eiw frdywn imaith Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Ml 48104 Saturday, April 3, 1976 News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan THIRD WARD FIFTH WARD Hanks willing to learn Black has sensitivity FIRST WARD Autin- SHRP's best IE DAILY ENDORSES the So- cialist Human Rights Party (SHRP) write-in candidate in the First Ward, Diana Autin. Although her affiliation with the waning third party and her status as a write-in candidate severely ham- per her chances for winning, we believe she is the First Ward con- stituency's best bet, and by far the party's most viable candidate. Autin, 21, a law student at the University, has taken what we feel are the correct stands on two of the election's three ballot propos- als. She is supporting door to door voter registration, and opposing the repeal of preferential voting.. However, she opposes an increase in property taxes to fund street re- pairs, which the Daily supports. Beyond the standard campaign issues, Autin is also advocating the establishment of a civilian control board of the police force, which we feel is a commendable proposal. Further to her credit, she has re- mained a good distance from the flurry of cheap shots and invective that has characterized this year's campaign in the First Ward. Unlike Autin, Democrat Ezra Rowry has not forcefully address- ed himself to the issues. He offers no substantive rent control pro- posals, and maintains that as long as there is adequate Council repre- sentation, the problems of police- community relations would be largely solved. Autin, however, ad- vocates prohibiting police use of firearms and staffing the Human Rights Department with the peo- ple of the minorities and oppressed ON FIRST GLANCE, THIRD Ward Democratic challenger Martin Black seems to espouse many of the same policies as Republican in- cumbent Roger Bertola on issues that relate especially to the Third Ward, such as pet control, road re- pair and rising property taxes. But despite the many similarities between the two contenders, Mar- tin Black must be considered the better candidate, if only for his su- perior sensitivity to the commun- ity-wide needs and problems of Ann Arbor. In particular, Black has made clear that he is concerned with the problems confronting the citizens who most need effective reppre- sentation on City Council: the un- der - privileged. Black has stated that his num- ber one budget priority is social services. He favors the increased allocation of funds to such pro- grams as day care centers and free dental clinics. Clearly, these types of service are essential to the well-being of a large number of Ann Arborites, especially lower-in- come groups. A simple example might be the single mother or father with small children who desperately need adequate day care centers in order to be able to work. For many Ann Arborites, continu- ation of services like these is not a luxury but a necessity. MEANWHILE, REPUBLICAN Rog- er Bertoia has chosen to em- phasize that stale old GOP pass- word, fiscal responsibility. Ber- toia's preoccupation with this issue hardly suggests an interest in pro- viding the kind of responsive, pro- gressive government Ann Arbor needs right new. Bertoia's past record illustrates his lack of concern for the less for- tunate. He has demonstrated a hostility towards the further fund- ing of essential social services, spe- cifically. numerous CDRS projects. Bertoia has chosen to focus on issues that cater to moneyed in- terests. A prime example of this A{ f' JN THE FIFTH WARD race, The Daily endorses Democrat Judy Hanks. Incumbent Lou Belcher, an ex- perienced politician, has a Council voting record which shows very lit- tle deviation from the standard Republican line. His efforts have mainly dealt with improvement of municipal services, to the detri- ment of human service budget al- locations. Belcher's opponent has practic- ally no political expertise aside from a large amount of time spent working with community organiza- tions. She also does not have a strong chance of winning in the predominantly Republican ward. However, she shows a willingness to learn more about and work hard on a variety of Council affairs. The Daily endorses Hanks be- cause of her interests in revitaliz- ation of City Council are spread over a larger area than are Belch- er's. Belcher has shown a reluct- ance to expand human services in the city, claiming that many of them are "rip-offs". IJANKS, ON THE OTHER hand, endorses not only comprehen- sive solutions to municipal prob- lems such as the poorly maintain- ed streets and lack of downtown housing (she opposes the one-mill property tax ballot proposal be- cause it is only "stop-gap", and supports a downtown renewal of housing program) - she also sup- ports action to increase city job opportunities as well as advocating better coordination of city human services to save tax money. Hanks supports the preferential voting system and door-to-door vo- ter registration, two democratic procedures which allow for more citizen input on city elections. Belcher opposes both. Black Hanks Autin they are charged to pprotect-wo- men, blacks, and gays. WENDELL