
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 22, 1991                   TAG: 9103220242
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SENATE CONFIRMS MARTINEZ TO HEAD DRUG FIGHT

Bob Martinez vowed "to move quickly and aggressively" as the first Hispanic director of the nation's anti-drug strategy after the Senate on Thursday confirmed his nomination by President Bush.

The former Florida governor was approved on an 88-12 vote to succeed William Bennett, the first director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Bush selected Martinez last November after the one-term governor lost his re-election bid to a former Democratic senator, Lawton Chiles.

"I look forward to working with members of both the Senate and the House to achieve full funding and enactment of our anti-drug strategy," Martinez said in a statement released by his office. "Much important work remains ahead, here in Washington, around the country and overseas. And I intend to move quickly and aggressively to help get it done."

Speaking on the Senate floor, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., called for rejection of Martinez, asserting that he "favors a fundamentally flawed approach to the nation's efforts to combat substance abuse."

Kennedy and other critics said Martinez, as Florida's governor from 1987-90, emphasized law enforcement and prison construction while neglecting the need to improve drug treatment and abuse prevention services.

Citing Florida's prison crowding problem and high crime rate, Kennedy said Martinez's state drug strategy was a "public safety failure" that did little to reduce drug-related crime.

by CNB