4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 5, 2004 OPINION* 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 opinion. michigandaily.com tothedaily@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JORDAN SCHRADER Editor in Chief JASON Z. PESICK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE tNow it appears not to be the case that it was that solid." - Secretary of State Colin Powell, referring to the case he made before the U.N. Security Council early last year, concerning Iraqi mobile weapons labs, as reported by The Associated Press. mlokcad om 44 k4s;lig SAM BUTLER THE SOAPBOX 4 al - One reform too many SUHAEL MOMIN STTrING THE RECORD STRAIGHT 41 C ampaign finance reform has noble goals; the presi- dency, without doubt, should never be for sale. But at what point does enforcing the McCain- Feingold ban on soft money become excessive - potentially danger- ous? In February, the Federal Election Commission proposed a new series of reg- ulations that would convert some "527 groups" - essentially interest groups named after the section of the tax code that governs them - into political action com- mittees. Any 527 that spends more than $50,000 per year on voter outreach or political activities is reclassified, thus becoming subject to the restrictions of the McCain-Feingold law. Once a group is bound by the McCain- Feingold act, it can no longer receive unlimited and unregulated soft money donations; a PAC, at most, can receive $5,000 from a single person per year. If the average 527 group were to be bound by these rules, it would find itself financially insoluble - most 527s rely heavily on large one-time "soft money" contributions to fund their operations. In essence, the new rules present 527 groups with an unfortunate choice: one, stop advocating issues, or two, face financial meltdown. No matter which path a 527 chooses, it is consigned to the same fate - ineffective- ness. The regulations effectively seek to quash 527 groups in a move that stifles the right of citizens to free speech and press. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), instru- mental in pushing the FEC to propose the new regulations, has argued that because 527 groups are obviously engaged in parti- san politics, they must be regulated just like political action committees. However, partisan 527 groups are already bound by existing rules - they cannot explicitly advocate the election or removal of a can- didate. For the most part, they critique. candidates' records in an effort to sway elections. In effect, they seek to express the views of their members and patrons by pooling the resources of many to facilitate a broad dissemination of shared beliefs. Simply because these views affect elec- tions, 527's are targeted for destruction. The right of citizens to freely express their views and push for change is being regu- lated. More importantly, and more worri- some, is the possibility that 527s are not mere victims of overzeal- ous enforcement, but rather targets of a partisan campaign strategy. It was predom- inantly Republicans who led the charge to reclassify 527's, which coincidentally tend toward the Left. Coming off his best month of fundrais- ing to date, Sen. John Kerry has a cam- paign treasure chest slightly shy of $50 million. President Bush, coming off a merely average month, has a vast armory in excess of $150 million - some sources put it at $170 million. To make the election competitive, Democrats are betting heavily on 527 groups, which have millions of dol- lars to spend on countering Bush. America Coming Together, the richest Democrati- cally leaning 527 group, plans to spend $95 million dollars this election cycle, while the Moveon.com Voter Fund has already begun running the trademark "Bush in 30 seconds" line of ads. Without these groups, Democrats have little chance to match the Republican war machine's ability to spend money and produce ads; Bush would benefit even more from his huge fundraising advantage. T hus, the dangers of the new FEC regulations are two-fold. First, they threaten citizens' rights to free speech and expression; the death of 527 groups would limit the ability of citizens to work together and influence elections. Sec- ondly, this potentially partisan move could very well swing the election to Bush, pure- ly because he has a richer base that is more able to write $5,000 checks to his cam- paign. While campaign finance aimed to level the playing field and reduce the role of money in federal elections, the enaction of these new FEC regulations would only amplify Bush's ability to win an election through superior funding. Luckily, while Republicans pressured the FEC into pro- posing the new regulations, the regulations must be voted on by the six-member com- mission before going into effect. The com- mission, thankfully, is nonpartisan. In keeping with the spirit of the First Amend- ment and the ideal of fair elections, it should ensure these regulations are killed. 