4A - Thursday, November 16, 2006 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com C74 e ffC4loan ai[m Vote for Pedro ... Martinez? 0 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890 413 E. Huron St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 tothedaily@michigandaily.com DONN M. FRESARD EDITOR IN CHIEF EMILY BEAM CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS JEFFREY BLOOMER MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views ofttheir authors. F ROM T HE DAILY The other election Past voting scandals tarnished MSA's reputation t seems like it was only yesterday when Michigan Student Assembly candidates bombarded students' inboxes with spam e-mails campaigning for their MSA parties - but that was last March, and it's election season again. As the student government fall elections get underway today, it is important for MSA to continue its efforts to reform its elections and move to repair the tarnished image it still holds on campus. Recently on one of the best shows on television - HBO's "Real Sports" - anchor Bry- ant Gumbel devoted his closing monologue to questioning why there are not more athletes partici- pating in politics. Gumbel certainly has a point. Looks around the politi- cal landscape, and you will notice the vast majority of JOHN politically active STIGLICH celebrities are movie and televi- sion stars - not quarterbacks and pitchers. If the 2006 midterms are any indication, though, we should see more athletes dipping their toes into the political waters in the future. Last Tuesday night, former NFL quarterback Heath Schuler won his bid for a House seat in North Caro- lina. After his career in football ended, Schuler became aborn-again Christian, and the Republican Party tried recruit- ing him to run for Congress a few years back. This election cycle, the Demo- crats succeeded in lobbying Schuler to become a member of their congressio- nal huddle - despite strong opposition from Redskins fans still oozing with hatred for Schuler because of his failed run as their quarterback. In Pennsylvania, retired Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and ABC col- lege football analyst Lynn Swann got crushed when he challenged Gov. Ed Rendell in that state's gubernatorial race. It was thought that Swann's stat- ure as a Steelers legend would elevate him to the governor's mansion, just as former Oklahoma Sooner standout J.C. Watts's prominence earned him a seat in Congress. Unfortunately for Repub- licans, even Swann could not run away from the blue curtain that descended upon America last week. Of course, politics is not limited just to athletes retired from the world of sports. During the World Series telecast on FOX, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan and former St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt War- ner participated in a commercial that spoke out against the Missouri stem cell proposal. Clearly, their intentions were to use their influence as beloved athletes to swayvoters toward the pro- life position on the issue and to coun- ter the Hollywood influence infused by my childhood hero Michael J. Fox. Suppan and Warner may have lost their battle in the end, but the final vote tabulations on the ballot proposal were much closer than the pre-elec- tion polls indicated. Here in Michigan, University bas- ketball coach Tommy Amaker and Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo unsuccessfully lobbied against the passage of Proposal 2. I wonder if the opposition would have been more successful if it aired commercials with Detroit icons such as Joe Dumars and Barry Sanders. Recruiting athletes to run for polit- ical office makes sense because their status overcomes most of the barriers candidates face as they enter the polit- ical world. First, name recognition - a quality lesser known candidates devote untold resources to developing - is already established. Second, seed money should not be an issue given the enormous incomes of professional athletes and their access to wealthy donors. Third, professional athletes tend to give back to their commu- nities through charitable causes, translating into high favorability rat- ings among constituents. Finally, the iconic status of professional athletes makes their forays into the political world instantaneously newsworthy - so gathering the media's attention is not an issue. In the past, some retired professional athletes have had very successful politi- cal careers. Former Buffalo Bills quar- terback and American Football League Association President Jack Kemp was the Republican vice-presidential nomi- nee in 1996. Kemp also played a key role - while a member of Congress from New York - in drafting and passing the Reagan tax reforms in the 1980s. Professional athletes are not loyally entrenched in one political party or one political philosophy, and I