Alexander Assails Dole’s Failure to Criticize Washington ‘Values’

Republican presidential contender Lamar Alexander on Monday accused Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) of getting political mileage out of attacking Hollywood while failing to take responsibility for “a government in Washington that seems determined to usurp and undermine the authority and responsibility of families.”

In a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors here, Alexander described the front-runner in the race for the GOP presidential nomination as a key player in a relationship in which: “Washington, D.C., and Hollywood have become a strange pair of dancing partners. Hollywood stars jet to Washington to tell Congress what it should be doing. Washington politicians fly to Hollywood to raise campaign funds and, then, complain about the entertainment business.”

He said it was duplicitous of Dole to accept campaign contributions from an industry that he criticizes.

At a news conference later, Alexander said neither Washington nor Hollywood “wants to stand up and be held accountable for what it is doing to our country.”

Nelson Warfield, a spokesman for Dole, who won plaudits from leaders of the Christian right for his May 31 speech in Los Angeles criticizing “mindless violence and loveless sex” in movies and records, said:

“One reason Bob Dole has such a strong lead in this race is that he has been fighting for conservative change and battling against Bill Clinton for a long time, not taking potshots at other fellow Republicans.”

Alexander said: “When it comes to making it hard for families, for neighbors, for churches and synagogues and schools to transmit values of personal responsibility to children, Washington, D.C., is the world’s grand champion. And Sen. Dole is the majority leader.”