The Michigan Daily
Vol. LXXXV, No. 13-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Friday, May 23, 1975 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
Prosecutor criticized
in Swainson hearing
LANSING (UPI) - The Michigan Supreme against Swainson as the result of a grand jury
Court and State Bar of Michigan blasted a fed- probe into allegations that he took a $40,000 bribe
eral attorney yesterday for predicting that Jus- from John Whalen in exchange for an appeal of
tice John Swainson will be indicted by a grand Whalen's. burglary conviction before the Su-
jury and questioning "the integrity of the ap- preme Court.
pellate courts of this state." Stephen Bransdorfer, president of the State Bar
Swainson, 49, testified twice this week before of Michigan, called Ozer's statements "deplor-
a grand jury in Detroit investigating bribery al- able."
legations. He removed himself from all court "Public statements by a prosecutor which sug-
deliberations Wednesday, after taking the Fifth gest that an allegation is in fact a foregone con-
Amendment before the grand jury. clusion, and which predict the likelihood of fur-
ther grand jury action, are wholly improper and
"THE BROAD - RANGING remarks attributed wholly unfair," Bransdorfer said.
to Mr. Robert Ozer, an attorney in the United
States Justice Department, as reported in the
media, call into question the integrity of the
appellate courts of this state, and in our opinion
are unprofessional and a grave disservice to the
people of this state," Chief Justice Thomas Giles
Kavanaugh said.
"We do strongly object to innuendos, exces-
sive and premature statements to the media, and
the encouragement of a continuous stream of
conjecture. Such a course of action is destruc-
tive of public confidence in our court system
and is totally indefensible."
Kavanaugh said the high court has "cooperated
fully with the Department of Justice and made
available our files and records to them."
OZER, chief of the Justice Department's Strike
Force in Detroit, said Wednesday he would "be
very surprised" if charges are not brought
"IF MR. OZER had stopped at this point, it
would have been bad enough. Unfortunately, he
felt compelled to in addition cast a cloud of sus-
picion over the entire appellate court system in
this state."
Ozer said the Strike Force will pursue its in-
vestigation within Michigan's appellate courts.
"I have more concern for the continuing in-
vestigation concerning such charges than in the
forthcoming charges against Swainson," he said.
"IF WE have reached the point where a Su-
preme Court justice can be influenced by a per-
son like John Whalen, the question that interests
me is not whether this occurred in this instance,
bit how there came to exist access of this kind
to the appellate judiciary."
See ATTORNEY, Page 10
AP Photo
MARSHALl FOUSBERG, owner of Marshall Plastic Firm
Inc. looks over the damage where winds of tornado intensity
destroyed over two-thirds of the processing section of the plant.
Estimated damage was over $100,00.
Legislature expected
to slash 'U' budget
By BILL TURQUE
Special To The Daily
LANSING - Members of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, putting the
final touches to higher education fund-
ing for fiscal 1975-76, expect to recom-
mend a state University allocation of
$110.7 million.
The figure represents a $15 million cut
from the University's original request,
and a $2 million hike over Governor
Milliken's budget projections for the
University.
UNIVERSITY administrators, not sur-
prised by the long-anticipated cut, have
adopted a wait-and-see attitude on the
bill, which is expected to leave com-
mittee next Wednesday. They indicated,
however, that serious internal realloca-
tions of funds are on the horizon, includ-
ing the increasing likelihood of a tuition
hike next fall.
Lawrence Fincher, assistant vice-pres-
ident for state relations, called the $110
million total "fair."
"That's about what we have been ex-
pecting," said Fincher. "Considering
how the budgetary process works, it's a
reasonable number."
"WE'RE GLAD that we are holding
steady at this point," added Richard
Kennedy, vice president for state rela-
tions. But he added the appropriation
"puts the University into a tough kind
of situation in terms of priorities."
While the bill still awaits formal ap-
proval from the committee and both
houses of the legislature, Sen. Bill Huff-
man (D-Madison Heights), Vice-chair-
man of the appropriations committee,
said yesterday he anticipates no major
change in the $110 million figure.
"I would say it's final," said Huff-
man.
DOUG SMITH, a legislative aide to
Sen. Gilbert Bursley (R-Ann Arbor),
said the House tends to whittle down ap-
propriations bills coming from the Sen-
ate. In this case, however, with only
$4.5 million in "new money" earmarked
for the University, Smith agreed that the
$11 million figure was likely to be fair-
ly stable.
While a complete breakdown of the
bill is not yet available, some salient
features of the measure include appro-
priations to the Medical School of $208,-
000 for enrollment funding, and $867,000
for general programming expenditures.
The budget will also include a three
per cent ceiling on inflationary expen-
ditures. This means that the allocation
as a whole can only be inflated three
per cent beyond the total state appro-
priation.
A MAJOR item, and one area in which
the University received considerably less
than it asked for, is utilities. The bill
calls for $715,000 to be allocated to utili-
ties, while the University asked for near-
See STATE, Page 6
AN ELDERLY Eskimo woman is helped from an evacuation helicopter by
a National Guardsman as she arrived in Bethel, Alaska Wednesday from
one of several Yukon villages which have been flooded by the Yukon and
Kuskakwim Rivers this spring.