Page 4-Sunday, January 22, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Eighiv-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 93
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
More guns, less credibility
The Friday Night Massacre
D URING THIS WEEK of President
Carter's State of the Union mes-
sage many critics have castigated the
Administration for its lack of substan-
ce. Certainly in its first year Carter has
left unfulfilled promises made to the
American people in the heat of his cam-
paign for the Presidency.
But now it appears that in at least
one specific area, the budgetary ap-
propriations for defense, Carter is not
only not fulfilling a campaign promise,
he is plotting a course of action in direct
conflict with statements he made
during the campaign.
The budget that Carter will send to
Congress on Monday will include an in-
crease in military spending overall and
an increase in arms sales. This despite
the fact that Carter the campaigner
pledged to end the United States' role as
arms salesman to the world.
In fiscal year 1979 this country will
supply the global community with more
foreign aid in the way of outright grants
to be used for military spending, supply
them with more weapons outright, and
train more foreign soldiers on
American soil than in fiscal year 1978.
The Administration's reasoning for
its failure to reverse the ballooning
trend in defense appropriations is weak
at best.
, First we are told that many of the
arms deals were "on paper" before the
people -from Georgia started living in
the White House.
IF.A REDUCTION in arms sales to
foreign powers was truly an inten-
tion of the new Administration, then the
benefactors of our military technology
would have been informed that, no mat-
ter what their order of arms was a year
ago, there would be smaller servings
for everyone the next time around.
Another bit of illogic presented by
the Administration for our consumption
involves provisions for increased arms
sales to Middle East nations. By this,
Carter doesn't reflect his own highly-
publicized confidence in an eventual
Arab-Israeli settlement.
Boosting the arms shipments to the
area while at the same time calling for
a permanent peace is contradictory.
The newest outlays of huge military
grants to nations worldwide indicate a
trend toward increasing arms sales, not
toward reducing them.
If Carter had intended to blow the
defense budget up even more than his
predecessor, why didn't he just tell us
so? No doubt the answer is related to
the fact that Carter had to convince us
to elect him to the position he occupies
now.
EDITORIAL STAFF
ANN MARIE LIPINSKI
JIM TOBIN
Editors-in-Chief
LOIS JOSIMOVICH...................Managing Editor
GEORGE LOBSENZ ..................Managing Editor
STU McCONNELL....................... Managing Editor
JENNIFER MILLER....................Managing Editor
PATRICIA MONTEMURRI ............... Magaging Editor
KEN PARSIGIAN........................ Managing Editor
BOB ROSENBAUM ...................... Managing Editor
MARGARET YAOanagMaaging Editor
SUSAN ADES JAY LEVIN
Sunday Magazine Editors
ELAINE FLECTCHER TOM O'CONNELL
Associate Magazine Editors
STAFF WRITERS: Susan Barry, Richard Berke, Brian Blan-
chard, Michael Beckman, Lori Carruthers, Ken Chotiner, Eileen
Daley, Lisa Fisher, Denise Fox, Steve Gold, David Goodman,
Elisa Isaacson, Michael Jones, Lani Jordan, Janet Klein, Garth
Kriewall, Gregg Krupa, Paula Lashinsky, Marty Levine, Dobilas
Matunonis, Carolyn Morgan, Dan Oberdorfer, Mark Parrent,
Karen Paul, Stephen Pickover, Christopher Potter, Martha
Retallick, Keith Richburg, Diane Robinson, Julie Rovner, Dennis
Sabo, Annmarie Schiavi, Paul Shapiro, R. J. Smith, Elizabeth
Slowik, Mike Taylor, Pauline Toole; Sue Warner, Jim Warren,
Linda Willcox, Shelley Wolson, Tim Yagle, Mike Yellin, Barbara
Zahs, Jim Zazakis
Mark Anarews, Mike Gilford, Richard Foltman
Weather Forecasters
SPORTS STAFF
KATHY HENNEGHAN ..................Sports Editor
TOM CAMERON......... ..Executive Sports Editor
SCOTT LEWIS . .Managing Sports Editor
DON MacLACHLAN .......... Associate Sports Editor
JOHN NIEMEYER.....,............. Contributing Sports Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Paul Campbell, Ernie Dunbar, Henry Engel-
hardt, Jeff Frank, Gary Kicinski, Rick Maddock, Brian Mar-
tin, Bob MiHer, Brian Miller, Dave Renbarger, Cub Schwartz,
Errol Shifman and Jamie Turner.
By ROD KOSANN
The word came over the news
wires Friday evening. Acting for
President Carter, Attorney Gen-
eral Griffin Bell had lowered the
political axe on David Marston,
U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia. At
that point Mr. Marston has be-
come the first political casualty
of 1978, and the same people who
brought you the Bert Lance af-
fair, and the Jody Powell smear
of Charles Percy, are now pre-
senting to the public the "Friday
Night Massacre."
