The Heritage Foundation is one of our country’s most influential and oft-quoted think tanks. But its claims often seem to be based more on ideology than solid research. U.S. POOR NOT REALLY POOR: Heritage Foundation poverty analyst Robert Rector has issued widely trumpeted reports arguing that the poor aren’t so poor — for instance, “The Myth of Widespread American Poverty” (1998). The reports contain false and misleading claims. Purporting to show that poor Americans rarely go hungry, Heritage relies on an outmoded 1991 Health and Human Services nutrition survey that understates the problem, while ignoring the more recent and complete…

KATE DOYLE Director of the Guatemala Project at the National Security Archive, which worked with the Commission for Historical Clarification, Doyle said: “Though not all the relevant material was turned over to the `truth commission,’ the U.S. took the Commission’s requests seriously and produced some critical documents. I hope this is a harbinger for support of future human rights investigations in the hemisphere. Now that the Guatemalan commission has finished its work, the U.S. should establish its own truth commission to expose, investigate and analyze our sometimes scandalous role in Latin America during the Cold War.” JENNIFER HARBURY Director of…

While states across the country reach deadlines to end welfare for large numbers of people, some policy analysts contend that both the White House and the Republican congressional leadership are dodging substantial evidence that many Americans who have been dropped from the welfare rolls are worse off as a result. Among the researchers available for comment are: LINDA GORDON “The problem of welfare cannot be separated from the problems of the working poor,” said Gordon, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin and author of “Pitied But Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare.” She added: “Numerous…

President Clinton went to Capitol Hill today to talk about his administration’s legislative agenda. Interviews are available with these analysts: NANCY SNOW Snow, assistant professor of political science at New England College, is executive director of Common Cause in New Hampshire. “The other Y2K problem is the money chase in the presidential campaigns of 2000,” she said. “President Clinton should pay more than lip service to the need for campaign finance reform. Clinton wants to be seen on the side of the good guys who favor reform — but he, like so many other politicians, has shown no conviction on…

Despite new figures showing rapid growth in the U.S. economy, some economists said Friday afternoon that many Americans are not getting much benefit from the nation’s overall prosperity. While the Commerce Department has just reported that the economy grew at an annual rate of 6.1 percent during the final quarter of 1998, independent economists cautioned that — despite a hefty boost in the U.S. gross domestic product — huge gaps exist in Americans’ economic well-being. The following economists are available for interviews: ROBERT POLLIN Pollin, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said Friday: “The demand…

DAVID HARTSOUGH Director of the Peaceworkers organization from 1993 through 1998, Hartsough made several extended visits to Kosovo in recent years in support of nonviolent resistance and conflict-resolution efforts. Last March, he was detained by Serbian authorities, who jailed him and later expelled him from the country. “For more than eight years, the Kosovo Albanian majority struggled for their rights against Serbian repression in one of the largest efforts of sustained nonviolent action since Gandhi,” Hartsough said Tuesday. “This was the time for creative efforts at preventive diplomacy. Yet the United States and the rest of the world paid little…

DIANA ZUCKERMAN Director of the Social Security Project of the National Association of Commissions for Women, Zuckerman said: “Privatization would be a double whammy for women: Privatized personal accounts primarily benefit the highest earners, who tend to be men, and many of the proposed benefit cuts would harm our lowest earners, most of whom are women. Most women earn $25,000 a year or less. No matter how good their investments, they are not going to do better under privatization than they would under the current system. For starters, personal accounts have high administrative costs that may cost more than the…

With Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan now a prisoner in Turkey, the global spotlight is on the Kurds. In the United States, interviews are available with these analysts who can shed light on Kurdish perspectives: VERA BEAUDIN SAEEDPOUR Founder of the Kurdish Library and the Kurdish Museum, and editor of Kurdish Life and International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Ms. Saeedpour said: “While the U.S. is attacking Iraq almost daily in its self-declared `no-fly zones,’ saying that it does so because it cares about the Kurds, it is backing Turkey in its attacks against the Kurds. Turkey has destroyed, drowned villages with…

KIT GAGE National coordinator of the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom, Gage said: “The President’s lawyers said it was fundamentally unfair that they were asked to defend him having seen only a small portion of the thousands of pages of testimony. This was secret evidence. They are right, but it is also secret evidence that Clinton’s Department of Justice is using to deny bond and deport several dozen immigrants without due process. These individuals have been jailed for years while fighting deportation and yet they are not charged with any crime.” She added that “no one, not the President,…

WASHINGTON — Hours after Vice President Al Gore announced a new White House anti-drug plan Monday, critics renewed their calls for fundamental changes in federal efforts to curb drug use. Those critics included a former counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, a prisoner who publishes a newspaper, and a sociologist. They are available for interviews: ERIC STERLING President of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, Sterling oversaw federal anti-drug efforts from 1979 to 1989 as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee. He helped write the law creating drug czar Barry McCaffrey’s office. Today, Sterling said: “Large city police chiefs, almost 3…