Columnist Dean Juipe: Senators duel rather than compromise

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, July 2, 2002 | 9:26 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Picture the introductions as if they were fighters, ready to come out after taking a bow and the sounding of the bell.

"In this corner," the ring announcer would intone, "the Republican from Arizona, a former war hero and a man intent on keeping his name in public view at any cost, Senator John McCain.

"And in this corner, the Democrat from Nevada, a former amateur boxer and a humble man with good intentions, Senator Harry Reid."

The contestants would then converge at center ring where the referee would offer instructions and repeat the fight's overhyped mantra: "OK gentlemen, it's time to resolve the issue of the Dueling Bills." At which point, McCain and Reid would pummel themselves senseless and resolve nothing beyond the fact that politicians are largely better off staying out of boxing.

They're at it again, you know, McCain and Reid each with separate boxing bills on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Neither bill is apt to make it through this session on its own, yet either one could find itself attached to a larger bill and inch closer to becoming law.

Boxing legislation is proposed annually, and periodically -- as in the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 1999 -- something makes it through the political process to find itself law. Yet, in case you haven't noticed, little seems to have changed in the sport and the need for additional reforms is lost within the political infighting.

"To me, the status quo is not working," Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Marc Ratner said Monday.

But the needs he cites, such as binding arbitration in contract disputes and a standardization of medical tests and requirements, could be met without either McCain or Reid (who picked up the boxing reform baton from his now-retired senate colleague Richard Bryan) shoving their bills down the public's throat.

A simple federal resolution to financially support the existing Association of Boxing Commissions would do it.

"The ABC isn't perfect but it's evolving," Ratner said of the decade-old organization he once headed. "It needs to get stronger but it doesn't have any money. With a federal backbone, it could work."

The ABC has implemented minor reforms such as a "passport" that identifies every fighter and lists his or her every bout, and has synchronized the suspension process. And while there are still state's rights issues as stumbling blocks, the ABC could spearhead another round of uniformity that would ensure that a fight held in Florida would follow the identical rules and procedures as one in Nevada.

If only McCain -- whose bill calls for a single, federally appointed "czar" to run the sport -- and Reid -- whose bill calls for a five-person national commission -- could set aside their political differences, meaningful change is within their grasp. Instead, here they are with competing bills at a time when drastic reform is largely unnecessary.

A solution: Rather than fighting to the finish, McCain and Reid throw down their swords and compromise by withdrawing their bills and aligning behind one that mandates federal support for the ABC. It's either that or go ahead and duke it out in an offshoot of Celebrity Boxing.