As U.S. Attorney in the city of
brotherly love, David Marston
vigorously pursued wrongdoers
in high places. Appointed eigh-
teen months ago by President
Ford, he has since brought down
three prominent Pennsylvania
politicos - two of them Demo-
crats and one a Republican. Since
the task of a U.S. attorney is os-
tensibly that of finding dirty han-
ds where there should be clean
ones, it seemed that Mr. Marston
was doing a splendid job. Unfor-
tunately, splended jobs don't
count for much where politics is
concerned, and for that reason
Marston has been handed his
walking papers.
THIS WHOLE AFFAIR first
came to the surface last week at
President Carter's news confer-
ence. When first questioned about
Mr. Marston, the President de-
nied having heard the name until
it started to appear in the press.
However, upon further question-
ing Mr. Carter recalled a phone
conversation he had with Repre-
sentative Joshua Eilberg, a
Democrat from Pennsylvania, in
which Mr. Eilberg requested that
the removal of Mr. Marston be
"expedited." Mr. Carter in turn
relayed the message to U.S. At-
torney General Griffin Bell, and
inquired "why it was taking so
long" to find a replacement for
the Philadelphia attorney.
What President Carter and Mr.
Bell may, or may not, have
known at the time was that Eil-
berg was under investigation by
Mr. Marston's office. The alleged
wrongdoing involved kickbacks
that Representative Eilberg's
law firm might have received
from a Philadelphia hospital
which had won a $65 million fed-
eral grant. The President and At-
torney General first denied any
knowledge of such an investiga-
tion, but late this week the Jus-
tice department confirmed that
the probe was indeed in progress.
THE REASON CITED by the
Carter administration for, Mr.
Marston's replacement 'is that
the administration is seeking
U.S. attorneys with a substantial
amount of trial background. Mr.
Marston has been recognized as a
capable administrator, but Mr.
Carter claims that "he had never
had -any prosecuting experien-
ce." Nontheless, Mr. Marston's
lack of skill has not prevented
him from compiling a record that
can only be termed outstanding;
and as one reporter covering the
Justice Department noted, the
U.S. attorneys appointed by Car-
ter for Las Vegas and Los
Angeles have "little or no such
experience."
Why then the sacking of Mr.
Marston? Pure and simple, the
reason is politics, and whether or
not the term political (and pos-
sibly criminal) coverup might
apply to the whole'affair will de-
pend on the public's learning ex-
actly what Carter and Bell knew
of the Eilberg investigation. At-
torney General Bell flatly admit-
ted to political machinations
when he said, "the in party right
now, happens to be the Demo-
crats. They can get in to com-
plain probably faster than any
other party right now. That's the
system we have. So,.there are a
lot of complaints about Mr. Mar-
ston. They say we ought to have a
Democrat as U.S. attorney in
Philadelphia." Undoubtedly,
some will say that Mr. Bell is
right and "well, that's politics."
However, it is this type of politi-
cal patronage, which gives little
regard to merit or achievement,
that Mr. Carter has been deriding
ever since he entered the public
spotlight.
WHILE CAMPAIGNING for
the Presidency, Mr. Carter prom-
ised that the U.S. Attorneys
would be selected "strictly on the
basis of merit without any con-
sideration of political aspects or
influence." It was these sort of
pledges that got Mr. Carter elec-
ted, as he rode into office on a
reputation of honesty, integrity
and clean-political dealings. The
removal of David Marston goes
against the grain of this image,
and leaves Mr. Carter's own foot-
prints on his Presidential tongue.
Making things even thornier
for Mr: Carter is- a statement by
Gene Zack, Representative Eil-
berg's. administrative assistant.
Mr. Zack said that the Philadel-
phia Congressmen, all Demo-
crats, believe Mr. Carter "owes
them something" for their aid in
.the Presidential campaign, and
that "we have often reminded the
White House of that help." To
make good on that debt Mr. Mar-
ston has been made the sacrific-
ial lamb, but one can only wonder
if justice is the full price being ex-
tracted.
Had President Carter retained
Mr. Marston, all charges of "po-
litical favoritism" and "cover-
up" might have been avoided. He ;
didn't. Consequently, he will be
forced both to hear those charges
and to answer them. After his
Friday meeting with Mr. Bell,
Marston quoted the Attorney
General as saying that he was not
"inclined to reconsider" the de-
cision. Whether or not the Ameri-
can people are "inclined to re-
consider" the question of Mr.
Carter's integrity will prove a
wholly different matter.
"
Rod Kosann is a frequent
contributor to the Daily's
Editorial page.
Editorials which appear without a by-line represent a con-
' ' 's editorial board. All other editorials
census opinion of the Datly 9
as well as cartoons, are the opinions of the individuals who. sub-
X. them.
i
.LOOKING BACK,
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
writing good'
T F JOHNNY can't write by 1986, it
1 won't be the fault of this University.
