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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1973
DoasIsay,notas do
T H E My-Left-Hand-Doesn't-Know-
What-My-Right-Hand-Is-Doing Hy-
pocrisy Award for the week of December
3, 1973, goes to W. Tapley Bennett, U. S.
delegate to the United Nations, for his
vigorous opposition to a Chinese-spon-
sored proposal to seat Prince Uorodom
Sihanouk. as Cambodia's representative
and oust the delegate of the government
of President Lon Nol.
Bennett's reasoning was impeccable.
He said, "The Cambodian people have
not granted Prince Sihanouk any irre-
vocable right to rule over them."
"It is hard to conceive of a more gross
or more blatant interference in the inter-
nal affairs of a member state. If" this
were to become a precedent, who is to
say what member state might not be the
next victim of such a procedure?" Who,
indeed?
The attempt by China, Algeria, and 31
other nations to seat Sihanouk is puzz-
ling since he announced recently that he
has no control over, and almost no con-
tact with, the insurgents fighting against
the Lon Nol regime.
N ADDITION, Sihanouk says that he
has sent "documents of state," held
by his exile government in Peking since
1970, to rebel leaders in northeastern
Cambodia. He is clearly handing over to
them whatever claim to power he has.
It is difficult to understand the mo-
tivation behind the resolution. It is even
harder to believe, however, that Bennett
does not know that the government he
represents is doing exactly what he so
eloquently condemned in the General As-
sembly.
For the past three years, the United
States has kept Lon Nol, a thoroughly
unrepresentative dictator, in power
through means that can certainly be de-
scribed as "gross and blatant." The
American government has cheerfully
interfered with "the internal affairs of
a member state" at every opportunity,
and occasionally created its own oppor-
tunities.
THE UNITED STATES provides about
80 per cent of the budget for the
Lon Nol regime, which directly represents
the interests of the American govern-
ment in Indochina. Nearly all the funds
are for military expenses.
The U. S. pays for, fuels, and services
the Cambodian air force, whose pilots
attempt to bomb the presidential palace
with almost monotonous regularity.
The alleged Cambodian navy, a flotilla
of river barges and cabin cruisers, which
bounces off the banks of the Mekong to
and from Phnom Penh, was designed and
financed by the American military.
In fact, the entire Lon Nol govern-
ment is the creation of the United States
government, which played a leading role
in the coup which deposed Sihanouk, a
self - styled neutralist. It is most improb-
able that the U. S. delegation to the Unit-
ed Nations is unaware of the links be-
tween their government and the Lon Nol
regime.
HOPEFULLY no one in the General As-
sembly was taken in by Bennett's
high-flown rhetoric. Certainly the Cam-
bodian insurgents weren't.
A band of about 20 commandos infil-
trated Phnom Penh early Wednesday
morning and attempted to blow up a key
traffic artery, the only major bridge still
standing, the Bridge of the United Na-
tions.
Ford:J
By CHUCK WILBUR
GERALD FORD moved one
step closer to the presiden
yesterday. Ford's confirmation
Vice-President sets the stagef
a palace revolution that will pl
the conservative Michigan C o
gressman in the White House sor
time early next year.
It is now obvious, perhaps ev
to the President himself, that N
on cannot remain in office ind
initely. If a Ford Presidency h
become inevitable, there are s
some important questions rega
ing his ascension that remain
be answered.
For starters, just who wa
Ford to be President? There c
tainly has been no popular grou
swell for his selection as Vic
President. If the public has b
indifferent to Ford, Republicans
Congress certainly have not.
REPUBLICAN politieians ha
consistently been in the forefra
of those advocating a Nixon
signation coupled with Fo °d's s
cession. Clearly the GOP has
intention of going down witht
Nixon ship when a benign, blan
party man like Ford offers an
ternative.
