Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-04
Voters Judged CoIIous
To Politicians Faults

V0tefS Judged luIi0uS
To Politicians Faults
Writer Says jones Roosevelt,
Yorty and Condor Moy Win
By Fronk R. Kent
A short while ago reputation for
integrity. good moral conduct and pa
triotism was considered basic requisite
for any candidate for even the smallest
elective Office. There, of course. have
been immoral and unworthy men elect
ed to high public position. but rarely.
indeed. have their immortality and un-
Worthiness been publicly proclaimed
and undenied during their campaign.
In these days. the standards have
been so lowered as hardly to exist at
all. Formerly, unworthy men could be
elected to Congress and stay there so
long as their unworthineSs was not dis
covered. Now. discovery seems to make
little difference. Look. for example, at
the great State of California. There is
. Congressman out there who has had
himself nominated in the Democratic
primaries for the United States Senate.
His name Is Samuel william Yorty and
he has twice been elected to Congress
from the 26th district, which now
has nominated the notorious Mr..
James Roosevelt. eldest son Of She late
President. Mr.. Yorty Is out campaign
ing against Senator Thomas H. Kuchel,
who was appointed by the then Gov.
Warren to I'LL out the unexpired term
OF Senator Richard Nixon, now Vice
President.
Well. the thing that happened to
Congressman Yorty was an exposure"
OF the fact that for campaign purposes
he had franked out at Government ex-
pense approximately A million copies
OF speech he made In the House. This
was so vastly in excess Of all previous
abuse OF the Thanking privilege that 1t
attracted national attention and has
since been certified as q record. Mr..
Yorty Is the champion franker Of all
time. 1t has been said that his was not
even q very good speech, though the
thanking cost to the taxpayers is esti.
mated at $4,000. To those. like SEN
ator Byrd, who believe that waste in
Government is wicked. It's title Lets
Build Better America" is highly
ironical
The interesting thing is that while
Mr.. Yorty makes no denial and slight
defense Of this unprecedentedly costly
Thanking Job, the best political obsery-
ers OF the California situation are not
at all sure that this exposure will lose
him many votes. The general feeling
Is that he will not defeat Senator
kuchel but not because of this ex-
traordtnary episode in his political
career. The idea is that the voters
have become so used to wild extraya-
gance in the Government in the past
% years that economy. debt and taxes
are matters that no longer rouse them
to indignation or resentment.
1t should arouse the voters. It
should stir Congress to move toward
making such absurd throwing away
OF the taxpayers money impossible.
But 1t just fails to do so. There is q
dlsposltion-and very dangerous
disposition-on the part o. voters to
say. oh, well, what the heck?" instead
: OF Jumping up on their hind legs and
demanding that this kind Of business
stop wholly and Immediately. This is
the disposition that makes it impossible
to balance the budget and restore ma
tional solvency. Probably. If Mr.. Yorty
had been renominated for the House
instead of running for the Senate, he
would have been elected without
trouble. because his district is so over
whelmingly Democratic. AS q State wide
candidate, this shocking abuse may trip
him up.
Concerning James Roosevelt, there IL
no intention here to go into the revolt
ing details Of his private life except to
say that they are so unsavory as to
make 1t almost incredible that such a
man could be elected to any public
office. Yet so heavily Democratic is his
district and so insensitive the voters
that the odds are he will be. This is
not quite all Of the California story. In
the 9Th district Robert L. Condor
has been renominated by the Demo-
Gratis for the House. Mr.. Condor seems
to have had creditable war record
and to have served without discredit
in the House since 1852. But the Atomic
Energy Commission did refuse him &C.
cess to certain restricted areas when
he appeared, with others. as a member
OF House committee on trip of in
spection. The reason given was that he
was not good security risk. Mr.. Con-
don has denied that there Is anything
In his record to make him O bad secu-
rity risk. but the Atomic Energy Conn
mission. which has no tinge of Nc
Carthyism. would hardly make q charge
like that without some basis.
Be that as it may, it does seem that
these three nominations-Yorty, Roose-
welt and Condon--are sufficiently odor-
ferrous to smell the whole California
Democratic ticket UP pretty badly this
fall. The fact that National Democratic
Chairman Mitchell refused to indorse
Messrs. Roosevelt and Condor Is highly
significant. For. concededly, any Demo- =
cratic candidate whom Mr.. Mitchell
can't take would be pretty hard for
any one else to take. It's his business to
take them.
the Continental Congress but he he.