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
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■ 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.