LSA faculty members approved last
week a college-wide English compo-
sition requirement that will soon re-
place the present one-term composition
class that for years has been the maxi-
mum writing requirement for Univer-
sity students. The class, which writers
slept through and non-writers dreaded,
will soon be only part of a larger pro-
gram that will include an upperclass
writing requirement for all LSA stu-
dents as well as an assessment of writ-
ing skills for all incoming students star-
ting with the class of 1982.
For those who already know how to
turn a phrase with commas and colons
in tact, the new program offers a re-
spite from composition training: if the
assessment shows a student can write,
he or she can skip comp class alto-
gether. If, however, the assessment
shows the student can't, there's a 1-4
credit tutorial in store for him/her, fol-
lowed by the traditional freshman com-
position class.
The upperclass requirement still
hasn't been specified by the faculty
bo4rd who voted the new provisions in,
brit possibilities include the creation of
waiting courses within all LSA depart-
ments or the integration of writing
skills into existing course material.
The decision of the LSA faculty - de-
As one LSA sophomore put it after the
Monday decision: "People should be
able to write."
ticked off
THE UNIVERSITY'S eight Regents
are usually a calm, respectable
crew. They sit back and yawn as Rob-
ben Fleming and his vice-presidents lay
Health, Education, and Welfare.
HEW's Office of Civil Rights had
threatened to have federal funds pulled
from the University's coffers if admini-
strators didn't make assurances that
they would turn around their affirma-
tive action record.
A couple of Regents, most notably
Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor) and Sarah
University's crummy affirmative ac-
tion record, but on the federal gov-
ernment for trying to enforce its ow
guidelines. The Office of Civil Right
report said the University still pays
men more than women in most staff
positions, doesn't keep track of its af-
firmative action programs well, and
has demonstrated a lack of support for
Affirmative Action Director Gwen
Baker. The Regents have sat quietly
through month after month of meet-
ings, never worrying about all that; but
when a challenge to their authority
comes up, watch out. Well, what the
hell. Power's husband isrunning for the
U.S. Senate, and Baker probably will be
soon. Nothing like a Regent on the run.
"
the cutting edge
t WAS CLEAR last week that the
era of tight money for the Univer-
sity is only deepening. Vice-'resident
for Academic Affairs Harold Shapiro
announced on Monday that admini-
strators will have to pare $2 million out
of various University programs be-
cause of a large and unexpected deficit.
The main reason is a curious one:
students are apparently electing fewer
credit hours than normal, and thus pay-
ing less tuition. Enrollment is down
only slightly; it is the actual number of
classes being taken that has caused the
rl,. ~
controversies may be cleared up soon.
A Michigan Employment Relations
Commission (MERC) judge has been
ordered to hear arguments and decide
whether the Graduate Employes' Or-
ganization (GEO) is really a union or
just a bunch of uppity graduate stu-
dents. Until now, nobody has really
known for sure.
Even since the union's birth in 1974,
University officials have muttered that
GEO is not a legal union, that most of
the work they do is an integral part of
their status as students, and that they
therefore have only a questionable
right to organize.
When he was faced with the same
issue in August, Judge Shlomo Sperka
said the issue had been resolved in 1973,
when the Michigan Supreme Court
ruled that University Hospital interns
and residents were both students AND
employes, and thus entitled to organize
as a union. But last Thursday MERC
ordered Shlomo to reconsider, and the
University is now rubbing its hands in
anticipation. The order by MERC "is
just what we asked for," said Univer-
sity labor lawyer Bill Lemmer. If
Shlomo decides GEO lacks the right to
exist, it's a little piece of paradise for
the administration - goodbye union,
goodbye troublesome negotiations,
goodbye yearly pay raises, goodbye
barrassingly low. In fact, the only sur-
prise in'the report was that minority
enrollment, including black student
enrollment, had dropped even further
from the elusive fen per cent mark. '
According to the report issued from
the vice-president's office, black-".
enrollment at the University.- plunged
from the 7.2 per cent mark of 1976 to the
1972. low of 6.6 per cent. Likewise,
minority enrollment on a whole fell'.: y
from 10.2 per cent in 1976 to 9.5 per cent
last fall.
This report, with its annual disap-
pointment, annually brings to mind the
Black Action Movement (BAM) strike".
of 1970, and its sister, BAM II of 1975; as
well as the promise that grew out of t;
those protests : the University, to offset °,
the decline in minority enrollment,
would provide by 1973 enough financial
aid funding to allow a black enrollment
level of ten per cent.
The money was provided, but ad-
ditional problems-including a strike
by Detroit school teachers the year of--
ter the University's promise which shut
down city public schools in the fall, th-
warting University recrutiment effor-
ts-offset much of the effect of the fun-.r.
ds.
Many have charged that the Univer-
sity has not tried hard enough to attract ,
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