For James L. Martin, President of the Sixty Plus Association, the excited political speakers, high school band and overflow crowd at the airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., the Sunday before the November 7 election, stirred vivid memories of 32 years before. At similar rallies throughout the Sunshine State, Martin had watched his boss and mentor, conservative Rep. (1962-68) Ed Gurney, campaign to become Florida’s first Republican U.S. Senator since Reconstruction.

Even before Gurney’s historic 1968 win, Martin had envisioned an eventual bid for President by his magnetic, World War II hero boss. Indeed, the campaign team he had assembled for Gurney had the makings of a national operation: campaign manager Jimmy Allison, who had an impressive record of political success in Democrat-dominated Texas, and a 22-year-old campaign staffer fresh out of Yale named George W. Bush.

But it was not to be-or was it? Gurney, who died in 1996, never ran for President. But former campaign aide Bush did, and Martin was on hand in Palm Beach to speak on his behalf.

As the temperature rose and the airport crowd swelled to 5,000, Rep. Mark Foley (Fla.), the rally emcee, introduced Martin as “the respected head of a national senior citizens organization.” Paying tribute to his 33,000 Florida members and “to my two favorite seniors, my 84-year-old mom and 101-year-old stepdad,” the Sixty Plus head promised the cheering audience that Bush would be a President of his word, one who would sign into law what Martin had been working for fall time over seven years: outright repeal of the “death tax.”

Martin was followed on stage by a cavalcade of political and entertainment stars, including New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, singer Wayne Newton, and Actress Bo Derek. (“After her speech, I told Bo she was an ‘ 11,` joked Martin.) Finally, the plane carrying the “main attraction” touched down. Flanked by his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and nephew George P. Bush, the Republican nominee for President thanked his wildly cheering supporters and predicted a victory in Florida in two days.

And his prediction proved correct eventually.

Cox’s Vision ‘Almost A Reality,’ Says Martin

For Jim Martin, the photo-finish of the 2000 presidential election is less the triumph of an old friend than the stagesetting for achieving his goal. “Abolishing the death tax is something my organization has worked on since 1993 and something George W. Bush underscored repeatedly. And it can happen this year.”

Martin credits Rep. Christopher Cox (R. – Calif.) with guiding him toward repeal of the estate tax instead of simply raising the exemption from its present $650,000.

“I was presenting awards to House members in 1993 and they were talking about increasing the exemption as a form of tax relief. [Rep.] Cox asked me to get behind his proposal-to simply repeal the tax.”

Martin became an eager partner in the repeal movement and made it the linchpin of his organization.

In the next few years, Sixty Plus delivered to Capitol Hill more than a quarter-million signatures from seniors demanding death to the death tax.

Martin himself jetted to 30 states, presenting donations from his “GrayPAC” political action committee and his “Friend of the Seniors” Award to those who promised to vote for repeal.

Along with friends Cox and Bush, Martin’s highest words of praise go to his members-now 500,000 strong nationwide. “They write letters, send postcards to Congress, and get on the phone.”

He used the example of his membership in Florida’s 22°a District (Fort Lauderdale), home to Martin’s younger brother, decorated Vietnam War veteran Robert Martin. This year, members signed a full-page newspaper ad thanking Rep. Clay Shaw for supporting prescription drug coverage. Shaw won reelection over State Rep. Elaine Bloom-a death tax repeal opponent-by just over 500 votes, one of the closest House races in the nation.

In the state on whose electoral votes the entire presidential race hinged, the 33,000 Sixty Plus members actively backed George W. Bush. Overlooked in the noise about butterfly ballots, Bush ended up carrying the senior vote in Florida, 51% to 47%, almost the identical percentage by which Gore carried the votes of seniors nationally.

The Final Days

As the Texas governor was leaving Palm Beach less than 48 hours before his rendezvous with destiny, he spotted Martin on the airport tarmac chatting with Palm Beach resident and longtime GOP contributor Gay Hart Gaines.

“Buddha,” Bush whispered to Martin employing a years-old nick name for the now slimmed-down Sixty Plus head. “Did you ever think we’d be doing this 30 years ago?”

“No, George,” Martin replied. “Did you?”

“Hope,” said the candidate as he bounded up the ramp to his plane, ” Me neither.”

On the day that Gore conceded a second time, Martin was greeted by a friend who told him ,” you must be the third happiest man in the country.”

Asked who could be happier, she replied, “the President-elect and his father.”

While Martin told me be was proud, he quickly added that there were many who were just as proud, “Karl [Rove], Karen [Hughes], Joe [Allbaugh], Don [Evans], Jack [Oliver], Ari [Fleischer] and others.”

Seniors Group Endorses Bush Prescription Drug Plan

Criticizes Gore For His Seven Year Silence

Washington, D.C. — The 60 Plus Association, a non-partisan senior citizens organization with a half million supporters nationally, strongly endorsed Governor George W. Bush’s plan unveiled today to provide seniors with prescription drug and other improved benefits.

60 Plus Association President Jim Martin stated, “Governor Bush’s plan builds upon the common sense approach of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. It strengthens Medicare, help seniors pay for all or part of Medicare premiums and subsidizes prescription drug costs, with low-income seniors receiving special help. No senior should have to make a choice between putting food on the table or being able to afford the prescription drugs they need to stay alive. Seniors know they can count on the Bush-Cheney plan to ensure that their golden years are spent doing all those things that bring joy to their lives and their families.”

