CON CAMPUS
'Merchant of
Venice' screening
The most recent screen release of
Shakespeare's comic drama "The Mer-
chant of Venice," starring Jeremy Irons,
Joseph Fiennes and Al Pacino, will be
shown tonight from 7:15 to 10:30 p.m.
at the Michigan Theater.
The Merchant of Venice, one of the
playwright's most acclaimed and repro-
duced works, addresses a range of social
issues.
University professor and Shake-
spearean scholar Ralph Williams will
conduct a lecture following the film.
Admission is $6.75 for students, chil-
dren and seniors and $8.50 for adults.
Students to vie for
spots on national
poetry team
The University of Michigan Muse-
um of Art hosts the annual Slam
Team contest tonight at 8:30 p.m.
at Alumni Memorial Hall. Student
poets will compete to win a place in
one of the four available spots on the
University's nationally recognized
performance poetry team. The per-
formance will be headlined by Jamie
Kennedy, a three-time National
Grand Slam Champion and host of
the vaudeville series Tourettes With-
out Regrets.
The event is sponsored by the Uni-
versity of Michigan Credit Union,
Rackham Student Government and
University Unions Arts and Pro-
grams. Admission is free.
Workshop to teach
intricacies of
Adobe Photoshop
There will be a hands-on workshop
today for Photoshop Intermediate, from
4 to 6 p.m. in the Faculty Exploratory
Room in the Harlan Hatcher Graduate
Library.
E The workshop will look at tools to
fine-tune selections, alter color ranges
and different ways to combine images
together. The workshop will talk about
a few quick adjustments that can be
applied to make images clearer and bet-
ter looking.
CRIME
INOTES
Lost and found
items lost, not
found
A caller reported to the Department
of Public Safety Tuesday that numerous
unknown items have been stolen from
the Hutchin's Hall lost and found.
Subject falls in
Botanical Gardens
A subject fell in the Matthaei Botani-
cal Gardens Tuesday morning, bumping
her head and nose. The subject refused
transportation by Huron Valley Ambu-
lances and was taken to the hospital by
a friend.
Discriminatory
language found on
residence hall
A caller reported to DPS Tuesday that
someone wrote the word Fag in blue on
a wall outside of Mary Markley Resi-
dence Hall. There was no report filed.
THIS DAY
In Daily History
Art students hold
protest in light of
budget cuts
March 10, 1983 - Frustrated over
the proposed budget cuts the Universi-
ty's School of Art and Design is facing,
300 art school students staged a silent
rally in protest yesterday.
Marching from the Diag to Regents
NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 10, 2005 - 3A
Senate panel votes to reject appointment
Granholm denounces the
first denial of a gubernatorial
appointment in 15 years as a
partisan move
LANSING (AP) - The Republican majority on
a Senate panel voted yesterday to reject the reap-
pointment of a Democratic nominee to the state
elections board, a rare move that Gov. Jennifer
Granholm blasted as partisan.
It was the first denial of a gubernatorial appoint-
ment in 15 years.
The Senate Government Operations Committee
voted 4-3 along party lines to urge the full Sen-
ate to reject the appointment of Dorothy Jones,
who has been on the board for eight years as an
appointee of former Gov. John Engler, a Republi-
can. Granholm recently appointed Jones to another
four-year term.
The full Senate is expected to vote today on
Jones's appointment. It's likely her appointment
will voted down, since Republicans hold a 22-16
majority.
Granholm, a Democrat who has been frustrated
by what she sees as increased Republican partisan-
ship, expressed disgust with the panel's action.
"It is outrageous. I am furious," she said after
the vote. "They abdicated their duty for partisan
reasons."
Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema and other
GOP lawmakers, however, said Jones violated her
oath of office last year by not certifying petitions
for a gay marriage constitutional amendment or an
effort by Republicans to get presidential candidate
Ralph Nader on the November ballot as an inde-
pendent.
They cited a 2004 state appeals court ruling,
which said the board breached a legal duty by not
certifying the gay marriage proposal even though
it was in the proper form and had enough signa-
tures.
"She attempted to disenfranchise the constitu-
tional right of hundreds of thousands of Michigan
citizens to place issues of importance to them on
the ballot," said Sikkema, who voted to reject
Jones' appointment.
Jones, of Ypsilanti, is one of two Democrats on
the four-member Board of State Canvassers, which
reviews proposed ballot measures and other election
issues. The board is required to have two Republicans
and two Democrats.
Jones was first appointed by Engler in 1997 and
reappointed in 2001.
She told the committee that the board should not
be a rubber stamp. The gay marriage amendment,
she said, had confusing language.
"I always tried hard to do my duty to the best of
my ability," Jones said.
Republicans said the board's role isn't to
decide whether voters will understand the
effect of a ballot question. That should be left
to the courts after an election, they said.
