Editorial
Wyden's decision
leaves us unhappy
It was shaping up as one heck of a political con
test Sen Mark Hatfield, a Republican seeking his fifth
term against Rep Ron Wyden, five-term Democrat
from Portland’s trd Congressional District
Political pundits agreed Hatfield was vulnerable.
His stand on such issues as old-growth timber and
abortion had left some of his constituents ready tor a
change A well-known, strong political ligure could
challenge him And experts agreed that person was
Ron Wyden.
Wvden made it known he was thinking about the
Senate seat. He is a respected member of the House
with a high-profile seat on the Energy and Commerce
(,'ommittee. Ills specialty is crime and health care is
sues. He knows what he's doing
National Democratic officials gave him support
()vc*r $700,000 was raised in anticipation of a Senate
race. Political observers waited for the official an
nouncement.
It never came This Tuesday. Wyden turned his
hack on the Senate seat and instead, quietly filed for
re-election in his Congressional distric t
We were disappointed when we heard the news
We think highly ot Wyden, and Hatfield has alienated
os recently with his increasingly conservative moves.
We hoped Wyden would make Hatfield answer some
of our nagging questions.
Instead, Hatfield is almost a shoo-in lor reelect ion.
with only one candidate coming forth to challenge
him That candidate. Bend businessman Harry Lons
dale. is a political neophyte with almost no chance of
beating Hatfield.
Wyden gave several reasons for keeping out of the*
rac e: loss of the influence be* has built in the House,
the strain on his family, and little possibility of an im
portant committee* appointment il he were elected to
the Senate
All of these are valid reasons, hut we wonder how
much Wyden was influenced by a recent Urrgoninn
statewide telephone poll of 5 I t voters, whic h showed
Hatfield with a 4H percent to :ft> percent advantage.
We also wonder how much the Oregon Democratic
Caucus had to do with Wyden's dec ision Six Portland
Democrats, some of them state legislators, were consid
ering running for Wyden's House seat it he went after
I bitfield.
Right now, the Democrats hold a slim .t 1 -lit* major
it\ in the Oregon House. If several of the current state
Representatives trolled for a trv at a national office, it
possibly would have created enough of a political
vac uum that the Republicans could have gained more
seats and wrested control of the House
Whatever the reasons, we were disappointed with
Wvden’s decision.
Jl' 15»U 1 *<1,0
. *|PV-1
Qc
Demo fine shows how state politics work
11 p ret tv in iu h urn! the mute nl ,i tvpii a I
pnlitn.il si andal accusation, evidence. .11
Kliments, and finallv punishment
The scandal in tins case was missing
uionrv I nun the House Democratii (.aliens
pi 1111n al fund, ami the punishment was a
state teiord Stil.J.'M line levied against the
1 am us and several indiv iduals bv Sri retarv
nl State Harbaia Hiiherts
Ihe main targets have hern current
House Majoritv l.eadei David I)i\ |l)T!u
genel and his preilei essoi i lirrent state Sen
Shirlev (add | D-l’ortland). Moth incurred
fines from the investigation
lh\ is taking Ins punishment quietlv .
apologizing foi the violations and promising
to pav V t H72 eithei out ot his own poi ket
01 Irom donor conlrilmtions
('■old. on the other hand has taken the
issue to another level She is refusing to pav
the fine instead announi ing she will take
the matin up in 1 nurt
Roberts who said the Democrats were
a little last and loose" with their c ampaign
to nils, said she found no evident e the Dr lo
ot rats were deliherattdv covering up the
elei lion v iolations Mut this has had little or
no eflel I oil ( .old
She said Roberts does not have the an
thorilv to lev v lines her arise the 1 ampaign 11
nance reports were tiled sin h a long time
ago Slit: also contends she had no kmml
edge of any wrongdoing, and therefore can
not lie held at countable
('■old's actions leave a lot to be desired
Ignorance of the crime is not a defense, (fold
was thi! majority leader .it the time She is
responsible, whether she had am diret t
know ledge or not.
