Wednesday, July 9, 1975 THE MCHIGAN DAILY Page Three Group asks end to political freebies WASHINGTON (') - The staff of the $1,750,000 each exclusive of the donated congressman from Ann Arbor and Ro- THE DRAFT opinion submitted to the new Federal Election Conimission re- services. beat Tiernan, former Democratic con- panel yesterday included the following commended yesterday that political par- Robert Straus, Democratic National gressman from Rhode Island, argued language: ties be prohibited from accepting thous- Chairman, said it would be impossible to that the discussion would be freer if held -Federal law "makes it unlawful ands of dollars in free services at their put an exact value on the free services in private. for a corporation . . . to make a con- national conventions, "but they are very substantial." tribution to expenditure in connection The cost of most of those services - THE STAFF recommended that the with any political convention.." hotel rooms, convention hall, automo- THE COMMISSION had scheduled an national committees be allowed to ac- -"The phrase "contribution or ex- biles and even police protection - tra- open meeting to consider the staff re- cept a certain number of free hotel penditure, includes any direct or in- ditionally has been picked up by cor- commendation. But after a brief debate rooms but no more than is customarily direct payment, distribution, loan, ad- porations. it voted 4 to 2 to study the proposal in offered any large convention. vance, deposit,- or gift of money, or any BUT THE election commission staff advised the panel it believes such cor- porate contributions violate federal law. The commission began considering the proposal yesterday. In asking the commission for an ad- visory opinion, the Democratic and Re- publican National Committees noted that their 1972 conventions cost about private. There was no indication how quickly the panel would act. Chairman Thomas Curtis, former Re- publican congressman from Missouri;, opposed closing the meeting. "It's im- portant to let the public be educated right along with the commission," he said. But the majority, led by Vice Chair- man Neil Staebler, former Democratic Andrew Shea, convention manager for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), said the party would withhold comment until the commission had act- ed upon the staff recommendations, The commission was sworn in last April 14 to administer the Campaign Reform Act of 1974. It is empowered to interpret the law, but its opinions can be challenged in court. services or anything of value . " -"Thus, if these transactions convey any -money or services, or anything of value from the corporations in connec- tion with the conventions, they would be unlawful." -"The provision of free use of an au- ditorium or convention center, together with the goods and services necessary See FEC, Page 5 Ass't Atty.Gen. to inspect Ypsi State Hospital By DAVID WHITING Assistant Attorney General Thomas Wheeker will inspect Ypsilanti State Hospital today in connection with a lawsuit filed by two mental patients there who contend their constitutional rights are being violated by the state. An attorney representing the two patients, David Leacock and Fredrick Rattray, filed the suit last week challenging the Michigan Department of Men- tal Health's decision to close down the education and training ward in the hospital. THEIR DETROIT-BASED legal aid attorney, Larry Gilbert, argued yesterday that the patients' con- stitutional right to treatment was being infringed because "given the level of services on other wards (where his clients would be moved to) their mental condition is going to deteriorate." Ward Cl-3, the ward where Leacock and Rattray reside, was established in October 1973 as a unit for training new nursing attendants. The staff-pa- tient ratio is higher than anywhere else in the hos- pital-20 staff (on three shifts) to 21 patients--and a half-time activity therapist, while the two other activity therapists have caseloads of 105 and 195 patients. Gilbert contended that his two cilents, who have been in Ward C1-3 for about a year, have "definitely made progress since moving there because of the higher level of treatment they received on the ward." "It is not their right to live on C1-3-just to Six-year-ol See ASSISTANT, Page 7 a snooze om Pa. strike threatens 'deayofbegnefit checks By The Associated Press Thousands of office workers who help the jobless find work remained on strike yesterday, threatening to delay mailing of more than half Pennsylvania's unemploymentr checks, state officials said. The state went to court in an attempt to halt the strike and a hearing was set for today in federal court in Phila- delphia. MEANWHILE, New York City debated whether to impose nuisance taxes to save city jobs and labor disputes con- tinued in Connecticut and California. Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry Paul Smith said only 115,000 of almost 300,000 unemployment checks would go out this week if the strike continued. The average check is $75. THE REQUEST for a court injunction was aimed at 2,000 office workers belonging to the Pennsylvania Employment Security Employes Association or unions honoring its picket lines. Also on strike but not named in the court action was the Pennsylvania Social Services Union, representing 10,000 social workers. Their strike was holding up some case work, including interviews of new applicants and claims checking, to the state Welfare Department. Checks, however, were being sent out as usual. AP Photo OUt on a limb d Kevin Steen of Oberlin, Ohio, finds the broad and sturdy branches of a tree the perfect place for n a warm afternoon. Senate unit may question Nixon WASHINGTON (4-1)-The Sen- ate intelligence committee will ask Richard Nixon's lawyer whether the former president has information about assassin- ation plots and other alleged Central Intelligence Agency wrongdoing, Chairman Frank Church, (D-Idaho) said yester- day. "At this time we have no reason to believe that his tes- timony will be very important in connection with the assassin- ation issue," Church told re- porters. "Beyond the assassin- ation issue, we will have good reason to approach Mr. Nixon" about such matters as White House plans for illegal intelli- gence gathering, he said. AN INFORMED source said the Rockefeller Commission also sought to question Nixon in connection with its probe of the CIA. The source said Nixon re- fused to undergo questioning either under oath or in a staff interview- The commission lacked the power of subpoena and was un- able to compel Nixon to appear. The Senate committee does have the power to subpoena witnesses. The committee, meanwhile, took a deposition from Roswell Kilpatric, deputy secretary of defense in the Kennedy admin- istration, and called retired Maj. Gen. Edward Lansdale to testify in a closed session in its investigation of alleged plots to kill foreign leaders. LATER this week, the com- mittee will hear testimony from former Defense Secretary Rob- ert McNamara and former Sec- retary of State Dean Rusk. In his remarks to reporters, Church indicated the committee was interested in whatever in- formation Nixon migt have about any plans to assassinate Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro at the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Convicted Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt, a former CIA agent, has written that when Nixon was vice president he served as action officer for the Bay of Pigs planning. HOWEVER, Church gave no indication the committee has any other evidence linking Nix- on to the Bay of Pigs and re- peatedly stressed that there was no indication Nixon might be involved in assassination plan- ning. "At a later date we'll want to explore Mr. Nixon's connec- tion with the Huston plan," Church said, referring to a pro- posal by former White House aide Tom Charles Huston that included break-ins as a means of intelligence gathering. Committee staff members said they planned to contact Nixon through his attorney, Herbert Mviller, Two weeks ago, Nixon was questioned for the firstetime under oath by the W,%atergate grand jury about his role in the events which ulti- mately led to his resignation. The Senate committee's deci- sion to approach Nixon was made at a closed meeting, Church said. "It was really a low level discussion.