But Granholm defended Jones's actions, saying
she upheld her constitutional responsibilities.
"She is getting rejected because she asked tough
questions and fought for clear and understandable
wording on a ballot proposal on behalf of the vot-
ers of Michigan," Granholm said. "What she has
done is uphold the law and refuse to be a rubber
stamp for anyone's partisan point of view. For that,
she is about to be dismissed, which should offend
every person in this state."
Along with Jones, Granholm also made an
appointment to the board of canvassers for Repub-
licans. She said the GOP did not submit names of
potential nominees by a Jan. 10 deadline, so she
picked Lyn Bankes of Livonia, a former state law-
maker.
Sikkema spokesman Ari Adler said the moderate
Bankes was not acceptable to some Republicans,
but denied the vote against Jones was retribution
for Bankes' appointment. The panel didn't take
action Tuesday on Bankes' appointment, but it's
expected to take effect in 60 days since the Senate
won't reject the appointment.
In defending Jones, Democrats noted that Repub-
lican Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land refused to
accept Nader's nomination by the Reform Party of
Michigan after a second group also claimed to be
the legitimate state Reform Party.
They also said voters were misled by language
in the since-approved gay marriage amendment
that could strip public employees of same-sex ben
efits.
Democratic Sen. Buzz Thomas of Detroit said
Jones,.who is black, reflects diversity on the board,
He said most of the board's decisions were unani7
mous.
"It does seem unfortunate that we're questionin&
two out of 100," Thomas said.
Kim Trent of Detroit told lawmakers she was
concerned that the first board nominee to be rejet±,
ed in years was black. .
"That's very troubling," Trent said during the
committee hearing. "Our state should project the
importance of unity."
Four Republicans voted to reject Jones' appoint
ment: Sikkema and Sens. Jason Allen of Traversec
City, Bev Hammerstrom of Temperance an<
Nancy Cassis of Novi. The Democrats voting to
approve the appointment were Thomas, Minority
Leader Bob Emerson of Flint and Gilda Jacobs of
Huntington Woods.
According to Senate Secretary Carol Viventi,
the last rejection of a gubernatorial nominee came
in 1990, when the Republican-controlled Senate
blocked Democratic Gov. Jim Blanchard's attempt
to appoint several people to commissions and
boards near the end of his term.
Senate votes in favor of
legislation to bar sypware
According to the three bills,
violators could be found guilty of
a felony and spend up to five years
in prison, pay a $10,000 fine or both
LANSING (AP) - The state Senate unanimously
approved legislatidn yesterday aimed at barring the
unauthorized spread of spyware, pesky software that
can track Internet users' personal information without
their knowledge.
The legislation, which passed 37-0, heads to the
House.
The three bills would bar anyone from willfully
copying software onto a computer and using it to col-
lect personal information without the user's permission.
They also would make it illegal to modify Internet set-
tings or disable antivirus, anti-spyware or other secu-
rity programs.
Violators could be found guilty of a felony and spend
up to five years in prison, pay a $10,000 fine or both.
Someone affected by illegal spyware could obtain an
injunction to prevent further violations and $10,000 in
damages. Republican Sen. Cameron Brown of Sturgis,
who sponsored the legislation, said people have a right
to privacy.
"We're trying to correct deceptive activity," he said.
The most common type of spyware is more accu-
rately called "adware," a source of pop-up ads. Adware
usually invades when users download free software, but
users often unsuspectingly consent to getting the ads by
not reading licensing agreements.
An America Online survey found that 80 percent of
home computers are infected with some type of spy-
ware, which can slow down and crash PCs.
More troublesome forms of spyware track key-
strokes to capture login names, passwords, Social
Security numbers,- credit card and bank account
information. They reset Web home pages, install new
code, co-opt PCs to send out spam and trick users
with Trojan-horse tactics such as offering to syin
chronize the computer's clock.
Just two others states have anti-spyware legislation!
Utah and California.
Some experts say legislation won't do much to curb
spyware, noting that federal legislation didn't prevent
e-mail boxes from being flooded by spam.
Pradeep Khosla, dean of engineering at Carnegie Mel
lon University in Pittsburgh, said it's extremely difficult to
find out who's installing some forms of spyware.
"What legislation does is acknowledge the fact that
we are aware," he said. "It will reduce it some but not
stop it totally."
While the vote was unanimous, the Republ='
can-controlled Senate rejected Democrats' earlier
attempts to modify the legislation to require employ-
ers to tell employees if they're monitoring their com'
puter activities.
Democrats said people deserve privacy in the work-
place, but Republicans countered that employees expect
their work to be monitored.
Sen. Martha Scott, D-Highland Park, was absent and
didn't vote.