ALLEN, the Republi- can, refuses to come to grips with the basic problem in this ward which has Ann Arbor's highest concentration of black citizens- race. Allen thinks race relations should be taken out of politics al- together, a simple-minded and dis- missive attitude to a serious prob- lem. Although the odds against Diana Autin are painfully steep, we be- lieve that a write-in vote for her on Monday will best serve the in- terests of Ward One voters. would be Bertoia's support for the expansion of the Ann Arbor air- port, hardly a high-priority facili- ty for the majority of Ann Arbor- ites. In short, Bertoia's tired call for fiscal security, his disregard for the problems of the underprivigeged, his championing of special interest causes, does not exemplify the be- havior of an aware, responsive council member. Therefore, since there is little substantial difference between the two candidates on ward issues, Third Warders are asked to make a choice on the basis of the over- all philosophies of each man. THEY CAN CAST their vote for the incumbent, Bertoia, who dedicates himself to representing privileged interests while offering no constructive program of any sort. Or they can chose challenger Martin Black, a man who recog- nizes community - wide interests and needs and wishes to deal with them. Hanks, although self-admitted- ly on the more conservative end of her party's ideological spectrum, maintains a much more liberal stand than the incumbent on im- portant issues such as police use of guns. FINALLY, HANKS WOULD pro- vide one more woman on the overwhelmingly male council. And she would see to it, she has stated, that some women get on the all- male city administrative staff. She also claims she will have more time to do her Council homework since she is a housewife without a full- time job. Hanks' input on Council, in view of her broad and liberal interests on city affairs, can only aid the body in becoming more responsive to the people who elect it. Retain Preferential SECOND WARD Greene: Pragmatic We hope they Black. choose Martin THE DAILY STAFF endorses Earl Greene, Democratic candidate in the Second Ward. He is opposed by Diane Kohn of SHRP and James Reynolds, a Republican. Greene is armed with a formid- able understanding of city issues, a realistic attitude towards work- ing within the city's political struc- ture, and an industrious enthusi- asm for city affairs. The soft-spok- en Democrat calls himself a "sensi- ble liberal" and is definitely a strict party man. He espouses real- istic ideas on the housing problem, advocating more housing inspec- tors and the annual reporting of rental and vacancy rates. He also supports collective bargaining for tenants and would support a tem- porary rent price freeze.. The SHRP candidate, Kohn, is able, but we cannot endorse her because her political style does not adequately offset her weak party position. SHRP Is gasping for its last breaths in electoral politics. The SHRP voice, commanding in the past, is now muted. A single radical council member must bend to other parties on council at the opportune times, and must handle the responsibility in a cool, intelli- gent manner. OUTGOING SHRP councilwoman Kathy Kozachenko, openly dis- enchanted with City Council, has been unable to move any of her significant policies In the past year. Kohn is competent and has a better attitude than Kozachenko towards city politics, but her un- compromising style would hinder her effectiveness on City Council. We would encourage any Repub- lican In the Second Ward to bolt Edi orial positions represent consensus of the Daily staff. TODAY'S STAFF: News: Dana Baumann, Phil Foley, David Garfinkel, Jay Levin, Rob Meachum, Jeff Ristine, Bill Turque Editorial Page: Stephen Hersh, election endorsements 5 l~ - . Green(- the party for this year's city elec- tions. Reynolds, an LSA senior, knows virtually nothing about city politics and apparently hasn't made any effort to educate him- selft. Some have nicknamed him the "phantom candidate" because he has run an invisible campaign. Editorial Staff ROB MEACHUM BILL TURQUI!f< Co-Editors-in-Chief JEFF RISTINE . Managing Editor TIM SCHICK .......... Executive Editor STEPHEN HERSH EditorialDirector JEFF SORENSEN ................... Arts Editor CHERYL PILATE . . Magazine Editor . STAFF WRITERS: Susan Ades, Tom Allen, Glen Allerhand, MarcnBasson, Dana Baunan, David Blomquist, James Burns, Kevin Counihan, Jodi Dimick, Mitch Dunitz, Elaine Fletcher, Phil Foley, Mark Friedlander, David Garfinkel, Tom Godell, Kurt Harju, Charlotte Heeg, Richard James, Lois Josimovich, Torn Kettler, Chris Kochmanski, Jay Levin, Andy Lilly, .Ann Marie Lipinski, George Lobsenz, Pauline Lu-_ bens, Ter Maneau, Angelique Matney, Jim Nicoll, Maureen Nolan, Mike Norton, Ken Par- #; sigian, Kim Potter, Cathy Reutter, Anne Marie Sctiiavi, Karen Schulkins, Jeff Selbst, Rick Sobel, Tom Stevens, Steve Stojic, Cathi_ Suyak, Jim Tobin, Jim Valk, Margaret Yao, Andrew Zerman, David Whiting, Michael Beck- man, Jon Panstus and Stephen Kursman. FOURTH WARD Committed Kenworthy THE RACE FOR the Fourth Ward City Council seat presents lo- cal voters with a particularly