4 4 Momin can be reached at smomin@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR A AAPD should focus on protecting pedestrians TO THE DAILY: I would like to publicly question why the Ann Arbor Police Department fails to enforce the law regarding stopping at stop signs (i.e. stopping behind the sign rather than in the crosswalk). In fact, they not only fail to enforce this law, but I've also regularly observed them failing to even follow it themselves. Three weeks ago, I e- mailed this question/complaint to the AAPD community traffic officer, Sean Lee. He has yet to reply. Given the number of pedestrians in the University area, this would seem to be at least something of a priority. Enforcing this law even minimally would increase community safety as much or more than setting up speed traps or writing MIPs, and most importantly, would be at least as profitable. MICHAEL FRAKER Rackham Ann Arbor's music scene is not fully appreciated TO THE DAILY: I would like to thank the Daily for its recent increase in articles about the local music scene. The last two Weekend Maga- zines, as well as Friday's articles about Big Ticket Productions and the East Quad Co- op were all good sources of information on a great local scene. However, I feel it's barely even a start to providing students with information on what's really going on in Ann Arbor. Every night there are live music events going on at multiple locations around Ann Arbor, yet for students there's really no good way to find out about them. At best the Daily makes fun of a few play- ing on Thursday through Sunday, but it gen- erally overlooks the bulk of shows students will care about. For instance, more than nine different bands were performing here for Hash Bash, "the event that places Ann Arbor on the cultural map" according to the Daily's editorial board, yet there was hardly any mention of these events. Something that should be of even greater concern to the Daily is the misuse of University budget and facility resources regarding live music events. BTP is already in East Lansing because there are no places for them in Ann Arbor. I understand it's beyond the Daily's resources for extensive music coverage, but it is not beyond the student community's. Ann Arbor should be a renowned music town in its own right. Students should not have to make trips into Detroit and East Lansing to see shows that Ann Arbor has more than enough venues and interest to support. Student groups shouldn't have to spend hundreds of dollars to advertise for shows on campus, when the student body at large knows nothing about the bands. Stu- dent bands should be able to more easily make the transition to local venues and not be trapped losing money on promoting free shows. I would like to invite anyone who also wants to see change in the Ann Arbor music scene to the League Underground on Thursday night at 8:30 for the Ann Arbor Music Group mass meeting. Entertainment will be provided by Roadside Zoo, More Like Zero and Ty Reynolds, and a compila- tion CD of some of Ann Arbor's best local music will be available. Come help us remake Ann Arbor into the nation's best college music town. DAN GOSHORN LSA junior The letter writer is the president and founder of the Ann Arbor Music Group Daily sensationalizes rape, exploits incident TO THE DAILY: The Daily's tendency to sensationalize very personal and sensitive issues by splashing trigger words across its head- lines is abhorrent and must be stopped. Two days in a row (Alleged rape under investigation, 03/30/04 and Woman denies rape at SAE house, 03/31/04), the front- page headline has screamed "rape" to the entire campus community. While the Daily seems to find it acceptable to exploit such a traumatic, personal experience, I contend that it is not. I understand that accusations of rape affect both the accuser and the accused. However, the Daily must recognize that by shamelessly exploiting incidences of sexual assault, it makes it that much harder for survivors to come forward and seek servic- "got drunk and had sex" and emphasizing that "there were a lot of guys in (SAE) felt really bad about it" rather than focusing on the feelings of exploitation and traumatiza- tion a woman might feel after seeing her experience so thoughtlessly splashed across the headlines? The Daily's irresponsible handling of the devastating and life-changing trauma of sex- ual assault is utterly reprehensible. By set- ting a precedent of shamelessly throwing the buzzword "rape" into multiple headlines, the Daily shows that it is insensitive to the trau- ma and issues surrounding incidences of sexual assault, potential sexual assault or recovery from sexual assault that countless women and men on this campus face. Sexu- alized violence is not a news opportunity; it is a devastating experience that should be respected and not exploited. The Daily's han- dling of this most recent occurrence, regard- less of the eventual outcome, and its desire to sensationalize such an experience, is incredibly painful to many people on this campus. In addition, it encourages the myth that women frequently lie about rape, mak- ing it that much for difficult for society to see rape for the serious crime that it is. In the future, the Daily must exercise true thought and journalistic integrity and print facts, rather than wallow in speculation, exploit students' most personal experiences and grab at people's innermost emotions in an effort to get readership. LAUREN SOGOR LSA sophomore LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all of its readers. Letters from Universi- ty students, faculty, staff and administrators will be given priority over others. Letters should include the writer's name, college and school year or other University affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter contain- ing statements that cannot be verified. Letters should be kept to approximately 300 words. The Michigan Daily reserves the right to edit for length, clarity and accuracy. Longer "viewpoints" may be arranged with an editor. Letters will be run according to order received and the amount of space available. Letters should be sent over e-mail to tothedaily@michigandaily.com or mailed to the 4 . 4 4 y yW