Hunter Helps Start Reward Fund of $1 Million for Return of POWs

“A long shot but one worth taking” is how Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado) describes a $1-million reward that he, seven other Republican congressmen, a former congressmen and a former prisoner of war are offering to any Southeast Asian defector who brings an American POW out with him.

At a news conference last week in Charlotte, N.C., Hunter and his GOP colleagues announced that they would pay $1 million to citizens of Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos who escape or defect with one of the more than 2,400 Americans on the government’s official list of servicemen missing in Southeast Asia.

Hunter, himself a Vietnam veteran, explained that the decision to offer the reward is an outgrowth of the “growing consensus and credible evidence” that American POWs are, indeed, still in Southeast Asia, combined with frustration over the failure of U.S. government efforts to confirm their existence or win their release.

“Going through all the official channels hasn’t produced results, so we have to look to other options,” Hunter said. “This isn’t a substitute for the official actions of the Administration, but really a supplement to those efforts. In the best tradition of Ronald Reagan volunteerism . . . this is something that private citizens probably can do better than the government.”

In addition to Hunter, the other congressmen involved in the reward program include Robert Dornan and David Dreier of California, John Rowland of Connecticut, Robert Smith of New Hampshire, Jim Hansen of Utah, Denny Smith of Oregon and Don Sundquist of Tennessee. Former Rep. Bill Hendon of North Carolina, of the conservative American Defense Institute, and former POW Eugene (Red) McDaniel, a retired Navy captain, are the program’s other principals.

Each of the 10 men has pledged to raise $100,000 in the event that a Southeast Asian defector does produce an American POW.

“If someone comes out with a living, breathing POW, raising that kind of money would be no problem at all,” Hunter said.

The National Vietnam Veterans Coalition contends that as many as 400 Vietnam-era military personnel are still being held captive in Southeast Asia. Overall, 2,424 Americans are listed as unaccounted for more than a decade after the end of the Vietnam War.

Noting that only defecting Southeast Asian citizens, not government officials who remain in those countries, are eligible for the reward, Hunter argued that the $1-million offer is not tantamount to “a ransom-type situation.” To insure that the offer receives widespread circulation, it will be broadcast in Vietnamese throughout Southeast Asia, Hunter added.

“We know the chances are slim, but if even one POW is returned, it would be a tremendous success,” Hunter said. “Because if that happens, we’d have some undeniable proof that would put us in an excellent position to move forward for the return of the rest of them.”

Marshall Goes Heavy on Preliminaries

Advertisements extolling the virtues of Marla Marshall as a potential 4th District councilwoman ran on a San Diego radio station last month. Last week, Marshall signed a “Campaign Fairness Pledge” promising not to attack candidates running for the seat being vacated by retiring Councilman William Jones.

Offering some unsolicited advice, Marshall also recently suggested that candidates should not hold government jobs while running for public office. And, to date, Marshall has held more news conferences than the other half-dozen candidates in the race.

There’s nothing very unusual in all of that--except that it occurred while Marshall was not yet an official candidate in the race.

“It is unusual to have this much activity before you’re a candidate,” acknowledged Rick Taylor, Marshall’s political consultant. But Taylor argues that Marshall’s active non-candidacy is not so much a political example of putting the cart before the horse as it is the result of the fact that “some things just broke a certain way prior to us announcing.”

In particular, Marshall, who recently resigned as the top aide to 3rd District Councilwoman Gloria McColl, attracted criticism from some of her fellow Republicans over her recent move into the 4th District. The radio ads and some of Marshall’s public comments were designed, in part, to deflect those attacks--which, Taylor said, “have been a very positive thing” that helped to increase Marshall’s name recognition.

“It certainly focused a lot of attention on (Marshall) that wouldn’t have been there otherwise,” Taylor said. “That’s helpful to any candidate--or someone planning to be a candidate.”

Marshall will finally shed her would-be candidate status today, however, when she officially announces her candidacy at a a news conference in Southeast San Diego.

“Reporters have been warning us, ‘We aren’t going to cover you anymore until you announce,’ ” a Marshall aide said, laughing. “So we thought it was about time.”

Drive for Public Service

Callers to Assemblywoman Lucy Killea’s office were told on Monday that Killea was unreachable. The San Diego Democrat would be tied up all afternoon in “legislative meetings,” a secretary said sternly.

Further probing elicited the revelation that Killea’s “meeting” was the annual Bob Moretti Memorial Golf Tournament, held each year in Sacramento to raise money for scholarships to Notre Dame in honor of Moretti, the former Assembly speaker.

Call it working fore the district.

Animal Cracker

Supervisor Brian Bilbray has trouble resisting opportunities for one-liners, even if he is the subject of the joke.

During a ceremony in the supervisors’ chamber, Bilbray, flanked by a dog and cat being held in the county Animal Shelter, issued a proclamation encouraging San Diegans to “adopt” pets from the county’s animal shelters.

“The number one rule is never get on stage with kids or animals--they’ll upstage you,” Bilbray said as he read the proclamation.

Then, glancing at fellow Supervisor George Bailey, Bilbray added the punch line: “George keeps saying I’m both.”