The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 23

Tuesday, November 19, 1991 The Pittsburgh Press C3 OPINION Sen. Kennedy's '94 decision one for him and family ROBERT A. JORDAN for governor because the office better reflects his preference for executive office. If his uncle had not become more vulnerable in the past year, the voters probably would be more accepting of both Kennedys seeking statewide offices in 1994. But that scenario is not likely to be greeted warmly at the polls by the state's voters.

As a result, the only major office in Massachusetts that would be available to Rep. Kennedy is his uncle's seat, should the senator decides not to run again. Rep. Kennedy would be a logical candidate for his uncle's seat, and his chances of capturing that seat would be better than his uncle's chances of retaining it. That is, the congressman would have all the positive attributes of the Kennedys, as well as the progressive-issues agenda, and none of the negatives with which his uncle is now heavily burdened.

In the final analysis, of course, the decision to run again or step down is strictly Sen. Kennedy's. But he will have to realize that his decision could define the political future of a whole new generation of Kennedys. And that is why this may be the most important decision of his political life. (Robert A Jordan is a Boston Globe columnistdistributed by Knight-News-Tribune.) BOSTON While the political focus nationally is on the 1992 presidential election, 1994 will be a pivotal year in Massachusetts politics.

It is the year that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will either run for reelection or decide to make his current term his last and ride off into the political sunset. Whatever his decision, it will have a profound effect on a new generation of Kennedys who want to continue the family legacy in politics. Although the key player in terms of defining the future for the Kennedys is Sen.

Kennedy himself, the person whose future will be most affected by the senator's decision is his nephew, Rep. Joseph Kennedy II, who is reportedly considering a run for higher office in Massachusetts in 1994. There appears to be a growing concern among friends and supporters of the family that if Sen. Kennedy seeks another term in office, it could have a devastating effect on his nephew's political future, as well as on the political future of other Kennedys who may aspire to elected office. A key factor in Sen.

Kennedy's decision on whether to run for reelection is the fact that, since the Florida rape charge against his nephew hit the news media, the senator has been made more vulnerable politically in Massachusetts. Most political observers expect Kennedys could be hurt if they run for these respective offices in two years. Having both names on the ballot could bring a strong anti-Kennedy reaction from the voting public, and both could end up losing, thus unceremoniously ending a long-reigning political dynasty. Given this possibility, it is unlikely that if Sea Kennedy runs for reelection in 1994, that Rep. Kennedy will seek higher office that year.

In effect, if Sen. Kennedy runs for office in 1994, the younger Kennedy's future political plans may be delayed indefinitely. As for the senator himself, despite his currently high negatives in the polls, he could still win re-election in 1994. In addition, after an expected tough battle, Kennedy's political influence, both in Massachusetts and the U.S. Senate, could be greatly diminished to the point of ineffectiveness.

And the public could begin to attach the senator's negatives to others of the Kennedy clan. Of course, it would be even more disastrous if Sen. Kennedy were to lose a re-election bid. Not only would the Senate seat be lost to the Kennedys, the political fallout from this loss could have a heavily negative effect on Rep. Kennedy and other Kennedys.

Joe Kennedy, according to friends and supporters familiar with his political considerations two years ago, still favors running Kennedy, if he decides to run again in 1994, to be in a bruising battle in both the primary (facing Boston University president John Silber, perhaps) and in the final, where his opponent could be Gov. William Weld, Lt. Gov. Paul Cel-lucci, state Treasurer Joseph Ma-lone (who ran a respectable race against Kennedy in the last election) or even someone who is currently a political unknown. It is generally understood that Rep.

Kennedy had every intention of running for governor in 1990, to the point of having regular meetings with members of his staff on the intricacies of Massachusetts government and its operation from the State House. But he decided not to seek higher office so he could devote more of his available time to his children after the breakup of his marriage. However, supporters of the congressman still believe that he wants to run for higher office in two years. But they add that the prospects of having two Kennedys on the Massachusetts ballot in 1994 one for senator and the other for governor would send a shiver down the spines of the most ardent Kennedy supporters. They have no doubt that both Consider that.

We're in a global financial war. Our economy has a bad case of the shakes and might soon lapse into delirium tremens. We can't afford to teach the young or take care of the old. Some cities are jungles and some farmers are barely hanging on to the land. Highways are crumbling and bridges are creaking.

And half the country is on a hate and envy kick. With all that, are there really people who will vote on the basis of which candidate favors strapping some slack-jawed dolt into a chair and hitting him with a few thousand volts? Will it make their lives richer and fuller? Will it help take this nation into the 21st century? And what if there's a power failure and the first jolt doesn't get him? Will we be a lesser society? I should mention that I favor the death penalty. Or, more accurately, I'm not against it. My position is that I really don't care much one way or the other. It doesn't deter crime.

