By FINKELSlEl
IN JANUARY, The Detroit
'l"PVIlISl .. :lIn the qu
fina cial d lin th
A criminal in igation
1 tar in th r.
Some of th
ment in t
includ :
ndating u i of th
cy every toy
Making financial records n
ibl to th public.
Changing th bud proc-
legislato do not vote on
lump um.
Enlarging th governing
board 0' more people are in­
volved in the p
Hillegonds said the audit, "re­
I for th world to see, "the
open financial records " are not
the FOI act, but equivalent of
FOI policies," the I rger board
and the budget change were nee-
ry to include more people in
the pro
But legislators should be
careful about patting them­
selves on the back, said Bill Bal­
lenger, editor of the In ide
Michigan Politics newsletter.
"These changes should have
been in place from the begin­
ning," Ballenger aid. ·We
shouldn't have had to wait for a
By DAVID GHOSE
S ecl.' to the Michl sn Citizen
LANSING (Capital News Service)
- With the first year of shared
leadership coming to an end,
House Co-speaker Paul Hille­
gonds declared the agreement a
smashing success and the last 10
months the most productive leg­
islative period in a decade.
"At the end of the year, I be­
lieve the Republicans are going
to be able to show the public a
list of 20 important policy issues
that we wanted to get resolved,"
the Holland Republican said. "I
ow
believe 17 or 18 of those issues
will become laws by the end of
the year."
The shared leadership agree-
ment came into eft en ei .. ,
ther Republi ns or Demo
were able to capture a majority
of seats in the November 1992
House election A 55-55 split
locked up both sides.
On Jan. 13, 1993, a full House
vote ratified the agreement that
created co-speakers - Rep. Cur­
tis Hertel, D-Detroit, and Hille­
gonds-vand co-chairs of
committees.
to b impl
The Ho and Senate fi cal
agenci hould be consolidated
into one body they are on th'
federal level, J aye aid. Thi
would be ible with th adop-
tion of a part-time legi lature.
Such an agency should be
taffed by non-partisan, pro
sional budget experts, he said.
Ballenger, while agreeing
that two financial agenci are
unnecessary, cautioned against
allowing such an agency to be­
come an autonomous body.
"That's a recipe for abuse 'as
much as what we\re seen in the
past," he aid.
THE SENATE, GOVER­
NOR'S office, universities and
community colleges also should
be required to keep their finan­
cial records open, Jaye said. So
far, �even people involved in the
y
ncy, in luding th form r di-
ctor ofth ncy nd form r
fiscal nalyst ho b m
tate r p n ti , n
charged with f 1'81 mail fraud
or ta f loni . Furl r In r-
n I Revenue Servi cha
could be forthcoming.
Hillegon and Young . d
they could not specul te on ho
high he indictm n ould go or
if any cha ould be filed
against Dominic Jacobetti, D-
o Negaun , former chairman of
the Ho Appropriatio Com­
mittee and of the ncy' board.
How much longer the in ti­
gation will e also i uncl r.
Ballenger said th in tigation
hould be wrapped up by tb end
of the year. What will be critical,
he said, is media and public re­
action if Jacobetti resigns either
voluntarily or by giving up his
eat to avoid prosecution
Hillegonds said he was told
the investigations would be com­
pleted by February or March of
1994. But Young would not
speculate on when tpa investiga­
tions would be complete, saying
he did not want the investigators
to feel pressured.
IMMEDIATELY FOL­
LOWING the election, manyob­
servers doubted the feasibility of
shared ppwer. Many predicted a
ore likel:y. . . p8ri9 would bea
epu bh£.ap N.. .... a. Et�ocr�.t.
switching sides andhreaking up
the tie.
Still, no one did and shared
leadership came into effect, de­
spite the many doubters.
But the reviews are much bet­
ter today.
"Overall, it has worked out far
more smoothly than people ex­
pected," said Bill Ballenger, a
o AD link prisoners
to the conununity
By RON SEIG�L
Spec'" to the MlchlD!n Citizen
o
By RON SEIGEL
S ecl.' to the Michl an Citizen
A religious organization
, called Bread for the World
(BFW), suggestspeople can cele-
. brate Christmas and Kwanza by
using their power of citizens�p
to get America to end hunger In
other lands, particularly in Af­
rica."
BFW wan ople to write
letters to their senators and p­
resent ti in congress urging
action on i ues d ling with th
hungry.
BFW"s main project for th
new y ar is th th "M ny
eighbo J On _ rth" r olu-
. tion (Hous oncurr n� R olu-
In SOSAD's Youth Deterrent Program young
prisoners talk to young people on the outside
about the things that got them into jail and
what it is like to be in jail.
Nancy Nicholson, a Bachelor of Social Work
on the SOSAD staff, said the prisoners are "very
young" - around 19 years old - but they have
been sentenced to serve the rest of their lives in
jail, at a time their lives are just beginning.
Such discussions may prevent others from
making the same mistakes, she suggested.
Those interested in more information about
these programs or participating in them can call
the SOSAD office at (313)361-5200.
tion 100 and Senate Concurrent
Resolution 96), making it a pri­
ority in our foreign aid program
to provide environmentally
sound development bid.
