Porter accuses English of hypocrisy in controversy over challenger's book

English said he won't debate Porter until he repudiates 'his outrageous views.'
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- Dr. Steven Porter said it's ironic that U.S. Rep. Phil English blasted Porter's book dealing with hypothetical situations involving sterilization, yet supports a political candidate sued for performing a reportedly unauthorized sterilization.
Porter, a Democrat, is challenging English, a Republican, for the 3rd Congressional District seat.
English has been openly critical of Porter's 1991 book, "The Ethics of a Democracy," which, among other topics, discusses government sterilization of certain segments of society, including mental patients, alcoholics, welfare recipients and the parents of diseased or deformed children.
Porter, an educator, said that the book was a philosophical treatise written to spark debate at the collegiate level, and that the contents don't reflect his personal beliefs. He has challenged English to a three-hour debate on issues raised in the book.
English has canceled two remaining debates scheduled with Porter.
"I will have nothing to do with a man who wants to debate the so-called merits of state-sponsored sterilization programs," English said, adding that debates will be put on hold until Porter renounces "his outrageous views."
Porter's reaction
Porter accused the English campaign of leaking information about his book to The Associated Press, which wrote the first story on its contents.
"How ironic that English leaks information to the AP about my book, which merely discusses hypothetical situations involving sterilization, and is supporting a man who was sued for performing an unauthorized one," Porter said.
He said that Tom Coburn, a medical doctor who is a Republican Senate candidate in Oklahoma, got a $1,000 contribution from People For English on May 29 of this year, yet Coburn was sued in December 1991 by a woman who said she was sterilized by Coburn without her consent.
Stories about the case began to appear Sept. 16, five days before the controversy surfaced over Porter's book.
Coburn said the woman asked him for the procedure and gave oral consent to have it done. It was performed when she came to him with an ectopic pregnancy in which an embryo was growing in one of her fallopian tubes.
Coburn removed the tube and tied off her other tube as well, but the woman later said she hadn't discussed or authorized the sterilization. She eventually dropped the suit, which Coburn said was an unfounded accusation.
Porter said that Coburn is a colleague of English's in the House of Representatives and that English should have known about the lawsuit issue because the story broke days before English blasted his book.
He accused the congressman of hypocrisy, suggesting English needed an excuse not to debate him again and used the book for that purpose.
From the English camp
"This is one of the most pathetic attempts at political rebound I have ever seen," said Brad Moore, English's campaign manager.
"Tom Coburn has denied any wrongdoing, and the congressman takes him at his word," Moore said, adding that English is proud to support Coburn's Senate bid.
"Phil has found Tom Coburn to be a proud public servant and upstanding citizen," Moore said, adding that the charge by Porter doesn't negate the fact that Porter is on record multiple times as seriously considering state-sponsored sterilization.