Congress, Gore anoint Bush presidential victor
By Alan Fram
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — With the van
quished Vice President Al Gore pre
siding, Congress formally anointed
George W. Bush on Saturday as the
victor in last year’s achingly close and
bitterly contested presidential elec
tion.
In a hoary constitutional ritual that
made up with political irony and
shouted objections what it lacked in
suspense, four members of Congress
read aloud documents certifying the
electoral votes of each of the 50 states
and the District of Columbia, all in al
phabetical order.
When they finished an alternately
raucous and humorous 92 minutes
later, the Republican Bush had won
by 271-266 — just as when the elec
toral votes were counted in every
state capital on Dec. 18. To prevail,
the winner needed 270 of the 538
electoral votes nationwide.
Reading from a sheaf of papers,
and showing no apparent emotion,
Gore intoned: “George W. Bush of the
state of Texas has received for presi
dent of the United States 271 votes.
Al Gore of the state of Tennessee has
received 266 votes. ... This an
nouncement of the state of the vote by
the president of the senate shall be
deemed a sufficient declaration of the
persons elected president and vice
president of the United States, each
for the term beginning on the 20th
day of January 2001, and shall be en
tered, together with a list the votes, on
the journals of the Senate and the
House of Representatives.”
After announcing the results, Gore,
a Democrat, said, “May God bless our
new president and our new vice pres
ident, and may God bless the United
States of America.” At that, he shook
the outstretched hand of House
Speaker Dennis Hastert, and a num
ber of others, and it was over.
Gore was presiding because it is
one of the duties of the vice president.
The last vice president defeated in a
presidential race to oversee Congress'
counting of the electoral votes was
Richard Nixon in 1961. Vice Presi
dent Hubert Humphrey did not do so
in 1969, following his defeat by
Nixon.
The joint session of Congress drew
extraordinary attention because it was
the final vote tally in a disputed presi
dential race that did not end until five
weeks after the Nov. 7 election. Gore
did not concede until Dec. 13, a day
after the U.S. Supi'eme Court forced a
halt to vote-counting in Florida.
Even so, House Democrats —
mostly blacks—raised 20 objections
during the session aimed at blocking
Florida’s pivotal 25 electoral votes
from being counted. Many Democ
rats have asserted that Bush won
Florida unfairly because some votes
were not counted and because of a
disproportionate number of irregu
larities in largely black, mostly De
mocratic areas.
“It was the Supreme Court and not
the people of the United States who
decided this election,” said Rep. Bar
bara Lee, D-Calif., over shouts from
Republicans.
But time and again, Gore—blend
ing wit and formality — disallowed
the objections because they were not
also signed by a senator, as required
by law. That shortcoming underlined
the judgment by many Democrats that
the public had no patience to resume
battling over the election outcome.
“The chair thanks the gentleman
from Illinois, but, hey,” a grinning
Gore told Rep. Jesse Jackson, D-I1L,
who raised one of the challenges.
When an angry Rep. Maxine Waters,
D-Calif., said she did not care that a
senator had not signed her objection,
Gore responded, “The chair will ad
vise that the rules do care.”
The rules also forbade lawmakers
to explain their objections. Many tried
but were quickly silenced by Gore
amid grumbling from Republicans.
At one point, Rep. Alcee Hastings,
D-Fla., among the complaining law
makers, cried out to Gore, “We did all
we could.”
“The chair thanks the gentleman
from Florida,” Gore responded with a
smile.
After their objections failed, at least
16 House Democrats filed out of the
chamber en masse.
City, UO, WiSTEC find agreement on parking dispute
■ Autzen expansion will pusn
ahead despite controversy
By Darren Freeman
Oregon Daily Emerald
The University, the Willamette
Science and Technology Center and
city officials might soon resolve a
conflict over the use of a city-owned
parking lot near Autzen Stadium that
has threatened to stall the stadium’s
expansion and close the museum.
City code requires the stadium’s
expansion, which will accommodate
12,100 more fans, to include 1,375
additional parking places. The Uni
versity has been working to circum
vent that requirement by building a
bus transit station near the stadium,
and the University has proposed
placing that station on a parking lot
adjacent to WISTEC on Leo Harris
Parkway.
CALL TO ARTtST<j>
The Aperture and Buzz Art Galleries are now
accepting submissions for future
exhibits through 2001. Community and
student artists are encouraged to
apply. Contact the Visual Arts
nator at the UO Cultural
Forum at 346-0007, or email
gallery@darkwing.uoregon.edu
for more information.
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WISTEC, however, sells parking
passes on that lot to football fans, and
museum officials say WISTEC would
be forced to close if that revenue is lost.
After months of negotiations, city
planners and University officials dis
cussed in a closed meeting Friday a
plan that would place the station on a
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42-acre parcel of land on the east end
of Alton Baker Park, according to Eu
gene senior planner Allen Lowe.
This proposal would allow WIS
TEC to continue selling passes to the
lot adjacent to the museum and
would meet the city’s transportation
requirement. The Eugene City Coun
cil is scheduled to vote on the pro
posal Jan. 22.
“I see this as a win-win situation
for however many players are in
volved,” WISTEC Executive Director
Meg Trendler said of the new propos
al. “It’s the best possible outcome.”
But the plan isn’t without its de
tractors.
Andrea Riner, city parks planning
manager, said the proposal would
strip Alton Baker Park of a piece of
land that is slated to be a parking lot
for a canoe ramp.
“Frankly, it has quite a few draw
backs from a parks perspective,” she
said. “It has significant impact on
that portion of the park. I favor the
original proposal and not taking
more land.”
Dan Williams, vice president for
University administration, said that
although the new plan would meet
the University’s needs, it comes late in
the construction process. Further, he
said an interim transit station would
have to be placed on the WISTEC lot
to bring fans to the stadium during
construction of the final station.
“We certainly see some advan
tages, the biggest of which is that it
moves the station closer to the stadi
um, but it also presents some new
challenges,” he said. “One of the dis
advantages is that it’s coming at the
11th hour. It’s going to cost us more
money.”
Williams said he would prefer
WISTEC accept the monetary com
pensation tire University offered the
museum for the use of the lot. WIS
TEC officials say the museum makes
one third of its annual revenue sell
ing parking passes to Duck football
fans. WISTEC stands to lose one third
of its parking pass revenue, totaling
$26,000, without use of the lot. The
University offered WISTEC $220,000
in compensation, but WISTEC offi
cials rejected the offer, saying that it
didn’t cover long-term revenue the
museum could make selling passes.
Oregon Daily Emerald
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene OR 97403
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