Edited and managed by students at the
University of Michigan
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual
opinions of the author. This must be noted in all reprints.
THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1972 News Phone: 764-0552
Ste jiell's record
s e ks for itself
WITH THE COMING of the 18-year-old vote, alot of
people are scrambling for a chance to challenge U.S.
Congressman Marvin Esch (R-Ann Arbor) in November.'
And carrying the support of the party regulars,
State Rep. Marvin Stempien (D-Livonia) certainly
seems like the man to beat. But Stempien's record in the
State Legislature--which he displays proudly in the
more conservative eastern wing of the district makes a
mockery of his claims of being a liberal reformist.
Among Stempien's accomplishments in Lansing are
the following:
' April 1970. Stempien votes for H3913 which states
that within the city limits of Detroit, "students shall at-
tend the high school which is geographically closest to
his legal residence. This bill not only would stop busing,
it also rules out minimal re-drawing of school boundary
lines (as done in Ann Arbor) in order to facilitate late-
gration.
And another, unforeseen consequence of the pas-
sage of this bill was that it prohibits re-drawing school
boundary lines in order to
equalize attendance.
" January 1970. Rep. Stem-.
pien votes for H3800 which
established criminal penal-
ties for persons remaining in
college buildings after being
requested to 1 e a v e. The r
American Civil Liberties Un-
ion fervently opposed this
bill, contending that it makes
it a crime to disobey orders
which may violate f i r s t
amendment guarantees of
free speech and assembly.
* February 1970. Stempien
is co-sponsor of a bill that
iould have provided penalties
of up to one year in jail and
a $1,000 fine for "disrespect" State Rep. Stempen
for the American flag.
* April 1970. Stempien votes for H3656, which au-
thorized local officials to declare states of emergency.
This allows local officials to suspend basic constitutional
rights and to issue decrees with the force of law.
" May 1970. Stempien votes against increasing the
State Civil Rights Commission budget to the level re-
quested by Republican Governor William Milliken.
In addition, Rep. Stempien has taken public stands
on the following issues:
" Busing. Campaigning in Livonia, Stempien threat-
ened that he and other members of the House Appro-
priations Committee would go to jil for contempt of
court rather than comply with a order by Judge Stephen
Roth to purchase 295 buses to facilitate the Detroit area
school integration plan.
* Abortion reform. Stempien has opposed all lib-
eralization of abortion laws, except in cases of rape or
incest.
" Marijuana legalization. Although he maintains
that he is opposed to all laws against "victimless crimes,"
Stempien has opposed marijuana legalization and the
Michigan Marijuana Initiative petition drive.
IN VIEW of his record, Stempien's ratings by various
liberal groups are low.
The Michigan Women's political Caucus rated him
5/14-meaning that on 14 key bills designed to protect
women's rights, Stempien supported only five.
And on the American Civil Liberties Union list of
20 crucial issues facing the House between 1968 and
1970, Stempien voted the ACLU position on only four of
those twenty occasions. Further, he was absent for seven
of them.
Clearly, we have no use for Marvin Stempien in either
Lansing or Washington.
-ALAN LENHOFF
Summer Staff
EDITORIAL STAFF
Dan Biddle, Jan Benedetti, Meryl Gordon, Jim Kentch, Lorir
Labardee, Alan Lenhoff (co-editor), Diane Levick, Maynard, Chris
Parks, Carla Rapoport (co-editor) Marilyn Riley, Gloria Smith
Paul Travis, Ralph Vartabedian.
SPORTS STAFF
Bob Andrews, Dan Borus, Elliot Legow.
PHOTOGRAPHY STAFF
Thoughts as July fades
By A. VANT GARD
"Where I live, it gets so hot
in July that my geetar screams
when I touch 'er."
-Mississippi Fred McDowell
JULY IS purgatory. It has none
of the tingly thrills of spring,
nor the comforting order of Sep-
tember. It's hot, humid. Every-
thing your body touches sticks to
it. Your clothes drip with sweat,
your hair is suddenly a nuisance,
and you walk around in a perpet-
ual daze because the humidity
keeps you from steeping.
July is a month to bang your
head against the wall and say
I'm sorry" when you really don't
meat it at all, or even when you
mean just the opposite. It's a
month when you can excuse your-
self for not thinking or for being
misanthropic, intentionally enig-
matic or surprisingly self-contain-
ed.
And July is a teacher. Surely
without July we might all live
in an eternal, unrealistic May of r
our minds. July is a reminder that
life is only worth living if your
body is alive. So once a week you
break out of your world of lemon-
ade, fans, ice cubes, quaaludes and
sir conditioner' to go running
down a. street, screaming for oy
or dancing to the rhythm of a
song in your mind, you thought
you had forgotten months ago.
July is a month for remember-
ing, for forgetting, for re-arrang-
ing, and re-defining. After all, if
you've been off-course for the first
half of the year, you still have
another six months to try to at-
tain the heights of your own self-
expectations, or to make one last
stab at fulfilling your New Years'
resolutions.
BUT JULY is madness. It is as
red as Mars and as irrational as
sunstroke. It is hell on earth for
a month. A time you must choose
your course in life while you are
strapped to a bed with 10;000 wats
of glaring light bulbs staring a,
you, as your captor bares his teevih
and readies the rubber hoses.
And sometimes, there's j u s t -- -- -
nothing you can do but try to
hold on until the fall comes to re- Today's Staff .
store the order in your life. T S
News: Lorin Labordee, Diane Levick, Carla Rapoport
A. Vant Gard is a poten- Editorial Page: Alan Lenhoff
tial former member of The
Daily staff. Photo technician: Jim Wallace
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