liCopyright 1 The
Ninety-eight years of editorial freedom
Vol. XCVIII, No. 125 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Tuesday, April 5, 1988 Copyright 1988, The Michigan Daily
Arizona
senators-
0
impeach
Mecham
PHOENIX, Ariz. (AP) - The
Arizona Senate convicted Gov. Evan
Mecham yesterday of two counts of
wrongdoing, making him the first
U.S. governor to be impeached and
removed from office in 59 years.h
The vote on the first charge, that
he attempted to thwart a death-threat
investigation, was 21-9, with two-
thirds of the 30-member Senate
needed for conviction. The vote au-
tomatically removed him from of-
fice.
Mecham, who took notes in the
Senate chamber as lawmakers voted,
showed no emotion.
The GOP-controlled Senate then
convicted the first-term Republican
26-4 on a charge he misused
$80,000 from a protocol fund by
loaning it to his auto dealership.
A motion to bar the 63-year-old
Mecham from ever holding state of-
fice in Arizona received 17 votes in
favor and 13 against, falling three
votes short of the required two-thirds
majority.
"The vote is 21 ayes, nine nos.
Evan Mecham is convicted of high
crimes, misdemeanors, and malfea-
sance in office," said the trial's pre-
siding officer, Arizona Chief Justice
Frank Gordon, after the vote on the
first count.
Acting Gov. Rose Mofford, a
Democrat, became governor the
moment the gavel fell to close the
vote.
Yesterday's closing arguments
came as the impeachment trial en-
tered its sixth week. Mecham's pleas
to the lawmakers to "let the people
decide" were evidently ignored.
Mecham's lawyer had previously
demanded acquittal, telling the sena-
tors, "There are not sufficient facts
or law to find that Evan Mecham is
an evil man."
Republicans
capture city
council race
Rent control defeated
despite student vote
Daily Photo by DANIEL STIEBEL
Randym Jones, an election inspector at East Quad, helps a student register during yesterday's City Council
elections. The turnout to vote at East Quad and other residence halls was the largest in years.
Rent stablization may have
By PETER MOONEY
City Republicans seemed likely
to gain a 6-5 majority of seats on
Ann Arbor City Council, toppling
the Democrat-controlled council, ac-
cording to unofficial tallies of yes-
terday's city elections.
Rent control appeared likely to
head toward an overwhelming defeat
by a margin of two to one.
DESPITE higher than normal
student turnout, rent control appeared
destined for defeat in all but one of
the city's five wards. Even the 1st
Ward, home to the city's most lib-
eral voters, unofficial results showed
rent control winning by a margin of
only 1520 to 1511.
"We were defeated by a campaign
of disinformation," said Ann Arbor
Citizens for Fair Rent treasurer Ken
Garber.
Rent control backers also charged
irregularities in the election results.
In Ward 3, Precinct 2 - which
votes at East Quad - unofficial re-
sults showed rent control losing 86
to 92, while Democratic candidate
Liz Brater, who backed rent control,
defeated Republican Isaac-Jabcobein
Campbell 184 to 45.
RENT CONTROL backers
said this number seemed small com-
pared to surveys of East Quad voters
taken during the campaign.
In the 3rd Ward, the vote on the
ordinance was much less than on
other issues decided by the same
voters, rent control supporters said.
According to Citizens for Fair
Rent member Ingrid Kock, city clerk
Winifred Northcross has promised to
look into the situation. "She's going
to go through precinct by precinct,"
Kock said.
But rent control lost, opponents
said, because voters feared it would
lead to higher property taxes for
homeowners and conversions of rent
properties to condominiums or
owner-occupied units.
JIM MORRIS, spokesperson
for Citizens for Ann Arbor's Future,
a group of landlords opposed to rent
control, said the vote reaffitmed past
opposition to rent control.
"That's the third time they've re-
jected it in the last ten years," Mor-
ris said. "Rent control doesn't help
the people it's purported to help. It
hasn't in other communities, and it
wouldn't in Ann Arbor."
With half of the council seats up
for election, the vote showed a shift
to the Republicans which would
overturn the council's present 7-4
Democratic majority.
DEMOCRATS appeared likely
to lose seats in the 2nd, 4th and 5th
wards.
In the 1st Ward, Democrat in-
cumbent Larry Hunter was expected
to coast to an easy victory over Lib-
ertarian opponent Bill Krebaum by
2156 to 382.
Second Ward incumbent Demo-
See Elections, Page 2
cost Democrats their
By PETER MOONEY
Yesterday's election was a disaster
for Ann Arbor Democrats, whose 7-
4 council majority crumbled in the
face of a Republican onslaught. Lo-
cal politicos have suggested that a
strong and largely anti-rent control
message sent out by city voters
sealed the Democrats fate.
