Mrs. Dole Warns of Moral Decline : GOP Group Welcomes Her Message During Valley Visit

Dressed in patriotic red and working the ballroom at the Universal City Hilton like an afternoon talk show host, Elizabeth Hanford Dole on Friday carried an enthusiastic group of Valley Republicans back to the simpler times of days gone by.

The wife of presumed Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole spoke of an era when the Southern California defense industry employed tens of thousands, the suburbs seemed untouched by violent crime, and spitballs--not gunfire--were “the big issue in high school.”

The point, Dole said, is that “we are on the wrong track. We’ve got some work to do. We don’t want this country to continue its decline toward economic and moral disaster.”

The themes were similar to those struck by Dole a day earlier during a Fourth of July campaign jaunt through Orange County. They found a receptive audience in the San Fernando Valley as well--about 1,000 Republicans plunked down $35 a plate for the luncheon affair.

“It was like something out of a 1950s movie,” said Jane Boeckmann, who co-sponsored the event with her husband, Bert, the Valley Federation of Republican Women and the Young Republicans. “How fitting that Elizabeth Dole is here with us on a weekend like this.”

She last visited the Valley in March, when she addressed a meeting of the Christian Coalition in North Hills.

Dole has taken a leave of absence from her post as president of the American Red Cross during the campaign, but has vowed to return as the “first working First Lady” if her husband is elected president in November.

Dole said government and power must be returned to the local level.

She said she would lead a “national movement” to increase charitable contributions and volunteerism. “I’d kinda like to be your Pied Piper. Don’t you think that would be a noble and worthy endeavor?” she asked the crowd.

She recommended dismantling the federal Department of Education and returning “the power to the states.” She called for a balanced budget, denying parole to violent criminals, and stiffer mandatory sentences for crooks who use guns or sell drugs to minors. And she urged welfare reform that included cutting off benefits after five years.

Education and welfare were her two biggest targets for federal spending cuts, while she recommended increasing defense spending.

Dole said the federal government spends $285 billion on education, and $17 billion just to run the education department.

“Don’t you think with that kind of money your kids would be at least able to read well, write well and do simple math?” she asked, citing studies that indicate that 25% of high school seniors are considered functionally illiterate.

“We’ve spent $5 trillion on welfare since the 1960s in the hope that it would end poverty,” she said. “If a teen mother wants welfare, she should have to stay in school. She can only be on welfare for five years. Work works. That’s how you break the cycle of poverty and dependence,” Dole said.

She criticized the Clinton administration for scaling back defense spending too quickly. “My husband had to train in World War II with broomsticks because we weren’t prepared and there weren’t any rifles,” Dole said. “We don’t want to be that unprepared again,” she added, telling the crowd that while “the Evil Empire” might be gone, but the nation must remain vigilant and maintain its “technological edge.”