out front on those issues that I just mentioned. My district is a district that I always say very proudly they're strong believers in the Bible in the Constitution. We have just a minute or so left but I would like to ask you quickly about health care. It's certainly one of the concerns that we started out in the 90s with do you think that's still an election issue and how do we provide health care for the many people who are without robin. A lot of the states including North Carolina or taken some steps forward that I think will help people that do not have adequate insurance but in addition to that this Congress as you know. We have passed in the present his insurance portability preexisting conditions people that change jobs or people that have illnesses that change jobs will be covered by insurance plans and I think you will see as each year

work to improve and expand insurance opportunities for the American people. So you see it coming incrementally rather than absolute. Each year Congressman Jones thank you very much for your time this evening we appreciate it. Thank you very much. An interview with Walter Jones's opponent George parrot aired last week. Robeson County is among North Carolina's largest and poorest the unemployment rate is above the

state average and in many cases substandard housing is all some people have. But there is an effort to improve living conditions throughout the county. Through charity efforts and volunteerism TONIGHT producer SHARON CORR printing takes a look at the work of a nonprofit agency in Lumberton which has the ministry service volunteers affiliated with the Robinson County church and community center. Recently came over at Alice Lloyd's request to paint her 33 year old house. But Steve Taylor the center's executive director discovered a more serious problem. It's amazing to me that those kids didn't fall for that. It's just amazing what I saw. Oh man it was just it was so rotten that I know that if I put my whole weight on it I don't really think it is the right thing can wait and they only know this from the church and community centers to man construction crew. You guessed a Ford and Michael Bronson found Floyd's bathroom floor had dangerously deteriorated.

This is very typical of what we find in many of the houses in which we work especially people who as I get older they're on fixed incomes and can afford to make the necessary repairs for the upkeep of the house. Taylor says he's seen homes where leaky roofs have caused irreparable damage to the homes of the county's elderly but Mrs. Floyd is fortunate she has an ongoing relationship with the center and staff carpenters or volunteers make several repairs to our house free of charge with money. Yes. I really hope so because I did not have left to do. Taylor notes the agency is located in a poor county so the federal government is generous when it comes to funding service programs. The federal money isn't enough resources from the community traditionally take up the slack. Taylor says his agency which among other things repairs homes for the disabled and elderly takes on about 70 houses each year. But a volunteer helping contributions from churches and local charities increase the number of residents the center is able to help. They come in they bring thousands of hours of support and they also

come and pay for the materials and pay for their jobs themselves and basically we just facilitate their housing ministry and that enables us to do somewhere between 30 and 45 more houses a year ago what we would actually be able to do. But this community seemingly rich in volunteer ism and charitable goodwill has fallen upon lean times. Robinson county's unemployment rate has risen from roughly 4 to 10 percent in recent years due to plant closings and corporate downsizing. So more people have joined the ranks of the needy while fewer can afford to give to those charities that have traditionally helped meet those needs. One of those charities affected is the Robinson County United Way executive director Sandra Oliver says the charity helps fund 17 other nonprofit service agencies in the county including the church and community center. We depend on the majority of our United Way campaign through payroll deduction at the workplace so when people are laid off and the

unemployment level rises that impacts us greatly. Oliver says the United Way gives the churching Community Center forty five thousand dollars for its housing projects emergency services and an adult literacy program. But she says the charity is lowering its fund raising goal for next year because of a rise in joblessness. Taylor says this is an overwhelming burden on nonprofits. Yet if you don't pull in the funds then obviously you can't find at the same level as you were. So yes that is that is I guess detrimental to the overall. Support of accounting agencies such as ours but Taylor says he's undaunted. The center has been around since 1969 and Taylor says the community will continue to keep it going despite an embattled economy. I still do feel that it's a choice that people my. And if that's if it's if we choose that things will continue to to be available in the movie. It

really is a personal choice. It's a chore so we make each and every day what are we going to do with our finances. The Robinson County church and community center builds homes as well. It's a program similar to Habitat for Humanity nine families have bought homes through this program called Jubilee homes. The lot for a 10th home has been funded but the center needs a housing director to oversee the project. You can call 9 1 0 7 3 8 5 2 0 4 for more information. And speaking of homes this is the week that fire officials have set aside to remind you to keep your home safe from fire it is National Fire Prevention Week. It's a time when you're asked to test your smoke detectors to make sure that they're all rationed. The greatest number of fire related fatalities occur between the hours of midnight and 4:00 a.m. when most of us are sound asleep. So please make sure that you have a working smoke detector in your home and if not please install one. It could end up saving your life. Well on tomorrow's edition of North Carolina now Shannon Vicary examines the campaign of senatorial candidate

Harvey Gantt and Congressman Castle Ballenger will be our guest. In the meantime have a pleasant evening and please make plans to join us tomorrow for another edition of North Carolina now. Not everyone want it.