C4 C trl ig rt tt1
BLAH
High-78
Low-53
Partly cloudy,
chance of showers
Vol. LXXXII, No. 36-S
Ann Arbor, Michigon-Friday, July 7, 1972
Ten Cents
Twelve Pages
Dems-' tension over delegates mounts
fByr PAUL TRAVIS
Special to The Daily
MIAMI BEACH - A cloud of
tension and uncertainty hangs
over this hot, muggy city as
more and more Democrats arrive
for what is sure to be a bitter
convention.
Many are fearful that the re-
sults may split the Democratic
Party so widely that it will have
no chance of defeating Presi-
dent Nixon in November.
The lines have already been
drawn for the all-important cre-
dential challenges Monday night
as party regulars and McGovern
reformers prepare to do battle.
Each side is putting forth a
united front and confidently pre-
dieting victory, but the final out-
come may rest on a number of
procedural questions.
The fighting may not all be
on the convention floor, however,
as a coalition of poor peoples
groups are planning a major de-
monstration Monda if their de-
mands for 750 delegate votes are
not met. It now appears that
The
Democratic
Convention
young whites, hippies, yippies
apd zippies may not show up in
mass numbers for fear of ruin-
ing McGovern's chances for the
nomination.
The tone of the protests and
outcome of the convention may
rest heavily on the results of
the opening night. Monday night
the entire convention will have to
decide whether or not McGovern
will be -allowed to keep all 271
delegates he won in the Cali-
fornia primary or whether 151
delegate seats will be distributed
proportionally to the other can-
didates who ran in that pri-
mary.
The convention will also decide
the fate of Chicago Mayor Rich-
ard Daley and his slate of 59 Il-
linois delegates who were unseat-
ed by McGovern forces last week
at the Credentials Committee
hearings in Washington.
Both matters are presently be-
,ng appealed to the Supreme
Court, but it appears likely that
the final decision will rest with
the convention. The outcome
may hinge on what order the
credential challenges come up.
If Californ a precedes Illinois,
as according to roll call, then
the 59 newly seated Illinois dele-
gates will be eligible to vote on
the California challenge. At
least 50 are counted as sure Mc-
Govern votes, which should sup-
ply the margin to decide t he
California question.
But if Illinois precedes C a 1 i-
fornia, then the anti-McGovern
forces may have enough votes to
return Daley and his delegation
to their seats and go on to win
the California vote with the help
of the Daley forces.
Whatever the outcome, there
are fears that the Democratic
Party may not be able to survive
the antagonism that the floor
fights are sure to generate.
More and more party regulars
and influential labor leaders have
said that McGovern spells certain
doom for the party in November.
Calling him "another Goldwater"
some have indicated that they
would give little if any support
to McGovern if he runs against
Nixon in the November election.
This is adding fuel to t h e
strong "stop McGovern" move-
ment, a coalition of Humphrey,
Muskie, Wallace, Jackson and
Mills forces which banded togeth-
er in Washington to deny Mc-
Govern the total California dele-
gation. The focus of the "stop
See TENSION, Page 9
Supreme Court
may decide fate
of Cal.
WASHINGTON -- Chief
Justice Warren Burger yes-
terday blocked indefinitely a
lower court decision that re-
turned to Sen. George Mc-
Govern 151 California dele-
gates to the Democratic Na-
tional Convention.
Burger acted as he attempted
to contact the other eight vaca-
t'oning U.S. Supreme Court
Justices to learn if there is
sufficient support to call for a
rare special session to decide
the case.
Also suspended by the Chief
Justice's action was the second
portion of the District of Colum-
bia Appeals Court decision which
upheld the Credentials Com-
mittee's expuls'on of Chicago
Mayor Richard J. Daley and 58
other Illinois delegates.
The Appeals Court earlier is-
sued a stay of its own decision
that was scheduled to expire at
2 p.m. yesterday. Burger's one
sentence order, issued shortly
before that hour, extended the
existing stay till further action
by the high court.
The Democratic Party asked
the high court to convene a rare
special term to hear its appeal.
