2 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 10, 1994
GOP successful in blocking
bills as 103rd Congress ends
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - The 103rd
Congress adjourned Saturday after
rescuing a bill to protect California
deserts from an otherwise stunningly
successful Republican effort to block
President Clinton's agenda.
Fast out of the starting gate, the
103rd Congress collapsed on the fin-
ish line. Bill after bill - health care,
campaign finance, lobbying and most
environmental initiatives - fell be-
fore the GOP juggernaut, often with
help from Clinton's missteps and dis-
array among Democrats.
Even a bill to force Congress to
abide by the worker protection rules it
imposes on others died in the stam-
pede to go home and campaign for the
Nov. 8 elections - the last remnant
of a once-bold reform agenda to ad-
dress voter anger over the way Wash-
ington conducts its business. The
House wrote most of the protections
into its rules; the Senate did not.
Twenty-one months after coming
to town, promising that a unified
Democratic government would break
gridlock Clinton and his Democratic
supporters found themselves caught
in the same old legislative paralysis.
Their plight was exacerbated by
the fact that they were pushing for a
stronger role for government as an
instrument of change, especially in
sensitive areas like health care, at a
time of mounting hostility toward
government. "Those who seek reform
and change risk failure," noted Sen-
ate Majority Leader George J. Mitchel
(D-Maine), adding that it is better to
try and fail than not to try at all.
Often Clinton and the Democrats
were stopped by filibusters in the Sen-
ate, where Republicans wielded the rules
to stop initiatives ranging from Clinton's
$16 billion economic stimulus package
last year to the Democrats' big political
reform drive this year. But mismanage-
ment by the White House and dissen-
sion among Democrats were just as
important as GOP obstructionism in
killing the biggest initiative of all --
overhaul of the health care system.
TURNOUT
Continued from page 1
tionally less publicized.
Those local offices are ones that
can have a more direct impact on
students' lives.
"A lot of students have been think-
ing, and we've been encouraging them
in this, that they are going to be living
here for the next four years and things
that happen here are going to affect
them," said Jae-Jae Spoon, voter reg-
istration coordinator for the College
Democrats.
Traugott agreed that politically-
active groups, like the College Demo-
crats and College Republicans, can
impact on student participation lo-
cally, but only by changing their alle-
giances.
"They obviously can engage in
mobilization activities, but they have
to overcome the predisposition of stu-
dents to think of where their parents
live as home. It's a matter of personal
priority," Traugott said.
Mark Fletcher, chair of College
Republicans, said the group had not
conducted any specific registration
drives, but is using an e-mail network
of 275 people to post reminders of
political events, including tomorrow's
deadline to register for the Nov. 8
election.
. Fletcher added they were encour-
aging people to become deputy regis-
trars, who are people trained to regis-
ter others to vote.
Spoon has put together a large
effort to get fellow students to the
polls. Their booth at FestiFall regis-
tered 430 people. All told the project
has netted 950 voters for Ann Arbor.
"When you register people, our
philosophy was-obviously we want
more Democrats - but we just want
people voting in general. That was
our biggest goal," Spoon said. "Now
that people are registered, our next be
project is to remind people to vote."
Ah, yes, the actual turnout ques-
tion.
Gov. John Engler's upset of then-
incumbent Jim Blanchard in 1990 has
been attributed to the abnormally low
turnout that year, especially in south-
east Michigan, where union voters
usually sway the region to the Demo-
crats.
Butthis year, Michigan voters have
the added incentive of an open U.S.
Senate race, the first time that's hap-
pened since 1976 when then-U.S. Rep.
Don Riegle faced Marvin Esch.
This time Riegle is retiring and
U.S. Rep. Bob Carr (D-East Lansing)
faces former state Republican Party
chair Spencer Abraham.
These two races are expected to
draw some voters to the polls, which
help some of the local races much like
Clinton's victory swept some Demo-
crats into national offices two years
ago.
"In general, it's the top of the
ticket races that draw the voters -
especially the marginal ones (like stu-
dents)," Traugott said. "Once you get
there, it's not hard to vote the rest of
the ballot."
Snagging those marginal voters
who concentrate on larger races was
one goal of a ballot initiative that
passed two years ago. For the first
time, Ann Arbor's city election will
be tied to a general election. They had
been held in April, but turnout had
hovered around 15 to 20 percent.
