Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 1981)
Syndicated columnist berates Reagan administration policy By PANE CLAUS8EN PORTLAND - Syndicated political columnist Tom Wicker said the Reagan administration could be perilous for American civil liberties The New York Times as sociate editor, addressed about 300 people Saturday night at the annual awards dinner of the Oregon division of the American Civil Liberties Union Wicker lashed out at recent proposals made by the Reagan Administration and members of the Republican-controlled Sen ate, which he said could reverse progress made in prison reform, voting rights, and the welfare and court sytems. He also warned that these proposals may threaten freedom of speech and the press Crime will not decrease in the United States just because more prisons are built, said Wicker, who wrote a book on the Attica prison uprising in 1971 For example, the Mi chigan legislature recently forced the governor of that state to grant an early release to 600 prisoners to alleviate over crowding. but the crime rate did not go up. he said Wicker said the theories of putting all criminals in comfor table prisons or abolishing pri sons in favor of restitution and community work programs are impractical “Middle ground solutions" such as smaller, bet ter prisons and firmer sentences are more workable, he said ' Prison reform is the most hopeless cause in America short of gun control." Wicker concluded The Voting Rights Act of 1964. described by Wicker as the "single most successful piece of public policy" for mulated during the 1960s is be ing targeted by radicals in Con gress Wicker said These Con gressmen are interested in claiming political victories in social legislation in case the Republicans economic pack age fails he said Wicker said there are at least 23 "court-stripping bills that would limit or prevent judicial action on issues ranging from busing, abortion and prayer in the schools to an all male-draft and the teaching of creationism in public schools Some of these bills seek to limit the power of state courts, he added. There is a Constitutional provision which allows the Con gress to pass legislation regarding the Supreme Court, Wicker said, but this provision has usually been interpreted in reference to "legal housekeep ing." "The reasons these bills are being put forward is because the radical conservatives in Congress...know they don't have the votes to get a consti tutional amendment by the nor mal route," Wicker charged. By limiting the court's power the Congress could pass legis lation against the public sen timent, he said. Wicker went on to attack ad ministration cuts in the welfare program saying it would lead to more welfare families, an in crease in crime and more peo ple in prison An increase in crime, in turn, will lead to a demand for tougher laws which the ACLU must carefully ex amine to ensure their constitu tionality and morality, Wicker said Wicker also noted that there will be efforts to repeal the guidelines set on the activities of the FBI and CIA, despite ob jections from FBI officials who say the guidelines do not hamper activities and should not be lifted He said some members of Congress have charged that the guidelines hinder efforts to combat terror ism, even though FBI director. Judge Webster, says there is no threat of terrorism in the United States He also criticized efforts by CIA director William Casey to exempt the CIA from com pliance with the Freedom of In formation Act (FOIA), which Wicker called a "boon to scholarly study, for those who want to find out what an agency is doing and for those who want to find out what the government is doing " Operating in secrecy is not compatible with a democratic society, Wicker said, adding that such changes would allow the agencies in the government to do things that the public does not want them to do He speculated thau the for mation of a Terrorism Subcom mittee chaired by Sen Jeremiah Denton could result in activities reminiscent of the witch hunts conducted by the Internal Security Subcommittee during the 1950s There have been charges that the American press is publish ing Soviet misinformation, j Wicker said. However, recalling the CIA’S misinformation cam paign during the 1950s, Wicker warned that attempts to label editors and reporters "dupes of the Soviet Union" could lead to a renewed witch hunt that would threaten freedom of the press. Read I the Emerald SSSSgio JgS UNITS 9 Sizes choose to from Wc*‘Uf' Un^*in . 8oo-5 30 Second Hand'Slothing GRAND WINTER OPENING! Featuring dragnet tables, silks, rayons, and classic vintage styles. New items out daily. Now buying and consigning. CaU for an appointment. 360 E. 11th Between Mill &c High I a be 4 L f//7j Getnrf‘3 free */7t^>P^e 0/*/> CtVeA Sfe "- s<to* -■ <w a^CJd -^0(y //Vr,v e/C/j/'.'l/^s &*/a O/- d ^OcA ^Oty ,, 7 ^ n u. ne*siteriT> "'tier >*to?W’ ^ to ,.V Q,/, *' V/ '>4 ^o,Ce 4"1 Cf „ *wC% *tion n"'n>uCkn)/ n°* **t‘> £tY
