NEW POLITICAL PARTY PITCHES CAUSES; TAXPAYERS PARTY CAN BE A FACTOR, SAYS COORDINATOR

Frank Kellum doesn't view the U.S. Taxpayers Party of Missouri as a third party, but rather a new one.

For Kellum, a retired Air Force colonel from St. Louis, the distinction isn't just semantics. Kellum is state coordinator for the fledgling party. He believes the party can be a factor in elections.

Kellum discussed the Missouri party's future at a press conference Wednesday at the Cape Girardeau Holiday Inn.

He said the party would be built from the ground up, promoting candidates for county offices and school boards.

Kellum has been promoting the party in speeches and press conferences in Southeast Missouri this week.

Kellum is scheduled to speak tonight in Jackson at a meeting of the Cape Area Friends of the National Rifle Association. He also will hold a meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday at the First Assembly of God Church in Cape Girardeau. The meeting is open to the public.

The Taxpayers Party was founded nationally five years ago, but appeared on statewide ballots in Missouri for the first time in 1996. The party was on the ballot in 40 states that year and hopes to be a recognized party in all 50 states by 2000.

The Taxpayers Party of Missouri plans to field at least six candidates for state legislative seats and possibly one or two candidates for Congress this year, Kellum said.

One potential candidate is Ray Rowland, a Baptist minister from Dexter who ran for the state Senate as a Taxpayers Party candidate in 1996. Rowland received 37 percent of the vote in losing to state Sen. Jerry Howard, a longtime Democratic senator.

Kellum said Rowland may run again for public office this year, but not necessarily for a state Senate seat.

The Taxpayers Party is strongly opposed to abortion and wants the federal government to shut down abortion clinics. The party opposes big government, which it views as too expensive, too arrogant, unaccountable and unresponsive to the people. The party wants to eliminate the federal income tax, abolish the U.S. Department of Education and scrap safe-sex programs that it feels contribute to the spread of AIDS.

Kellum said the government spends millions of dollars on safe-sex programs that encourage immoral and unhealthy sexual conduct. Such programs encourage "safe sodomy," Kellum said.

The party doesn't want the federal government to fund education programs or set education standards. "The federal government has no constitutional authority to educate our children," he said.

In Missouri, the party opposes three proposed amendments to the state constitution that will be on the April ballot.

Two of the proposals could make it easier for school districts to borrow money and increase tax rates. The third measure would allow the Kansas City School District to keep its current property tax rate, which was ordered by a federal judge as part of a desegregation case.

The Taxpayers Party believes the three measures would add to the financial burden on taxpayers.