So while Traugott maintains that,
once registered people are quite likely
to vote, the actual trek to the booth is
the only way to make a political im-
pact.
"Being registered isn't enough,
they have to do something with that,"
Spoon said.
Belinda Biggs lies injured on the ground Friday after being hit by a bike on State Street in front of the LSA Building.
Bicycist hits woman at crosswalk
By FRANK C. LEE
Daily Staff Reporter
A University employee was in-
jured while crossing State Street Fri-
day afternoon. Belinda Biggs, 28,
sustained a concussion and was taken
to University Hospitals, where she
was treated and released.
"A car stopped to allow pedestri-
ans to cross the crosswalk," said Ann
Arbor Police Officer Gary Oxender,
who arrived at the scene shortly after
the incident. "A bicyclist went to pass
the stopped car and struck her. She
was crossing from the west side to the
east side of State Street - from the
LSA building to the Angell site."
The bicyclist, Engineering student
Elliott Pugh, was not injured or
charged in the accident. There was no
structural or property damage.
Biggs, a secretary for University
IRAQ
Continued from page 1
even within Iraq's borders, "becomes
intolerable" to other states in the Per-
sian Gulf region.
That instability issue was part of
the discussion at the White House
yesterday, officials said, where most
of Clinton's senior foreign policy and
national security aides met on and off
for much of the day. Officials said
Clinton will meet again with his top
aides this morning to assess the situ-
ation in Iraq and determine whether
to issue a firm warning that the Iraqi
troops should be dispersed.
Perry also suggested yesterday that
the United States and its allies would
not allow themselves to be trapped in
a lengthy stalemate. "We are looking
at a variety of alternatives of what he
might do," he said of Saddam, "and
we do not propose to simply be, to sit
there and be pinned down for the
indefinite future."
The White House discussions of
whether to take military action to dis-
perse Iraqi troops came as Perry out-
lined significant new air power being
sent to the Persian Gulf as part of the
U.S. military muscle flexing aimed
persuading Saddam to pull back from
the border.
The French and British have also
dispatched forces into the gulfregion.
France said its forces were "poised
for action" and said the Iraqi moves
were a "step backwards" in Baghdad's
campaign to have sanctions lifted.
Perry pointedly appeared before tele-
vision cameras yesterday to tick off
the elements of what he called "a
formidable military force" in place or
en route to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
and other points in the gulf. By mid-
week, officials said, nearly 200 U.S.
warplanes and support aircraft will be
in place in Saudi Arabia and Turkey,
including F-15 fighterjets, A- 10 anti-
tank planes, U-2 reconnaissance
planes, F-16s equipped with laser-
guided bombs and C-130 gunships
from Pope Air Force Base in North
Carolina.
Nearly 100 U.S. planes are al-
ready in position there, officials said.
An aircraft carrier battle group led
by the USS George Washington has
been dispatched to the northern gulf,
along with support ships en route from
the Indian Ocean, Pentagon officials
said. About 15,000 of Kuwait's
18,000-member army began moving
to its border Sunday, Kuwaiti offi-
cials said.
At the same time, U.N. officials
reported that thousands of people,
apparently herded thereby Baghdad,
were camped near the Iraqi side of the
border and directed to stage demon-
BUDGET
Continued from page 1
a quorum count taken where the
necessary 23 warm bodies were found
lacking."
Engineering Rep. Brian Elliott,
who was in the room when quorum
was called, testified that he had called
for the quorum count.
"There were people constantly
going in and out of the room," Elliott
said. "It was very difficult to establish
if there was a quorum at all."
Elliott also said that he did not
believe there was a quorum present,
and that he raised this point to MSA
President Julie Neenan. "She, in re-
sponse, stated that there was a quo-
rum," he said.
Neenan, who has responsibility
for counting quorum, said she counted
"at least 23 people."
"Once I called quorum, I wasn't
watching the flow of traffic" or if
people continued to leave the room,
Neenan said.
The plaintiffs asked that the vote be
nullified. "This simply allows the vote
to be taken properly," Grossman said.
Reactions to the court's ruling
were mixed.