think Americans find athletes more credible as a result. When Suppan and War- ner spoke out against the stem-cell research proposal in Missouri, it was the result of their deeply held personal beliefs on the issue - not peer pres- sure in the athletic community. Con- versely, when Hollywood stars take up their pet causes, the public views it as an exercise in image-boosting or one- upmanship - not heartfelt loyalty to the cause. Hollywood celebrities, by and large, have the same aforementioned advan- tages, but there is a salient difference between them and professional ath- letes - Hollywood is liberal. I cannot recall an "A-list" actor in my lifetime - other than Mel Gibson - who cham- pioned a conservative cause. George Clooney, Barbara Streisand, Julia Rob- erts and Jon Stewart are all Hollywood icons who give large sums of money to liberal causes but have little influence outside the coasts. It remains to be seen if the athletic community overtakes the Hollywood community in political activity, but I can see an interesting future presi- dential race - George Clooneyvs. Tom Brady, anybody? John Stiglich I can be reached at jcsgolf@umich.edu. 4 Student government parties have a tendency to disband - or, in many cases, simply change names - every couple of years in an attempt to distinguish themselves from the image their predeces- sors had acquired. While in theory the par- ties that emerge year after year are "new" and original, the leaders of the parties are invariably formers members of the defunct parties. The dominant party three years ago was the Students First party, which became Students 4 Michigan. The alleg- edly new Michigan Action Party contains a suspicious number of S4M veterans. A shameful denial of service attack on an opposing party's website by students with S4M ties is probably a major reason why s4M members wanted to create a new party. That scandal wasn't the only one last March: Tim Hull, then running with the Student Conservative Party, sent tens of thousands of spam e-mails to professors and alumni. Although the contentious elec- tion had one of the highest voter turnouts in recent history, the scandals surrounding the election hurt MSA's credibility. In order for MSA to move past its dubi- ous history - which has included irre- sponsible fiscal decisions and assembly members with surprisingly low atten- dance records, in addition to the problems with its elections - the new parties that have emerged this election season must at least try to work at accomplishing what they have proposed to do. While many stu- dents may not know it, MSA handles hun- dreds of thousands of dollars in student fee money. But only when its power trans- lates to visibility and influence on campus will it be able to work toward progress at the University and gain respect from the student body. Today and tomorrow, students can go to vote.www.umich.edu to vote for MSA rep- resentatives. While the fall elections, lack- ing a glamorous presidential race, may not seem important, the representatives that are elected this weekend could have a real influence on the student government. We encourage you to get to the online polls and elect whichever representatives you believe will bring about the changes MSA needs. MARICRUZ LOPEZ AND LIANA MULHOLLAND VIEWPINT Undo Proposal2 Blocking the polls ID requirement would needlessly disenfranchise voters nce again, Michigan finds itself deliberating over a divi- sive issue that has been popping up across the country. No, it's not a certain ballot proposal in question this time, but a challenge over the constitutionality of a 1996 state law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls. On Tuesday, Nov. 7, Proposal 2 - Ward Connerly's bal- lot initiative to ban the use of affirmative action in college admissions, hiring and contracting throughout the state of Michigan - passed by a vote of 58 percent to 42 percent. There must be no drop in underrepresented minority stu- dent enrollment at Michigan universities! The impact of Pro- posal 2 on minority student admission to our universities is a question of social power, not legal interpretation abstracted from the social struggle. A drop in minority student enroll- ment in higher education in Michigan is not inevitable. We must stand on the principle that we will not accept a drop in minority enrollment at any Michigan universities. In California, the failure of the chancellors of the Uni- versity of California to utilize every legal means available to themtomaintainunderrepresented minorityenrollmenthas led to a huge drop in the numbers and proportion of black, Hispanic and other underrepresented minority students in the UC system. We cannot allow this to occur in Michigan. A whole range of university admissions policy changes - from discounting standardized test scores to defending the use of race in admissions