-Caveat Lector- Commissions Criticized As Futile By DARLENE SUPERVILLE .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - In the mad dash for answers after the school shooting in Littleton, Colo., lawmakers are proposing everything from tougher restrictions on access to guns to school prayer. There even are suggestions for a ``study commission'' - a kind of graveyard where policymakers bury problems they cannot, or will not, solve themselves. Whatever name is used - blue ribbon commission, special task force, select advisory panel - the intent usually is clear, one Congress watcher says. ``Beware of the politician who rises to strike a pose of great concern about an issue and then recommends a commission,'' says Paul Light, director of governmental studies at the Brookings Institution. ``That is a sure sign that he or she does not know what to do and hopes to postpone the inevitable day that they'll actually be called to account.'' Two recent commissions - one created by Congress and the other by President Clinton - spent months studying the financially ailing Medicare program and the country's racial divide without reaching a consensus. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., who served on panels that studied entitlement programs, the Internal Revenue Service and, this year, Medicare, says commissions are useful. For one, he says, the way Congress operates - with two distinct legislative chambers and structured committee system - limits the opportunities for lawmakers to work together to tackle a problem. ``It's not a small item to bring people together that are of different parties, in almost different worlds in the House and Senate and allow them to sit for a long period of time,'' Kerrey said in a telephone interview. Since the school shooting April 20, the entertainment industry, the media and the Internet all have gotten blamed for glorifying violence. Many have urged stronger gun restrictions. Further study could not hurt, particularly on an issue where the existing research is so ``ideologically tinged,'' Light says. Still, he believes commissions generally are not worth much. The House is expected Wednesday to begin debating gun control and measures to crack down on juvenile crime. The Senate passed a juvenile justice bill last month that includes several gun control provisions. Officials at all levels of government use study commissions, often to delay the day of reckoning. But in some cases, they do manage to shed light on issues and their recommendations are adopted. Congressional analysts estimate that hundreds of study commissions have been created over the years, though precise figures are not available. Some are effective and memorable. The Kerner and Warren commissions - on 1960s race rioting and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy - are among them. Others include the military base closure commissions and, most recently, the panel that recommended major IRS reforms that were adopted last year. A national gambling study commission created by Congress plans to release its final report Friday to the White House and Congress, with recommendations to slow down new casinos and lotteries nationwide, increase to 21 in the minimum betting age and offer more help for addicted gamblers. Most study panels, however, just fade into oblivion. ``No one knows their name,'' said Marshall Wittman, director of congressional relations at the conservative Heritage Foundation. Since the shooting April 20 in Colorado: President Clinton has ordered a Federal Trade Commission-Justice Department study of the marketing practices of the movie, recording and video game industries. The Senate-passed juvenile justice bill included a similar requirement. Clinton held a White House session on youth violence and requested a report on its causes from Surgeon General David Satcher. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., has a provision in the Senate bill for a National Institutes of Health study of the effects of music and video games on youngsters. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., want to create a national commission to study the ``complicated causes'' of youth violence. Legislation on missing children includes $2.1 million in previously appropriated funds for a National Academy of Sciences study of school violence. Other study commissions proposed this Congress would review slavery, the ``culture and glorification'' of violence and the ``validity of certain land claims arising from the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.'' The United States gained Texas, New Mexico and parts of California under the pact. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. 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