"The court clearly showed that
there was a lack of evidence, that the
minutes were inadequate (as evi-
dence). If there was a lack of evi-
dence, the case should have been dis-
missed," Scublinsky said.
Grossman said, "I'm disappointed
that we can't reach an agreement with-
out resorting to the Student Judiciary.
During Tuesday's meeting, I hope we
will let MSA representatives duly
elected by students decide on this bud-
get. I believe that's the only way de-
mocracy will be served in this instance."
Pending MSA's decision approval
of minutes, the judiciary has frozen
funds earmarked for AATU and the
assembly's lobbying fund.
libraries, was transported to th
hospital's emergency room and is saic
to be in good condition. Dispatc -s
from the city police department and
fire department responded to the call.
Department of Public Safety Sgt.
Charlie Noffsinger said that, given
the number of pedestrians, bicyclists
and vehicles thrown together on the
streets of Ann Arbor, he is surprised
there aren't more accidents.
strations against Kuwait and the cyn-
tinuing economic sanctions that have
devastated the country and kept it
from recovering from the 1991 gulf
war.
Ambassador Albright sternly
warned Iraq not to "miscalculate" the
resolve of the United States.
U.S. officials continue to believe
that Saddam Hussein may well be
bluffing: massing his forces only to
pull them back and demand an easing
of the U.N. sanctions as a reward for
the pullback, as one senior official put
it. But a string of Clinton advisers
went on television yesterday to say
the United States must take the move-
ment as a serious sign of intent and
one that will not result in any easing
in sanctions.
Clinton administration officials
also continued to make the case that
the president will not shy from mili-
tary action.
"It is also necessary to recognize
that at this time important changes are
in progress in department governance,
organization and direction, and we
will no longer be continuing to do
some things simply because they were
done that way in the past," Huesmann
said in the letter.
In an interview late last month,
Whitaker said he did not remember
deciding to eliminate journalism edu-
cation from the University.
"An appropriate process is under-
way and when it's completed I'll be
happy to comment on the recommen-
dations. I think we need to give the
committee room to do their work,"
Whitaker said. II
COMM
Continued from page 1
Although Chamberlin has said that
there is a possibility the department
will be eliminated, he said the com-
mittee is not actively considering it.
Communication lecturerJon Hall,
a concentration adviser and a faculty
adviser in the Office of Academic
Advising, said Ciamberlin's sugges-
tions are appropriate.
"It is reasonable that students com-
ing into the University at the fresh-
man or sophomore level should be
somewhat patient before making de-
cisions in regard to the communica-
tion department," Hall said. "The com-
mittee will make recommendations
period. No one will know what those
recommendations will be."
Hall said he was one of the people
who urged Chamberlin to offer ad-
vice for student concentrating in com-
munication.
"I have advised a numberof people
- parents or students that aren't in
the University - that it's reasonably
certain that our programs will con-
tinue, but we don't know what na-
ture," Hall said.
More than three years ago, the
University started discussing elimi-
nating journalism education.
"The decision has been taken
that the University of Michigan will
neither teach nor conduct research
in journalism. An undergraduate
major in journalism will not be of-
fered and, likely, the Master's in
Journalism will be discontinued,"
said Regent Philip Power (D-Ann
Arbor) in a Jan. 9, 1991 letter to
President James J. Duderstadt, Pro-
vost Gilbert R. Whitaker Jr., LSA
Dean Edie N. Goldenberg and
Walter Harrison, then-executive di-
rector for University relations.
"As I said at our meeting, I con-
sider this a bad decision, one that will
likely have significant future adverse
effects on the University. But, as I
also said, it is not appropriate for a
regent to challenge such a decision
that should properly be left to the
academic enterprise," Power said.
In an interview, Power noted that
journalism still is a part of the com-
munication department's curriculum.
"The concern I expressed at that time
is a concern that I continue to have,"
he said.
But since Power's letter, LSA has
formed the committee to propose
changes to the department and has
altered the three-year contract of
Jonathan Friendly, director of the
Master's Program in Journalism, to
one year.
Friendly's contract now ends June
30, coinciding with the time when the
college could begin implementation
of the review committee's recommen-
dations.
In an April 25 letter to Friendly,
then-chair of the communication de-
partment L. Rowell Huesmann al-
luded to changes in the department.
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