Page 4-Friday, June 1, 1979-The Michigan Daily FMichi gan Daily Eighty-nine Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI. 48109. Vol. LXXXIX, No. 22-S News Phone: 764-0552 -Edited and managed by students aft the University of Michigan 1I Letters to the Daily someone must make a clear Generalc Voters deserve primary system STATE REP. Alfred Sheridan (D-Taylor), who heads the House Elections Committee, wants to cancel Michigan's presidential primary due to its excessive expense and voter apathy. But scrapping the $3 million primary in order for par- ty leaders to pick the candidate is an un- democratic idea supported by weak reasoning. Primary opponents point to the 47 per cent of the electorate who voted in the 1972 primary and the 37 per cent who turned out in 1976 as a signal of disinterest. But those percentage points represent thousands of voters that care who sits in the Whit House. Actually over 1% million people voted in Michigan's last presidential primary-hardly a show of apathy. In the era of nonparticipation should lack of votes justify canceling other elections? Roughly 18,631 persons voted in the April city election, but there was no discussion of junking it., It seems much more sensible to combine state and presidential primaries, along with city elec- tions to save money and induce greater turnout. Voters might even read the tons of literature and think about the issues if elections occurred less frequently./ Mostly Democratic Michigan would probably swing that way in local elections if that party's candidate could benefit from the November tur- nout. Expectedly, this idea is not popular with area Republicans, who stand to lose on that proposition. Those who will gain more control over the primary system are also the ones who favor a caucus method of selecting primary candidates as well. State party leaders would have an undeser- ved grip on presidential recommendation if the primaryis canned." Precinct delegates are currently voted into their non-paid positions by their neighbors. The number of seats per party to a precinct is calculated according to the vote breakdown in the previous major election. This mechanism is truly a grassroots way of picking candidates, and much preferred to the faint representativeness of caucus selection. National Democratic rules regard Michigan's primary results as unrepresentative of Democratic support for a candidate due to the state's open primary system. : Therefore, Republicans could cross party lines and a false preview of general election would result. But national parties are not the only bodies who learn from primary votes. Michigan presents a more realistic barometer of support for candidates because individuals can make a choice on the basis of preference instead of party. We do not need to throw out the state's presiden- tial primary. Instead, wiser and thriftier methods of conducting it are in order. Sullivan principles statement that it is not enough: dens at t Some of my colleagues on switch. To the Daily: SAACFA have argued that my Governor A number of people have been vote fails to adequately represent equally g upset by my decision to abstain my constituency. My constituen- first deg on the final Senate Assembly Ad- cy has never supported the that Sp visory Committee on Financial Sullivan Principles. My con- premedit Affairs (SAACFA) report so I sitituency has repeatedly called forethoug believe an explanation is in or- for full, divestment and for cor its reven der. First, Iam not opposed to the porate withdrawal from South was five contents of the current report. In Africa. My constituency also un- Spenke fact, I assisted in drafting the derstands the importance of cor- era in wi recommendations which have porate sales to the South African to live in passed. They are good, to the ex- government. society- tend that the Sullivan Principles Finally, some of my colleagues uneducat are good. on SAACFA have asserted that and othei However, the report is not my abstention will jeopardize at exhor enough. Rather, it makes a virtue future student representation on asphxiate out of necessity. The original six faculty committees. Such an incinerat Sullivan Principles have now argument makes a mockery of Captial become South African policy. The student representation on faculty dangerou provision for no corporate expan- committees. is inflict sion is covered by the fact that In truth, however, I am more economi few U.S. companies intend to ex- concerned with the views of the The fact pand their South African intended beneficiaries of our white pro operations for economic reasons. policies. I am afraid that the glance a Rather than making a clear people who are struggling for also poor statement against corporate freedom in South Africa will look race is a compliance with apartheid, the at the SAACFA report and find it among th SAACFA report merely echoes sadly wanting. I am afraid that the natior the changes that have already they will look at SAACFA's We ha been made, failure to act on the most impor- Atlerian SAACFA had the option of tant contribution US. cor- tunate vi passing a recommendation which porations make to their op- stinctsM would ask the corporations to pression and question our com- Governor cease sale of goods and services mitment to ending apartheid. porters,v to the South African police, -Anne Fullerton the secur military, and several gover. SAACFA Student fies dun nmental departments connected Representative have be with defense and law enfor- Spenkel cement. smell th This option was rejected on the Capital punishment hear the grounds that a) we didn't have victim a enough information to monitor To the Daily: through h sales, and h it wouldkmean full Upon earning of John Spenke- The ws divestiture. It takes little link's execution in Florida and of was mur sophistication to understand the the barbarity with which the sen- heinous t contradiction in these argumen- tence was carried out, I conclude vindicate ts: either we know what our cor- that we Americans have no right in our sta porations are doing or we to criticize the Pakistanis for than the c don't-SAACFA can't have it hanging Bhutto or Khomeini for centratioi both ways. his present reign of terror in Iran. propriate Regarding the question of in- We who sanction-legal murder in of us who sufficient information, it should our own country can no longer ifeanxtred be noted that when Sullivan put denounce the bloodbaths that are forward his six principles, we taking place abroad. . impeachi knew next to nothing about cor- John Spenkelink was guilty of Graham, porate labor practices in South murder. So are - Governor who hav Africa. This has not deterred Graham, the members of the mare into Sullivan from pursuing his course Supreme Court, the Attorney of action; nor has it deterred the University from following in his footsteps, despite the fact that the information gap still exists. As OKAs-A VTSOME COMsON,NOW-PROWEeNT for the second point, the opponen- 140SFOR(SOUR TARER PEOPE -WILING TO LBUCLY ts of the sales recommendation .FR OpPOstLi5T"e-fOhJ W POSITIONS! offered no concrete evidence on "ENEMESL IST'! the actual number of cor- porations involved. Still others argued that we should not throw a company outw because of sales to the gover- nment when they are in full com- pliance with the Sullivan Prin- ciples. Consider for one moment the irony of a corporation which donates a computerized learning system to a high school whose children will later be denied the ",l ° right to vote because a computer manufactured by the same com- pany has classified them as Coloured. Enough said? Some of my colleagues on SAACFA have argued that my absention is a failure to take responsibility. I see it as an honest resolution of an ethical dilemma. I am not opposed to the 'i' SAACFA report but I do think of Florida, and the war- he prison who pulled the Those who support Graham's decision are guilty of murder in the ree. Nobody can deny enkelink's death was ated, with malice and ht. The public has had ge, and such revenge years in the making. link's death hails a new hich those deemed unfit our naive and bourgeois -the poor, the ed, the racial minorities, rs unable to buy justice bitant prices-will be d in gas chambers or ed in electric chairs. punishment is a s institution because it ed especially upon the cally disadvantaged that Spenkelink was vides only a superficial t the problem. He was , and poverty as well as common denominator ose who occupy cells on n's death rows. ve just entered into a era during which unfor- ctims of. our bestial in- will be burned alive. Graham and his sup- who remained locked in ity of their cozy little of- ng the execution, should en forced to watch nk's flesh turn black, [e sickening odor, and horrible scream of the s the first volt ripped is body. dy in which Spenkelink dered was far, far more han the crime which was d. The death chambers te prisons are no better rematories in Nazi con- n camps. The only ap- measure left for those despise Hitlerism and ne disrespect for human lignity is to demand the nent of Governor and the court officials e transformed a night- reality. --Karin Lindgren