Oregon daily emerald., December 04, 1981, Section A, Page 4, Image 4

opinion_
Oregon, in Atiyeh's hands, is failing
Now we are in the throes of more budget
reductions and more cuts to state agencies,
while Atiyeh has still not dropped the property
tax relief program nor increased taxes, or done
much else except up the price 7 cents per pack
of cigarettes.
The state agencies that are suffering are
higher education, human resources, and state
police. It is arguable that these agencies are
essential and should be augmented rather than
reduced.
The people of Oregon are becoming more
and more disenchanted with Atiyeh and his
political tightrope act. They aren’t being fooled,
and won’t vote for Atiyeh because he promised
to keep taxes low. Oregonians are concerned
by all the state agencies being cut and are
willing to pay a larger share of taxes and forego
property tax relief.
This latest round of budget cuts to higher
education and other state agencies imposed by
Gov. Vic Atiyeh raises more than just doubts
concerning the future of higher education.
These revenue deficits and subsequent budget
reductions raise serious questions regarding
the leadership of Atiyeh. A recall not
withstanding, the people of Oregon are
deserving of better leadership and should
consider another governor in the 1982 guber
natorial election.
Atiyeh did adhere to his campaign promise of
not increasing taxes and continuing the
popular property tax relief program. But, at the
time Atiyeh took office, Oregon was sitting
quite contentedly on a budget surplus in the
hundreds of million of dollars. Promises not to
raise taxes and to continue tax rebate programs
are easy to mouth when the state budget is
solidly in the black.
That was a couple of years ago. before the
tide and time of inflation and recession eroded
the Oregon economy to its present demise.
Atiyeh must have had some economic
forecasts to alert him to the dwindling surplus
in the state coffers. Why didn't he heed the
national economic forecasts and translate
them to Oregon? By careful preventative
measures the state could have avoided its
present situation.
Actions speak much louder than campaign
letters
Dusty old depression blues
What with Reaganomics bringing back all the best
of those old Depression Blues, it seems to me we re
going to have to change our styles of music I mean.
Punk's fine for rich people, but Devo s hardly the
thing for standing in bread lines.
The time s right for removing •that dusty old dust'
from your Woodie Guthrie records, especially the
ones concerning “Going Down That Road Feeling
Bad,” “Hard Traveling.' and “The Oregon Trail.”
While Reagan does all he can to restore hard
times, we can listen to “Hey. Brother. Can You Spare
a Dime?” while we watch unemployment go up.
interest rates soar, and Exxon's taxes vanish.
By this time next year, you’d better have your
Model T or Hudson Super-Six ready for the road. Tie
your bedding to the sides, load the chickens on top,
and head West - too bad we can’t go much farther
than Florence
But let’s be optimistic! What with Reagan's
foreign policy, maybe we won’t be around long
enough to suffer from his economics! Between B-1
and the draft, I'm following Bob Dylan's advice to
“head for those Northern skies” or be Born Again.
With good old Bonzo's ex-bed partner s finger on
promises and Atiyeh's actions in office have
been fairly mute. The first special session of
the Legislature called to deal with a budget
deficit should have been met with strong
countermeasures. Instead, Atiyeh did next to
nothing to stem the Revenue deficit. This all
but ensured another special session to deal
with further deficits.
The problem can be traced to unrealized
revenues partly from declining housing starts
affecting the timber industry, and partly from
the increasing interest rates for borrowers. Any
cautious analysis would have advised diver
sification of the revenue base for Oregon
knowing the national economy would continue
the downward trend for the immediate future.
Still Atiyeh, more as a politican than as a
foresighted leader seeking solutions to the
‘revenue crisis, stolidly stood by his unrealistic
campaign promises not to increase taxes and
maintain the property tax relief program.
Now we are in the throes of more budget
reductions and more cuts to state agencies,
while Atiyeh has still not dropped the property
tax relief program nor increased taxes, or dne
much else except up the price 7 cents per pack
of cigarettes.
The state agencies that are suffering are
higher education, human resources, and state
police. It is arguable that these agencies are
essential and should be augmented rather than
reduced.
The people of Oregon are becoming more
and more disenchanted with Atiyeh and his
political tightrope act. They aren’t being fooled,
and won’t vote for Atiyeh because he promised
to keep taxes low. Oregonians are concerned
by all the state agencies being cut and are
willing to pay a larger share of taxes and forego
property tax relief.
Atiyeh during his governorship has failed to
maintain the quality of essential state agencies
which is part of his responsibility as governor.
With Atiyeh this state has declined and will
continue to do so until farsighted leadership is
elected.
It_ _
(Trf
‘If; f sfa j*
HUt< ! 1
i ■ f'n iinSs
the hair trigger of an MX. there's another Woody
Guthrie favorite which is appropriate “So Long. It's
Been Good to Know Ya "
Kevin Patterson
Architecture
Neutrality gyrations
I have been following with some amusement the
gyrations of Pres Olum on the questions of
“university neutrality.” First we heard that lum
berman Aaron Jones' threat not to give a quarter of a
million dollars to the University unless the En
vironmental Law Clinic was thrown off campus, was
not the reason it was thrown off (but rather the
University’s principle commitment to neutrality.)
Then we heard that ROTC unlike the ELC was
neutral, because the university could reject any
given instructor the army provided But, now poor
professor Bates small scale personal consulting
business is about to be thrown off campus. Let us
stop the silliness about ' neutrality’’ Olum and face
the facts. This university from head to toe is in
tegrally tied into both wealthy business interests
and the U.S. military industrial complex. It is about
as neutral as a horse to a sugar cube (and for the
same reason.)
Besides ROTC's blatant commitment to the U.S.
military (and aganist, for example Iran, Cuba, El
Salvador, Vietnam), the business school represents
the top of the corporate iceberg. It is geared totally
to serve the corporations that run the U.S economy
(and against the interests of the working people of
the state.) In a recent brochure they labeled the
University as businesses' “secret weapon.” They
openly advertise to the corporations their
“willingness to relate to” the needs of business
through a wide diversity of programs. It has a
Business Advisory Council" whose purpose is "to
provide the College with a fresh perspective of the
needs of the business community;” a Small
Business Institute in wich "companies identify a
need, initiate a request for assistance through the
College., and permit selected students to address
their live problems;’’ a Forest Industries
Management Center which runs a senior
management seminar which has been specifically
tailored to management issues facing the forest
products corporations," as well as "faculty in
ternships with the corporations designed to "in
crease the administrative and managerial ef
fectiveness of corporations" and a set of "Oregon
Business Seminars" which provide a range of ser
vices to business. Let us stop the hypocrisy about
"neutrality" and face up the facts about what
universities are really about.
Albert Szymanski
Associate Professor of Sociology
Who scrapped SALT?
Maybe before we take Christian Gunther and his
letter (Dec. 3) very seriously, perhaps we should look
at some basic facts. Like who “scrapped” SALT II.
SALT II was signed by then Pres. Carter. However,
the agreement was not ratified by Congress, both
houses of which were controlled by the Democratic
Party which wouldn’t even back its own party leader.
One of the main reasons Congress did not ratify the
agreement was its concern about the Soviet invasion
of Afghanistan. Therefore, it was not Pres. Reagan
who "scrapped" SALT II, but the United States
Congress.
DAVE NEWELL
Junior, Political Science