The Senate's vote came on the same day a congres-
sional committee passed anti-spyware legislation. The
federal legislation would prohibit the collection of per-
sonal information from a computer without notice atd
consent.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., co-sponsored the leg-
islation.
"It is serious and spreading scourge," Dingell sait
of spyware. "These antics are costing businesses and
consumers dearly."
Changes to system create slower bud
I A
LANSING (AP) - House Speaker Craig
DeRoche (R-Novi) said yesterday he doesn't
expect the Legislature to move forward on
funding proposals for another six weeks as law-
makers work through a new way of deciding
how to budget the state's money.
Lawmakers who support the new system
agree it's slow, but argue it will help them make
better decisions for the fiscal year that begins
Oct. 1.
But critics say the change has significantly
delayed the budget process. Few hearings have
been held so far on actual budget bills in the
month since budget director Mary Lannoye
presented Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed
fiscal 2006 spending plan.
"Generally, by this time in the budget pro-
cess, we've done some substantive work and
we've reported out budgets. But we haven't done
any of that yet this time," said Rep. Gretchen
not lobb
PIRGIM It claims
Continued from page 1 mention
for five years for this vote. We believe tion, the
that this vote can happen faster with- vote on
out settlements." sponsorl
As a result of the aborted settle- MSA
ment, the trial split into three parties unsure
- Students For PIRGIM, MSA and would 14
Wells-Reid. sure tha
At the beginning of the trial, would.
Wells-Reid asked the CSJ to sever If MS
MSA from Students For PIRGIM PIRGIM
and consider them separately. to regai
CSJ did not deny the motion, but MSA
decided to hold the full trial and dur- but only
ing the discussion to deliberate on go towa
the suggestion that MSA and PIR- PIRGIM
GIM be separated. allotted
If the motion to sever is granted, percent
the results of the trial will be incon- $20,000
sequential. period.
Whitmer of East Lansing, the highest-ranking
Democrat on the House Appropriations Com-
mittee.
She said the new process outlined in the
book, "The Price of Government," is better
fit for the executive branch than the Legisla-
ture. Michigan lawmakers are the first in the
country to use the big-picture way of thinking
about the state's finances.
Republican leaders in the House and Sen-
ate said they're not worried about taking their
time on the new budget process.
"It will make it easier if we can go forward
to the public and say that we spent the bulk
of our time talking about what we wanted the
government to do with your taxpayer money
and what value we placed on those things
before we tangle ourselves up in dollars," said
DeRoche. R-Novi.
DeRoche said he doesn't expect lawmak-
ers to make any decisions on spending until
after the May 16 revenue estimating confer-
ence when economists lay out projections for
the current and upcoming budget years. Gran-
holm has proposed spending $8.9 billion from
the general fund and nearly $12.8 billion from
the school aid fund in the next fiscal year.
House members recently wrapped up two
weeks of goal-setting meetings that laid out
what information lawmakers should consider
when making spending decisions.
They agreed that decisions on state econom-
ic development should be based on the unem-
ployment rate, weekly earnings and consumer
debt, and that road and transportation decisions
should be based on data that rate the condition
of Michigan roads and bridges, congestion and
safety.
That's according to a copy of the recommen-
dations obtained yesterday by The Associated
Lget process
Press. House Appropriations Chairman Scot
Hummel (R-DeWitt) was scheduled to presedt
the recommendations today at a Capitol news
conference.
Instead of using one bill to fund each depart-
ment, DeRoche said he wants to cut the number
of bills in half to nine by combining similar
funding areas such as education and health
care.
For example, funding for universities, con-
munity colleges and K-12 schools could be
combined in one bill.
"If every department is a silo protected froim
other departments, you don't get to see where
there is overlap or efficiencies that could be had
by crossing over," he said.
Ari Adler, spokesman for Republican Senate
Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyoming,
said the Senate is just beginning to compile
information from its goal-setting meetings.
y if the proposal is approved.
s the group has eliminated all
of lobbying from its resolu-
e document that MSA would
when it decides whether to
the group.
and Wells-Reid say they are
whether Student PIRGIM
obby, but they want to make
at there is no chance that it
A's tax-exempt status is lost,
A argued, it would be difficult
n it.
can fund lobbying groups,
y 5 percent of its budget can
rd that function. If Student
A is approved, the $20,000
to it would be just under 5
of MSA's budget. But that
D is only a one-year trial
-. -- 1
the next year would cost MSA an
estimated $60,000, 12 percent of
MSA's budget.
MSA also wants to establish some
kind of influence on Student PIRGIM
that would ensure it will never be
involved in lobbying in the future.
"It frightens me that there is no
MSA jurisdiction over whether
they'll lobby," Leung said.
If CSJ approved a vote, the soonest
it could take place is next Tuesday's
MSA meeting.
- Eric Sweeney contributed to
this report
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