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. ATTENTION FACULTY AND Ph.D CANDIDATES I mafg The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U S mail are $90. Winter term (January through April) is $95, year-long (September through April) is $160. Oncampus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. 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Karen Lee, Scott PlagenhoefPMarni Raitt, Dirk Schuze, Sarah Stewart. PHOTO Evan Petrie, Editor SA Fi St udy Abroad Fair . ' .ems . :' ', .... :..'2 £.. 4. ..} k ''+ 7 'a a r ' ' r. .. x ,:cSw ,'.k