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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 2000)
Eugene's Specialty Snowboard Shop 245 Blair Blvd. 349-0087 10% OFF with this ad! Enroll by November 30th and save! Start studying now! Classes start: January 20 Call 1 -800-KAP-TEST to enroll! 800-KAP-TEST www.kaptest.com *MCAT is the registered trademark of the Educational Testing Service. Test Prep, Admissions and Guidance. For life. SHOE-A-HOLIC ji 80 l| of , fegsP* i 957 WIUMETTE, Eugene *687-0898 s&' ij Oregon’s reps talk elections ■Politicians speak about the election’s effect on Congress and issues in Oregon By Ben Romano Oregon Daily Emerald la the uncertain weeks since the polls closed, local and state politi cians have had the opportunity to reflect on this historic election and speculate about the future in Con gress. Oregon’s senators and representatives are facing a nar rowly divided Congress and an administra tion that will gain office without gaining a convincing majority of the popular vote. Rep. Peter DeFazio, who was elected Nov. 7 to his eighth term in Congress, said this election remind ed him of when, as a kid. he waited anxiously for the results of the 1960 election, which pitted Democrat John F. Kennedy against Republi can Richard M. Nixon. “1 still remember when my teacher came into the room to announce that Kennedy had won,” he said. In that election, Kennedy won only 118,550 more popular votes than Nixon. The divide between Al Gore and George W. Bush in the cur rent election is the slimmest since the 1960 election. Elections across the county for po sitions in the Senate and House of Representatives have left Congress narrowly divided. The fate of the Senate is yet to be determined. For mer Democratic Rep. Maria Cantwell was declared the winner of Washing ton’s Senate race over incumbent Re publican Sen. Slade Gorton, but the close results triggered an automatic re-count. If Cantwell wins, the Sen ate will be split 50-50. A Gorton vic tory will give the Republicans a one seat majority. The Senate has never been split 50-50, though there are many occa sions in history when it has been di vided by only one seat. In any case, the Republicans will likely retain power in the Senate because if Dick Cheney is elected vice president, he will become Senate president and will cast tie-breaking votes whenev er the Senate is deadlocked. Should DEFAZIO Joe Lieberman become vice presi dent, he would have to relinquish his seat as Connecticut’s senator. Connecticut’s governor, a Republi can, would then appoint a replace ment, also likely to be a Republican. Wyden promotes pain relief Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the prospect of a narrowly split Senate strengthens the Democrats’ position relative to the last three sessions, in which the Republicans have held be tween a two- and five-seat majority. Wyden said he thinks the Democ ratic gains in the Senate have in creased pressure on Sen. Don Nick les, R-Okla., to pass the Pain Relief Promotion Act before the Senate ad journs. This act. which was at tached to a Republican tax relief package last month, would block Oregon’s law allowing physician assisted suicide. Wyden has filibus tered to stop the legislation, with the hope of having the act removed from the tax relief package. Wyden said he thinks Nickles will be pushing hard to pass this legislation as soon as possible be cause “I’ve got more potential allies come January,” when the next Sen ate session begins. The Pain Relief Promotion Act is still on hold while Congress waits to see who will be elected president. Smith speaks for bipartisanship If Bush wins the presidency, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., may find him self part of a Republican-dominated government, with majorities, albeit slim, in both chambers of Congress and the White House. The last time the Republicans held a majority in Congress and occupied the White House was in 1953 when Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Democrat Ad lai Stevenson for the presidency. At that time, the Republicans had an eight-seat majority in the House and a one-seat lead in the Senate. Smith said that no one comes away from this election with a clear mandate to lead. “Our country is severely split down the middle politically,” Smith said. “I want to see this closer margin as fostering more bipartisanship.” Smith said he thinks it behooves elected officials to put aside the tra ditional rancor of partisan politics and work across party lines. He not ed that neither party rules the Sen ate until it holds 60 of the 100 seats. In the House of Representatives, Morse center continued from page 1 of Wayne Morse. Frohnmaver’s speech followed, I and he took note of the $1.8 million donation from the estate of Morse’s good friend Ed Conklin that funded the law school commons and chair office, and launched the center. I He said the center will be “a true t crown jewel” in interdisciplinary g studies and will continue to impact | the community. | “The center improves the com munity and has always improved l the community,” he said. Hallock said it was a “tremen dous privilege” to become