Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1995)
EDITORIAL ASUO must guard against conflicts A recent ASUO Programs Finance Committee meeting revealed a possible flaw in the way budgets for student groups art* presented and approved, as ASUO President laislie Warren delivered the official ASUO budget rec ommendation to the committee on behalf of Black Women of Achievement, a group she helped to found There is no mason to Imlieve that Warren's actions were in any way improper — they worn well within the respon sibilities of the president. and appropriate under the cir cumstances. No one else at the meeting vs as qualified and prepared to deliver the recommendation, partially because the committee's agenda was not given to the executive until a few minutes before the meeting. However, th<* incident does suggest that the funding allot ation pro< ess does not provide enough safeguards against conflict of interest. Under the current fee allocation system, a budget, once put together by a student group, is submitted to the ASUO Executive that is. the president and her staff for examination The executive will check the budget for accounting mistakes, unnecessary lino items, or. in some cases, even for items accidentally left off the budget, After this period of scrutiny, a member of the ASUO Executive — sometimes but not usually the president her self — makes an official statement to the ASt JO Programs Kinam e Committee on the budget, indicating any mis takes. excesses or omissions that were discovered during the examination process. The committee then votes on the budget The execu tive's suggestions may lx* ignored, but typically the com mittee listens to the executive's advice. In the case of Him k Women of Ac hievement, Warren was the only person who was knowledgeable, enough to deliver the recommendation, so she did so. VVe do not question the motive behind that decision, nor do we doubt Warren's honesty when she says that she tries to treat ail organizations' requests the same, whether she has been involved in them personally or not Hut there is still the perception of a conflict of inter est when government officials are allowed to speak in favor of a group's budget request when they are c losoly connected with that group. "Closely connected" would have to lai defined, but merely attending a few meetings should not necessarily disqualify an official from mak ing a recommendation. A vital ingredient for any kind of successful govern ment is credibility. Credibility isn't determined purely by actions, but also by perceptions It is not to the pres ident’s advantage to appear to have a conflict of interest, even if iter actions are entirely acceptable otherwise. Therefore, there needs to be some protection — either written into the ASUO Constitution or just commonly accepted — against a government official delivering the ASUO's budget recommendation for a group in which he or she has been involved. That way. not only is everyone ensured a fair shako in budget requests, but wouid-be critics of student gov ernment — such as the Emerald— will have a lot less to say. Oregon Daily PO tiC« J1H l»G*m 0*fC*O**?*£3 TN# iVopcm fWy f "HiriM «l Mc*<toy HViXigfc f ««t»y Oiyvig *CftOO< *•«' «n<J Tu«*<l4y and Thu'aday dunn® It*# tufnftMH by !h« Oagon 0|Hy tme<ix) KjbMNftO Co . Ir* JM Orwv*r*t> cM (> apart I OilQOn Tha f nwatf opm&m **Jap«nd«nOy o* »%* Ur, ,• ly «* 4fcc«» * Sol# 300 fl* fw l.rtJ Utfvcr and *a a mam*** <>i frx> Attoonfd fV*a* TNo Imprakl <* pm*** property Th* ^nia**^ »env(Kg C* u**» 0* papa** <t pWjQ/lPltf try Ur* t dito* in Ch*#f K*y Soto M*n#^ng Editor CditOfUM tdtlo# H#wt Art f dtto# FrMiarvc* f cttto* Ib&m Hot*» fWwvm Puifty LO*t Barfl*MMfc.' Newt Editor Hetmxe Sports Editor Ova Met: Supp*#m*ot» Editor f nsfe Hx* W*ghl Editor OftvP Thom A»»oci«t* CdMwm f f stench von Cap, SriALktnt Goumm+nc Act)vMk Mwc <wo*mj I $w»tH Co*M*ut*fy. f rftarty $H*«h H»yh*r ff&jcabartAtim*MttW*on N^tr» SUfl Stevi Kidxn y Amy C-ok^JX) Pal 0*fy Amy t lV>vvon T**fui I i P»rfno fontana. Gftyfa f amw, ChWtop^ar fo» M»« Garten Gary Gr*s». Joa »unMood. Krt* H(Wy T <#vor Kiar^ Shaiwon K*.Mf Adam Kirvcbe*. Sujanrm MwU Ma>* Me t yta. ft#'- Mo«t>u'% NataMl Montyon Ann# IA.^mw Ko*nt«ftd. Co swan fVv»g $Jn*c*ry fto**ty K.at» SabOurtn. P*i Von ScA*. MkSmIu TomaoM Kim Wc**a B>4r Worn*.