clear-cut choice: They may elect a crusade-mind- ed Republican who has only rarely managed to keep her facts straight in any of her numerous anti-Dem- ocrat tirades. They may choose a Socialist Hu- man Rights Party candidate who prefers talking up the evils of mul- tinational corporations to facing the problems that beset Ann Ar- bor. Or they may choose Jamie Ken- worthy. In the two years he has held elective office, Kenworthy has shown himself a serious and com- mitted councilman. He has at- tempted to operate above the level of name-calling and slogan-shout- ing that has all-too-frequently characterized other Council mem- bers, treading the liberal-progres- sive path with restraint and intel- ligence. SOME PEOPLE CONSIDER Ken- worthy's ability to compromise a drawback, for example: he would rather not see rent control initiat- ed because it would cause more problems then it would solve, but if pushed on the issue he would vote for rent control. If there were no compromising in this town nothing would get done. A NN ARBORITES COULD BE in danger of seeing a minority mayor seated in City Hall after next April's elections - if prefer- ential voting for mayor (PV) is re- pealed by voters this spring. City Republicans back ballot pro- posal "B" to repeal preferential voting simply because it gives them a better chance of getting their candidate elected. PV ensures that Ann Arbor will not have a minority mayor on City Hall's payroll. Without PV, insti- tuted in 1974, there is a danger that the mayoral election fiasco of 1973 would be repeated in 1977 mayor's race. In 1973, without PV, former Republican Mayor James Stephenson was seated with only 48 per cent of the votes. Because of Ann Arbor's three party system - the Republican, Democrat and Socialist Human Rights Party (SHRP)-the liberal- radical votes tend to be split be- tween the socialists and Demo- crats. Without PV, this vote split- ting results in the conservative Re- publican party dominating city politics. UNDER PV, VOTERS are allowed to list their mayoral choices in order of preference. If no candi- Favor do! THE DAILY ENDORSES advisory ballot proposal "A" to support door-to-door voter registration which would make it as easy as possible to vote. Door to door registration has fulfilled its goals in Ann Arbor since local Democrats managed to pass a resolution establishing the system. Approximately 4,000 citiz- ens have been registered by the door-to-door deputy registrars since September, a sizeable addi- tion to the city's electorate. As election day nears, however, local Republicans are chorusing the date receives a clear majority of first place votes, the candidate with the least amount of votes is eliminated and has his or her sec- ond choice votes redistributed among the remaining mayoral hopefuls. The process is repeated until one candidate receives a clear majority. The Republicans have charged that PV is unconstitutional be- cause it undermines the one-per- son, one-vote concept. But it does not. Each voter still has one 'ote in deciding between the top two candidates and the election of a majority mayor is ensured. SOME HAVE ARGUED that Ann Arbor no longer needs PV be- cause the SHRP is apparently on its way down the road to oblivion. However, it is possible that may not be the case, and even if the so- cialist party runs no mayoral can- didate next year, there is a chance that another radical party would take its place. The city cannot afford to have another mayor who has only a mi- nority constituency. The Daily strongly urges Monday's voters to soundly defeat the proposal which would repeal PV. or to door J r a system's potential f o r abuse. Brushing aside the laudable pur- pose of the system, members of the GOP cite the possibility of regis- trar "campaigning" and tell tales of actual cases involving abuse, without offering any clear evidence that wrongdoing has taken place. This ballot proposal is too im- portant for some idle accusations to interfere in its passing. If we want to see a greater public in- volvement in the shaping of our policies, the passing of Ballot Pro- posal 'A', continuing door to door voter registration, would be a step in the right direction. Kenworthy And Kenworthy has shown his ability to see through emotional issues to the basic needs and con- cerns of local citizens, to remain unswayed by the political storms that have plagued City Council. BUT MANY OF THE programs he has advocated and worked for -re-evaluation of the police pay structure and more stringent hous- ing inspection, for example - have yet to be put into practice. rtHAT IS PERHAPS the most im- Patching the Potholes "'THE POTHOLE CAPITAL of the Midwest" has become the popular slogan in the city, in favor of Ballot Proposal C, a one-mill property tax issue which would al- lot $700,000 to upgrade Ann Arbor's roads. (A one-mill tax allots one dollar out of every thousand col- citizenry to maintain the status quo, and even critics would have to admit for that reason that de- feat is undesirable. "SOME OF THE (CITY) streets were built for horse and bug- gy, and now they have heavy trucks and buses on them," notes ,-U nic? +... + Anna-