The party contends that lower
court intervention in delegate
selection "very likely" will place
the federal judiciary in the role
of convention kingmaker.
At the same time, Daley forces
have asked vacationing justices
to sit in special term to gain
judicial action reinstating them
as delegates.
The court may sit with as few
as six of the nie justices pres-
ent.
The appeals court Wednesday
overturned the party's Creden-
tials Committee and ordered 151
California delegates returned-to
Sen. George S. McGovern. The
delegates
committee had stripped them
from the South Dakota senator
when. it decided to reverse the
winner-take-all state primary
and parcel out delegates to can-
didates according to the per-
centage of the primary vote they
received.
At the same time, the court
upheld the committee's rights to
unseat Daley and 58 other Illinois
delegates after finding they vio-
lated party rules on delegate
selection.
In asking the high court to
consider the case, the Demo-
cratic Party claimed the lower
court decision "has provoked a
fundamental constitutional crisis
which can be settled only by this
court."
Today is .. .
the last day for registering to
vote if you want to vote in the
August 8 primary elections. You
can register at the public lib-
rary or City Hall, third floor,
from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Use the
Power!
The seating of the California
delegates, the party brief said,
"and vy likely the presiden-
tial nomination itself-will be de-
termined, not by the political
process operative at the conven-
tion but by the mandate of a
lower federal court."
The Democrats contended the
decision threatens to cause a
fundamental c h a n g e in the
American political system by
expanding the role of the judi-
ciary into the affairs of political
parties further than ever before.
McGovern forces opposed the
party bid, saying "it Js par-
ticularly important that the pro-
cess in which the nominees of
the two major political parties
are selected conform to the dic-
tates of due process, equal pro-
tection of the law."
-Associated Press
A HUGE PHOTO mural of the late Robert Kennedy hangs in the Miami Beach convention hall as
final preparations are made yesterday for the Democratic National Convention.
ANTI-WAR ACT:
New 7egal' bomb crater dug
on RPPheadquarters lawn
By DAN BIDDLE
Avoiding further illegal anti-
war tactics, the Rainbow Peo-
ple's Party (RPP)' has created
a gaping hole in the middle of
its front lawn.
Some 75 shovel - swinging
Rainbow people gathered Tues-
day at the Hill Street head-
quarters for a symbolic bomb
crater dig in an effort to call
further attention to the devas-
tation of Indochina by the U.S.
war effort.
RPP said that the latest dig
was held on Rainbow property
to avoid "having any police
around to knock people down
or drag them off to jail."
Two earlier protest digs on
the Diag led to the arrest of 38
people for malicious destruction
of property and other charges.
RPP member Genie Plamon-
don said the new crater is in-
tended to "give the people of
Ann Arbpr a real sense of the,
destruction and terror suffered
by the people of Indochina ev-
ery day from U.S. bombs."
RPP is encouraging home-
owners "throughout Michigan
and the nation" to dig more
symbolic craters on their pro-
perty. According to Plamondon,
crater digs are planned in At-
lanta, Ga., and other cities.
Meanwhile, four people are
scheduled to go on trial July
20 for charges of willful and
malicious destruction of. Uni-
versity property at the original
May 19 Diag crater dig.
All four have pleaded not
guilty.
They face a maximum pen-
alty of 90 days imprisonment
or a $100 fine if convicted.
Thomas Bentley, the defense
attorney for the four, recently
described the charges as "un-
justified," and claimed that he
had "a very good chance" of
winning the case.
Thirty-five people arrested at
the June 17 Diag crater dig
face a pre-trial conference this
Tuesday on charges ranging
from possession of illegal fire-
crackers to assaulting of a po-.
lice officer.
RPP is presently gathering
evidence of alleged police bru-
tality at the June 17 dig. Pla-
mondon said the Rainbow Peo-
ple may "bring charges of ex-
cessive force" by police.
Ann Arbor police Chief Wal-
ter Krasny said, "The force that
we used was nacessary and can
be tested in court."
$5 pot 'fine
unused
See Story, Page 3