September 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 September.

Health and Welfare

The Washington D.C. launch of PRI’s Project on Children at the National Press Club on August 31 was attended by congressional staffers and major media such as ABC News, CNN, the Fox network, Univision, the Financial Times, and the Weekly Standard. KOAM-TV (CBS affiliate) in Joplin, Missouri; WOWK-TV (CBS) in Charleston, WV; and ABC affiliate KTNV-TV in Las Vegas used the coverage, which should soon appear on University of Maryland College Television; WXEL-TV, West Palm Beach, FL; KWTV (CBS affiliate), Oklahoma City, OK; WJXX-TV (ABC affiliate), Jacksonville, FL; and KOAT-TV (ABC affiliate), Albuquerque, NM.

PRI’s Naomi Lopez, director of the Project on Children, conducted radio interviews with WALK-FM, New York, NY; WYUR-AM, Detroit, MI; KYSM-AM, Minneapolis, MN; KEWS-AM, Portland, OR; WADA-AM, Charlotte, NC; and the Talk America Radio Network, reaching a potential audience of more than 6.5 million. Radio stations airing material on the project included WGIR in Boston, WQBH in Detroit, KDKO in Denver, and KFWB in Los Angeles, with an audience of more than 1 million.

Naomi’s op-ed on the subject was published in the Albany Times-Union (September 6), Charleston Post and Courier (September 7), Colorado Springs Gazette (September 19), San Gabriel Valley Tribune (September 3), Pasadena Star-News (September 3), Whittier Daily News (September 3), and Contra Costa Times (September 6).

Scripps Howard syndicated columnist Betsy Hart’s column on the Project ran in the Chicago Sun-Times (IL), Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI), Manchester Union Leader (NH), Newport Daily News (RI), Sioux City Journal (SD), Evansville Courier (IL), Ashland Daily Independent (KY), Sampson Independent (NC), Brockton Sunday Enterprise (MA), Killeen Daily Herald (TX), Alexandria Daily Town Talk (LA), Winter Haven News Chief (FL), Savannah Courier (TN), Delta Democrat Times (MS), Naples Daily News (FL), York Sunday Times (PA), and Kennebec Journal (ME).

Other press coverage included Investor’s Business Daily, and a September 5 Washington Times editorial.
Charles Jarvis, executive vice president of Focus on the Family, used information on the project in his speech to the Palmetto Family Council Annual Dinner in South Carolina.

Naomi Lopez addressed the State Policy Network’s September 18th annual meeting in Atlanta on children’s health care and spoke on the same subject to the American Legislative Exchange Council’s 20th annual meeting.

PRI President Sally Pipes described the Project on Children in a well-received speech to attendees of the Heritage Foundation’s 25th anniversary regional meeting in San Francisco. PRI was commended by attendees and Heritage staff for "filling an important void."

Civil Rights

Sally Pipes participated in a radio interview and was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle’s September 16 article "Panel Oks Expansion of Preferences." On September 23, KQED-FM in San Francisco interviewed Lance Izumi about San Francisco’s proposed ordinance increasing minority set-asides in public contracting. Lance’s comments on expanding affirmative action ran in the Oakland Tribune, Santa Cruz County Sentinel, Alameda Times-Star, Fremont Argus, and Santa Clarita Signal on August 26.

"Houston Votes Again on Racial Preferences," by PRI Editorial Director Lloyd Billingsley, appeared in the September issue of Heterodoxy.

Environment

"Free Market Can Solve Water Problems," by PRI fellow Erin Schiller, appeared in the Sacramento Bee on September 28. On August 22, Erin’s "Market Incentives Could Solve State’s Water-Supply Woes" appeared in the Tracy Press.

Sally Pipes’ regular column ran in the September 1998 issue of Chief Executive. The column was entitled "The Mother Earth Cult." "A Perennial Disaster Area," Lloyd Billingsley’s review of Mike Davis’ Ecology of Fear, appeared in the September 6 Washington Times. PRI Director of Research Dana Joel spoke about the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators at the State Policy Network’s annual meeting in Atlanta on September 18.

Education

In September PRI released "An Analysis of the Education Positions of 1998 California Gubernatorial Candidates Lungren and Davis," by Lance Izumi. The September 8 Pasadena Star-News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune reprinted Lance’s PRI Briefing Paper "A Ten-Point Agenda for Reforming Education in California." On September 9, Lance submitted written testimony to the State Board of Education questioning the validity of the state’s dropout rate statistics. The Board subsequently decided to hold a hearing on the issue in October. The same day, KQED-FM aired Lance’s commentary on the questionable dropout statistics issued by the California Department of Education.

The September American School Board Journal noted Lance’s research on the failure of class size reductions and California Citizen, a publication of Focus on the Family, reprinted Lance’s "Reducing the Costs of School Construction." On September 28, the San Jose Mercury News interviewed Lance on education reforms such as merit pay and contracting out for teaching services. The September 30 San Francisco Chronicle republished Lance’s Capital Ideas column on California’s questionable school dropout statistics.

Pam Riley, Co-director of PRI’s Center for School Reform, and PRI Editorial Director Lloyd Billingsley attended the Education Leader’s Conference in San Jose on September 11.

SFIS

San Francisco Independent Scholars (SFIS) is collaborating with Johns Hopkins University’s Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth (IAAY) to create a special $2,000 award for the most meritorious students in the SFIS program. The IAAY-SFIS Partnership Award will be awarded annually to as many as five students who qualify in the Johns Hopkins Talent Search by scoring above the 97th percentile on the SAT or other nationally-normed exams. The one-time award of $2,000 may be used to participate in an intensive academic JHU summer program.

Freedom and Technology

Center for Freedom and Technology Director Justin Matlick’s op-ed on Internet privacy issues has run in numerous papers, including the Los Angeles Daily News, San Francisco Examiner, Houston Chronicle, Tallahassee Democrat, Albuquerque Journal, Lewiston Sunday Sun Journal, Danbury News-Times, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Twin Falls Times-News, Biloxi Sun Herald, and San Juan Star. On September 24, Wired News quoted Justin on Internet gambling.

Notables

Steven Hayward’s Capital Ideas comparing the Clinton-Lewinsky affair to the Hiss-Chambers case was cited in Behind the Headlines, a daily radio commentary produced by America’s Future, Inc. and broadcast on more than 120 radio stations. On September 28, Mike Rosen of Denver’s KOA radio interviewed Steve about urban sprawl based on his recent Policy Review article "Legends of the Sprawl." The Tribune Review of Greensburg, PA extensively quoted Steve in "Bloc Upheaval," an August 4 editorial about the failure of liberalism.

On September 9, Lance Izumi was interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle on the issue of California Supreme Court Justice Ming Ching’s election race. On September 9, Lance participated in a focus group on the Clinton scandal televised by CBS station KOVR-TV in Sacramento.

PRI’s Sovereign Nations, by Terry Anderson, has been adopted for class use at Nebraska Indian Community College, in Macy, Nebraska. Prof. Sid Spencer of Cleveland State University has adopted PRI’s To Promote the General Welfare, by Richard Wagner, for a fall urban studies class. Professor Constance Gee of Brown University has chosen Lance Izumi’s speech on how the political "Right" views government funding of the arts as the text for a class in "Public Policy in the Arts." Lance first delivered the speech at the Western States Arts Federation conference.

Royce Van Tassell’s San Francisco Chronicle commentary on racial preferences was quoted in "Our Educational Melting Pot: Have We Reached the Boiling Point?" published by ICA, Inc.