Politics 88 : Offers Conservative Law-and-Order Agenda : Bush Scores Dukakis Ties to ACLU

Vice President George Bush took indirect aim at Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis on Wednesday, assailing the American Civil Liberties Union to which Bush’s Democratic opponent belongs and blasting undefined “liberals” for creating legal loopholes to benefit criminals.

“For too many years, we’ve been held hostage by well-meaning and misguided politicians and judges who get their legal views from the ACLU,” Bush told 1,500 members of the National Sheriffs’ Assn. gathered here.

“The rights accorded criminals must never overshadow the wrongs done to the victims,” he said.

Bush did not mention Dukakis’ name in his speech to the sheriffs’ group, but the overwhelmingly pro-Bush crowd understood the political shorthand.

Later, in interviews with local reporters, Bush reemphasized his criticism of Dukakis and the ACLU, noting that the governor has said he is an active member of the legal organization. “That is not exactly the mainstream of Kentucky politics,” the vice president said.

Cites Horton Case

The centerpiece of Bush’s attack, once again, was Willie Horton, the convicted murderer who Bush hopes will come to symbolize Dukakis’ positions on crime and law enforcement. Horton escaped from a Massachusetts prison furlough program and later raped a Maryland woman and stabbed her fiance, proving such an embarrassment that Dukakis was forced last year to withdraw his support of the commonwealth’s program.

Returning to a point he has made with increasing regularity in recent days, Bush reminded the appreciative audience that Horton was awarded a weekend furlough despite his life sentence for murdering a 17-year-old gas station attendant.

“He was released and he fled, only to terrorize a family and repeatedly rape a woman,” Bush said. “So I’m opposed to the unsupervised, weekend furlough for first-degree murderers who were not eligible for parole. Put me down as against that!”

Bush unloaded his conservative law-and-order agenda with both barrels, speaking out for the death penalty and smacking liberals for thwarting the Administration’s criminal justice reforms. In the arena of crime and drug policy, as in many issues, Bush is fighting to create a liberal identity for Dukakis, in the face of polls suggesting many Americans believe the governor to be moderate or even conservative.

Displays Bulletproof Vest

At one point, the vice president unfurled a bulletproof vest into which three slugs had earlier been pumped from one-foot range in a test. The bullets’ entry was stopped by the protective fabric.

“They were not fired by Carl Rowan, I might add,” Bush said, referring to the liberal columnist and gun-control advocate who shot a trespasser in the wrist outside his Washington home recently. “They hit right here in the middle.”

Bush said that efforts to fight crime should include “ensuring that every law enforcement officer in the nation who wants body armor has body armor.” An aide said later that despite the implication, Bush was not suggesting that the federal government pay for such protective garments.

The vice president’s chief tactic on the crime front lately has been criticizing Dukakis for the furlough program and attempting to tar the governor with actions of liberal elected officials.

“Last year, the liberals in the Senate of the United States single-handedly derailed the sentencing guidelines needed to implement a federal death penalty,” Bush said. “Now that’s outrageous.”

Later, he implicitly blamed the same group for “legal technicalities that set criminals free.”

Praises Reform Act

“There’s something wrong with the system when the modern-day version of a prison break is crawling through some loophole,” the vice president said. Bush called on Congress to approve the Administration’s Criminal Justice Reform Act, which would limit the rights of federal courts to oversee state proceedings and would expand the ability of police to seize evidence.

When Dukakis traveled through the South last week, he was trailed by Republican surrogates who criticized his positions--and the Democrats exacted some measure of revenge Wednesday when a Massachusetts sheriff corralled reporters to critique Bush’s speech.

“This is nothing more than a Republican smoke screen,” Suffolk County Sheriff Bob Rufo said of the vice president’s remarks on the Horton case. Rufo characterized Dukakis’ initial support of the controversial program as passive, saying he “inherited a program that he administered.”

The sheriff also noted that in the years of Dukakis’ tenure, Massachusetts’ crime rate has declined, while the national rate has increased. In an interview, Bush tossed aside those criticisms. “We’re running for President of the United States, not governor of the commonwealth and we’re talking about specific issues,” Bush said.

Bush also defended his use of the Horton case as a political tool. “God strike me down if I’m not telling the truth,” he said, raising his arms skyward.