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- NATION, Page 41Grapevine
-
-
- MOVING TARGET. After a national outcry, George Bush last
- month banned imports of assault-style semiautomatic rifles. But
- instead of backing tougher federal controls on U.S.-made
- semiautomatics, Bush will propose building more prisons and
- harsher laws against criminal use of firearms. He came to the
- decision after the National Rifle Association lobbied him last
- week.
-
- WHIPLASH. If embattled House Speaker Jim Wright is ousted,
- almost everyone agrees, Majority Leader Tom Foley will take his
- place. Which should put Democratic House Whip Tony Coelho in
- line to succeed Foley. Not necessarily. Democratic Caucus
- Chairman Bill Gray has been cool to Coelho since a bitter 1984
- rules fight in the Budget Committee. Dan Rostenkowski, powerful
- head of the Ways and Means Committee, is said to view Coelho as
- a pal of John Dingell, Rostenkowski's longtime congressional
- rival. Rostenkowski might throw 25 to 35 votes he controls to
- Beryl Anthony of Arkansas or Ed Jenkins of Georgia.
-
-
- I REMEMBER YOU. John Buckley was a great press secretary
- for Jack Kemp during last year's Republican primaries. Just ask
- George Bush, who was the recipient of some of his quips. Bush
- remembers them so well that he ruled out a job for Buckley in
- the new Administration. Buckley -- nephew of William F. -- had
- to settle for a position as spokesman for the National
- Republican Congressional Committee.
-
-
- THE TANKER WAS THREE-QUARTERS FULL. White House Chief of
- Staff John Sununu is complaining that news media coverage of the
- Alaska oil spill focused almost exclusively on the 240,000 bbl.
- of crude that polluted more than 800 miles of coastline.
- Reporters, he says, should have paid more attention to more than
- 1 million bbl. that didn't escape from the ruptured Exxon
- Valdez, thanks to an early emphasis on keeping the ship from
- breaking up and pumping off its cargo. "Three-quarters of it was
- contained within the ship," Sununu pointed out. "There's been
- very little reporting on that."
-
-