Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Monday, April 21,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Page Assistant:
Salena De La Cruz
The Emerald’s
endorsement:
vote this week
The ASUO elections have hit the home stretch, with
the general election running 8 a.m. today through 5 p.m.
Wednesday, and so the editorial board offers up its gen
eral endorsements.
Detailed endorsements were published on April 9;
for students who would like to read them, they are lo
cated at www.dailyemerald.com (click on “News,”
then “ASUO ELECTIONS” for full coverage). For now,
we offer a bit more about the ASUO Executive race
and the two races where our endorsed candidate didn’t
make it past the primary. For the rest, we stand by our
original endorsements.
ASUO Executive
Maddy Mellon
Eddy Morales
Students have a clear choice, and an easy one. Melton
and Morales have been closely involved with student
groups as well as the Executive and the general student
population. Their opponents’ experience mainly relates
to budgeting and the EMU, which isn’t what this job
needs — student senators and ASUO staff should handle
the budgets. Melton and Morales will fill the office of the
president perfectly, with dynamic leadership, a commit
ment to being the voice of students and the know-how
to bridge the gulf between students and legislators.
Melton, in particular, knows how to represent student
interests. From fighting on the federal level for more Pell
Grant funding to winning students more control of their
campus on the state level, Melton has already shown that
when students lobby, politicians listen. Plus, she has the
connections to build grassroots support at the same time
she lobbies effectively. This duo will be strong, under
standing leaders.
Senate Seat 2, PFC
Mena Ravassipour
Ravassipour will continue the trend of improving com
munication between groups and the senate, she already
has an understanding of senate procedure and she be
lieves in representing the voice of those who aren’t able
to speak out. She’ll make a welcome addition to the PFC.
Senate Seat 16
Science
Gabrielle Guidero
This is a tough decision, as both candidates seem to
have the interest and the ability. But Guidero takes it by
a nose, as we share her interest in bringing more speak
ers and events to campus, and in programming that ben
efits the broadest possible cross-section of students.
Senate Seat 1, PFC
Adrian Gilmore
Senate Seat 3, PFC
Beth Overgard
Senate Seat 4, EMU
Rodrigo Moreno Villamar
Senate Seat 7, ADFC
Laura Schulthies
Senate Seat 8, ADFC
Jesse Harding
Senate Seat 13
A&L/Journalism
Stefan Myers
Senate Seat 15
Social Science
Adam Turcott
EMU Board At-Large
Midterm seat
Slade Leeson
PFC At-Large
Two-year term
Toby Piering
Associated Students Presidential Advisory Council
Nick Hudson
Editorial policy
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses can be
sent to ietters@dailyemerald.com.
Resisting necessary taxation
Raise taxes. No position is more re
viled by voters or poisonous to a politi
cal career. Yet politicians in Salem
are faced with doing just that as the
state faces a potentially disastrous
budget shortfall.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski admitted for the
first time in a recent interview with The
Oregonian that some type of tax increase
appears unavoidable. He predicted the
Legislature will opt to raise taxes rather
than make the unpalatably drastic cuts
required to balance the state budget, as
mandated by Oregon’s constitution.
Some prognosticators estimate that
Oregon will face a daunting $2.5 billion
deficit, out of total
spending of #11.1
billion. Such fig
ures may worsen
when new budget
projections come
out in May.
The state cannot
operate without
more money. Al
ready, school dis
tricts around Ore
gon have cut
instructional days
to deal with meager
budgets. Some are considering radical
plans such as cutting out high school
sports entirely, and the Springfield
School District plans to fire 67 teachers
and 35 support staff to make up for a
07.5 million deficit.
C
Slothower
Clock tower
hush
One striking aspect of Oregon’s budg
et crisis is the disparity between the rel
ative wealth of the federal government
and the near-poverty of state govern
ment. While American-provided Black
hawk helicopters swarm over Colombia
eradicating cocaine fields and legitimate
crops along with them, Lane County
heroin addicts face sharp reductions in
their access to methadone.
