ELECTIONS ’92 : Quayle Says Clinton Straddles Fence on Death Penalty

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Vice President Dan Quayle attacked Bill Clinton’s crime-fighting record Monday and accused the Arkansas governor of wanting “to have it both ways” on the death penalty.

Flanked by a squad of burly police officers at the Knoxville Police Academy, Quayle acknowledged that Clinton has publicly espoused capital punishment. But he said Clinton also says: “ ‘By the way, those of you who are opposed to capital punishment, just remember that one of my first appointments will be someone like (New York Gov.) Mario Cuomo.’ ”

“You all know that (Cuomo) is an outright opponent of capital punishment,” Quayle told reporters. That’s having it both ways. That’s why they call him Slick Willie.”

In the 12 years Clinton has been governor, Arkansas has executed four inmates. Clinton has signed death warrants for all four, who were convicted of multiple murders. The most recent execution was in May.

As for Cuomo, Clinton has never said he would appoint the New York governor to the Supreme Court; he has said that Cuomo would be a good candidate. In each of the last 12 years, Cuomo has vetoed bills that would have imposed a death penalty in his state.

Quayle’s attack, made during a half-day sally into the home state of Sen. Al Gore, represented a new effort to stake out Republican primacy on the crime issue, which has attracted swing voters in the past. This year, the effort has been made somewhat more difficult because of Clinton’s support for capital punishment.

Dee Dee Myers, Clinton’s press secretary, said the charge was “ridiculous.”

“He’s the only candidate who’s had to implement the death penalty,” Myers said.

In his press conference, Quayle also tried to bludgeon Clinton for his crime-fighting record in Arkansas, alleging that the state spends less on law enforcement on a per capita basis than other states. He also alleged that violent crime is sharply increasing there.

Then, at a rally of several thousand at the Blount County Courthouse in Maryville, Tenn., he said: “We trust our President to be on the side of the victims and against the criminals of America.”

In the afternoon, Quayle visited Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. to tell workers at Virginia’s largest private employer that the Democrats would cut more defense jobs and do less for worker retraining than Bush would.

“Our opponents are advocating defense cuts some $60 billion deeper than those proposed by the President,” Quayle told the workers gathered at the base of a huge cargo ship. “They would inflict tremendous pain on defense workers. . . . They would cut as many as 140,000 jobs here in Virginia.”

Quayle and others on the trip asserted that the GOP remains competitive in Tennessee despite Gore’s presence on the ticket.

U.S. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander, a former governor of Tennessee, told reporters that the Republican ticket’s strength in the mountainous east half of the state may be strong enough to carry Tennessee.

“It’s going to be very close,” he said. “Tennessee is competitive, even with Gore on the ticket.”