Ron and a report on his comments regarding the Middle East, followed by a still photo of Yasser Arafat and his remarks, followed by a story on Yom Kippur. Curious linkages, don’t you think? Newport: That’s sensationalism. That’s really sick. Quarterly: What are some of your other areas of interest in the realm of foreign affairs? Newport: Well, my wife is Puerto Rican, you know, and I’ve worked there. I’m very strongly supportive of independence for Puerto Rico. I was invited to Puerto Rico for the Pan American games because I’d helped them get some funding for the games from the National Endowment for the Humanities. That was a short trip. Of course, I went to Cuba for five days for the Non-Aligned Nations Conference. That was actually my second trip to Cuba, because I was on a flight that was hijacked to Cuba back in the sixties. (Laughs.) And I’m invited to Vienna after the first of the year. I’ll be going with eight or nine other people from the United States to negotiate with officials from the Soviet Union and some people from Helsinki. We want to find ways to organize the community to endorse and work toward the adoption of SALT II and begin work on SALT III. Quarterly: Who pays for these trips? Newport: The Vienna trip is being paid for by an international peace organization. The Puerto Rican government paid for my trip there. And the Cuban trip was paid for by a group of friends. I did not charge that to city government! (Laughs.) I’ve been invited to go to Nicaragua sometime in the spring. The Sandinistas have contacted me and they would like to do a sister city exchange between Berkeley and Leone. Quarterly: Will the Sandinistas pay for that trip? Newport: Oh definitely! I’ve also been invited to participate in Mexico City in a three-day conference on the independence of Puerto Rico, but I’m The Non-Aligned Nations Conference was actually my second trip to Cuba, I was on aflight that was hijacked to Cuba in the Sixties. not able to attend due to other business. Quarterly: What about the upcoming presidential race? Are you involved in that yet? Newport: I’ve been asked to address the opening plenary session of a new third party effort, but I’ll be in Washington, D.C., on that day. Quarterly: Is that the group that Florence Kennedy was working for last summer? She’s the black attorney . . . . Newport: 1 know Florence. I’ve known her for years. I knew Florence Kennedy when I was in New York. I handled all of Betty Shahbaz’s business [Malcolm X’s wife] at one time, and Flo Kennedy and a group of women worked with us. I ’m not sure if that is the same group. In any case, I won’t be able to attend. Quarterly: Neil Goldschmidt got a call from Carter and left his job as Portland’s mayor to head up the Departm ent o f T ran spo r ta tion . Mayor Lionel Wilson of Oakland got a call from Carter and now heads his northern California campaign effort. Has Carter called you? Newport: Shit no! I received some feelers from third parties through some of his staff asking that I set up an appointment to come and talk with them. I haven’t responded. I have talked with a couple of secretaries and assistant secretaries on a couple of trips to D.C., and they’ve been quite responsive concerning certain types of funding for Berkeley. I haven’t been involved in any political things. Quarterly: When Mayor Wilson signed up with Carter, was he assured of special treatment? Newport: Signing up with Carter means that he should or probably will get some demonstration monies that had not been allocated. He recently announced that he’d just received some additional CETA and EDA money. I’m certain he’ll get something. There are all types of what they call secretary discretionary monies. If you can cite a specific problem, they can write up a proposal justifying it. They cut through all the red tape and get the money right away. Carter’s presently going after a lot of the big-city mayors because they give him a little more presence. And I doubt that you’ll find many mayors coming out right now in support of another candidate because they wouldn’t want to be in the position of cutting themselves off completely. Quarterly: Could he do that? Newport: Certainly. There’s no reason in the world why you couldn’t be in the position, say, for a UDAG grant or something, and find that his press people report that you’ve already gone on record supporting someone else. All he has to do is tell the people in the various departments that you are working with, “ Make sure that this grant doesn’t happen.” Then they start sending letters back saying, “ You haven’t met this requirement. You haven’t done that. We’re studying i t .” Quarterly: Are you worried for Berkeley? Newport: No, I’m not worried. Like I said, I haven’t gone on record for anyone. And, you know, CETA monies and community development block grants are formula allocation monies. They are automatic. Quarterly: What about Kennedy? Do you like Kennedy? Newport: I think Kennedy has a lot of charisma and certainly he has the capacity to move legislation through the Congress. From that standpoint, he might possibly be better than Carter. But when I listen to his politics, he doesn’t sound a great deal different than Jimmy Carter to me. His law and order positions are almost right wing! But I think that he would certainly surround himself with a lot of capable individuals and that in itself would be a change for the better when you consider the present circumLOOKING-GLASS BOOKSTORE 421 $WTAYLORST 227-4760 COMPLETE SCI-FI, NOVELS, ETC. 0329 S.W. Hamilton • Portland, Oregon • 223-0800 Open 9 to 9 • Mon-Sat 18
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