Republicans may see saovation
a Ford-Nixon switch but, wha
in it for the Democrats? For
while it appeared +hat libe
Democrats would hold up For
nomination while impeachm
procedures against the Presid
continued. But, suddenly thisr
sistence to Ford evaporated an
the rush was on to get the no
Same song,
ination through Capitol Hill.
big Perhaps the willingness of Con-
ncy gressional Democrats to accept
as Ford as Vice-President and event-
for ually as President, is due to ap-
ace prehensions over Speaker C a r 1
n- Albert's ability to govern. It is
ne- more likely, however, that even
Congress itself fears action that
'en might seriously weaken th,2 power
Six- of the executive. The need for a
ef- strong President is so ingrained in
has the national political cons. ousne-zs
till that no one asks the fundamental
rd- question-Why?
to
THE ANSWER has something to
nts do with a constituency that both
er- the Republican and Democratic
nd- parties share, the economic ruling
ce- class, the less than one per cent
een of the American population t h a t "s
n controls some sixty per cent of the
nation's wealth. Ever since Pres-
ident Cleveland sent federal troops t.
ave into Illinois in 1894 to put down tisntr
ont the Pullman strike, the executive tion of
re- has represented the most effective of Can
uc- means for this economic elite to fundsa
no exert its will. the cre
the Some presidents, like FDR, have of dom
nd, infuriated the wealthy and power- are a f
al- ful by trying to make capitalism a amples
more stable and politically tenable that h
in system, but in the oaig run the Nixony
t's chief executive has been their boy. But,t
a And as economic power has come preside
ml to rest in fewer and fewer cor- Preside
d> porate hands, so has polh-cal pow- making
ent er been concentrated in the execu- ments
ent tive branch of government. Things
re- Nixons
n d THE NIXON presidency, in bet- rock b
im- ter days, was a clear example of dustria.
falling
Ford,s
Ford.
exactly
who ca
believe
Nixont
the inte
* and pov
Nixon n
sidencv
la cks ti
actionar
iNew N
sjderab
The c
that we
old Nix
a rere
~ is wro
watche
thousan
ingtol,
in Vietn
on the
minorit:
Buto
x ~should l
second
verse
end towards the ceotraliza-
power. The secrat boniing
rbodia, the impounding of
alcated by Congress and
ation of an extensive system
nestic political surveillance
few of the more blatant ex-
of Presidential government
ave come to pas, in the
years.
the days of a strong Nixon
ncy have waned. Now t h e
ent must spend his time
inane humiliating state-
like "I'm not a crook".
might not get worse for
since his credibility has hit
ottom, but the Dow-Jones in-
il average is unde 800 and
fast. Exit Nixol-- Enter
stage right.
gives the economic elite
iwhat it needs, a Nixon
an act, a Nixon peoole can
, but most importa ytiv a
who will consistently defend
erests of entrenched wealth
wer.
THE question we face is
Nixon do we want, th3 jld
no one believes, whose Pire-
has been shattered, who
he power to pursni his re-
ry political goals, or this
ixon who could enov co-
le credibility and power.
choice is clouded by th fa:
e have come to detest this
on, bath as a nera and as
sentative of evervthing' th"t
)g with this alntry. He
d football games while
nds of us marched in Wash-
he made the genoc.Il war
ram his very '),W, h:
Constitution, and tr, t-d
ies with "benign negle .t".
our own hatred of Nixon
not obscure the fact tnat
with Ford in the White House,
nothing will really change. T h e
interests that have dominated the
country in the Nixon years will con-
tinue to do so, probably more ef-
fectively than they do now.
THERE IS some positive politi-
cal gain that can come from Nix-
on's certain demise, if the Presi-
dent is impeached. Impeachment,
like resignation, would put Ford.
in the White House but the pra
cess of impeachment itself could
throw a monkey wrench into the
finely tuned machinery of Presi-
dential government for years to
come.
Impeachment creates a confron-
tation between two branches of
government, a confrontation that
would force the Congress to as-
siime power usurped by executive
branch.
Impeachment would also have a
desirable effect on the political
psychology of the nation. S o m e
might see impeachment as a vic-
tory for the political process, but
more importantly it would be a
victory for the popular pressure
that has made Nixon's position un-
tenable.