Many critics opine that the state
should just tighten its belt during bad
times, as consumers do. However, gov
ernments provide services that cannot
be easily cut without hurting people or
angering constituents, and demands on
government agencies increase during
economic slumps.
Contrary to the views of talk radio’s
finest, Oregon’s budget crisis was brought
on not by lavish spending, but a witch’s
brew of economic downturn, high unem
ployment, a tax structure greatly reliant
on personal income and the state’s inex
—-——
..-.
.
Letter to the editor
Retract endorsements
for fair election coverage
It is your job as journalists to be
objective and cover the ASUO
elections in a fair and balanced
fashion. In the words of your own
Michael J. Kleckner, “the art of
news is to sort and sift, and to
present, in a fair and balanced
manner.” I could not agree more.
Moreover, Kleckner also stated,
“We do not necessarily believe a
candidate is automatically more or
less qualified because of their abili
ty or inability to answer rules ques
tions.” And earlier, “Such a judg
ment is for readers to make.” Once
again, Kleckner has made a great
point. It’s almost like Fox News’
“We report, you decide” slogan.
However, five days prior to that
statement, he said, “The elections
begin April 9, and on that day the
editorial board will devote the en
tire Commentary section to the
Emerald’s endorsements.” Emerald
endorsements? But I thought
Kleckner said the judgment was for
us to make?
As a regular reader of the Emer
ald, your decision to run this en
dorsement page upsets me. If you
do not believe that qualification is
not determined by their “ability or
inability to answer rules ques
tions,” then why did you say, “We
will be considering the transcripts
of interviews as well as campaign
materials.”
I respectfully request for you to
retract your endorsements and let
the students decide which candi
date is right for themselves.
Ryan J. Coussens
freshman
pre-journalism
plicable lack of a rainy day fund.
Oregon has been hit particularly
hard by the nationwide economic
doldrums, as it relies on income taxes
for much of its revenue. Income tax
revenues have a tendency to drop
sharply in economic slumps, a problem
compounded by Oregon’s frighteningly
high unemployment rate.
Sales taxes, which Oregonians have
defiantly rejected at the ballot box on
nine separate occasions, hold up better
when the economy turns sour. But
they’re also damn annoying.
Kulongoski and state legislators find
themselves in an exquisite bind.
Oregonians want state services, but
have proven unwilling to pay for them,
as witnessed by the November defeat of
Measure 28.
The governor in particular finds
himself caught between a rock and a
hard place. Kulongoski ran on a
platform of restoring faith in state
government by streamlining state
services while holding taxes steady.
Kulongoski looks prepared to break his
campaign promise to avoid tax increases
as the magnitude of the state budget
shortfall becomes clear. This may come
back to haunt him. Though Kulongoski
Peter Utsey Emerald
won’t face reelection until 2006, voters
have a notoriously long memory when it
comes to tax increases.
Rather than raising income or proper
ty tax rates, Kulongoski is weighing tar
geted tax increases, including raising the
beer tax. This is a bad idea. Besides the
fact that I’m still recovering from the
football team’s pummeling by Wake For
est, all Oregonians should share the tax
burden. Nondrinkers use the roads, too.
An increase in income or property tax
rates would more fairly distribute the
tax burden.
Soon, Kulongoski and state legisla
tors will be forced to find the courage
to raise taxes. In the long term, Kulon
goski envisions a grand overhaul of
Oregon’s tax structure.
Such an overhaul is sorely needed. As
much as I hate the idea of an Oregon
sales tax, it may be the only answer to
providing stable government funding. A
rainy day fund wouldn’t hurt, either.
May we wish Kulongoski and our leg
islators the best of luck in dealing with
this precarious situation.
Contact the columnist
at chuckslothower@dailyemerald.com.
His views do not necessarily represent those
of the Emerald.