College Savings Bonds Supported : Tough Plank on Drugs Adopted by GOP Panel

The Republican platform committee adopted a tough anti-drug plank Thursday, including advocacy of the death penalty for “major drug traffickers.”

As Washington state delegate Jim Summers put it, the stiffest language possible was essential if the Republicans hoped to regain stature on the issue. “I didn’t think I’d ever live to see the day when temporarily Jesse Jackson would seize the high ground from us on drugs,” he said.

In addition, the committee reaffirmed the party’s support of nuclear power, of voucher systems designed to encourage competition among public schools and of the eradication of welfare fraud.

Breaking New Ground

But the group broke new ground on several issues, including support for a college savings bond program, an initiative that has been advocated by both Vice President George Bush and Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

The 106-member committee took those actions as it laboriously worked its way through a 30,000-word draft platform that is designed to serve as a distinct contrast to the 4,500-word Democratic platform--which was ridiculed here as being “vague,” “deceitful” and one that could “fit on the back of a postcard.”

On Thursday, there were no debates that approached the emotional level of the ones on abortion and AIDS on Wednesday, although there was spirited discussion on such issues as pre-kindergarten education programs, the teaching of reading by phonetics and the question of whether teen-agers should be tested for drugs when they first apply for a driver’s license.

Against Furloughing Killers

The platform makes no explicit references to Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis, the governor of Massachusetts. But the crime plank adopted Thursday declared that “Republicans oppose furloughs for those criminals convicted of first-degree murder,” a pointed dig at a controversial Massachusetts program that Dukakis had to modify after a convicted murderer raped a woman and knifed her husband when on a 48-hour furlough in 1987.

Charles Black, a Washington political consultant who is the Bush campaign’s liaison to the platform committee, said he was pleased with the progress the committee is making and predicted that there would be no floor fights on the platform next week.

Black has been working in close coordination with New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu, a longtime Bush backer and a member of the committee. On several occasions when language has been introduced that would change the draft platform in a manner the Bush forces do not like, Sununu has spoken out against changes or given hand signals to his colleagues to ax a measure. “There have been no changes made yet that we didn’t want,” Sununu said in an interview.

One change he approved Thursday was in the initial sentence of the drug plank, which originally called for “making America drug-free by the year 2000.”

Driver License Suspensions

“The year 2000 is a long way away,” delegate Robert Graham declared. So, at his urging, the sentence was changed to simply declare that “the Republican Party is committed to a drug-free America.” The plank is considerably more detailed than that of 1984, and, among other things, proposes that states suspend the driver’s license of anyone convicted of a drug offense.

However, the committee rejected an amendment stating that all first-time applicants for a driver’s license be compelled to take a drug test, a proposal first made last year by Pierre S. (Pete) du Pont IV, former Delaware governor, one of the Republicans defeated by Bush during the primary campaign.

“We really copped out on that,” said Summers, a Bellevue, Wash., real estate developer, who has proposed numerous amendments that have been rejected. Still, he said, the drug plank is considerably better than that in the Democratic platform, which describes illegal drugs as “a direct threat to the security of our nation” but is not nearly so detailed.

Fears of Parents Cited

Just as the drug plank reflected growing concern with an issue over the last four years, so did the proposal for the college savings bond. Gov. John R. McKernan Jr. of Maine said that it was a response to the fears of many parents that they will not be able to afford the rapidly escalating costs of a college education for their children.

“My state is in the top fifth of the nation in students who graduate from high school but in the bottom fifth of those who go on to college,” he said. McKernan said this is attributable to the fact that Maine has an inadequate financial assistance program for college students, and he said the bond program could help to redress that.

Deborah Steelman, Bush’s domestic policy adviser here, said the program would cost $50 million in the first year and a growing amount after that. “But we don’t see it as a significant threat, budget-wise,” she added.

Basic Skills Stressed

Several sections of the education plank urged increased emphasis on teaching basic skills, such as reading, in the public schools. But some of the most conservative members of the committee, including Summers and Bunny Chambers of Oklahoma, wanted even more. They tried to amend the education plank to call on states to return to teaching reading by phonetics, rather than other methods that have been adopted in recent years. The measure was voted down after considerable debate.