Since the There's electricity in the (ch)air when the South goes to polls I'd avoid the subjects. I'm sure there are people all over the North and the rest of the country who favor the death penalty. Most polls show that the majority of Americans everywhere say, "Turn on the juice." But I doubt that the rest of the country is going to make that a high-priority issue if Cuomo runs. I don't think that someone who has just been booted out of a job at a computer company will say: "The job market has dried up; I've missed one payment on the house, two on the car; my wife cries herself to sleep, and the kids wonder why daddy has stopped shaving every day. I'd get drunk, but I can't afford the hooch.

Gee, I'm really concerned about Cuomo's reluctance to execute killers." Anybody who thinks that way should be in the unemployment lines. Not that I think the South should vote for Cuomo or that it would even if he favored snuffing out the MIKE ROYKO death penalty was restored in 1976, Texas has led the nation in executions with 40. But Texans are still killing each other in record numbers. And the murder rate is still high in Florida (27 executions), Louisiana (20), Georgia (14) and LOCAL NEWS Suspect in rape case blames the woman III most other Southern states. Maybe executions make the victims' families feel better.

And if that's the case, I wouldn't lose any sleep over frying John Gacy, Richard Speck, or the cannibal in Wisconsin. Either way, it doesn't seem like a suitable litmus test for someone running for what we like to think of as the most important office in the world. True, many people feel strongly about the death penalty. Anytime I've written about it and even when I haven't I get ferocious letters on the subject. I also get ferocious letters on the subject of cats.

And nothing can bring out the ferocity of readers like a slur against their favorite football team. Unless it is a slur against their favorite country and western singer or rock star. But would somebody vote on the basis of a candidate's views on cats, football, or musical tastes? I hope not. But if I were running for office, iy Ay. Al FuchsThe Pittsburgh Press trators.

The mayor's salary would rise by $1,725 to $70,732. Council members would get a $984 raise to $40,331. Some council members have questioned giving discretionary pay raises when city employees are being laid off. Administration officials have said they considered a pay freeze but decided it would be unfair for a small percentage to sacrifice their raises. The city has about 5,000 employees.

"Yes, there's an inequity (to a pay freeze)," Wagner said. "That's what makes this such a difficult lives of villains and offered to strap them into the chair himself. Cuomo or any other Democrat I will be considered too liberal. And the majority of Southerners dis-) trust liberal programs. Except when the government is liberal about keeping open unnecessary and costly military bases at pur expense, or doling out our taxes for liberal subsidies to farmers.

There are many forms of welfare under assumed names, and some are as popular as grits and gravy. i And the South might be justified in rejecting Cuomo because he is a New Yorker, and everybody knqws what a wild and crazy place New York is. You can't safely walk the streets there at night the way you can in, say, Birmingham, New Or- leans or Houston. But the death penalty? Anybody who feels that strongly about it might consider a write-in vote for the guy who pulls the switch. I (Mike Royko is a Chicago-based syndicated columnist) drugs and gave her a soda.

I Naumov said the woman re-1 moved her blouse and bra while he went to the kitchen to fetch the drink. Despite his reservations about her condition, Naumov said, they engaged in heavy petting. "She was, as they frequently say, all over me. She said, 'I am a wild woman, but I am a virgin. If you want to have sex with me, you'll have to Naumov said under questioning by defense attorney Michael Pribanic.

Naumov said he laughed at the woman's statement and suggested she see a psychiatrist The remark angered the woman, who threatened to tell her hosts about the evening and her brothers, who would "kill me," Naumov said. The mood shitted again moments later, and the couple again kissed and embraced, he said. About 6 a.m Naumov said, he decided to end the evening because he had to get ready for He said the woman took a shower, and he drove her to where she was staying. He said she declined his offer to walk her to the door and explain to her hosts where they had been. Lottery winners Here are the winning lottery numbers drawn Monday, Nov.

18, 1991: Pennsylvania Daily 179 Pennsylvania Big Four 9445 Ohio Daily 290 Ohio Pick 4 6811 Cards 9 of Hearts 5 of Clubs 6 of Diamonds 4 of Spades West Virginia Daily 3 272 West Virginia Daily 4 3112 Southerners are sensitive about the unfavorable way they are sometimes portrayed. They're offended by the many stereotypes: ignorant rednecks, backwoods bigots, road-house rowdies, and slow-witted chaw-tobacco hillbillies. And they have a legitimate gripe. In movies, why is every potbellied, ham-fisted sheriff a Southerner? Don't such creatures exist in Vermont? Aren't there any beady-eyed, stranger-hating farmers in northern Wisconsin? Don't small-town racists exist in Indiana or Illinois? Having said that, I can't help but think the South brings some of the disrepute on itself. A Southern newspaper recently surveyed Democratic state party leaders about Mario Cuomo's presidential prospects.