to combat the discrimination and bias inherent in Michigan's highly segregated, separate and unequal K-12 education system - can provide the basis for maintaining and even increasing underrepresented minor- ity enrollment at our universities. The passage of Proposal 2 does not have to lead to a drop in black, Hispanic and Native American student enrollment in Michigan universities. What we do will be decisive. Proposal 2 should never have been placed on the ballot in the first place. The signatures needed to get Proposal 2 on the ballot were obtained through the use of massive, system- atic, racially targeted voter fraud. By Any Means Necessary's two-year campaign to expose the voter fraud and to keep Proposal 2 off the ballot because of the voter fraud was the only sure way to defeat Proposal 2. BAMN's conclusion that Proposal 2 was tainted by racial- ly-targeted fraud was supportedby both a federal court deci- sion and the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. The refusal, however, of any other political force in our state to keep Proposal 2 from going forward made its passage extremely likely. For months, the mainstream media recognized that Pro- posal 2's placement on the Michigan ballot was based on racially-targeted voter fraud. Nonetheless, virtually every ERIN RUSSELL I O political commentator argued that it should still be placed on the ballot. Any outcry by civil rights leaders, Democratic politi- cians or the media over the voter fraud would have stopped Proposal 2 dead in its tracks. When BAMN said loudly that if Proposal 2 went forward on the basis of the voter fraud, defeat was very likely, we were right. Giving a white major- ity the right to determine black and other minority people's rights in the privacy and secrecy of a voting booth is a recipe for advancing white privilege. Allowing such a vote to take place on the basis of a well-publicized racist scam guaran- tees a blow against minorities. We cannot allow this to occur again. Building a new leadership that will fight for and speak out for black and Hispanic communities and all the oppressed is essential right now. We need leaders who understand that the only way to advance the fight for civil rights is to build the new movement on an independent basis. We need leaders who don't just role over and play dead. Far from settling the question of race relations in Michi- gan, the passage of Proposal 2 will open up a new phase of the struggle for affirmative action integration and equality throughout Michigan and throughout this nation. Women and black, Hispanic and other minority communities will not acceptbeing relegated to second-class treatment. Put simply, the response of the newcivil rights movement to the passage of Proposal 2 must be that the end of affirma- tive action in Michigan cannot stand. We will not accept second-class rights and citizenship for black, Hispanic and other minority people and women within our state. The struggle to defend affirmative action and civil rights doesn't begin or end at the ballot box. We do not accept the idea that white people are entitled to determine, through a vote or by any other means, whether minorities should have equality and civil rights. Had the electorate of the southern states been allowed to vote on whether or not to implement Brown v. Board of Education, Jim Crow would still exist. It took a mass movement to win affirmative action, and it will take a mass movement to defend it. Maricruz Lopez is an LSA sophomore and a co- chair of the Univeresity chapter of By Any Means Necessary. Liana Mulholland is an Art and Design sophomore and a member of the group. The state Supreme Court heard this issue on Monday. Hopefully, the verdict will recognize the burden a photo ID requirement places on parts of the electorate, putting their access to the ballot box in jeopardy. Former state Attorney General Frank Kelley wisely kept this law from taking effect nine years ago, ruling that it violated the 14th Amendment. In Michigan, about 350,000 registered voters do not have driv- ers' licenses or state ID cards. If the law is upheld, roughly 5 percent of voters face possible disenfranchisement. The elderly, poor, disabled and members of minority groups are those least likely to have photo identification, and putting this law into effect would most affect their turnout at the polls. Statistics in Detroit point to a particular inequality brought about by requiring photo IDs. Roughly one-third of Detroit residents don't own cars, suggesting that a good share don't hold drivers' licenses either. Having to show photo ID might have little effect on residents of neighboring suburbs, but a good number of Detroit voters would be disen- franchised. Although the potential voters can still obtain state-issued photo IDs, the process of heading to the Secretary of State office to get one