Copyright 1999 The Tribune Co. Publishes The Tampa Tribune
The Tampa Tribune
View Related Topics
July 31, 1999, Saturday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NATION/WORLD, Pg. 14
LENGTH: 602 words
HEADLINE:
Maintaining legal aid for the poor;
BODY:
It has been 25 years since President Nixon signed legislation
creating the Legal Services Corp., the private, nonprofit
organization that provides low-income Americans with representation in civil
matters, and as a birthday present the other day, a House appropriations
subcommittee voted for the fourth year in a row to slash its funding.
For the past two years, the organization received $ 283 million in
federal money that was distributed through grants to some 260 local
programs nationwide, and in 1998 those individual programs raised nearly $
230 million in other government and private funding to support legal work
on behalf of the poor.
But in what is becoming an annual event,
the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the
Judiciary decided to recommend limiting Legal Services Corp.
funding at $ 141 million. The subcommittee made the same suggestion last
year, which was rejected by the full House. This appropriations battle is
becoming monotonous. Every year lawmakers sing the same song: Opponents
denounce the organization for its liberal agenda, while supporters contend it's
the only way to guarantee the poor equal access to the courts.
Indeed, Legal Services programs provide indispensable representation for
poor people in landlord-tenant disputes, foreclosures, repossessions,
wrongful firings, divorces and custody cases - those often mundane matters
that yield little, if any, revenue.
Last year Legal Services lawyers
helped some 1 million people, more than two-thirds of whom were women with
children. On average, the programs spent $ 150 per client, and more than 90
percent of the cases were resolved out of court.
There are no
legitimate arguments against the purpose of the Legal Services
Corp. By providing federal money for legal aid, the country meets
the 14th Amendment's essential principle that every individual is entitled
to equal protection under the law.
But the organization has itself
fostered an agenda that made it all too easy for lawmakers to speak
against it. Over the years these supposedly nonpartisan programs became
altogether too partisan. Legal Services expanded its mandate to include
the recruiting of plaintiffs and the initiation of class-action lawsuits,
as well as union organizing. Congress curtailed these essentially
political activities in 1996.
Then earlier this year, just when the
organization's reputation seemed to be improving, we learned that some of
the programs had padded their case numbers. A year ago the organization
reported serving almost 2 million clients in 1997, and the sheer volume of
cases helped convince Congress to reject the subcommittee recommendation.
But it turns out that some of the programs had overstated their
caseloads, and inspectors knew it when Congress approved the
appropriation. No wonder lawmakers are unwilling to rubber-stamp any Legal
Services funding requests. Such brazenness has caused needless problems for the
organization.
Today Legal Services Corp. officials say
$ 300 million isn't enough but admit it's adequate to meet the needs of
the 40 million Americans living below the poverty level. Although it's
understandable that lawmakers may be hesitant to continue appropriating
that amount, it is important that they do.
Without the Legal
Services programs, many Americans who could not afford private lawyers would
be denied equal justice. But if this endeavor is curtailed, it will be
because the organization was unable to demonstrate it had straightened out
its problems.
NOTES: EDITORIALS
LOAD-DATE: August 1, 1999 
