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
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■ 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