Local BFW Director Mary
Ketwoski said this would mean
a new emphasi on grassroot
projects to end hunger, rather
than military aid or assistan
that involved poorer nation
growing cash cro for exports,
which the ple could not
T T in th
name of "economic aid", th In­
ternational Mon tary fund
[Il\1FJ was pr ssuringn tions
into polici s that left th hungry
wo e off than fore, forcing
o
. DETROIT - Save Our Sons and Daughters
(SOSAD), an organization set up to prevent
violence, believes that even though people are
in prison, they should not be spiritually sepa­
rated from the outside community.
SOSAD has established two programs every
Thursday evening, helping prisoners and ena­
bling prisoners to help those on the outside.'
In one program SOSAD volunteers working
under Earl Henderson who has a PHD in po­
litical science, trains prisoners in techniques for
conflict resolution without violence. .
th m to grow crops for exports
that did not feed their people
and to cut social servi in order
to pay debts to w Ithier eco­
nomic nations and creete poli­
ci 'which declare ther is "no
room at th inn ."
Changes in policies would
ha a strong effi on African
nations, sh said.
Although th resolutions
would not hav th force of 1 w,
h said, "Hopefully, th y could
urn for ign aid in di ion
w 'd lik to it go."
h u this woul
on way of bringing th world
cl r to on rth and good
will ward men.
political analyst and publisher of
Inside Michigan Politics news­
letter.
Based upon, his. experi Il!
Hou e T�tjoJ\. C,omplitt
�n., . � L �.�pdahl! ....
D-Okemos, is also impressed
with bared leadership. "I think
it has been an effective device, f1
said Jondahl, a candidate for
governor.
Hillegonds praises the resil­
iency of the agreement, which
has withstood a ferocious special
House election and the House
Fiscal Agency scandal.
BALLENGER POINTS
OUT that the Jackson special
election was particularly brutal.
"If it can withstand the Jackson
election, it can withstand any­
thing," he said. "The parties
have been. pretty good at sepa­
rating what they are doing on
See SHARE, A8
GO
The audience listen to panelist peak during th
SCLC'town hall meting. (photo. by Craig Hili)
o
n
By BART ORBAN
S ec/al to the Michl an C:.f!/ze!!_
LANSING (Capital News Senne)
- House Republicans will try to
use their majority that begins in
January to pass key school re­
form legislation imp ed by a
split Hous, ccording to Co­
Speaker Rep. Paul Hillegonds,
R-Holland.
Issues of co t-containm nt in­
volving teachers, such as pen­
sion reform and health care, will
not be complet this y ar, ac­
cording to Hill gonds, Th y will
be addressed arly next year,
when Republicans njoy a 55-53
advantage due to vacancies cre­
ated by Reps. David Hollister
and Charlie Harri on, two
Democ:ra who we lected to
mayoral offi this fall.
"Those are v ry big' ues in
terms of how do you control costs
in education," Hill gonds said.
"B us of the st ngth of th
Michigan Education oc:iation
with the D mocratic caucus, at
55-55 w just don't have a
chance of getting that done. f1
"W going to try to get
that done with a 55-53 ge next
year."
y
The tough talk seems to mark
the end of th generally eongen­
ial and cooperative shared­
power rrangement the House
has n operating under.
and his part in it when he was
an employee of the- agency,
Shepich is not expected to retain
his seat until November, accord-
ing to Ballenger. .
Although historically
Shepich's is a Democratic dis­
trict. the s t was won by a Re­
publican in 1990 for only the
second tim ince World War n.
"EVIDENTLY ONCE Jan 1
come th y're going to take th
glov off and say the hell with
it, w 're going for this stuff," said
Bill allenger, editor of Inside
Michigan Politics.
"I would say they've got a good
chanc but it remains to be
n."
Hill gonds conceded that
"you r rely find 55 Republicans
who n on any on� issue. "
p i 1 elections are antiei­
pat for th spring to, fill the
vacanci s in Lansing nd Pon­
tiac. 0 mocrats are expected to
win both and r turn th House
to an ven split, v n though it's
nticipat d Republicans will
mak a strong effort and histori­
cally f better in special e1 -
tio .
Another concern for House
D mocr ts I the fat of Rep.
St ve hepich, D-Iron River.
Sch ul for trial Jan. 20 for
ch rg s stemming from the
Hous Fi cal Agency ndal
THE T HELD by Rep. .
Dominic Jacobetti, D-Negaun ,
is also qu tionable. Jaco tti is
under continued investigation
by state and federal authoriti
for his role in th House Fiscal
scandal. Findings from the fed­
eral investigators are expected
around March.
If either Shepich or Jaco tti
has to ign in late spring or
early summer, Engler may not
call for s cial elections to fill
their seats, I ving Republicans
with another two-vote majority
until November, assuming elec­
tions for Hollister's and Harri­
son's have been h ld and
mocrats won
"That aspect of it is not good
for th mocratic p tty," Bal-
lenger said.