On the New York Times, 29 July 97, "op-ed" page William J. Bennett is the author of "Face the Facts about Alcohol and Crime: Can Liquor Avoid Tobacco's Fate." Bennett, former director of national drug policy and a prominent conservative political figure, argues that alcohol acts as a "multiplier" of crime, suggests experiments in poor, high-crime neighborhoods to reduce the concentration of places that sell liquor, and reports that the beer industry cancelled a paid convention speech by Bennett in retaliation against his book (with John J. Dilulio, Jr., and John P. Walters, Body Count: Moral Poverty and How to Win America's War against Crime and Drugs." in his next-to-the-last paragraph Bennett says: "I have a reputation for being a conservative. And I am. But conservatives need to go where the facts, not ideology, lead. And the facts tell usthat there is a very strong link between alcohol availability, consumption and crime.