RUST COMMENTARY: CANCER SOCIETY'S ANNUAL GALA RAISES FUNDS FOR LOCAL NEEDS, RESEARCH

"A NIGHT ON BROADWAY" is the theme of the Cape Girardeau County American Cancer Society fund raiser and dinner-dance Saturday evening at the Show Me Center.

Tickets are $65 each and may be obtained by calling the society office at 334-9197. Space is limited.

Sixty percent of the money raised will be used for local programs, while 40 percent goes to cancer research and national programs.

The BIG C is a frightening word. In Cape County alone last year there were 338 new cases with a survival rate of 59.7 percent.

The survival rates in Cape County: 88.5 percent of those with prostate cancer; 76.2 percent of those with breast cancer; 59.3 percent of those with colon-rectum cancer; and only 13.3 percent of those with lung cancer.

Early discovery is major to survival along with good eating and lifestyle habits. Today, more cancer patients than ever can call themselves "survivors" thanks to programs provided by the American Cancer Society.

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I attended a newspaper meeting in Naples, Fla., last week and saw many retired residents trying to enjoy themselves in the latter years of life.

However, 20 inches of rain in two weeks -- two inches is the norm for February -- was dampening their spirits ... along with the tornado that killed more than 40 people. Man has little ultimate control of his life.

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Sanctity of the ballot: In a rush to make it as easy as possible for citizens to exercise their right to vote, the country has created lax registration and voting procedures that could call into question a close election in any number of states. The 1993 federal Motor Voter law requires states to allow people to register to vote when they get a driver's license, even though 47 states don't require proof of legal U.S. residence much less citizenship for such a license. "We have the modern world's sloppiest electoral systems," warns political scientist Walter Dean Burnham.

Media and political elites pooh-pooh such concerns, but they are genuine and growing. The House of Representatives has just dismissed an election challenge by former Rep. Bob Dornan of California. But buried in the news that Rep. Loretta Sanchez would keep her seat was the conclusion of a House task force that 748 illegal votes had been cast in an election decided by only 979 votes ... (and Dornan claims many more).

The yearlong investigation established 624 "documented" cases of noncitizens voting. Another 124 voters cast improper absentee ballots. An additional 196 votes may well have been illegal, but only circumstantial evidence existed. "In the end of the day," says GOP task force member Rep. Robert Ney, "Bob Dornan was right-there were illegal voters." In the Sanchez race they represented close to 1 percent of all votes cast. The danger is that if this is tolerated, it will only get worse.

In Washington, D.C., an astonishing one of every six registered voters can't be reached at their address of record. The city has lost 100,000 people since 1980, but registration has shot up to 86 percent of eligible voters from only 58 percent. Nationally, the average registration rate is only 66 percent. Felons, dead people, non-residents and fictitious registrations clog the rolls in Washington, where anyone can walk up and vote without showing ID.

Across the Potomac River in Virginia, Robert Beers, the voter registrar of prosperous Fairfax County, says the Motor Voter law has increased the number of registered voters, but turnout has actually fallen in recent elections. "There is no question in my mind that we have registered people who aren't U.S. citizens," Beers told the Washington Times. "Nobody worries about the rolls until you get to the election that's decided by three votes. I wish they would pay attention to it before it gets to that point." He is backing a state bill to require voters to show some type of photo ID.

Last month Mississippi's legislature passed a motor voter law, but Gov. Kirk Fordice issued a veto because it lacked a voter I.D. provision. "Vote fraud is an equal opportunity election stealer," he says. His concerns about improper registrations are echoed elsewhere. The Miami Herald has found that 105 ballots in last year's disputed mayoral election were cast by felons. Last month a local grand jury concluded that "absentee ballot fraud clearly played an important part in the recent City of Miami elections." This "called into question the legitimacy of the results."

