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Commentary Oregon Daily Emerald Thursday, January 6, 2005 NEWS STAFF (541)346-5511 JEN SUDICK EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR IARED PABEN AYISHA YAHYA NEWS EDITORS MEGUANN CUNIFF PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTERS MORIAH BALINGIT AMANDA BOLSINGER ADAM CHERRY KARA HANSEN ANTHONY LUCERO NEWS REPORTERS CLAYTON IONES SPORTS EDITOR ION ROETMAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMITH SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR NATASHA CHIUNGERIAN SENIOR PULSE REPORTER AMY LICHTY RYAN MURPHY PULSE REPORTERS CAT BALDWIN PULSE CARTOONIST DAVID JAGERNAUTH EDITORIAL EDITOR JENNIFER MCBRIDE AILEE SIATER TRAVIS W1LLSE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIFFIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR GABE BRADLEY NEWS FREELANCE EDITOR/ DIRECTOR OF RECRUITMENT DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR LAUREN WIMER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER TIM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE BARKER ERIK BISHOFF PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHERS BRET FURTWANGLER GRAPHIC ARTIST KIRA PARK DESIGN EDITOR WENDY MEFFER AMANDA LEE DUSTIN REESE BRIANNE SHOL1AN DESIGNERS SHADRA BEES LEY IEANNIE EVERS COPY CHIEFS KIMBERLY BLACKFIELD PAUL THOMPSON SPORTS COPT EDITORS AMANDA EVRARD AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS LINDSAY BURT PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE NELSON ONLINE EDITOR SLADE LEESON WEBMASTER BUSINESS (541)346-5511 IUDY RIEDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHY CARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER REBECCA CRITCH ETT RECEPTIONIST NATHAN FOSTER AIBING GUO ANDREW LEAHY IOHN LONG MALLORY MAHONEY HOLLY MISTELL DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING (541)346-3712 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TYLER MACK SALES MANAGER MATT BETZ HERON CAUSCH-DOLEN MEGAN HAMLIN KATE H1RONAKA MAEGAN KASER LEF. MIA LEIDELMEYER EMILY PH1LBIN SHANNON ROGERS SALES REPRESENTATIVES KELLEE KAUFTHEIL AD ASSISTANT CLASSIFIED (541)3464343 TRINA SHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KAIY GAGNON SABRINA GOWEITE LESLIE STRAIGHT KERI SPANGLER KATIE STRINGER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION (541)3464381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER TARA SLOAN PRODUCTION COORDINATOR |EN CRAM LET KRISTEN DICHARRY CAMERON GAUT JONAH SCHROGIN DESIGNERS The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Fri day during the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Ore gon, Eugene, Ore. The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is pnvate property. Unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. ■ In my opinion DeLay The 109th Congress convened for the first time Tuesday, but the usual partisan horseplay was already ahead of schedule — and this time for the better: Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, asked fellow House Republicans at a Monday night meet ing for a reversal of an (ethically du bious) rule passed late last year that strips an 11-year-old party ethics rule from the books, permitting indicted congressmen to continue holding chamber leadership positions. Why were legislators so interested in rewriting guidelines at the end of a session? Well, DeLay is presently under investigation in Tfavis County, Texas, for illegal use of some $2.5 million in corporate money to help Republicans win state legislative races in 2002; a grand jury has al ready indicted three of his associates in the case. (Don’t think that this was a push for a legislative supermajority: Re publicans have a tougher hand in Texan state politics than their seven election streak of red state-ness sug gests. That year marked the first time the GOP held a majority in the Texas State House of Representatives since Reconstruction.) Anyway, with the old language in tact, an indictment of DeLay would force the majority leader to step down from his post. Under the Re publicans’ new but rescinded rule — unsympathetically nicknamed the DeLay Rule — an indictment would instead trigger a review by a party steering committee to de termine whether the charges war TRAVIS WILLSE RIVALLESS WIT rant removal. The change, which would have stripped much account ability from the authority of the in creasingly ideologically centralized congressional Republican leader ship, drew fire. “We have gone from DeLay being judged by his peers to DeLay being judged by his buddies,” lamented Fred Wertheimer, president of the Washington watchdog group Democracy 21. Rank-and-file Republicans natural ly (and moreover reasonably) obliged DeLay’s request, happy to avoid a deserved imbroglio over un justifiably tweaking the rules. Count Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. — who with some other Republicans opposed the original rule change — was among the relieved: He told CNN, “It takes a big man to do what he did, and a smart politician. This allows us to stick together.” Behind this rule shuffling sits a plainer but more sinister story: House leaders nearly unraveled im portant ethical codes, trading down relative moral clarity for political po tency. Conflicts between ethical and political aspirations are neither new nor surprising. But, of course, that’s why guidelines like those threatened in recent months exist in the first place: to illuminate and respond to those conflicts in accordance with the public interest. DeLay takes a dim view of the po tential indictment: “This has been a dragged out 500-day investigation, and you do the political math,” he told CBS News. “This is no different than other kinds of partisan attacks that have been leveled against me that are dropped after elections.” DeLay’s historical appeal is shaky: The House ethics committee rebuked him three times in October and No vember, once for offering to trade an endorsement of a lawmaker’s son in exchange for a vote in favor of Medicare legislation. All that aside, the threat of base less attacks designed to destabilize a party’s leadership is