MediaWatch: January 1997
Table of Contents:
Taxes for Teamsters
During the 1996 campaign, the GOP complained that unions spent membership dues supporting Democrats though many members vote Republican. On the December 23 World News Tonight, ABC's John Martin discovered a way that organized labor gets taxpayers to foot the bill for their activities.
Martin's Your Money segment began: "They were all Teamsters Presidents: Dave Beck, Jimmy Hoffa and Roy Williams. And they all went to jail for turning the union into a source of money for the mob. This year, Ron Carey claimed victory as President, after a Teamster election run behind-the-scenes by the Justice Department and paid for with tax dollars. In 1989, the government won the right, in court, to take control of the ballot process, to rid the union of mob influence. The union paid for the 1991 election, but for this year's vote, the government agreed to pay, requiring taxpayers to furnish $21 million over three years."
After soundbites from both sides, Martin noted why the union got its way: "For a time, Congress refused to appropriate any more money. But the Clinton Administration insisted the government had a responsibility."
Focus on Welfare Fathers
NBC's Len Cannon cut through liberal rationalizations for welfare by depicting one obvious root cause of the plight of single mothers: absent fathers. In the December 27 Dateline Cannon followed four young fathers for a year after their kids were born.
Cannon grilled a father who'd been in and out of jail: "The last time we saw you, you said, `When I get out of here I have a choice to make. It's either the streets or my child.' And you seemed pretty convincing that you were going to try and do the right thing....It sounds like you got a million and one excuses for not being there." Cannon stuck to tough questions: "She gets child care and Medicaid because of taxes that I pay. I pay taxes because I'm being responsible. Should I provide for you through my taxes when you're not being responsible?"
Charles Dixon, a counselor that runs a support group for young fathers, said welfare can leave men unneeded by mothers. Cannon asked: "So if you get pregnant and you're unemployed and you're undereducated, `I know that the government is going to help me,' and that you think helps perpetuate this behavior?" Dixon agreed.