Everyone supports the right to vote, but an equally important right is the guarantee of elections that are fair and free of fraud. Right now a growing number of states can't guarantee the integrity of their results, and that inevitably will lead to an increasing cynicism and disenchantment with the democratic process. -- Asides

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Selective outrage: Ken Starr has been bitterly criticized by Congressional Democrats for having Marcia Lewis, mother of Monica Lewinsky, testify before a grand jury. But not a peep was heard when President Clinton's attorneys compelled Delmer Lee Corbin, mother of Paula Jones, to give a deposition under oath last October. She was forced to discuss in detail what her daughter may have told her about her meeting when then-Governor Clinton. The experience wasn't pleasant and she hid her face from cameras as she left. As for past independent counsels, we recall that Iran-Contra's Lawrence Walsh dragged Oliver North's wife, lawyer and even his pastor before a grand jury for questioning. At that time, none of Mr. Starr's current critics could be heard complaining that this was a prosecutorial abuse. -- The Wall Street Journal

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Morris: Jim Guy could be bane of Bubba: The real "deadly" threat to President Clinton's future isn't Monica Lewinsky but a little-noticed Whitewater plea bargain last week, says former Clinton guru Dick Morris.

Morris points to former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker's guilty plea on tax evasion and his pledge to cooperate with Whitewater-Sexgate prober Kenneth Starr as ominous for Clinton.

"Starr might have scored the coup de grace by getting Tucker to flip and testify against the Clintons," Morris writes in a column today in The Hill newspaper, which covers Congress.

"The ultimate witness has switched sides ... the Tucker plea deal may well constitute a deadly threat to the Clinton presidency.

"Whatever information it is that Kenneth Starr seeks that has induced him to keep Susan McDougal in jail to force her to tell, Tucker knows all about.

Tucker was Clinton's lieutenant governor. He became Arkansas governor when Clinton won the White House and resigned after he was convicted in 1996 on Whitewater charges with Jim and Susan McDougal.

Susan McDougal has been jailed for contempt for refusing to say whether Clinton told the truth under oath when he denied any role in an illegal loan to her.

In the 1996 Whitewater trial, "Jim, Susan and Jim Guy stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Clinton in denying that the president had any involvement. Once there were three. Then Jim McDougal flipped and then there were two. Now there is one," Morris writes in The Hill.

Morris cites five specific points on which he contends Tucker could offer potentially damaging information about Clinton to Starr:

1. Whether Clinton had a role in an illegal $300,000 taxpayer-backed loan to Susan McDougal. The president has denied any role.

2. Whether Clinton knew that money from that illegal loan would be funneled to Whitewater.

3. Whether Clinton got an early tipoff to the death of White House lawyer Vince Foster through a call to the Arkansas governor's mansion.

4. Whether disgraced Justice aide Webster Hubbell's father-in-law was a straw man in a controversial real estate deal.

5. Whether Clinton or longtime aide Bruce Lindsey tipped Tucker off to a pending Whitewater investigation.

Tucker, under his plea bargain with Starr, will get no jail time. In addition, Starr has agreed he won't prosecute again if Tucker successfully appeals his Whitewater conviction. -- New York Post

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Washington briefs:

-- Face it, these labor shortages aren't just a temporary problem. They're part of a LONG-term demographic change ... 20-to-24-year-olds accounting for a smaller share of population, retirees for a bigger share. What's more, jobs will require higher skills...using computers and other technology, communicating effectively, knowing math & science. A lack of trained workers is holding back many companies and communities.

-- Federal government this year will collect the most taxes in 50 years ... an amount equal to 20.2 percent of our total economy, the gross domestic product. That's the highest since World War II ... 20.4 percent in 1945 and 20.9 percent in 1944. Reasons: A strong economy and rising stock market raise revenues. Plus tax hikes in '90 and '93. And a steady increase in payroll taxes.

-- Iraq: Saddam blinked but paints the standoff as a great victory. If he's smart enough to keep quiet and let the inspectors do their thing, Iraq will be allowed to sell more of its oil for food and civilian goods. Meanwhile, Saddam will keep hiding weapons in remote parts of the country. Negotiating with him is like playing liar's poker ... deceit is a given.

~Gary Rust is president of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian and other newspapers.