October 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 a sample of PRI’s influence in October.

Pacific Research Institute Earns Ranking in
Right-Wing Conspiracy

Think tanks are on the front lines in the battle of ideas and a good measure of their influence is how the other side sizes up its enemy. PRI scores good grades and a high level of respect from the organizations of the American left.

"The influence of conservative think-tanks like the California-based Pacific Research Institute has been considerable," writes David Callahan in the Oct. 12 issue of the Nation.

Further, the massive, 2.4 million-member National Education Association, the nation’s most influential union as well as a left-wing and Democrat Party bulwark, includes PRI as part of a vast "far right" network attempting to undermine public education and labor unions. This nefarious network includes such shadowy PRI co-conspirators as the Heritage, Bradley, Olin, Reason, and Scaife Foundations; the National Taxpayers Union; Citizens for a Sound Economy; the State Policy Network; the American Legislative Exchange Council; the National Center for Policy Analysis; the Cato Institute; and the Goldwater Institute.

Sally Pipes, PRI President

On October 22, Sally appeared on ABC’s Politically Incorrect. Guests included stand-up comic Rita Rudner, actress Michelle Lee, and Harvard Professor Cornel West, co-author of The Future of American Progressivism: An Initiative for Political and Economic Reform. Subjects for discussion included voter turnout, anti-smoking measures, taxes, and the so-called "gender gap," and the banning of peanuts on airplanes.

Events

On October 9 and 10, PRI assisted in the coordination of a Weekend Friends Retreat sponsored by the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco. Milton and Rose Friedman co-hosted the event along with former Secretary of State George Shultz. Speakers included California Governor Pete Wilson, former Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander, Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson, former Congressman Floyd Flake, Indianapolis mayor Stephen Goldsmith, Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institution, John Walton of Education Alternatives, and Lisa Graham Keegan, superintendent of public instruction in Arizona.

The event drew noisy protests from San Francisco environmental groups and supporters of the educational status quo.

On October 20, PRI hosted a luncheon for Tamar Jacoby who spoke about her book, Someone Else’s House: America’s Struggle for Integration.

Education

"How Report Cards Compare for Lungren, Davis on Education Issues," by PRI’s Lance Izumi, appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune, on November 1, 1998.

At a PRI breakfast in Palo Alto on October 22, Lance spoke to a group of Silicon Valley executives regarding the current education crisis and discussed PRI’s upcoming education projects. In addition, Justin Matlick, director of PRI’s Center for Freedom in Technology, spoke about current technology policy issues such as encryption and Internet taxation.

On Oct. 19, Lance was interviewed by the San Jose Mercury News about the impact of school choice on this year’s election races, and by the New Republic on California’s Proposition 8, which if passed would permanently fund class-size reduction.

On October 9, Lance testified before the California Board of Education on the state Department of Education’s questionable methodology for calculating California’s dropout rate. Lance also co-signed a set of proposals for reforming the dropout calculation which were presented to the Board. In response, the state Department of Education agreed to rethink its methodology and work with PRI and others to come up with more accurate figures.

Nevada state senator Maurice Washington quoted Lance in a September 20 article on class-size reduction in the Daily Sparks Tribune.

San Francisco Independent Scholars

Alison Weeks, SFIS program director, was quoted in Teresa Moore’s Oct. 27 San Francisco Chronicle Bay Area section cover story on privately funded scholarships. On October 22-23, Alison attended the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) training session held at Stanford University. NFTE has agreed to work with SFIS scholars to teach them how to be entrepreneurs. During October Alison made presentations for SFIS at Benjamin Franklin Middle School, Claire Lilienthal Alternative School, Horace Mann Middle School, Rooftop Middle School, and the Presidio Community Open House.

Health and Welfare

Heritage Foundation President Edwin J. Feulner cited PRI’s "State of Children" study in his syndicated column. To date, the column has appeared in the Washington Times, Somerset American, and Titusville Herald. "Are American Children Being Lured Into Socialized Medicine?" by PRI’s Naomi Lopez was cited in a Washington Times letter-to-the-editor by Sue Blevins of the Institute for Health Freedom. Naomi’s "Medicare Or No Care?" appeared in the Oct. 8 Investor’s Business Daily. "Parents Should Have Say on Child Care," a Sept. 27 editorial in the Orange County Register, also cited Naomi’s increasingly influential work on children’s issues.

Environment

PRI’s "Impact of ‘Greenhouse Gas’ Emissions on the People and Economy of California" was summarized in the Oct. 1 Public Utilities Report article "Knocked Out by Kyoto Protocol?" The article warned that the Kyoto Protocol could "slap California with a $3-billion energy bill."

Freedom and Technology

The Sept 28 Wired News on-line cited PRI fellow Justin Matlick’s views on internet gambling.

Notables

The October 2 San Francisco Business Times ran "Reminder to Candidates: You Ain’t What You Used to Be," a Capital Ideas column by PRI editorial director Lloyd Billingsley.

"Total Quality Leadership," by PRI fellow Steve Hayward, appears in the current issue of Finest Hour, the journal of the International Churchill Society. Steve’s influential work in land use and urban sprawl was cited in the Sept. 17 Daily News of Huntingdon, PA and the Oct. 2 Dispatch of York, PA.

The October issue of the California Journal features Lance Izumi’s column on new immigrants’ increasing resistance to assimilation into mainstream American culture. On Oct. 27, Lance was a guest on Blanquita Cullum’s national radio show about California’s Proposition 10, proposing new taxes on cigarettes. On Oct. 22, Lance participated in a debate on the future of Prop. 209. The debate, held at the University of San Francisco, was broadcast on KUSF-FM. On Oct. 20, KQED-FM, the Bay Area’s National Public Radio affiliate, broadcast Lance’s commentary on the economic costs of America’s current immigration policies. Lance’s views about California Justice Ming Chin were also quoted in a Debra Saunders column appearing in many papers, including the Chattanooga Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

PRI’s 1992 The Heated Debate by Robert C. Balling, Jr., a groundbreaking study of global warming claims, will be cited in the forthcoming The Encyclopedia of Environmental Science (Kluwer Academic Publishers) by professor David Alexander of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.