Looking at the reactions of (lold and I)ix
provides insight into state politit s Ihx has
s.iid he wants to pa\ the fine as quit kl\ as
possible and gel the issue behind him
That shouldn't come as much of a sui
prise l)i\ fat es reelet lion next yeai and he
wants to keep his majority leader post A
scandal such as this could ruin him. politi
cally Already, members of Ins own party
have asked him to step down. House Repub
licans have said they have no intention ot
letting the issue drop
(.old on the othei hand, yvnn’t he up loi
reelet tion until l‘)‘H Voter memories rarely
last that long
While yy e t an t commend l)i\ for his nc
lions m the si andal. yy e t an applaud his el
tort to at I responsibly out e charged Hut we
have nothing nice to say about (lold s el
forts She seems to he trying to shift lilt1
blame by protestations and loud proelama
lions
Letters
Out of my face
II Kodnnv I avion |()/)l \n\
jri w.mis mi l>adl\ Ini protest
rrs to i hange their methods
win doesn I lie take liis own
.idv n e .mil infiltrate then
ranks
H\ Ins nw n phdnsnpln d lus
i nnvii lions are trul\ strung, he
should he willing e\en lii die
Ini his i .uise, it not will he
please get nut nl our l.u es ’"
|nhn Shenon
Student
Darn
I have In ijuestion Kodni‘\
l.avtons logit ("Infiltrate"
1)1)1 \nv _’H) that the ai l ol
protesting a problem is svnonv
moils with "passing il onto the
lie\l person
I need In thank the protesters
lor their ac lions II it hadn't
been lor them. I would never
have realized the sevual orien
latum dm rmmidlion ol the
( l .\ The noise I hex made w as
hunt pane news and hail tin*
imiIih' l uiversity buzzing .iIhiuI
what shoulci lie dime Then* arc
i unllii tim; opinions hut pen
pic ,uc talking, and that is the
lust step to i hange
\i i ording to I avion tIn' Iirst
step should In' to infiltrate the
system I'm sorry hut this is
reality . not the A le.iin I le
uses the example of Martin l.u
liter kni)’ It as one u ho mill
traled the system hut remem
hei the i n il rights movement
started uith the civil disohedi
eiu e ot Kos.i Parks in a i it\
Inis not dissimilar to 1 im
Hughes' him king of the Cl A in
terview room door: an action
w hir It diil lead to his arrest
l 'nfortunatelv, Tim Hughes.
Shannon Oliver and others
won't gel Layton s respei t until
they "die for their causes" as
King and (ihandi did I tarn
Stephen I'humas
l ine and Applied Arts
Venom
In response to the \o\ 27 re
\ iev\ ul the inovif 1‘i.iiurr by
C.erry Whitr. Wliitr s review is
n ii* lod rii m<it i< i in ui.it 11 n ■ .mil
■ \ ■ i ii .11 I lr all.ii ks I tic 111 in its
i rc.itors .mil .ii tins with mi
called for \ i*iiimi,
I .isMimi' lilt' ()1>1 hired
Willie 1(1 responslIiK .mil nll|e(
tiveh review ( urrent movies I
( .i 11 in it undersl.old him his cm
plovers have made such a grave
mistake ill finding his i ritiijue
either responsible Or ohjei live
I te i ritii i/.es the lilm as being
"iinrealistu " It is not nei es
sar\ lor a movie to he realistic
tor it to he enjovahle espe
( ially to i hildren
He sa\s the "photographv re
lies on stupid camera triiks
that (\(m| have seen several
million times. " not just one
million, hut several million
Children would not consider
these tin ks stupid and mini
dane as lhe\ are e\ai ll\ that
i hildren They haven’t seen
those trk ks a million times
I le is a sell proi laimed I’ollx
an/M hater It is in poor judg
ment that a hater ol sue It a i hi!
dren's i lassit would he i hosen
to review another children's
mm if
It serins that White mi longer
apprec tales the greatest i harm
ill ( hiltlren s movies simpln i
l\ I .isk that he not w aste time
w ith sin h 'atroc ities and il lie
must continue with Ins over
dramatized and blatantly hi
<ised style, that he please con
fine himself to the grocery
stand tabloids where this kind
ol garbage would lit right in
I'o submit a negative rec iew
is one thing, but sue h .in attai k
is unwarranted and in had
taste
Loretta l.eake
Marketing
Vocal minority
I read with amazement the
artic les in the Emerald and
Kriiister-l lu.ird about student
and l.ugene Police Department
relations
A vocal minoritv ol students
on and oil campus seem to
think that drug abuse, alcohol
abuse and anything else is
their inherent right to prac tic r
around here bc< .him' it s lin n
"plat e."
1 i annul grasp w In tin- 1,1,1
jorit\ ul \ou tolerate these peo
pic KI’I) reacted to a riot situa
tion .mil responded according
l\ It is unfortunate that the\
didn't respond to the on a am
pus rioting during last I cbm
arv’s snow storm
That small majority gut main
of you to join them that night I
was there. 1 spent must of that
night, along with other co
workers, repairing your tun
We never did get an at curate
count, hut vou managed to lit
ter ,i:t of your fellow i lass
mates' rooms with broken
glass
It took almost all night to
hoard up your damage 't on
ma\ have had tun. hut we froze
our butts off working in cv
Iremelv hazardous conditions I
would've much preferred I11*1
policemen on campus, pet
suading you not to act in this
manner.
Gordon Melby
Maintenance Dept