McGovern Adviser Asks Open Debate Against Nixon Aide

James Vorenburg '48, professor of Law and a top McGovern advisor, has challenged Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst '47 to a public debate on the Nixon Administration's record on crime.

Vorenburg, co-chairman of the McGovern-Shriver Policy Panel on Crime and Justice, outlined Tuesday ten "questions relating to this Administration's alleged attempts to deal with crime and drug abuse." All ten points accused President Nixon of not carrying out promised anti-crime and anti-drug programs.

Vorenburg, who served as executive director of President Johnson's Crime Commissions from 1965 to 1967, yesterday called his challenge to Kleindienst "an attempt to get some airing of this issue."

A spokesman for Kleindienst yesterday acknowledged that Vorenburg's letter has arrived at the Department of Justice. However, Kleindienst has been speaking in California and has not seen the letter, the spokesman said. A response to Vorenburgh will be issued "just as soon as possible," he added.

In his statement Tuesday, Vorenburg said that "during the past four years, crime has risen more than ten times as fast as populations," and blamed the Nixon Administration for this. He also criticized the present Administration's opposition to laws outlawing the Saturday Night Special handgun.

Vorenburg labeled the Nixon policy on crime as "permissive," pointing to its support of dictators in Southeast Asia who "profit from international drug traffic." He also attacked the failure of federal authorities to expand presence drug-treatment facilities, which now cover "only 20 per cent of the current addict population."