THE SEVENTIES have s h o w n
that a cynical despair regarding
politics only serves the interest of
the status quo. Successful impeach-
ment would foster the belief that
there is still a reason to act poll-
tically, that some popular victor-
ies however small can still be won.
These limited victories must be
plrsued, but only with the under-
standing that if greater victories
are to be won, the American peo-
ple must be given more than the
pseudo-choice between Nixons and
Fords or Kennedys and Jacksons.
Corporations strike oil
0M PHILLIPS Petroleum Co. pleaded
guilty on Tuesday to making an Il-
legal $100,000 contribution to President
Nixon's reelection campaign. It was rou-
tine enough; the company and its chair-
man each paid a nominal fine for what
has become a routine crime.
Looking back on it, however, the con-
tribution was more than somewhat
strange. The Nixon Administration, as
well as most of its predecessors, hardly
needs financial inducement from the oil
companies to favor them in its policies.
Wednesday, for instance, the adminis-
tration decided to let refiners increase
the price of heating oil by two cents a
gallon while a one cent a gallon reduc-
tion in price was ordered for gaosline
refiners.
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Dan Blugermon, Della DiPietro,
Chris Parks, Gene Robinson, Judy Rus-
kin, Jeff Sorensen
Editorial Page: Marnie Heyn, Zach Schil-
ler
Arts Page: Diane Levick
Photo Technician: John Upton
Thus, at a time when the administra-
tion would have us believe that the na-
tion faces a serious energy crisis, the
laissez faire carrot and stick approach
is being used to deal with the problem.
"Line your pockets," the government says
to heating oil refiners--and therein lies
the solution to the crisis.
ONLY THE PRICE increase --- amount-
ing to an estimated seven per cent
rise in home-heating bills-will be felt
by consumers. The reduction in gasoline
prices is something we will never see.
Once again, the public is the loser
while the oil companies are treated gin-
gerly.
Most of America's oil corporations are
making the highest profits in their his-
tories. The administration's slap-on-the-
wrist reluctance to deal with the com-
panies effectively is most enlightening.
It heightens our worry that the whole
fuel crisis is fabricated, but also pro-
vides a crystal-clear indication of who
the administration cares about most: the
powers, not the people.
With a little bit of
By RICHARD CONLIN
MIL LOCKWOOD hasn't won an
election since 1966, when he
was elected to the State Senate
from a rural and safely Republican
district surrounding his home town
of St. Louis in Gratiot County, some
50 miles north of Lansing.
In 1970, he was serving as Sen-
ate Majority Leader, and after a
fierce fight at the Republican Con-
vention, was nominated for Secre-
tary of State, only to lose in the
fall to D~emocrat Richard Austin.
M Many defeated candidates return
to private life, some to run again
in future elections. Others receive
appointive posts, or go into the
governmental administration.
Emil Lockwood chose a third
route: he became a lobbyist.
LOCKWOOD HAD always been a
powerful politician; as Senate Ma-
jority Leader with a Republican
governor, he had a lot of influence
over state decision making. And
he had a lot of highly-placed con-
tacts. One could anticipate that he
would be a successful lobbyist.
In fact, Lockwood approached
lobbying as if he were trying to
corner the market.
In 1972 he started a lobbying firm
in combination with Jerry Coomes,
a Democrat and formerly Admin-
istrative Assistant to State Senator
Jerry Hart, thus covering b o t h
sides of the aisle.
By mid-1973 this firm reportedly
had total billings of over a quar-
ter million dollars. Their clients
included Detroit Edison, the State
Bar of Michigan, the Michigan
Road Builders Association, B i u e
Shield, Provincial House, Minne-
sota Mining and Manufacturing,
Associated Underground Contract-
ors, Michigan State Pharmaceuti-
cal Association, and the Michigan
Nursing Homes Association.
A LOT OF PEOPLE say t h a t
Emil Lockwood still runs tle State
Senate; a lot of companies t hI a t
wanttlegislative action seem to
agree.
