Capital briefs

* `THIS MEANS WAR': In effect, that's what Sen. Jim Inhofe (R.-Okla.) said last week, as he called on Senate colleagues to block confirmation of any new judicial nominations by the lameduck Clinton Administration. Noting that the White House made recess appointments during the August congressional break that had been "specifically deemed unacceptable by the majority leader"-notably that of controversial Justice Department official Bill Lann Lee-- Inhofe said he was reasserting his "hold" on all new judicial appointments. The first senator to join the Oklahoman in the "no more Clinton judges" move was Arizona's Jon Kyl (R.).

* IN LIEU OF TAX CUTS: Trying to put President Clinton in a political bind so that he cannot use the congressional end game as a wedge to spend yet more of the upcoming budget surplus, House GOP leaders last week announced that the remaining appropriations bills would dedicate 90% ($240 billion) of next year's surplus to paying off the national debt. Although they would have preferred to use at least some of the surplus for tax cuts, the Republicans would rather see the money go to debt reduction than to bloated Clinton spending demands.

* THE $100,000 VETO? Vice President At Gore is caught up in another fundraising scandal, and Robert Conrad, chief of the Justice Department's campaign finance task force has opened a preliminary investigation into the possibility that money was raised by promising a presidential veto of a tort reform bill, which eventually occurred. At issue are two documents from 1995 concerning fundraising for the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign that were written after Gore attended a November '95 fundraising dinner in Houston with a small group of rich trial lawyers. One gave Gore information on how to reach one of the Texas lawyers-Walter Umphrey-who "is closely following tort reform"-and instructed him to "ask Walter for $100K for the Media Fund."

The other note, written 13 days later by a Democratic National Committee staffer to DNC Chairman Donald Fowler after Gore apparently failed to connect with Umphrey, suggested that Fowler call Umphrey and give as the reason for his call: "Sorry you missed the Vice President. I know [you] will give $100K when the President vetoes tort reform, but we really need it now. Please send ASAP if possible. "The President vetoed the bill May 2. Starting with $47,500 in 1996, Umphrey and his law firm have subsequently given over $700,000 to the Democratic Party, while the other Texas trial lawyers have contributed more than $3 million.

* GAY VOTE RETRIBUTION: With so much of the media focused on the surprise defeat for renomination of Rep. Michael Forbes (D.-N.Y) and other primary news, little national attention was paid to the Vermont primaries. Last week, five Republican state legislators and one Democrat who earlier this year supported the law granting gay couples many of the rights and benefits of marriage were defeated in the primaries. The party challenges focused heavily on the controversial vote-one of the biggest victories for organized gaydom anywhere-and the primary last week was the first chance for Green Mountain State voters to voice an opinion on the pro-gay measure. Ruth Dwyer, also a vocal opponent of the civil union bill, won the Republican nomination for governor. She is challenging incumbent Democrat Howard Dean, who signed the measure in April.

* GORE STILL COZY WITH HOLLYWOOD: Folks might have reckoned that humble Tennessean Gore had finally broken with glitzy Hollywood when they heard him promise to use government to restrict Hollywood's marketing of sex and violence to children. But they would have been wrong. As the Washington Post said last week, "ml]he Gore campaign, as it has done in the past, took pains to privately reassure industry supporters. Gore's advisers said the Vice President personally called some entertainment industry leaders over the weekend to give them a 'heads up' that he planned to condemn the industry's marketing techniques.'

* MARRIAGE PENALTY SUSTAINED: Despite unanimous Republican support and significant Democratic backing, the marriage penalty in the federal tax code will remain untouched this year. The House failed on September 13 to override President Clinton's August 5 veto of the bill that would have eliminated the penalty for many couples, and provided a break for all married taxpayers. The 270-to-1 58 vote fell 16 votes short of the two-thirds needed to enact the measure over the President's veto. The bill, which the House passed 271 to 156 in July, would have provided a larger tax break in raw dollar amounts to most middle-income couples than to most millionaires. (See HUMAN EVENTS last week, page 7, and veto-override rollcall next week.)

* BUCKS FOR BUCHANAN: A nasty battle before the Federal Election Commission came near an end last week when the FEC preliminarily voted, five to one, that Pat Buchanan is entitled to the $12.6 million in federal funds that are to go to the Reform Party nominee this year. Reform Party founder Ross Perot sent a letter to the FEC unsuccessfully urging the money be given to rival candidate John Hagelin. Hagelin--whose supporters walked out of the Reform convention in August that nominated Buchanan and held their own convention-promptly announced that as soon as it was final he would challenge the FEC ruling in federal court. Since bolting the party, anti-Buchanan Reformers such as former National Chairman Russ Verney and Hagelin's backers in the Natural Law Party have joined forces.