Tuesday, July 27, 1976 'HE MICiGAN OAILY Page- Three
Elsman suit attacks patronage plan
By PHILLIP BOKOVOY cratic party are receiving further con- In addition, the suit asks for a corn- cannot place the branch managers under
tributions from branch managers. plete accounting of all contributions to Civil Service Commission jurisdiction,
Democratic U.S. S ern a t e candidate , determine whether any branch man. since the state legislature first estab-
James ERsman yesterday fii suit to jElsman's suit asks for the return of $M lished the current system. For the sys-
recover all political contributions col- million in contributions from the branch agers have been coerced into giving tm to change, Millender said, the legis-
lected through the secretary of state managers and $58,000 in damages. The money to Austin. To date, Elsman has lature would have to appropriate new
branch manager system since 1970. money would be returned to the state not produced a branch manager who funds and pass a new law.
treasury. says she or he was coerced, and Austin
The class-action suit was filed in Oak- has asked any branch manager who The current system has been used by
land County Circuit Court on behalf of I want nothing out of the lawsuit it- felt she or he was coerced to ask for both major parties to finance state cam-
Michigan voters. The suit alleges that self, said Elsman, except to- bring the the money back. No manager has done paigns.
Secretary of State Richard Austin has issue before the voters and end the so.
not ended the practice of soliciting cam- practice of "using public funds for pri- Millender pointed to action he says
paign contributions from the branch vate purposes." Furthermore, the suit seeks to snake Austin has been taking for five years
managers he appoints. the hiring of branch managers a func- to abolish the system. Before political
MILLENDER termed Elsman's action tion of the state Civil Service Commis- pressure forced him to make an immedi-
AUSTIN ANNOUNCED a few weeks a "cheap publicity shot" and said Els- sion to prevent a recurrence of the pat- ate break with the system this month,
ago that he was ending the system, and man's allegations that the system was ronage system. Austin had planned to bring about a
Robert Millender, his campaign manager, still giving money to the Democratic gradual abolishment within two years,
said that neither Austin nor the Demo- party was "an absolute falsehood." MIlLENDER SAID Austin himself Millender added
Power, Wheeler endorse
Austin for Senate seat
By PHILLIP BOKOVOY
Two local politicos, M a y o r Albert
Wheeler and University Regent Sarah
Power yesterday announced their sup-
port for the candidacy of Richard Austin.
Wheeler's long-rumored endorsement
came yesterday at a news conference
with Austin and Ypsilanti Mayor George
Goodman. Wheeler said, "His experience
as an elected state and local official
makes him acutely aware and more un-
derstanding of Michigan's problems"
POWER WAS not at the conference
but said in a telephone conversation, "I
think he's got a long and distinguished
record of public service in the state. I
would like to see him serve in the
Senate."
Wheeler later said, "I've found him
to be a man of integrity. I think he will
be vigorous in working to get things
done."
Both Power and Wheeler said that the
branch manager issue played no con-
sideration in their decision to support
Austin's Senate bid.
Austin has been tinder fire for accept-
ing campaign contributions from branch
managers he appoints. Branch managers
once had to agree to kickback to Austin
10 per cent of the fees collected froi
the sale of license plates. Austin re-
cently ended the practice.
"I THINK the branch manager thing
is a part of an old tradition of politics
(and) Austin has taken a pretty forth-
right approach on that," said Power.
Wheler echoed Pvower's sentiments,
es poll
of the Executive Committee, as individ-
uals, would be the persons subjecting
themselves to possible prosecution by
the release to the public of the results
including any 'not qualified' votes
against any of the candidates," the let-
ter continued.
This year's poll came as an especial-'
ly bitter blow to Burgoyne, coupled with
the one in 1974, in which 114 of the law-
yers voting rated her unqualified in the
race for a 15th District Court position.
In another letter to Pierce, dated July
10, 1976, she stated, "although I was
severely damaged by the (1974) poll, I
did not file legal action because I do
not want money damages from anyone.
I do want to be a judge and I do want
a good reputation."
See BURGOYNE, Page 10
I've seen that system operate for 25-30
years. . . . It was on the way out. At
least he took the step toI get it out of
there," he said,
The support of two so highly visible
politicians lends the Austin campaign a
measure of visibility that it has not had
previously. To date, there has been at-
most no field organization and only very
recently has the campaign sought voter
support by door-to-door canvassing.
The campaigns of both Donald Riegle
and James O'Hara have mounted ex-
tensive field organizations and this could
significantly increase their returns on
election day.
But Mike Kten, the Ann Arbor co-
ordinator for the Austin campaign said
he feels that Wheeler's and Power's sup-
port will help spearhead a last-minute
effort to get out the vote for Austin.
~
Bridal bigamy
London police were searching for an
oft-wed blonde who made $9,000 in seven
months "marrying " 50 illegal immi-
grants in a "bribe-a-bride" racket that
was supposed to guarantee the men per-
manent residence in Br'tain. The woman
used false names and addresses when
she "married" the inmigrants in civil
weddings at various registrar offices in
the London area for a fee of $180.
Checks at a number of regustrar offices
showed the "bride" walked away with
out another glance at her "groom,"
who believed he was legally married to
a British wife and had evaded the im-
migration laws. Police believe this to be
the biggest bigamy case in British his-
tory. It was uncovered by a sharp eyed
Scotland Yard detective who noticed a
similarity in the signatures of women
applying for marriage. While the names
were different, handwriting analysts re-
vealed the signature was penned by the
satme individual.
0
Happenings ...
. . . there are no Happenings today,
no sir, no way, zilch!
Weather or not
Expect another warm day today with
partly cloudy skies and a high in the
mid 80's. The wind will be from the
northwest at 10-20 miles per hour.
Splash!
Firefighters hose down gallons of gasoline that spilled from a tanker at the
C-Ted Standard station on South University and Forest last night. It took over
an hour to clean up the mess which co-owner James Wolfe blamed on a faulty
valve.
Burgoyneca
The Washtenaw County Bar Associa-
tion has declared lawyer Shirley Bur-
goyne unqualified for the circuit court
judge position she is seeking in next
week's primary.
Repeating a nearly identical vote
made in 1974, 143 of the 198 members
in the group found Burgoyne "well be-
low average on an overall analysis" in
an unofficial poll rating all the county's
judicial candidates.
BURGOYNE, a candidate for judge
in the 22nd circuit's new Sth court,
charged yesterday that the poll, released
Saturday, was "illegal, unethical and
false." She added that "they (the Bar
Association) should be asked to prove
it (that she is unqualified) - because,
they can't."
In anticipation of the poll, which is
made before every primary with judi-
cial openings, Burgoyne had attempted
to convince the Bar Association and the
Michigan Fair Campaign Practices
Commission (FCPC) that rating a can-
didate "not qualified" was a violation
of the state election law.
The statute makes it a misdemeanor
to publish or disseminate statements
about candidates for public office which
are "false, deceptive, scurrilous or ma-
licious, without the true name of the
author subscribed thereto."
"The Washtenaw County Bar Associa-
tion is an unofficial group, not an arm
of the State Bar and not incorporated,":
Burgoyne stated in a July 20 letter to
Richard Pierce, president of the asso-
ciation.
"THEREFORE, THE voting members