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Atiyeh’s ‘war chest’ outstrips Democrats’
They're called "war chests" and many times
they are the singlemost decisive factor in a political
contest. The more money available for media time,
the greater a politician's public exposure and the
more likely his chances for votes. It’s simple polit
nomics.
Incumbent Governor Vic Atiyeh has amassed a
"war chest” of nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
Atiyeh's contributions are more than $100,000 better
than all of the Democrat hopefuls for governor. That
Atiyeh should be attracting so much campaign
money is curious in light of his accomplishments as
Oregon governor.
Not to be cynical but Atiyeh’s accom
plishments seem to be economic insecurity through
out the state and three special sessions of the
Legislature. Those special sessions were emergency
measures to deal with the state s revenue shortfalls
He has certainly played a supporting role in the
writing of the contemporary history of Oregon.
A recently published breakdown of Atiyeh’s
contributors reveal the source of his political
strength. He has the backing of petroleum compa
nies, electric and telephone employee groups,
lumber interests and bankers. These groups all
represent the status quo of Oregon capital
Among lumber interests Atiyeh has the financial
support of Veneer Service Inc., Stimson Lumber Co.,
Georgia-Pacific Corp., L.L. Stewart, Sun Studs Inc.,
Boise-Cascade Corp., T Lilley Jr., Robert Warren,
Louisiana-Pacific Corp., Samuel Wheeler, John
Hampton, Crown-Zellerbach, Allied Forest Products,
Stuart Sheik, and Don-Lee Davidson.
Probably the most interesting group of con
tributors to Atiyeh’s campaign are those in the
petroleum industry: Atlantic Richfield Co. (Los
Angeles), Shell Oil Co. (Portland), Union Oil of
California. What are California petroleum companies
doing contributing to a gubernatorial campaign in
Oregon? Each of these companies contributed
$2,500 to Atiyeh’s bid for re-election. Ask not who
contributes to the “war chest" nor why, and you shall
receive.
Also listed among the $2,500 contributors was
Nike Inc. .
Contrast Atiyeh’s contributors and his total “war
chest" with the Oregonian-endorsed Democrat Don
Clark. Clark has garnered but $57,642 to Atiyeh’s
$246,333. Clark’s backers appear to be primarily
made up of individuals rather than corporate groups.
Eugene’s Ted Kulongoski, also running as a
Democrat, has the backing of labor and education
groups Among his contributors are Professional
Staff PAC, People for the Improvement of Education,
Salem Education Association PAC, and AFL-CIO
COPE Kulongoski, a lawyer, has many lawyers
financing his bid for the governor's post So far,
Kulongoski has gathered only $45,854 in campaign
contributions
An incumbent — whether competent or not —
usually receives the major portion of contributor's
money Atiyeh’s "war chest" ensures a campaign
effort that will, no doubt, result in his re-election
Atiyeh will be able to buy more television time and
travel throughout the state selling himself With that
amount of riches even a poor governor can be
spiffed-up and made to look good
letters
Skeptical
The only thing skeptical about
author Karl Grossman in
Katherine Merrill’s April 26 article
is his ability for logical thought He
says when researching nuclear
power ‘don't believe any sour
ce." Yet the whole article is made
up of his quotes from nuclear
power sources Then he twists the
quotes around until they're
completely illogical He says "...
a nuclear power plant accident
could result in 3,400 deaths,
killing everone within 15 miles
" Does that assume 3,400 people
within 15 miles of the plant? VWiat
if no one is near the plant? Do
3,400 people still die?
Then he uses his journalistic
background to expound upon the
finer points of nuclear engineer
ing It's really had to study in the
science library with all those
journalism majors clamoring for
more books on thermodynamics
and materials science
Afl this guy wants to do is sell
books If he has to twist some
facts and pervert a few minds in
the process, that's okay too It's
too bad this newspaper gives him
a forum to do so
Douglas Sheldon
GTF physics
Special interest
Having been a graduate
student at the University for
several years and a regular reader
of the Emerald, it was with some
amusement that I first
encountered the tirades of
Michael Larson in the letters’s
column of the paper something
over a year ago
Though Larson has become
somewhat less prolific in his edi
torial excursions of late, his
occasional contributions
nonetheless continue to provide a
source of entertainment as well as
being one of the high points of the
usually banal and inaccurate
Emerald.
Larson is, of course, a gadfly in
the fullest sense of the term
While I have been accused of
this occupation myself, most of
my efforts have been directed
towards a strengthening of the
liberal position by drawing
attention to various inconsis
tencies so that they may be rec
tified; in Larson, however, we
seem to have the amusing
spectacle of redneck ultra
conservative making his way
through a predominiately liberal
Law School in a liberal university
His recent comments concern
ing the SPA are no less interesting
for all their being entertaining —
the idea that they represent a
small "special interest group"
intent on squandering student
money on their own goals and
using underhanded campaign
techniques to achieve their ends
What are the "Greeks.” tradi
tional rulers of the IFC, if not a
small "special interest group" in
terms of the total campus
population?
As to camaign techniques, it is
fairty well known than a number of
the "Greek" societies make use
of the interesting behavioral tech
nique of recquiring members to
present a stamped ID (proving
they have voted) before they are
able to receive their meals at the
"house" on election days
That this type of coercion
should be necessary points out
how truly small is the "special
interest group" represented by
the "Greek” candidates — even
their own immediate peers are too
apathetic to support them without
"persuasion”
Hiawatha
Graduate, music, philosophy
Lilliput logic
Everyone agrees with our con
stitutional separation of powers
mandate, yet no one finds any
thing wrong with 14 Oregon State
Bar Association Members, who by
ORS Chapter 9, are part of our
judicial branch of government,
being in our legislature and others
running for such state offices as
governor
God knows the harm the Ore
gon State Bar Association mon
opoly has done our judcial branch
of government, like biblical
■‘Pharisee's" in St Matthew 5:20;
16:6; 21:43; 23:2; 23:13 and
"Lawyer's” in St Luke 11:45 thru
11:54
Are we so ignorant as to turn
over our other two branches of
government to them despite con
stitutional prohibitions designed
to protect us from ourselves? Or
shall we heed Gulliver's Travels:
"I said there was a society of
men among us, bred up from their
yuth in the art of proving by words
multiplied for the purpose that
white is black and black is white
according as they are paid To
this society all the rest of the
people are slaves
“It is a maxim among these
lawyers that whatever hath been
done before may legally be done
again: and therefore they take
special care to record all deci
sions formerly made against
common justice and the general
reason of mankind These, under
the name of precedents, they
produce as authorities" to justify
the most iniquitous opinions; and
judges never fail of directing
accordingly.”
The Oregon State Bar
membership not only violates
constitutional seperation of
powers mandate but refuses to
aid thousands of us, then, turn
around and run us out of courts
with biased attitudes reflected by
court demands for Bar
membership numbers on all
papers
John M. Rood
B St Springflold
staff
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