President Clinton challenged states Saturday to do more to help victims of gang-related violence, suggesting they earmark 10 percent of new federal money available for victim services - or about $44 million - for that purpose.
It was the latest example of how, as his campaign winds down, Clinton is doing something no Democratic presidential candidate has done in years, if ever: He is talking about crime more than his Republican rival - and running away with the argument.All year, polls have repeatedly shown that the public trusts Clinton to deal with crime more than his challenger, Bob Dole, and Clinton has won the endorsement of the biggest police union organizations in the nation. Last week alone, Clinton was broadcasting two emotional television commercials touting his record on crime, and Dole none.
Accordingly, the president never misses the slimmest pretext to proclaim his stand on crime or be seen as on the case. In his weekly radio address Saturday, Clinton's topic was crime victims, and the federal fund that is distributed to states to help them with everything from funeral costs to medical bills.
The fund is financed with fines and criminal penalities collected by the government, and because of several recent prosecutions by the administration, it has grown markedly over the past four years.
Recent fines paid by two companies alone - $340 million earlier this year by Daiwa Bank Ltd. in a fraud case, and the $100 million fine this month on Archer Daniels Midland Co. in a price-fixing case - have added $440 million to the fund. Clinton said 10 percent of that should be set aside for victims of gang violence.
As it happens, Archer Daniels Midland is headed by Dwayne O. Andreas, one of Dole's best friends and contributors - a fact that White House aides smilingly acknowledged they knew would be mentioned in stories about Clinton's proposal Saturday. But in his remarks, Clinton referred only to "a major agribusiness corporation."
"With the new resources from these record-setting fines," Clinton said, "we can help the victims of crimes and prevent gang violence. We're upholding the rule of law. We're putting crime victims where they belong, at the center of the criminal justice system, not on the outside looking in."
Clinton recited his history of support for crime victims' rights, beginning when he was governor of Arkansas, and also reminded his listeners that he has endorsed a constitutional amendment giving victims the right to attend and speak at court proceedings, the right to be told when a convict is released and the right to restitution.
Civil libertarians and some in his own administration strongly opposed that move as an unnecessary tinkering with the Constitution, but Clinton saw it as another building block in his effort to pre-empt Republicans on the issue.
Aides said the president planned to spend most of Saturday quietly, in celebration of Hillary Rodham Clinton's 49th birthday.