On the other hand, after seven and a half years, Vice President Gore has suddenly decided to talk about the need for a prescription drug benefit. His silence on this issue for so long was deafening.

His newfound interest in ’shoring up Medicare and Social Security’ is an election year attempt to sucker punch seniors for political gain. His pledge to protect the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds with a lock box rings hollow when you consider that the House of Representatives voted over a year ago on May 26, 1999 to do just that, by an overwhelming 416-12 bipartisan margin.

Equally hollow is his warning that he will veto any attempts to spend Social Security surpluses since he never once objected to the annual spending of Social Security surpluses during his 16 years in Congress, even though other Democrats spoke out against the practice,” Martin concluded, specifically citing Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) who criticized the practice as ‘embezzlement’.

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Washington, D.C. — Vice President Al Gore has suddenly gotten religion when it comes to the Social Security Trust Fund.

Mr. Gore’s pledge to ’shore up and protect the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds’ with a lock box clearly rings hollow when you consider

1) the House of Representatives voted over a year ago on May 26, 1999 to do just that, by an overwhelming 416-12 bipartisan margin;
2) the Senate on seven occasions failed to follow suit simply because Senate Democrats voted seven times against the ‘lock box’ concept.

The 60 Plus Association cannot do the extensive research that the national news media can, but thus far our research finds that not once during his 16 years in the House and Senate did Mr. Gore ever speak out against the annual spending of Social Security Trust Fund monies for other government programs. Democrats and Republicans alike denounced this practice, most notably the late Republican Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and South Carolina’s junior Democrat, Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, who excoriated the annual raids as ‘embezzlement’ saying that if companies in the private sector spent funds set aside for other purposes, those responsible would go to jail.

His ’shoring up Social Security and Medicare’ dictum is a shameless slogan in light of the fact that during his 16 years in Congress Mr. Gore’s silence on this issue was deafening. Seniors see through this ploy.

60 Plus is a nonpartisan senior citizen advocacy group. 60 Plus strives to be fair to politicians in both parties, praising them when called for, chastising them also when they need it.”Seniors were pleased when the House voted last year to stop these raids on Social Security and seniors would be interested in hearing Mr. Gore’s explanation as to why he is 16 years late in speaking out against these previous raids.”

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In response to Vice President Gore’s latest visit to Florida on August 23, 2000.

August 21, 2000 — The 60 Plus Association is a national, nonpartisan senior citizens advocacy group representing over 500,000 seniors and we are very interested in providing safe and inexpensive prescription drugs to our senior citizens.

We are very concerned with recent amendments to the FY2001 Agriculture Appropriations bill that would allow pharmacies and wholesalers to purchase prescription drugs outside the United States and then import them into this country for sale. We strongly oppose these amendments.

While we strongly support efforts for cheaper drugs for our seniors, we believe this approach is not the correct one and would risk the lives of seniors since it allows the bypassing of health and safety laws.We believe these amendments would allow the importation of counterfeit and/or unsafe products to enter the U.S. market. (This concern prompted the prohibition of such activity under the Prescription Drug Marketing Act in 1988.)

Food and Drug Commissioner Jane Henney has warned that barring the Food and Drug Administration from enforcing drug import provisions will increase the risk of widespread distribution of counterfeit and contaminated products in the U.S. The argument of proponents sounds convincing– namely, pharmacists and wholesalers buying drugs in other countries with price restrictions or controls would be able to save money and pass the savings on to seniors in this country– but completely ignores safety and health concerns.

For example, U.S. manufacturers ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs while many foreign manufacturers do not conduct such testing, thus contaminated or substandard materials may slip into these products. In addition, U.S. storage temperature requirements for drugs are very strict while these may be lax or nonexistent in some foreign countries.

Moreover, there is no guarantee that any potential savings in acquisition costs by drug wholesalers or retail pharmacies will be passed on to the consumers. Lifting import provisions does not address the underlying need to provide prescription drug coverage for Medicare beneficiaries.We strongly favor fair prices for prescription drugs for seniors but not at the price of risking their health and safety. We urge you to drop these amendments concerning importation of drugs from the final version of the FY2001 Agriculture Appropriations bill.

PERSONALIZING SOCIAL SECURITY “WAVE OF THE FUTURE”

Statement by 60 Plus President Jim Martin
Washington, D.C. — At a fourth forum on Saving Social Security sponsored by the 60 Plus Association, a nonpartisan senior citizens advocacy group with 500,000 members, Association President Jim Martin declared partial privatization of the retirement system “the wave of the future”, as Social Security turned 65 years old.Martin said that the privatized system trail blazed in 1981 by Chile, has been adopted by more than two-dozen countries, “even socialist Sweden and Communist China.

Martin said that after his group researched the issue, 60 Plus polled its members and discovered that while Social Security was solvent for current retirees, it was soon going broke due to lower birth rates and seniors living longer, placing further strains on the pay-as-you-go system.

Martin said that the 2% tax on $3,000 income provided sufficient funds in the beginning, 65 years ago, yet 12.4% on $76,200 is not enough to sustain it due to fewer workers paying in per retiree, the result of lower birth rates and most of all because we seniors are living much longer than the actuarial tables indicated (65) when the system was enacted.”Martin noted that while it’s “commonly known that the fastest growing segment of the population is age 85, the second fastest is those 100 and above.”

Martin’s group published a study, “Personalizing Social Security: Unplugging the Third Rail” and is the first senior group to call for partial privatization of the system to save it for future retirees.

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