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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 1978)
I Citizens cancel lawsuit against measure campaign By KATHLEEN MONJE Of the Emerald Two Eugene residents, one a University senior, ended their recent efforts to bring the 1977 Water Development Act to trial. David McTeague, political science major and president of the Oregon Young Democrats, and John Stewart, former state legislative Democratic candi date, brought suit against the campaign for Ballot Measure No. One, passed by Oregon voters last fall. The measure set up a revolving loan fund that will provide money for irrigation and drainage for Oregon farmers. Stewart and McTeague organized the only committee that actively campaigned against the act before the Nov. 8 election. “During the campaign, it came to our attention that untrue statements about the measure were being made and quoted by the media,” Stewart says. The alleged false statements concerned two facets of the act. Stewart said the campaign for the act declared that loan monies were strictly for family farmers, not for corporations; and he said the cam paign material stated that out-of-state corporations can’i get loans — “but the fact is that an Oregon agri-business corporation can be set up by a larger outside corporation,” and be eligible for a loan. The basis for contesting the election, Stewart said, was Oregon Revised Statute 260.532, which provides for a second election if a court decides false statements that could have influenced election re sults were made publically. However, the statute also states that the false statements must have been made knowingly, with intent to mislead. Stewart and McTeague filed their suit against the campaign committee, Oregonians for Water Conservation and Development, the Portland adver tising agency that handled the campaign, and the executive committee of the campaign in the Mult nomah County Circuit Court. The court had scheduled the hearing for the case to begin Tuesday, but plaintiffs Stewart and McTeague had decided to drop their suit three days before that date. “We concluded, with our lawyer, that although we could prove — with documents we obtained from their campaign — that false statements were made, we couldn’t prove intent to influence the election with false statements. "We decided that there probably was lack of intent, and decided not to pursue the suit,” Stewart explained. He would like to see the election law tightened so it applies to any false statements, with or without intent to mislead. “If you can prove that the election atmosphere is sufficiently polluted, there should be another elec tion,” Stewart said. “I violently disagree with the sta tute as it is.” ASUO needs coordinator for legislative research By CAROLYN BEAVER Of the Emerald Even though its not a legislative year, the ASUO will be working with legislators and gearing up for next year Applications for an ASUO legis lative coordinator are available until Friday. Keli Osborn, ASUO vice-president for local, state and national affairs, says it will mainly be a research position. "The coordinator will conduct research for us in a variety of areas," she says, such as tuition tax credits, contingency repay ment of student loans, child care and financial aid. In off years, the state Legisla ture sets up interim committees to deal with lobbyists and potential legislation. In the past, the House and Senate each had separate committees for education and educational finance. This year, however, the commit tee is titled the Joint Committee for Revenue and School Finance. Both Senators and Representa tives sit on the committee and is sues must be couched in financial terms, although Osborn says the "committee is flexible enough to make most issues fit into their guidelines.” _ "We work with individual legis lators, also, on concrete ideas or those in the beginning stages. That way we can go up to the legis lative session with a communica tion line already open,” says Os bom. In the next few weeks, the coor dinator and ASUO representa tives will go to Salem, “to develop some contacts and support with legislators.” They also plan to de velop contacts with experts in fields of student interest. Osbom mentions that “Right now we re behind on laying the groundwork for next years legisla tion.” Although Osbom has taken tentative positions on several is sues, a full legislative agenda has not yet been developed for next year’s administration to use. A communication network is planned so all ASUO programs and the ASUO administration feel comfortable working together," says Osborn. One of the coordinator’s duties will be to develop this network by discussing each program’s in terests with the directors and com ing up with a “University of Oregon bill, not just an ESCAPE or Survival Center bill," Osborn says. Osborn also hopes to alleviate some of last legislative year’s overlap. For example, the coor dinator might organize car pools to Salem in which all ASUO prog rams could participate to cut down costs. The position has recently been opened to non-work study stu dents, and applications will be taken until Friday in Suite 4 of the EMU. Course offers first-hand political knowledge in campaign situation Students may obtain first-hand knowledge of the political process by working on a local or statewide campaign as part of a special course offered by the University political science department. Jim Klonoski, political science professor says the class, PS 406, is a field study experience, but he says the course requirements are more extensive than the cam paign participation alone. Apparently, the information published by local media from a news release sent out by a local campaign did not give complete information as to the work re quirements of the course. Thus, some misunderstanding may have arisen about the campaign participation. Klonoski emphasizes that while the participation is a part of the course, students must also “ac quaint themselves with the relev ant political literature,’’ outline plans for the project and write an evaluation of the experience at the end of the term. He says the course aims to be an "intellectual exercise.” According to a news release from the Bob Wood for Governor committee in Eugene, students may work in such areas as re search, issue development, pub licity and aids to staff members. per term for 2 cubic foot refrigerator DON’T BE DISAPPOINTED GET YOURS NOW CALL TODAY Taylor Rental Center POLY TUFF BINDER C save at Hirons LOOSE LEAF NOTEBOOK INDEXES REG. 350 23* 100 CT SPIRAL NOTEBOOK #L101 REG. 1.45
