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Oine hundred rseven yearsnf edzaoral freedom
Wednesday
September 16,1998
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Fieger si
Candidate says
Ike Spahn
Dat y Staff Reporter
The University chapter of the College Democrats
held their mass meeting for new members last night
in the Modern Languages Building. Speakers and
candidates passed the first hour discussing the
importance of this year's elections and an increase in
student activism.
But most of the 200-person crowd was not there to
discuss the future of the Democratic Party. They
e there to see their candidate for governor, the
sirise primary winner that has been traveling
around the state advocating his new agenda while
attacking Gov. John Engler.
And as Rep. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor) struggled to
find more issues and questions to discuss with the
increasingly restless crowd, in he walked.
Geoffrey Fieger, a little late and sporting a case of
laryngitis, arrived to cheers of "Fieger! Fieger" and
launched into what everyone was waiting for, what
they had all heard about and what they had all come to
see.
"I may not be as scintillating, as spell binding, as I
tally am," Fieger told the crowd in MLB
MSA
frms
suit
* rin Holmes
Daily Staff Reporter
The Michigan Student Assembly
passed a resolution last night to support
the appeal attempts of two coalitions
trying to intervene in the lawsuits
threatening the University's admissions
policies. MSA representatives said the,
endorsement was not necessarily an
issue of affirmative action.
This is in support of an individual's
t to a day in court,' said MSA Rep.
Brian Reich, an LSA sophomore. "This
has nothing to do with affirmative
action"
MSA President Trent Thompson
kicked off the discussion of the pro-
posed resolution by stressing the need
to focus on support of student voice in a
the courtroom and not affirmative
action issues.
"Tonight we will be debating this
rjlution and not its derivatives," said
'mpson, an LSA senior.
The resolution stated that "the future
of affirmative action cannot be fairly
decided if minority and women stu-
dents ... are not represented in the
courtroom." Etienne
Last fall, a Washington D.C.-based Ann Arb
law firm filed suits on behalf of white
applicants who were denied admission
to the Law School and the College of
orature, Science and th Arts.
After the University was hit with the
two suits last year, United for Equality
and Affirmative Action and the
NAACP filed motions to intervene.
The motions were denied by District
Judges Bernard Friedman and Patrick By Niki
Duggan, respectively. Daily Staff
MSA Student General Counsel After
David Burden said the assembly voted of attrac
to support the chance for students who and blue
argued for affirmative action to have a Monday
e in the courtroom because, they music c
those who are against it have Records
already had their turn to speak out. Scho
"I don't think (this support) will have doors, or
much effect on the lawsuit," said Founder
Burden, an Engineering senior. "But Records
we're spending a great deal of time on decided
it:' Arbor b
At the meeting, Luke Massie of the and a gr
National Women Rights Organizing After
Cojmmittee asked the assembly to sup- moved ii
t the resolution to support the dent rec
appeals. before b
"Students who are the targets of "We
attack should have the opportunity to Bergma
speak in court," Massie said. "Even if Berge
you are against affirmative action, you Tom B
should be for this resolution. They approaci
cl ntil havptei n;--P ;ina " elnfing c
eeks support,
pushes activism
students will be essential
Auditorium 3, but no one seemed disappointed.
In a speech that covered everything from his expe-
riences with Jack Kevorkian to his views on the
Engler administration, Fieger appealed to the stu-
dents' sense of activism and change.
"The only way I will be successful is with your
help," Fieger said. "When I was in school here, I was
absolutely apathetic. But something changed.
"I've got to instill in you the feeling that it's time to
act," he said.
Fieger's antics have drawn substantial media
attention since his victory in the July primary, and
he did not disappoint last night. He spoke at length
about the "ingrained establishment" that he
believes he is up against.
He stressed the fact that he is the first candidate
in state history that was not "pre-chosen" by the
party bosses, and even though the establishment
may not want to hear what he is saying, Fieger said
he believes the people want him to "rock the boat."
It is that establishment that Fieger mocked
when he impersonated a drunken doctor to prove
a point about the medical profession's clout in
Lansing.
"Your interests are being sold out," Fieger said,
referring to Engler's advocacy of laws prohibiting
assisted suicide and reducing the maximum penalty
for medical malpractice. "That S.O.B. passed a law
that said you have to suffer.
"They've attempted to demonize me. But it scares
them to death that I just want to make a difference,"
Fieger said.
Although the meeting is an annual recruitment
event for the group, most students said they came just
to see the gubernatorial candidate. College Democrats
President Kelley Boland said the turnout for the event
was high, but she did not believe Fieger's appearance
was the only draw.
"He was fabulous. But we've seen turnout up in
election years in the past," Boland said.
LSA senior Jonathon Blavin said he came to the
meeting just to see Fieger, and although he saw what
he expected, more would have been nice.
"He was a little to rhetorical, and his demonization
of Engler was absurd. But overall, he was impressive,"
Blavin said.
Other candidates at the meeting stressed the
See FIEGER, Page 2
KELLY MCKINNELL/Oaiy
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fleger speaks to a meeting of the
University Chapter of College Democrats last night.
Investigating
the President
cost $4.4M
WASHINGTON (AP) --
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr
spent at least $4.4 million investigating
the alleged cover-up of the Monica
Lewinsky affair - a figure that became
an instant political weapon in the
debate over penalizing President
Clinton.
Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska)
introduced a Senate resolution yes-
terday that would demand Clinton
repay the cost of the investigation for
misleading the country since
January.
"President Clinton has pursued a
strategy of deceiving the American
people and Congress, and he pur-
posely delayed and impeded the
independent counsel investigation,"
Murkowski said. "Equity demands
that the costs of the delays should be
borne by the president and not the
taxpayers."
Many Democrats are already advo-
cating a penalty less than impeachment
for Clinton, such as a censure and reim-
bursement arrangement similar to the
reprimand and penalty that House
Speaker Newt Gingrich got in a 1996
ethics case.
The White House left open the possi-
bility yesterday that Clinton might
accept a penalty.
Presidential spokesperson Mike
McCurry said Clinton "does not owe
the taxpayers" the $4.4 million, but "if
there's a serious effort made in
Congress to that, we'll consider it when
the time comes."
Starr's office declined comment.
The Starr estimate covers the last
eight months of the Lewinsky investi-
gation, without the administration's
costs in fighting legal battles that
delayed the prosecutor, future reim-
bursements to witnesses or the other
aspects of Starr's Whitewater investi-
gation.
There was no immediate vote in the
Senate on Murkowski's proposal.
Starr's staff calculated the costs
its Washitigton office incurred
between Jan. 15, the day permission
was granted to expand the
Whitewater investigation to include
the Lewinsky allegations, and Aug.
31. They included:
$1.86 million for its staff of
investigators, prosecutors and sup-
port workers. The office includes 27
full-time lawyers, some on loan from
other agencies;
$949,895 for the travel of its inves-
tigators and witness flown from as far
away as Tokyo to testify before the
grand jury;
$884,110 for contracts and con-
sultants, from laboratory tests and
people hired to help write and edit
Starr's historic report to Congress to
the costs of researching law and
news articles;
$356,494 for rent, telephone and
utilities;
$186,021 for equipment purchas-
See STARR, Page 5
JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily
Dehoome, a Medical School graduate, looks through the disc collection at Schoolkids Records yesterday. The
or store will go out of business Monday after 22 years on East Liberty Street.
CH OOL' S OUT FOREVER
Record store will close
doors after two decades
Term limits bar
64 incumbents
R Easley
ffReporter
fird."
Just as many
22 years
ting customers with rare pop
s finds, the music will end on
for a fixture in the Ann Arbor
ommunity, when Schoolkids
and Tapes closes its doors.
olkids Records opened its
>n East Liberty Street, in 1976.
r and owner of Schoolkids
, Steve Bergman, said he
to open up the store in Ann
ecause "it is a college town
eat spot to do it"
Borders Books and Music
in across the street, the indepen-
ord store held on for five years
eing forced to shut its doors.
did the best we could,"
n added.
nan said that five years ago,
3order, owner of Borders,
bed Schoolkid's records about
dnm and movinu some of the
.,
LSA senior Oriana Vigliotti said it
is sad the store is closing.
"It was nice to go to a store that had
a wide variety," Vigliotti said.
Bergman attributes his store clos-
ing to a "trend of chains stores taking
over the community."
He said that Schoolkids has sup-
ported many groups, including the
Indigo Girls and Barenaked 'Ladies,
when the big stores did not want to
sell their records.
"We'd bend over backwards to sell
their product," Bergman said.
"Anybody can stuff a store full of
product, but do they care?" asked Jim
Leonard, new owner of the record
store's property.
Leonard added that although a
chain store is in the community it is
"not a part of the community."
Zac Johnson. manager of Tower
big businesses go
out of business as independent stores,
but chain stores have a larger system
to depend on, Johnson said.
"The CD market has a small mar-
ket margin and if you don't sell
enough CDs in a day, you could lose
money," he added.
Economics Prof. John Laitner said
large chain stores can afford to oper-
ate in a way that might "out-compete
local operators."
"The whole reason for a big chain
store to exist is to get high return on
the dollar for the stock holders," said
Shaman Drum Bookshop owner Karl
Pohrt.
Pohrt said independent stores exist
because they care about the communi-
ty, whereas larger chains don't have a
personal investment.
"The people that ran Schoolkid's
wanted people who liked music to walk
By Jason Stoffer
Daily Staff Reporter
When the gavel strikes and the 89th
session of the Michigan state
Legislature comes to a close at year-
end, the era of the powerful incumbent
politician will officially be
Sixty-four incumbent
representatives, including
Rep. Mary Schroer (D-
Ann Arbor), are constitu-
tionally barred from run-
ning for re-election in
November.
Whether a less experi-
enced legislature will be
able to effectively govern
koglom ° n
M @i) U
IMIIM
MiM rMMI
VGM ILI
number of experienced legislators.
"We're entering the great
unknown," Truscott said. "No one
really knows what the impact (of term
limits) will be but we're optimistic
that after a brief period of intense
training we'll develop-an aggressive
agenda for (Engler's)
.1 Q third term."
Schroer said the
Nw P advent of limits, which
Of amof allow for no more than
three two-year terms for
s P representatives or two
four-year terms for sen-
ators, will result in a
loss of institutional
memory.
M
has spread concern through political
circles since a 1992 ballot proposal
Once people get a firm grasp of how
I