March 1998 PRI Ideas in Action
Policy Update and Monthly Impact Report

PRI continues to impact public policy in California, the nation, and abroad. The following is just a sample of PRI's recent contributions.

SALLY PIPES, PRESIDENT & CEO

When San Francisco School Board members proposed a race-based reading list, the media turned to Sally Pipes and PRI staff as the voices of reason—standing for literary merit rather than racial quotas in the selection of authors. On March 10, CBS News, KCBS Radio and the San Francisco Examiner interviewed Sally Pipes about the proposal. On March 11, Sally was quoted in the New York Times, the Oakland Tribune, the Wisconsin State Journal, and was interviewed by FOX TV News, NBC News, NPR, Bay-TV’s “Take Issue,” KSFO Radio and Education Daily. On March 12, Sally appeared on NBC’s “Today Show,” and her comments appeared in the Baltimore Sun. Sally was interviewed by CBS Radio, the Boston Herald and the Christian Science Monitor (March 12), and her comments appeared in Lehigh University’s Brown & White (Bethlehem, PA, March 13), and the Lexington Herald-Leader (March 15). Sally also appeared on “The Bob Grant Radio Show” and Pacifica Radio’s “Living Room” show on March 20. Finally, Sally was interviewed by the Independent [Great Britain] and appeared on Britain’s Sky-TV about the controversy.

CBS’ Manny Ramos referred to Sally as “a fascinating person…[with] insightful views on quotas for writers.” Mike German said: “Couldn’t agree more [with your stand on literature quotas]!” Gilbert T. Sewall of the American Textbook Council stated: “I applaud your comments in the New York Times on the latest in multiculturalism in San Francisco.” A supporter wrote: “I’m happy to see PRI’s outspoken stance on [race based reading lists]."

EVENTS

On March 4, PRI co-hosted with the Philanthropy Roundtable and the National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renual, a workshop on revitalizing philanthropy in the Bay Area, featuring Eloise Anderson, Director of the California Department of Social Services. The workshop was praised by Larry Spears, who said, “I was very impressed with the speakers and their emphasis on self-reliance and individual initiative in philanthropy. Jane Wiegand stated, “The philanthropy [workshop] was very inspiring and informative.”

PRI hosted a luncheon on March 31 featuring Nils Lundgren, Ph.D, founding chairman of the National Association of Private Schools in Sweden. Lundgren discussed Sweden’s growing private-school movement, funded by a voucher program and allowing for parental choice in education. “The old socialist ideas are going out,” Mr. Lundgren told the audience.

CIVIL RIGHTS

PRI Senior Fellow Pam Lewis was a guest on Bay-TV’s “Take Issue” on March 12 about public contracting set-asides.

The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed Pam Lewis on March 13 and Sally Pipes on March 19 and 26 for upcoming articles about affirmative action.

Sally appeared on both KDTV (Univision) and Bay-TV on March 27 about proposed preference programs for women (a violation of voter-approved Proposition 209) in the City of San Francisco. Sally’s comments on the same subject appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on March 27. PRI statistics about women in the workplace were cited in an article entitled in the February 9 edition of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle (Bozeman, MT).

EDUCATION

Governor Pete Wilson’s office credits Lance Izumi’s recent Capital Ideas about the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) endorsement of opportunity scholarships as the inspiration behind a new drive by Governor Wilson to enact an opportunity scholarship program in California.

Royce Van Tassell’s opinions about Proposition 223, also known as the “95-5” initiative, appeared in Debra Saunders’ March 27 San Francisco Chronicle column. Royce’s opinion-editorial on the subject appeared in the San Francisco Business Times the same day.

Lance Izumi, Senior Fellow in California Studies and Co-Director of PRI’s Center for School Reform was interviewed by the Associated Press, Reuters, and KSFO Radio (San Francisco, March 11) about the San Francisco race-based reading list proposal. Lance’s opinions about the proposal also appear in the San Francisco Examiner (March 10), the Boston Herald (March 11), the Daily Californian, Morning Call, the Beaver County Times (Beaver, PA), the Repository (Canton (OH) and the Richmond Times Dispatch (March 12). Dana Joel, PRI’s Director of Research was quoted in USA Today (March 12) about the proposal.

