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
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