* G*n<*al Nanag«f _kxi> fWd A<W#<ti*<r*g Oracle* Mft't **»*'<v- Production U«ug»r Wkf*w> Rc>i$ Adv#Mi*rny ft 10 A • 0001 A 4* Bc^lHW, MflPCC CNmg. Torvy f oe fc rm Martha* *fcco*e Htrfmarfc. ><p*my Makv> Sarah M*Cfu*e Tom **1 “nfrfctjfcfH K*MMy W«M£ ClaaaJflad (tacky Mnrt^vml. Mdruigar ky** Davs*. JcA S«Aon Ottribotkon: John l f*rwv HakOCfi. Hegsna But<n«t» K «P*f CtMtlOn#. Swpiwvsflr Jod> C<*«X?A) Production OeMa McCcOb. PfaflUton Cwftln^>;v Sna* * Abate TvaQjetrW) (kail JOM. Jartvk* fk*or*J Ctoyton Y<m N*wvoom Butiotii OtlW* 34*4311 34*4512 t»*pi*y Adv«r1t»mg AcJv*»ti»ing 346-3712 346-4343 f I'VB GOT IT. WEIL CUT TAXES BELOW ZERO SO w£ R€ ACTVALLV G1VW6 OUT MOMEW THEN WE LL C^r SPE-HD/WG 8£LOw ZERO So WE'RE L A ACTUALLY 7AVO/VG ^ /Ay AAOMES*. f r rA NOT ^ 'rOoVf <ior it. / 1 ■ 4 •* ++* w* %*** UCMt m is nou it Gor root us of v ' _ x<r h ■ OPINION Entitlements cause deficit problems Washington Mwmi to be throwing around ideas surrounding the issue of budgeting and taxation again like it's some fad Efforts to install’ a flat las are gaining momentum in the House Finance Committee Instituting a value-added tax or a national sales tax are ideas that have been knocked around the halts of Congress as well. On issues surrounding bud geting. the balanced budget amendment remains a hot topic, as we saw Tuesday when Sen. Kol>ert Byrd. D-W.Va., used an obscure parliamentary proce dure rule to bloc k a hearing on the legislation. Bui something we're not hear ing anything about is entitle ment spending. entitlement spending includes such budget items as Medic aid, Medicare and Soc ial Security, An entitlement item means |ust that. The item is automatic ally entitled to yearly allocations without review in Congress. Bec ause it has these spec lal privileges, entitlement sjemding w ill grow to consume all federal revenues by 2012 The reserve funds in Social Sec urity would be completely eaten away by 2030. Deficits would run at 1H per cent of our gross domestic, prod uct We currently have a deficit around two percent Taxes would have to be raised to 37 percent We currently pay around 20 percent These projections are from those on the entitlement com mission. This is scary stuff We're talking about the future of our economic livelihood leung jeopardized to the [mint of no return. Instead of having this issue dealt with seriously, we continue to hear statements from Demos rats and Republi cans say mg ev ery budget item is on the chopping block except for Soc ial Security. I c an understand why politi cians would make this stipula tion in their downsizing of gov Brian Womac k eminent Senior citizens make up one of the most important voting hltx ks in the nation And, obvi ously. senior citizens want Social Security to remain untouched by any budget axes During the Nixon administra tion. each of tile parties was try ing to woo elderly voters. At that time, about 22 percent of the elderly were below the poverty level while just 11 percent of young voters were under the infamous line Today, the numbers have flip flopped. and the elderly want it to stay that way. The problem lies in that we can no longer afford to pay for these expenditures. Currently, tile national debt is shout $A 73 trillion Our annual gross domestic product is around S8 trillion. As deficits continue to pile up. our generation must face the fact that we and our children are going to have to eventually pay for these gallons of red ink If there is indeed serious deficit reduction, it must In* done gradually, so as not to cause an economic nose dive For example, if a deficit of $150 billion is taken out of the US. economy abruptly, the economy will most likely slide into a serious recession So how do we sp»* iftcelly bal ance the budget ? Read my lips George Hush's going hack on that pledge in the 1990 budget deal caused a bad recession to falter even more We don't want that to hapfxm. Even economists from just about every economic circle agree that tax hikes will further hurt the economy. In a conference sponsored by the National Review in 1989, both Keynesian, classical econo mists and monetarists alike agreed that tax hikes were not the answer to balancing the budget Haven't we learned yet that giving increased tax revenues to Congress (although it remains to be seen with Newt and Bob's) is like giving scotch to an alcoholic and telling that person to just stare at it' Spending cuts are the answer to balancing the budget because the deficit is not a problem of spending too little, but taxing too much. We need a few more fiscally honest politicians such as Bob Kerrey. Ik-Neb , who headed up the entitlements commission, to take on the entitlement monster. I would support an interesting proposal by the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation. A defined contribution style savings plan should I** set up for future retirees while keeping benefits as they are for all cur- * rent and near-term retirees With surpluses from the Social Security fund Ixiing used along with a possible reformed tax-savings plan, it could be paid for If this were gradually put into place, it would give a chance for the younger Americans to put away their money for retirement and work toward a solution for resolving the budgetary night mares in the 21 st century Washington needs to quit skirting around this issue The only way this will hap pen if we Generation X-ers and baby boomers start voting in a way that will make sure our eco nomic future isn't jeopardized. The senior c itizens of today do not need to be punished. But if something is not done eventually, when we're are all senior citizens, we'll wish we had punished today's senior cit izens. Rtlan Womack is a columnist for the Emerald
