1QA -- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 4, 1997 NATION/WORLD Arizona governor convicted of fraud PHOENIX (AP) - Gov. Fife Symington was convicted yesterday of lying to get millions in loans to shore up his collapsing real estate empire, becoming the second Arizona governor in a decade to be forced from office by scandal. "I have never been one to linger and I don't intend to start now," a tearful Symington said in a resignation speech after the verdict. His lawyer, John Dowd, said the two-term Republican would leave office tomorrow Symington, 52, would have been forced under the state constitution to leave office anyway when his felony conviction became official at his Nov. 10 sentencing, where he faces a lengthy prison term and $6.25 million in fines. His resignation sets the stage for him to be replaced by the secretary of state, Republican Jane Hull. "The future lies ahead of us, not behind us," said Symington, "and oth- ers will now be entrusted to lead us there." Symington, who was elected on a promise to run the state with the same business acumen he brought to real estate, stared blankly at the table in front of him as the bank fraud verdicts were read. Muffled sobs were audible in the courtroom from spectators, and one juror wiped a tear. "What is truly unfortunate is that Fife Symington will never be tried for his most serious offense - deceiving and lying to the voters of Arizona," said state Democratic Party Chairman Mark Fleisher. The jury found Symington guilty on seven counts alleging he filed false financial statements to banks. He was Clinton to fight for national testing Los Angeles Times EDGARTOWN, Mass. - President Clinton vowed yesterday to fight for voluntary national academic testing as White House officials warned that a current effort in the House to block the initiative may provoke a presidential veto of a broad spending bill. Rep. Bill Goodling (R-Pa.) plans to introduce as early as tomor- row legislation that would prohibit the Department from spending any money to develop national tests. The president Clinton has been pushing all states to start testing fourth graders in reading and eighth graders in math with the same tests. The department has a contract with test publishers to devel- op the tests. Taking a break from his vacation to meet with teachers at a school on Martha's Vineyard, Clinton declared that "educational excellence at world class-standards is now more important than ever before." Clinton told the teachers that he has been "a little bit peeved" that some members of Congress have resisted the establishment of national academic standards and a system to measure stu- dent achievement, "There are some people in Congress and in the country who don't want this to happen;' Clinton said in a speech at Oak Bluffs School. "They either say we've got enough tests already or the federal government's making a power grab or they're afraid that the t won't be fair to people who don't well on it." Clinton said he expects "to be fight- ing (the issue) out over the next few weeks" with Congress. A statement of administration policy sent to Congress on Tuesday says- if Goodling's amendment were adopted "the president's senior advisers would be forced to recommend that the presi- dent veto the bill." Goodling's amen- ment would be part of the sweepiq House appropriations' bill for the departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, and relat- ed agencies. Education Secretary Richard Riley also urged Clinton to veto the measure if it includes Goodling's amendment. "In effect, de-funding would basi- cally bring this effort to a halt, and we find that to be unacceptable" Wh House spokesperson Joe Lockha* said. Lockhart said the president is "con- sidering" the veto advice but hopes the Goodling amendment will be defeated. Goodling, chairman of the House Education and Work Force Committee, opposes the national testing initiative saying he believes there are already enough tests to help educators study problems wi* America's schools. AP PHOTO Arizona Gov. Fife Symington (right) shakes hands yesterday with his attorney John Dowd, following a news confrence at the state capitol in downtown Phoenix. Symington was convicted this week of getting millions in illegal loans. acquitted of three counts, including a charge that he tried to use his political muscle as governor against a pension fund he owed $10 million. U.S. District Judge Roger Strand declared a mistrial on the remainder of the 21 counts because the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Prosecutor David Schindler said he would consider whefher to try Symington again on those charges. In 1987, Republican Gov. Evan Mecham was impeached and removed by the state Senate. He was later acquit- ted of charges related to a questionable campaign loan. "What we need is an honest governor in this state. Enough is enough," said Tuscon resident Fred Ortiz, who