If he runs, how will he be viewed by Southern voters? Not too favorably, they said. And the biggest rap against him would be that he is against the death penalty. Clammed up Beaver plant to restart By Ralph Haurwitz The Pittsburgh Press The Beaver Valley Unit 1 nuclear reactor, which was shut down Oct. 23 because of an invasion by freshwater clams, is expected to resume operating by the end of this week, according to Duquesne Light Co. The plant, in Shippingport, Beaver County, was taken out of service when a routine test showed flow was restricted too much in one of four heat exchangers, said Pete Wilson, resident inspector for the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The heat exchangers help cool the plant during certain types of accidents. Unit 2 was not affected and continues to operate. Inspections revealed that Asiatic clams had infiltrated the heat exchangers for Unit 1. "They got three gallons of clams out of one exchanger," Wilson said vesterday. The thumbnail-sized clams have Klagued many nuclear plants and ave had to be removed from the Beaver Valley plant in the past.

They enter in water drawn from the Ohio River. "The clams are in the silt that comes up from the bottom of the river," said Edward Sehon, manager of corporate communications for Duquesne Light, which operates the plant. The clams are disposed of after being removed from the piping systems and heat exchangers. Besides cleaning the heat exchangers, crews are performing other maintenance. Duquesne Light is considering whether to install concrete barriers, netting devices or some other equipment to keep the clams out of the plant, Sehon said.

Clams have also invaded the plant's cooling towers, but they are causing no problems there and do not have to be removed, Wilson said. (Ralph Haurwitz is The Pittsburgh Press environmental writer.) I tunning for Senate State Rep. Stephen Freind, R-Delaware, best known for his anti-abortion stance, said in Pittsburgh yesterday that he'll challenge a fellow Republican, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, in next year's primary election.

Freind, who pledged to serve no more than two terms if elected, said he'll oppose what he termed "affirmative action for homosexuals" and says he wants to cut off federal support for the arts. By Jim Cuddy Jr. The Pittsburgh Press Dr. Ivan Naumov insists he was "the perfect gentleman" the evening he is accused of raping a New York City woman at his apartment. It was the 26-year-old woman, a New York publishing house publicist, who acted in anything but a ladylike fashion, Naumov told a Common Pleas Court jury yesterday.

Naumov, 35, a Yugoslavian national and physician studying human genetics at the University of Pittsburgh, is on trial on charges of rape and indecent assault in connection with the alleged incident Nov. 4 of last year. Naumov not only denied engaging in sexual intercourse with the woman, but insisted she made sexual advances toward him after they met at the annual ball of the German Historical Society at the Westin William Penn hotel. The woman has testified Naumov raped her three or four times at his apartment after she resisted his attempts to become intimate. The Pittsburgh Press does not use the names of alleged rape victims.

The woman acknowledged she went willingly to Naumov's apartment. In sharp contrast to her testimony, Naumov testified the woman had been drinking heavily at the ball and subsequent party. At the party, she became sexually aggressive toward him, he said. But Naumov testified he only wanted to get to know the woman better and suggested they take a drive to see the city's sights from Downtown and Mount Washington. While Naumov discussed architecture, modern art and high-speed trains, the woman told him she was into "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll," the physician testified.

"It was not your typical conversation," Naumov said. After viewing the city, Naumov said, he drove to his apartment to show the woman his pictures of a Rolling Stones concert and to listen to music. He said he rejected her request for a drink and later LJU 0k jUL jlHlt ifltT ffli iW rflf nffi iltifti iffi r8 Council considers freezing pay city several hundred thousand dollars, Wagner estimated. He said council's budget staff is compiling more precise figures. Six city employee unions already are ensured of raises next year under previously negotiated contracts.

The raises range from 2.5 to 4 percent. The biggest unions, representing police and firefighters, are in contract talks for next year. Both are expected to be resolved through binding arbitration. Mayor Sophie Masloff's 1992 budget proposal calls for 2.5 percent raises for elected officials and non-union employees, most of whom are supervisors and adminis ifftin iffl By Jon Schmitz The Pittsburgh Press City Council may consider freezing salaries of elected officials and non-union city employees as a gesture of austerity. President Jack Wagner today said he expects the issue to receive consideration during council's budget review, which runs through late December.

Councilwoman Michelle Madoff urged a freeze today, citing the poor economy and the city's fiscal squeeze. A freeze would affect from 350 to 500 employees and would save the li.ffl..jK dffllhrfU niW jM M. irM. A Jt 4t jM.