the cen ter’s director after working with each chair for the last 12 years. She said the center is a way for the Uni versity to deal with community is sues in the form of healthy debate. “The center has authentic links to the community and the true and purest discussion,” she said. In addition to working with the community, Hallock said the center will become a resource for students of all departments by hosting more speakers and activities to deal with timely issues of law and politics. Students will also be able to earn fellowships through the law school to work with the center. The first three recipients, Aaron James, Tiffany Harris and Michael Arnold, were on Democratic gains whittled the Re publican majority to two seats. Re publicans took 220 seats, Democ rats 211 seats, and independents two seats. A majority in the 435-seat House requires 218 seats. DeFazio said this will facilitate more bipartisan legislation, such as the Steens Mountain Bill, which President Clinton signed into law Oct. 30. The bill designated the southeastern Oregon mountain as federal wilderness land, the largest such designation in six years. De Fazio said he hopes to make more progress in resource protection even in a divided Congress. The Electoral College? With the nation facing the possibil ity of putting a president in office who did not garner a majority of the popular vote, politicians have had cause to consider the merits and fair ness of the Electoral College system. Phil Barnhart, representative elect for state House District 40 and chairman of the Democratic Party of Lane County, said he has overheard lots of discussion about the Elec toral College in the past few days. He said he is in favor of the sys tem because it forces candidates to campaign all over the country. “They have to campaign in small states as well as in big states,” he said. “You end up with a person who actually has the capacity to represent the whole country. ” Many believe that it is unlikely that a change in the Electoral Col lege system would ever come about. It would take a Constitutional amendment, requiring two-thirds majorities in both chambers of Con gress and three-quarters of all state legislatures to ratify it. Smaller states, which would stand to lose a considerable amount of influence if the president was elected via popu lar vote, are unlikely to ratify an amendment that would take away their power. Smith said Oregon would not have gotten as much attention in this elec tion if not for the Electoral College. “Both campaigns developed strategies around the Electoral Col lege system that included Oregon in the calculation,” he said. He said he was open to debate about changing or abolishing the Electoral College but added, “It’s unlikely that I would vote as a U.S. senator to abolish the Electoral College.” hand for the opening ceremonies. “It’s quite an honor, especially considering [Wayne Morse],” Arnold said, “I admire him; he’s just got tenacity I admire.” He added he also was honored to receive the fellowship because it will involve him in several commu nity events and service projects, which he said were at the core of a lawyer’s profession. Harris said the fellowship was a validation of what she wants to do with her law degree. She said be cause of all the different aspects of law, many law students lose focus, but earning the fellowship has given her a definite idea about what she wants to do in the community. Oregon Daily Emerald P.O. Box 3159, Eugene OR 97403 The Oregon Daily Emerald is published daily Monday through Friday during the school year and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the Uni versity of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. A member of the Associated Press, the Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is pri vate property. The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. NEWSROOM — (541)^46-5511 Editor in chief: Jack Clifford Managing editor: Jessica Blanchard Community: Darren Freeman, editor. Lindsay Buchele, Rebecca Newell, reporters. Freelance: Serena Markstrom, editor. Higher education: Andrew Adams, editor. Brooke Ross, reporters. Student activities: Jeremy Lang, editor. Emily Gust, Beata Mostafavi, Lisa Toth, reporters. In-depth: Ben Romano, reporter. News aide: Suzanne O'Kelley. Perspectives: Michael Kleckner, editor. Jayna Bergerson, Bret Jacobson, Pat Payne, Eric Pfeiffer, columnists. Pulse: Monica Hande, editor. Josh Ryneal, Mason West, reporters. Sports: Jeff Smith, editor. Scott Pesznecker, asst, editor. Peter Hockaday, Adam Jude, Robbie McCallum, reporters. Copy: Sara Lieberth, Katie Mayer, copy chiefs. Jessica Davison, Lori Musicer, Tom Patterson, Jessica Richelderfer, Rebecca Wilson, copyeditors. Online: Carol Rink, editor. Timur Insepov, webmaster. Design: Katie Miller, editor. Azle Malinao- Alvarez, Brooke Mossefin, Russ Weller, designers. Bryan Dixon, Giovanni Salimena, illustrators. Photo: Catharine Kendall, editor. Laura Smit, Tom Patterson photographers. ADVERTISING — (S-tl) ,fr6-3712 Becky Merchant, director. Doug Hentges, Nicole Hubbard, Trevor Kuhn, Jesse Long, Adam Rice. 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