Return of the Land Grabbers

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Jan 10, 2000 | by Sean Paige

Emboldened by the small political price it paid for a similar gambit three years ago -- when nearly 2 million acres in Southern Utah were converted nearly overnight into the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument over the objections of that state's elected officials, over local opposition and without congressional consent -- the Clinton administration is poised to make yet another end run around a recessed Congress by using the 1906 Antiquities Act to convert a dozen sites in the far West into new national monuments.

The timing of the second great land grab probably isn't happenstance, given this dying administration's sudden return to its radical roots in a pathetic attempt to find relevance, and candidate Al Gore's need to shore up political support from the key Democratic constituencies, including the environmentalists. The administration's surprise designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante in 1996 widely is seen today as a similar ploy, timed to bolster Clinton's credentials with enviros leading up to his reelection.

Though the lands at issue in Arizona, Colorado, California, Oregon and Montana are in the public domain and already enjoy considerable protection from development, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said a failure by Congress to designate them as federally protected national monuments left the administration little choice but unilaterally to use the act -- which, as its name implies, originally was intended to protect smaller areas of historic or archaeological significance.

But so unpopular was the administration's 1996 grab in southern Utah that its announcement had to be made next door in Arizona, administration image-shapers betting correctly that the rest of the country wouldn't know, or notice, the difference. And the next round of seizures isn't likely to come without similar protests, at least from those most directly affected. Babbitt reportedly received a cautious and cool reception from locals during at least two public hearings of proposed designations in southwestern Colorado. And in Arizona, Gov. Jane Hull and Rep. Bob Stump, both Republicans, while not rejecting the principle of protecting open spaces, objected to the administration's unilateral, undemocratic methods.

"The governor feels strongly that Arizonans should be involved in decisions that affect so much of Arizona," a spokesperson for Hull said, pointing out that one of the two proposed monuments in the state is larger than Grand Canyon National Park. "The congressman feels that it is not fair to the public ... to move ahead with the recommendation at this point," said a spokeswoman for Stump, who she said was "surprised" and "extremely disappointed" by the administration's plans.

"We're making good progress in many areas of the West in getting these consensual approaches to work," Babbitt has said of his attempts to win over skeptical Westerners, "but not everywhere."

Welfare Reform Paying States Dividends

Virtue is said to be its own reward. But then again, it never hurts to have the right incentive package in place. Welfare reform, too, may be its own reward -- but it also recently meant $200 million in incentive bonuses were paid by Uncle Sam to 27 states that are competing for the lead in moving people from welfare to work.

Although helped by a booming economy, states have been the driving force behind a 700,000-person reduction in welfare roles during the first six months of 1999, goaded on in part by the prospect of receiving such bonuses. The awards were established as part of the welfare-reform law passed in 1996 and go to states based on how many adults they placed in jobs, how quickly they did so and how long those workers stay employed.

And now, the envelope, please (drum roll). Top cash-prize winner this year was California, which received nearly $50 million in bonuses, followed by Pennsylvania ($24 million), Illinois ($21.5 million) and Texas ($16.4 million). Indiana took top honors for highest percentage of recipients placed; Minnesota was best at helping the largest percentage of former welfare dependents retain their jobs and boost their earnings; and Florida took honors for most improved in terms of helping the new workers keep their jobs.

Surprisingly absent from the welfare-reform honor role was Wisconsin, widely recognized as an innovator in the field. But the state had done such a great job so early on in the process, experts explain, that its welfare roles have been winnowed down to the hard-core unemployables.

Beginning next year, however, the federal government will begin using such incentive bonuses in other ways: to encourage states to promote marriage, for instance, or (in a move that could be viewed as a perverse incentive, actually promoting dependency) to ensure that those who are eligible for food stamps or Medicaid have signed up to receive benefits.