Republicans now hold both the
mayor's seat and a 6-5 council ma-
jority. By capturing the council,
Republicans can pass a budget and
approve development projects with-
out consulting the Democrats.
City Democratic chair Mary
Reilly said a well-financed campaign
by rent control opponents hurt the
Democrats.
An anti-rent control group, Citi-
zens for Ann Arbor's Future, publi-
cized their campaign with full-page
newspaper ads, television commer-
cials, and several mass mailings.
Citizens for Fair Rent say they
were fiscally unable to get their
message across as well as the land-
lords.
Though official vote tallies were
not available at press time, rent
control was losing by a two-to-one
margin in most of the city.
0 "
majority
All but one of the Democratic
candidates supported the controver-
sial ballot initiative.
"I think that the Democrats were
identified with rent control," said
Reilly.
Even a higher than normal student
vote didn't sway the vote in favor of
the rent control proposal.
According to City Clerk Winifred
Northcross, voter turnout was the
highest in ten years.
"This is comparable to the turnout
two years for the marijuana issue,"
Mary Kay Kotter, precinct chair at
East Quad, said.
SMALLEST TURNOUT IN THREE YEARS:
100 students, workers march
against apartheid, U.S. racism
By JIM PONIEWOZIK
Despite sunny skies, yesterday's Freedom March
drew the smallest crowd-in its three-year history, as
about 100 students and workers took to the streets to
protest racism here and abroad.
"Race is a social construct... we are one people and
we need to act that way," said United Coalition Against
Racism (UCAR) steering committee member and LSA
senior Kim Smith, addressing the group at a noon rally
on the Diag following the march.
THE RALLY and march, sponsored by UCAR
and the Free South Africa Coordinating Committee,
were timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the
assassination of Martin Luther King.
The turnout was smaller than those of the two pre-
vious marches, which attracted hundreds. Smith said
many students may not have been able to attend be-
cause "they didn't know about it, they had a class, or
some weak excuse like that."
Several speakers at the rally and march invoked the
memory of King.
AL WHEELER, Ann Arbor's first Black mayor
and a speaker at the rally, praised King as "a man of
great courage, a man of great vision and a man who
preached unity.
"Although I never had the privilege of meeting Dr.
King, (when he died) it was like a dear friend had been
lost," Wheeler said, his voice cracking with emotion.
The multi-racial group assembled on the Diag at 11
a.m., and marched chanting to Wheeler Park, at Fourth
and Depot streets, where they held a short rally, return-
ing to the Diag at noon. They were greeted with waves
and calls of encouragement from bystanders, several of
whom joined the group.
MANY OF the speakers criticized the University
for its treatment of racism, particularly in connection
with reported incidents of racial harassment of Univer-
sity workers and its handling of the furor last January
over remarks, called racist by many students, made by
LSA Dean Peter Steiner.
"I don't support a '(University) president that pur-
ports to have this clause (referring to Interim Univer-
sity President Robben Fleming's Policy on Discrimi-
natory Acts), but does not censure members of his own
faculty when they make racist comments," said second-
year law student Barron Wallace, a member of the
Black Law Students' Alliance.
Former University Building Services worker Mary
Clark, who quit her job last fall after she said she was
subjected to racial harassment by co-workers, called on
students and workers to unite against racism.
See Unity March, Page 3
Daily Photo by DAVID LUBLINER
Several students participate in yesterday's Freedom March, held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of
Martin Luther King's assassination. The turnout was the lowest in the three-year history of the event.
Shultz, Israeli officials
discuss peace settlement
INSIDE
CDs turn the music market
'round, may threaten LPs
JERUSALEM (AP) - Secretary
of State George Shultz yesterday
sidestepped differences with Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir on a
Middle East peace conference and
kept a U.S. peace plan alive by fo-
cusing on Palestinian self-rule.
"We do have a sense of move-
Hussein in Amman today, return to
Jerusalem with a report for Israeli
leaders, and shuttle back to the king
tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers shot a
Palestinian dead and wounded eight
yesterday, a day of strife and protest
in the occupied lands against the
Economics Prof. responds to
criticism regarding the depart-
ment's orientation.
OPINION, Page 4
Miriam Makeba and H u g h
Masekela proved that the magic of
a culture can be heard in its mu-
sic.R
ARTS, Page 5
By MICAH SCHMIT
Compact discs are sweeping al-
bums onto back shelves in record
stores nationwide, dispelling any
doubts that CDs are another short-
lived high-tech trend, headed in the
direction of 8-track and Beta video-
bums are requesting only CD and
tape formats for some new releases,
record companies are being forced to
release only CDs and tapes.
In such cases "the consumer is
the loser," said Keith Dwyer, assis-
tant manager of Liberty Music
stocked," said Shroeger.
But Randy Smith, manager of
Schoolkids Records & Tapes, said
they are selling about twice as many
records as CDs.
"One reason is that we tend to
cater to people who are looking for a
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