PIRGIM ran across Emil L o c k-
wood early this summer, in the
course of its investigation of near-
ing aids. It seems that the Michi-
gan Hearing Aid Society (the deal-
er's organization) has retained
Lockwood for a reported $1200 a
month, plus expenses, to make sure
that stricter regulation of hear-
ing aid dealers never comes to
pass.
In the course of our investgati31,
however, we ran across a role that
Lockwood played that far oversteps
the normal bounds of lobbying.
A lobbyist, as defined by Mich-
igan law, seeks to influence de-
cisions of the legislature. Ilowever,
Emil Lockwood was deeply involv-
ed in an administrative decision
relating to State purchase of hear-
ing aids.
THE CRIPPLED Children's Di-
vision of the Michigan Department
of Public Health purchases hearing
aids for children with severe hear-
lobbying...
Senator Charles Zollar, Chairman
of the Senate Appropriations Com-
mittee, Emil Lockwood, and repre-
sentatives of several state agencies
and a hearing aid consumer group.
The Michigan Department of
Public Health and the Crippled
Children's Division maintained that
dealer cost plus $125 was adequate
and that any increase would be ex-
ploiting the taxpayers to provide
more profit to the dealers.
ONE PARTICIPANT pointed out
that the total sum involved was
only $200,000 of the $75-million De-
partment of Public Health bud-
get; another participant remarked,
"The taxpayers won5t even notice
it."
It was also noted that !Ie DPH
budget could be cut by the Senate
Appropriations Committee if t h a t
body became unhappy with Public
health's position.
A figure of cost plus $180 w a s
finally accepted by Public Health.
The extra $55 per aid will cost
the Michigan taxpayer $27,500 per
year.
It is clear that in this meet'ng
the public interest was not served
or realistically even considered.
In fact, the governing process was
corrupted by the influence of a
paid lobbyist who sought a spelial
favor for his clients, and was able
to persuade or coerce government
officials to go along.
Richard Conlin is a staff mem-
ber of PIRGIM.
Emil Lockwood
ing loss. After a long initial strug-
gle, prices for State purchase were
set at a standard rate of .vholesale
cost plus $125. This in itself is
approximately a 100 per cent mark-
up for the retail dealer on an ef-
fortless sale, since the Stage does
the diagnosis and fitting.
Even so, in 1972 the dealers de-
manded more money.
After another long stru-gle, a
meeting took place in a Capitol
office in December of 1972, with
Letters to the Daily
racism affairs;
,, sm O The latest move, secured by a
To The Daily: narrow vote at the last SGC meet-
RECENT EVENTS have shown ing was a resolution to scrap the
that there is an organized effort University's Affirmative A c t i o n
to promote racism on campus, and Program. The program is designed
to wipe out democratic gains made to implement the Black Action
by the student movement. Consider Movement (BAM) demands, which
the following: were agreed to by the University
0 Since Lee Gill was elected as after thousands of students, black
president of SGC, he has been ac- and white, went on strike for 12
cused of embezzlement, theft, cov- days:
er-up, illegally holding office, and The University is threatening
fixing the elections. There has not to reduce the budget of the Afro-
been a shred of evidence to prove American Center and cut oit h e r
any of these charges. Those that parts of the Affirmative Action
have been brought before the Cen- Program;
trai Student .udiciarv hnve been 0 Black Tniversity officiais are
dent body in SGC. The racist re-
action to this began with an at-
tack on Lee Gill, and escalated to
an all-out attack on all of the
gains which have been won by
white and non-white alike in the
struggle against racism.
Opponents of the BAM demands
are again claiming that these new
programs are racism in reverse. In
reality these programs are design-
ed to overcome the institutional
racism that has always been i part
of the University and American so-
ciety.
Special programs are needed to
help overcome the special oppres-
priornes
To The Daily:
IN REPLY TO Dr. T. A. Hep-
penheimer, concerning the Uni-
versity's real priorities: true sig-
nificance and greatness lies not
in Nobel laureates, strong depart-
ments, or overall academic excel-
lence. It resides in the heart, in
those who care to try to exceil,
to do well, to learn. Bo Schem-
bechler has demonstrated that he
has that kind of spirit. I have
never heen sn nrond of the fot-
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