makes it harder than neces- sary for them to vote. While the state House has already passed a bill enabling those who can't afford the $10 state ID charge the chance to get one for free - it had to, or else the ID require- ment for voting would constitute an illegal poll tax - many have trouble even getting to a Secretary of State office. While some branches have extended their hours beyond the usual nine-to-five, this still offers a lim- ited time frame for those who hold two jobs, work long shifts or don't have time to wait in painfully long lines. These problems don't even take into consideration the peo- ple who lack transportation to the offices in the first place. The arguments that photo IDs should be mandatory for voting are flawed. Some maintain that IDs would reduce election fraud, yet there has been no evidence of significant fraud in Michigan. The 1996 law does state that voters without photo ID could vote by signing an affidavit tes- tifying to their identity, an exception that could still embarrass and discourage poor or elderly voters. Prior to a judge striking down its own voter ID laws, Missouri sent out vans to issue IDs to the elderly for free. Regardless of the outcome of the 1996 law, Michigan would do well to follow Missouri's exam- ple, as photo IDs are usually necessary for everything from getting a job to opening a bank account. But until every voter has an ID, enforcement of the 1996 law would dis- enfranchise a small but substantial part of the electorate. KATIE GARLINGHOUSE SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@MICHIGANDAILY.COM Another way to beat the.Buckeyes TO THE DAILY: The University chapter of Students for Organ Donation is currently competing with Ohio State University to see which school can register the most organ and tissue donors in the first annual Wolver- ines-Buckeyes Challenge for Life. Unfor- tunately, Michigan is losing by quite a bit, and we need at least 3,500 more reg- istrants in order to beat OSU's amount. It takes one minute to register online at www.giftoflifemichigan.org/goblue, and all you need to provide is your name and address. One organ donor can save eight lives, while one tissue donor can improve the quality of life in 50 individuals. Over the summer, I had a tissue transplant to help ease the chronic knee pain I've been fac- ing for the past four years. Since the sur- gery, my knee has yet to buckle and my pain has significantly reduced. There are more than 3,100 people in the state of Michigan who are waiting for an organ transplant, and I can't imagine the physical and emotional pain they are going through right now as they fight to live hoping that someone will give the gift of life. Please register today and help us beat the Buckeyes! Christy Hammond Kinesiology sophomore Once you go Maize and Blue, you never go back TO THE DAILY: I am one of those who calls Columbus home. However, for myself and many other students from central Ohio, home has become our enemy. For students still trying to find their allegiance, unlike the traitorous David Samese (... Buckeyes in Wolverine country, 11/15/2006), may I remind you that we turned our backs on the Buckeye State for something far better than that party school in our backyard. Being an athlete who represents our university and wears the Maize and Blue in competition, my love for Michigan has become true and my loyalty guaranteed. Come Saturday, I will be screaming my lungs out, "risking my life" and pumping my fist to "The Victors" in Ohio Stadium to cheer on the Wolverines. To those other "Buckeyes": Before you choose your side, remember that you're a Buckeye by birth, but a Wolverine by choice! Mark Pokora Engineeringjunior Deceitfulprimates' will attack fans TO THE DAILY: In response to the warm welcome from a Buckeye that appeared in the Daily ('Hospitality' awaits in Columbus for our fans, 11/13/2006), I encourage Michigan fans not to be fooled by these deceitful primates. Remember that a trip to Columbus is an expedition into the least civilized region in the West- ern hemisphere. Such a journey will invariably include contentious verbal exchanges, which are to be expected. But the Buckeyes won't stop there; a trip to Columbus will also likely entail being on the receiving end of airborne beer bottles as well as swings from bats, clubs and boards with nails in them. Buckeyes have also been observed to fling their feces at unfamiliar individuals, jump- ing around and howling unintelligible grunts all the while. This should not dissuade Wolverines from representing their team in this culturally barren wasteland - just be sure to travel in groups and maintain vigilance. And be absolutely sure not to fall for treacherous messages that seem to imply that OSU has miraculously emerged from the early Paleolithic this year. Godspeed and Go Blue! Andy Petrovich LSA senior \N\ ;'>;