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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1994)
EDITORIAL Mudslinging stains both candidates Tbo race for governor, despite early assurances of a dirt-free campaign, has degenerated into a mudslinging bonanza of accusations and counter accusations leav ing voters in an informational quagmire that lacks sub stantive examination of the issues facing Oregon. Between tire two major candidates, this is an election devoid of specifics or, how to run government and how to close the fiscal shortfall threatening the state. While both candidates offer elements that are appeal ing to a large cross-section of the electorate, neither pre sents the complete package net ess,try to run a corpora tion the size of Oregon. This dilemma caused a split vote among the Oregon Ikiilv Emerald’s seven-member editorial hoard. When the board voted to endorse a gubernatorial candidate, John Kil/.haber received four votes. Denny Smith two and Dan Vender Ploeg. the Lib ertarian candidate, one. Kfl/haher edged out the other candidates for several reasons Thu overwhelming argument for those voting for kit/haber was his ret ard as a consensus builder while serving as the state Senate president and a gut fueling that Smith is not to be trusted. But for the most part, lie's" responses reflet led , (infusion paralleling the entire campaign no corn rete stances by which to judge a i iuidlclatn. Those voting against kit/haber con es- i" : tii i his candor when meeting with the board at the Emerald office was exceptional. Smith, on the other hand, refused to meet with the editorial hoard, despite requests made early in the r am paign. Smith likewise declined a phone interview in which he would have been asked the same questions as kit/haber — this was with assurances that g,n rights and abortion would not be among the questions. It’s obvious that Smith didn't come to the University because he felt he had nothing to win here. Being a reputed lilmral campus, this is probably a fair, but incor rect. assessment. So the editorial hoard was left with a good sense of Kit/haber and an incomplete dossier of Smith campaign literature. Did Smith’s refusal hurt our feelings? Nro. Did the refusal for even a phone interview give us insight into the way Smith will conduct business as governor? Yes. Smith sent a strong message to students when he declined to speak to the Emerald and every other college newspaper in the state. He let students know they are on the bottom of Ills priority schedule, and the manner in which he is perceived by students doesn’t matter. Kit/haber told the board to expect a four percent tuition increase if he is elected — something we didn't want to hear, yet admired because the statement was an honest assessment of whore the state is headed. Through a fax. Smith said no to a tuition increase — a highly unlikely proposition. We won’t endorse either candidate because of the split vote, a split manipulated by Smith and punitive toward Kit/haber. However, wo will tell you for whom not to vote. On Tuesday, remember Kit/haber tried to concentrate on issues while Smith was throwing mud and running from substance. Vote no for Smith. Emerald Oregon Daily EFTMU'iti..;,' vj'.'rvr TN? 0«%fom Ojf/f pufc«*h«d tu;, MtMvtoy f >***, dutvng !f*e y#af and Tuesday and Thursday du^ng the iumm«f c>y the Oregon Da-y Pu£)*-3h»ng Cq . i/v a! tf*a University of Oegon I i.gene, 0*mj.>n the t/n+fJtkJ apewatne .i^**xwxlerWy of me Uf"vwis4y w»!h cM- w* at S-.-'.e 300 Of ttM td) o■ -,»i u •■ '.w and «n a ■' I the A.Vi. • .»,*d Pf«?s-, The £ •*-nr.»U •» private prc<>erly !h# :-*a> ux» of paptvs s p?o*eeutat«e Editor-In-Chief K«?> Soto Managing Editor DavxJ V . Nrwt Editor Mr v Edito#i«i Editor Joe Han* ..-,* Sports Editor O'U Met* Graphics EdMo< ktf f\m a, Photo Editor M ■,«*» Sh*ndie' freeionce Editor A ,t a fu Supplements Editor T-MaNoe In-Depth Editor Ed K».< v \u- Night Editor A.m, > , .;<"{> Associate Editort * ijap-ft viy . ;*?{ v*-‘ «»_*vT*,"'*'<*nt X ; ,'f**. M.* r*wo® [dwaOi CiynmiwWv. T<ft*ny Smith. Hgher tiA*JfHXi Ad^'tsipyahort New* Staff tic" r>-.« A Ar»>, •,/ • bo. Ta*.ha I .-■ *•<?.-•%<*• <- A: - t nimada Prmo f or tana. Gayie Forman. Christopher Fc* Mil** Garton Gary Graft* Sarah M«<nrter90rv Ks«ft Henry, Tfevo? Kearney. Adam Kmcher. Marti McT,'« Ber^ Msyathui A.'-'ne M K->-' •**>•:! Sh«!«fy Hi 'ey , H*N*vn; ;l S-d it I1,!., va* Sa » e Kv?’' Ae-i*. OiAf" ftn1 finan A "vac* Genera: Manager Advertising Director M > • Advertising M.« > Ch<og. Tony t o* t ■ M .-••< . , r M ' • M Classified: D*v •, Mv »a' M i »,t» Distribution f' g ftvirv H* Business M"', .*#tx e ,'vien v ,• : Production Doh a M CottJ. FVodU f-. Gauhney. Brad Jofts Jenn^er Roland Halt Newsroom 346 5511 Business Citice 346-5512 11 -- Production Manage-' \ )\>p Display Advertising Classified Advertising 346-3712 346 4343 A he'll be IS VD\A Mil • } !