BY PAUL BARTON
Enquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Rob Portman refused an invitation to attend President Clinton's radio address on anti-drug issues Saturday and blasted Mr. Clinton for his lack of leadership on drug matters.
He said it would be inappropriate for him to go to the White House at a time when he is publicly critical of the president's behavior as revealed in the Monica Lewinsky case.
Mr. Portman, R-Terrace Park, called Friday for the president to consider resigning rather than dragging the country through a possible impeachment process.
"I think it is inappropriate for me to be at a joint appearance with the president at this time, given my concern about his actions. I think it would be inconsistent. I think it would be wrong," he said.
Mr. Portman received the invitation because of his development of the Drug Free Communities Act that Congress passed in 1997.
Mr. Clinton chose to highlight it in his weekly radio address, but Mr. Portman said the White House has done little to help implement the program since it was passed.
The program was designed to redirect up to $10 million in federal drug monies to help community organizations nationwide in their anti-drug efforts.
"But the $10 million in direct assistance to community and anti-drug organizations has been held up due to foot dragging by the Clinton White House," Mr. Portman said.
The White House on Friday, however, announced $8.7 million in grants to be distributed among 93 communities nationwide.
The grants go to programs that focus on uniting parents, teachers, religious leaders and law enforcement agencies to help "give kids an option after school from 3 to 7 p.m. and on weekends," Mr. Clinton's drug czar, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, said.
He cited groups such as the Boys Clubs & Girls Clubs, the Lions, YMCA and Big Brothers.
While overall drug use has dropped by half since 1979, Mr. Clinton said drug-abuse trends among young people suggest half of this year's high school seniors will have smoked marijuana by the time they graduate.
"When we know that drugs lead to crime, to failure in school, to fraying of families and neighborhoods, we know we must do better," the president said in his weekly radio broadcast. "We can reverse this terrible trend if we attack it in the way we did the crime problem, by working together at the community level, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block, person by person."
The president also implored Congress to take action on other issues, including education, health care and campaign finance reform.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
