A Letter From Riady To Clinton
A Letter From Riady To Clinton
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Dec. 2) -- House Rules Committee Chairman Gerald Solomon fired off a letter to President Bill Clinton today, expressing his "dismay" that a three-page March 1993 letter to Clinton from Mochtar Riady was not provided to him. Acknowledging today he had received Riady's communication, Clinton called it a "straightforward policy letter." Riady is a long-time friend of the president's, patriarch of the family that heads the billion-dollar Indonesian Lippo conglomerate, which has been tied to questionable campaign donations to the Democratic National Committee. The White House confirms that the letter contained various international relations suggestions, among them the appointments of businessmen to key diplomatic posts in Asia and normalization of relations with Vietnam. This was contrary to pre-election claims by the White House that the president's contacts with Riady were purely social.
Record-Setting Space Stay Earns Medal of Honor
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Dec. 2) -- Astronaut Shannon Lucid already has the record and now she has a medal to go with it. Today President Bill Clinton awarded Lucid the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. The president called her achievement an inspiration to women and a shining example of international cooperation. "What she did while journeying among the stars is a proud example of what all of us should try to do more of here on earth," Clinton said. Lucid's 188-day mission on board the Russian Mir space station was the longest that any American astronaut has stayed in space. Lucid said that the honor was not hers alone. "What this flight really was was a story of two nations, two great space-faring nations, that cooperate together and work together. And it's just a foretaste of what can happen in the future," she predicted.
Thumbs Up For Voinovich
CINCINNATI (AllPolitics, Dec. 2) -- Ohio's two-term governor, George Voinovich, is enjoying his highest popularity rating ever. The University of Cincinnati's Institute for Policy Research conducted a survey that shows that 68 percent approve of the job Voinovich is doing, with only 19 percent disapproving. The telephone survey of 912 randomly selected Ohio adults was taken between Nov. 6-15 and has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points. The governor plans to make a bid for the Senate seat that Democrat John Glenn will vacate in 1998.