«■« t>i »* .t, A ■ OPINION Voters forget short memories (i\m Forman Thin say that goldfish have an eight-second memory So, if you wen* a goldfish, your das would consist of swimming around Then you'd stop and think to yourself, "lies what was I doing.'" Not being able to remember, you would swim merrily along, never get ting bored because vou are too stupid to remember what you have been doing for the last two years Citizens of these illustrious United States are starting to resemble those little fishies When you take a look at Ameri cans as a voting body, those sim ilarities tiecome dosvnright eerie Our memories an* longer than eight seconds, no doubt about that But when it comes to elec - tions. memory capacity peaks out after about tsvo years Take Tuesday's elec turn for example. Ulbe North and Marion Barry as serious contenders lor political office If you need a memory refresher. Barry was the former crac k smoking, prostitute patronizing mayor of Washing ton DC., who went to prison after the FBI recorded his exploits North was the Reagan o-phile military man, who was convicted for his part in the Iran-Contra affair His corn u - lion, however, was overturned on a technicality And further proof of our amnesia the GOPs Contract VYith America Senator New! Gingrich spearheaded this little plan, in which members of the Republican Party promised the American people that if they an* elected, they will turn this coun try around hy returning to Rea gnu-style economic policies. Excuse me. but aren't we final ly coming out of a severe ec.o nomi< slump caused by that very economic system? I thought that it had become pret ty c hear that trickle down eco nomics was ail washed up. Nothing trickled down anyway. I'm tempted to chuckle about these silly political antics. It would lie quite funny if people weren't taking any of this seri ously But these are viable polit ical options m today's political arena, and by even considering electing criminals or returning to a failed ec onomic system, we the people are looking an awful lot like goldfish. Our finned friends do differ from us somewhat. After all. it's not really their fault - the mem ory problem If your brain was the si/e of a sand grain, how much stuff do you think you could store in there? But'wo humans have fist-sired brains, and it's not their capacity or our c erebral powers that are mud dling our memories. Americans are trying their damnedest to forget We don't want to remember. The mood of this c ountry is desperate, voters are in a frenzy to dump the inc umbent It's time to c lean house up there on Capitol Hill, say the grumblings In this mad dash, any political outsider seems more attractive than fat assed. lazy incumbents Even criminals, liars, thieves and junkies. When Ollier North dec lared his war on Washington, promis ing to taker hac k the c apitol from the Democ rats — who I suppose kidnapped it from the way he went on — fie struck a chord in Virginians. He painted himself as the antithesis of the political status quo People bought it Hooray for Ollie. the hero, the sa\ ior, the folksy dude. There’s that memory lapse thing again. Aside from his legal skirmishes. Ollie once resided in the bosom of the sc stem he now rejects. Marion Barry's supporters seem to like the fact that he once was a criminal. It humanizes him, brings him down to the people's level. Below most peo ple's level in fact. That's lus appeal. Washington DC is becoming an increasingly vio lent and horrible place to live, and Barry is in the thick of it. The new political ideal is: if you're going to have a criminal in office — and all politicians are criminals — at least have a convict in office. Then you know where you stand. This memory lapse, this gold fishiness, it's a symptom of the nation's cynicism. That seems to be the consensus on the reason for this year's strange assortment of political hopefuls and agen das. I don't buy it. This forget fulness is about laziness Cyni cism need not be a bud word, it can be quite productive. If peo ple are fed up with the political process, then they can do plenty aside from blindly dumping the incumbent. They can drum up support for third party candi dates and break the stalemate of the two-party system. They ran keep an eagle eye on elected officials throughout their terms, not just before elections. They can stop sitting back and pas sively watching the process If politicians are lazy and corrupt, it's partly because we have let them become that way .because we keep forgetting to remember all the corrupt things they do. It will tie interesting to see the outcome of Tuesday’s election. Will we take a step back on the evolutionary ladder, a step toward fishdom? We’ll see And Oregonians will have a chance to test their own goldfish quo tient in four years, when a cer tain Senator Back wood will be up for reelection. I'm not entire ly sure, but 1 seem to remember something about a couple dozen sexual harassment suits But then again, 1 don't quite remem ber. Gayle Forman is a columnist for the Emerald.