watched live TV coverage of yester- day's verdict in an electronics store. "There's too much corruption. First it was Ev Mecham, now it's Symington." Symington, a Harvard-educated great-grandson of U.S. Steel co-founder Henry Clay Frick, was indicted last year on federal charges alleging that he repeatedly lied about the health of his troubled real estate businesses when applying for loans in the late 1980s. Several jurors said a key to their con- victions were financial statements that showed Symington overstated or under- stated his net worth, depending on what was necessary to get loans. But juror Robert Bamond said he would still vote for Symington. "I think he's doing a good job as gov- ernor," Bamond said. "As a business- man, he didn't do as well. I think he got caught up in desperation." The verdict came after a total of 17 days of tumultuous deliberations. The jury had to start all over again after seven days when one of the jurors, a 74- year-old woman, was dismissed because other jurors complained she was unable to concentrate on the case and refused to discuss her opinions. An alternate was added and the delibera- tions began anew. Prosecutors in the nine-week trial con- tended Symington was nothing more than a swindler, taking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in developer fees while creating office buildings and shop- ping centers that never turned a profit. New Russian passports to drop ethnic designation ... Newsday MOSCOW - Russia is about to issue new internal passports that no longer will include the notorious "fifth line" - the declaration of nationality that reinforced Soviet-era discrimination against Jews, Tatars and other minorities. For the first time in Russian history - even the czars, after all, required their subjects to list religion on their identity papers - everyone will be identified simply and plainly as a citi- zen of Russia. "It's a victory for common sense," said human-rights activist Sergei Kovalyov. Although its leaders spoke of creating new sovietized citizens, the Soviet Union always officially labeled its citizens by nationality, an often painful reminder that, regardless of communist propagan- da, theirs was not a classless society. Ethnic Russians, who made up only half of the Soviet Union's population, profited in stusly, work and politics from a not-so-subtle pro-Russian chau- vinism. Everyone else - Jews, Tatars, Uzbeks and the other 99 nationalities of the sprawling empire - suffered vary- ing degrees of prejudice. Children of so-called mixed mar- riages could choose which parent's nationality to declare when they turned 16. That is when they had to get the passport that they would have to pro- duce everywhere throughout their lives - from the doctor's office to the u* versity to the factory. Taking Russian nationality was con- sidered the smart option. Vlada Kuznetsova, a 24-year-old photographer's assistant in Moscow, remembered the debate she had with herself. Her father was Russian and her mother Tatar. "I knew that putting down 'Tatar' could give me complications in my career and in life" she said. "And people used to make jokes about Tat people, that they were primitive and ignorant. I didn't want to be like that, even though I knew that putting a dif,. ferent nationality on my passpod wouldn't make me better." For children who had one Jewish par- ent, the choice was especially critical because entrance into many universi- ties, institutes and government jobs was closed to Jews, and travel abroad was forbidden. HALOGEN TORCHIERE WITH DIMMER " Meets new improved lighting safety standards " 300 watt halogen bulb included 'Thermal protected 'Variable dimmer control-SPT 1.5 cord 6004 -U- 'Y .ag GOOSE NECK CLIP LIGHT WITH BAFFLE " Available in black or white '6" flexible goose neck "Clamps on up to 1'112" 91041BLK 547825) HOUSEHOLD EXTENSION CORD 6 FT. ' Choose from brown or white 600 (145017) ENERGIZER "AA" BATTERY -pack * Super charged alkaline E-91 BP-4H0 (364339) gI 2-PACK- ; 6-OUTLET POWER STRIP "'15 AMP push-toeset ciruit breaker 232 (547530) SOFT WHITE LIGHT BULBS eChoose from 60,75 or 100 watt 214361 (235482) U .a-ewoo- Do You Have r it y! iI I _ _ -~ . ---- I VENTILATED' STORAGE !SHELF __________Kolds up to 1000 lbs. $~ "x ,24" 'Strong, lightweight M""x"24«multi-purpose shel SHELVING ' Never rusts or " 112"'thick -needs painting "Whitet(WW1) 5 Hardware sold separately Ls~ 1I 20" 3 SPEED BOX FAN 'ice ra with white P2 2 Volunteers ages 18 years and up, who have athlete's foot, are needed for a research study at the University of Michigan Department of Dermatology. Eligible participants will be compensated for their time and effort. .7 t, For more information, please call: (313) 936-4070 Monday-Friday, 8:00a.m. to 5:00p.m. University of Michigan Medical center Do you know the difference between these two trees? -- -- (ZI9) COMBINATION PADLOCK 18 GALLON ROUGHNECK® TOTE 'Hunter gren DP D NP 1 m i