Lloyd Billingsley’s March 22 Washington Times article on Proposition 227, the Unz bilingual initiative, was cited in a March 23 discussion on C-SPAN by Lamar Alexander, former Secretary of Education and presidential candidate. “Author Race Quota Rouses Ire, Even in PC San Francisco,” Lloyd’s feature about San Francisco’s racial reading quota, appeared on the Times’ March 24 culture page.

Lance Izumi is quoted in an article entitled “Asian Americans Forge Larger Political Role” in the Christian Science Monitor (Feb. 24).

In a February 11 Orange County Register op-ed entitled “Opting for Choice,”—and an op-ed of the same name in the Daily Press (Victorville, CA) on February 17—PRI is praised for its education policy proposals.

Alison Weeks, administrator of PRI’s San Francisco Independent Scholars Fund, attended a conference on bilingual education (co-sponsored by the READ Institute and U.S. English Only) in Washington, D.C. (March 20 - 22).

Bank of America has announced it has established free checking accounts for all recipients of PRI’s San Francisco Independent Scholarships in an effort to assist these promising young San Francisco high school students in learning about how to manage finances. Adam Visconit, a young San Franciscan recently awarded an SFIS scholarship, wrote “I [am] honored…[to be chosen, as the]… scholarship will be a tremendous help.”

The Fresno Bee’s Feb. 23 “Bilingual Battle Lines Drawn in Schools” cited PRI statistics on bilingual education (Feb. 23).

HEALTH & WELFARE

PRI Policy Fellow Erin Schiller’s article entitled “Bill Clinton’s Cigarette Tax? Don’t Inhale” appeared in Human Events (March 6).

ENVIRONMENT

Erin Schiller addressed the Mein Indicator Lunch on March 12 at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco about her study entitled “The Road Ahead: The Economic and Environmental Benefits of Congestion Pricing.”

Dana Joel’s comments about environmental regulation in residential neighborhoods appeared in the San Mateo County Times (March 13).

LEGAL

PRI Senior Fellow in Legal Studies, Eugene Volokh, is quoted in a February 22 article entitled “Americans Lighten Up on the Topic of Sex: But it’s Still a Legally Risky Subject in a Workplace” in the Sunday Patriot-News (Harrison, PA).

Eugene Volokh was profiled in an article entitled “Up & Comers: At the Top of Their Games, L.A.’s Hottest Executives and Entrepreneurs Thrive Outside the Corporate Structure” in the Los Angeles Business Journal (March 9).

NOTABLES

PRI Senior Fellow Steve Hayward’s “Political Correctness Claims a Victim” appeared in the Sunday Tribune Review (Feb. 22), the Washington Times Sunday (Feb. 22), the Washington Times National Weekly Edition (March 8), the Sunday Post-Journal (Jamestown, NY, March 1), the Louisville Herald (March 5), and the Greenville Sun (March 11).

Justin Matlick, Director of PRI’s Center for Freedom in Technology, and Erin Schiller were selected as runners up in the Felix Morley Journalism Competition, sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies.

Dana Joel’s study entitled “Downsizing State Government: Doing Better With Less” is cited in an article entitled “Sell Off Virginia ABC Stores?” in the March edition of the Atlantic Control States Beverage Journal (Wheeling, WV).

Katherine Post’s (Director of PRI’s Center for Enterprise and Opportunity) Contrarian entitled “It Takes a Village, and a Licensed Professional” was praised as “brilliant” by Adrienne Snow of the National Foundation for Family Research and Education.

“Basic Instinct: A Statist Confession from Public Broadcasting” a PRI Capital Ideas article by Steven Hayward and Lloyd Billingsley, was reprinted in the CENTER-RIGHT e-newsletter, a web-based weekly based in Los Angeles (Week of March 29).

BOOKNOTES

Don Kates, author of PRI’s book The Great American Gun Debate: Essays on Firearms and Violence, was interviewed by IntellectualCapital.com, a web-based magazine, about the book for an upcoming article. Excerpts from The Great American Gun Debate appeared in an op-ed in the Times (Shreveport, LA, March 16).