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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2004)
Ducks fly to 3-3 against Wildcats | 7 An independent newspaper www. dailyemerald. com Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 37 | Monday, October 18, 2004 ★ AMERICA VOTES 2004 ★ THE POLITICAL GAME of Oregon state Senate candidates promote various strategies to increase economic growth BY TONY LUCERO NEWS REPORTER The economy is a key issue that voters want candidates to ad dress in the upcoming elections. Both Democrats and Republicans have used Ore gon as an example of how their party can solve economic concerns such as unemployment, outsourcing, health care and education. Oregonians have suffered in the recent eco nomic slump, ranking third in the nation with a 7.4 percent unemployment rate, according to a U.S. Department of Labor report complet ed in August. At 6.8 percent, Eugene is a clear reflection of the high rate of unemployment in the state. Different candidates have proposed several plans to tackle economic problems. In the U.S. Senate seat race, incumbent Ron Wyden said the federal government has turned a blind eye to the outsourcing of Amer ican jobs overseas and has failed to make the kinds of investments that lead to long-term economic growth. “To encourage job creation in Oregon, I’ve fought for key investments in areas that lead to economic growth, like higher education, worker training and transportation infrastruc ture construction,” he said. Steven Newman | Managing EDrroR WHAT IS YOUR KEY ECONOMIC CONCERN IN THIS ELECTION? "The biggest concern for me is tuition. When you can't take care of people at home, we shouldn't be at war. Bush has made it clear he's not concerned about Ameri can people and the state of things here at home." Caitlin Porter | Undeclared "I think health care is way too high and tuition is spiral ing out of control, which hinders students from getting an education. A tot of jobs created now are tower quality and paying." Anthony Green | Undeclared "Overall the deficit because it confronts a new genera tion, and I want our generation to have it planned for.” Lance Lucas | Business Administration added that he has also worked to make the state a jobs leader e growing nanotechnology industry by ng legislation to provide $3.7 billion for nanotechnology research in the country. “I’ve already begun working to direct fund ing to Oregon researchers,” he said. Republican A1 King, who is running against Wyden, said he believes that no tax breaks or incentives should be given to companies that outsource jobs. On the other hand, David Brownlow of the Constitution Party, a minority political party running for the Senate seat, said there is a need to stop the government from hurting jobs. “Ron Wyden refuses to look at the Consti tution and understand that the federal govern ment needs to stop trying to help the econo my on the state level because it does a poor job of it,” Brownlow said. Brownlow added that 8 percent of federal expenditures are unlawful and could be put back in Oregonians’ hands. Another minority political party candidate, Dan Fitzgerald of the Libertarian party, cites the federal income tax as a burdensome eco nomic cost hurting Oregonians. “That is $3.2 billion dollars into ECONOMY, page 5 Interim DPS director nears end of run Despite accolades from co-workers, Tom Hicks may be required to compete on a national level to maintain his current position BY KARA HANSEN NEWS REPORTER Plans to appoint a full-time director at the University’s Department of Public Safety will remain on the fence for at least a few more months, but Vice President for Administration Dan Williams hopes to resolve the situation by the time he retires in July 2005. Former DPS Associate Director Tom Hicks has served as interim director since April 1, 2003. The interim position cannot be extend ed past December 2005 under the University’s policies, said Williams, who is Hicks’ direct supervisor. “It’s a little unusual to have someone in an interim position for this length of time,” Williams said. “I asked Tom to be interim un til such time has passed to decide whether we’re going to continue to maintain the status quo or whether we’re going to make some changes in the nature of the department’s ac tivities and responsibilities.” Williams said he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the University and Eugene Police Department’s relationship when former DPS Director Tom Fitzpatrick retired in winter 2003 because EPD focused on general crime while the University prioritized combating property loss. But making changes to DPS be came less urgent when a new EPD police chief was appointed in January 2004 and when Sgt. Mark Montes was hired in March 2004 to lead the EPD campus security team, he said. “The question we need to answer is: Do we need to make changes in the authorities and the size of our DPS staff in order to be as ef fective in providing security for the campus?” Williams said. “My feeling early on was that we probably do. But when things began to improve in our relationship with the Eugene Police Department, I thought we ought to give it a bit of time to see if we will be satisfied with the way things are.” Hicks, who has worked for DPS for about 20 years, said he will continue to expand and improve the department regardless of whether he becomes a candidate for the official direc tor's position. A $10,275 stipend has bumped his $68,495 associate director salary to $78,770 annually. Williams said the increase offsets Hicks’ ad ditional responsibilities because he is “really doing almost two people's jobs.” Since Hicks became interim director, the department has created a public safety advisory group to examine how DPS func tions in regard to the University’s needs, ex panded the authority of officers to issue mu nicipal citations and started to review the school’s emergency response plan and park ing needs. “It’s not just a caretaker position,” he said. “I think the expectation from Dan Williams is that I take the steps necessary for the department, regardless of my interim role. I like working at the UO and I love working at the Department of Public Safety, but I honestly want to see what’s best for this de partment and for the University. And if it’s de cided that they want to bring somebody in with some fresh ideas, 1 would support that fully. ” Hicks said the search for a full-time direc tor will likely be national. Williams said he’s uncertain when the University will form a committee to find candidates for the position, but he hopes to know within a few months HICKS, page 5 Violations by ASUO senators debatable The Senate defends its 'artful interpretation of public notice statute for executive sessions BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF NEWS REPORTER Confusion brewed in the ASUO Student Senate in the past two weeks regarding the proper execution of executive sessions under Oregon’s Public Meetings Law, causing the Senate to violate the law repeatedly. A total of four violations occurred — three during the Oct. 6 Senate meeting and one dur ing the Oct. 13 meeting. Both Senate President James George and Senate Vice President Colin Andries said the Senate believes because the executive sessions were not the only item on the meeting agenda, no type of notice needed to be given. Jack Orchard, a private attorney in Port land, said this interpretation is incorrect. “If they anticipate that there’ll be (an execu tive session), then it needs to be on the agen da, and it needs to be noted as to reasons for the executive session,” he said. Andries, a law student, said he “respectful ly” disagreed. “ORS 192.60 says only if we have solely an executive session do we have to” notify the public or news media, he said. However, Oregon’s Public Meetings Law also requires notice of all regular meetings be given to the public and news media. Kyu Ho Youm, a University professor and John Mar shall First Amendment Chair at the School of Journalism and Communication, said an ex ecutive session held as part of a regular meet ing is considered part of that meeting. Any thing included in a regular meeting must be SENATE, page 5 IN BRIEF Michael Moore brings voting tour to Eugene Political filmmaker and author Michael Moore will urge people to vote for presidential candidate John Kerry at noon to day when he brings his controversial "Slacker Uprising Tour” to the Lane County Events Center. Moore will deliver a monologue and read letters he has received from soldiers in Iraq at the show, which is sponsored by the UO Cul tural Forum. Moore’s shows often include surprise guests and interaction with the audience. In an event press release, Moore said the tour is designed to spur people who might not vote into action. His goal is to see more than 56 percent of the voting public vote in this election, something that has not occurred since 1968, according to the release. “It is not the wealthy and the elite who don’t vote,” Moore said. “The non-voters are the poor, the disenfranchised, the single moms and young people. I am calling for a non-voter uprising, led by thousands of cam pus slackers who proudly sleep ‘til noon and who believe papers are for rolling, not reading. MOORE, page 5