a poor excuse to drop ethics rules: It’s exactly the grand jury’s place to filter the slings and arrows, determine which are le gitimate and which are partisan non sense. Dropping the rules in question would short-circuit the process, put ting the decision in the hands of a possibly unduly sympathetic steering committee. This incident, however well-end ed, should leave a public wary of fu ture changes to congressional guide lines. If the above is any example, legislators rarely roll back ethics rules to improve the ethical charac ter of politics. traviswillse@dailyemerald. com INBOX Marriage made 'lackluster by lack of seriousness Marriage is not something to be taken lightly. In fact, of all choices and directions in life, marriage should be among the most important decisions a person can make. I am tired of the left side blaming the right side of be ing close-minded in response to keep ing marriage traditional. I am also tired of the right side blaming the left for decimating the traditional values of marriage in pursuit of their own minority agenda. Both liberals and conservatives are guilty of making marriage a lackluster fact of life. Marriage is not about convenience, tax relief or furthering individual self interests. A very long time ago, mar riage was a life-long commitment made between two consenting adults in hopes that their lives would be bet ter off together than apart. Excuse the cliche but marriage was made in hopes of a “happily ever after.” r Marriage has never been easy and never will become an easy arrange ment. Marriage was designed to be a long-term permanent arrangement, or perhaps brides and grooms across the globe weren’t paying attention when they were saying the very important “for better or worse, until death do us part” portion of the marriage ceremo ny. If people actually took marriage seriously perhaps the divorce rate wouldn’t be so high, states wouldn’t need legislation to limit divorce and people could drop a lot of unnecessary emotional baggage. So please, stop the bickering about which side destroyed marriage first. Marriage gets destroyed the moment it is taken lightly. Jenifer Morrison Business administration Unsafe Beltline should receive priority funding As if holiday traffic wasn’t enough on Coburg Road, I witnessed the stop-and-go traffic and a huge exodus of cars due to another accident on Beltline. I understand there are acci dents on Beltline almost daily, espe cially during the holidays. Beltline has proven to be an unsafe highway that should be first for highway funding in Lane County. Sections of 1-105 will be partially closed in 2005 for repairs. This will add additional traffic on Beltline and necessitates slower speed limits until we can invest in the needed improve ments. If you’ve experienced acci dents or stalled traffic on Beltline, and you want safer travel, please call your city and county elected officials. Meanwhile I plan to avoid Beltline. I also plan to speak up and urge safety as first priority for road building funds, not more money spent on the $180 million boondoggle of West Eu gene Parkway. Ruth Duemler Eugene OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged, and should be sent to letters@dailyemerald.com or submitted at the Oregon Daily Emerald office, EMU Suite 300. Electronic sub missions are preferred Letters are limited to 250 words, and guest commentaries to 550 words. Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month. Submissions should include phone number and address for venfication. The Emerald reserves the nght to edit for space, grammar and style. Guest submissions are published at the discretion of the Emerald CORRECTION Due to a copy editing error, the summary for the Wednesday article “Commentator mission rejected" was inaccurate. The summary stated that the Oregon Com mentator magazine objected to the “ASUO committee’s decision to cut its funding.” The ASUO Programs Finance Committee has not made any decisions to cut the maga zine's funding. The Emerald regrets the error. ■ Editorial Doing right thing just not 'feasible' forASUO Nearly three months have passed since an undisclosed group of self-described “cocky, smooth, motherfuckers” from our student government violated conduct code and Ore gon Administrative Rules during an Oct. 8-10 Sunriver retreat by drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. More than a month has passed since the ASUO decided to take group responsibility for the violations. By way of punishment, ASUO officials proposed fundraising and/or garnishing of wages as a way to restore the approximately $3,200 of student incidental fees spent on housing and transportation for the retreat. At the time, ASUO Public Relations Direc tor Nathan Strauss said of the group punishment: “It was just the responsible thing to do.” Now the rhetoric has changed. Certain members of student government are question ing the “feasibility” of repaying the money. However, since they have insisted on taking group responsibility for their ac tions, everyone on the retreat would either have to pay or fundraise less than $100 in or der to repay the money in full. That seems more than feasible. Furthermore, if individuals don’t want to pay back the money when they’ve done nothing wrong, then they should drop this group responsibility farce and let those who’ve broken the law pay for what they’ve done personally. While producing a dos-and-don’ts video (hopefully not using incidental fees) and forming a committee are two great steps to ward guarding against future misconduct, paying the money back is a crucial step to ward making right what they did wrong in the first place. The bottom line is this: Student money that is inappropriately used should be paid back. Certain ASUOians will argue that the money was not used inappropriately because the retreat served a valuable function for the group, in addition to its more “taboo” components. But just because useful work oc curred at the retreat does not mean that the funds were used appropriately. Helpful byproducts do not justify inappropriate use of student money. Don’t forget the note written in the guest book of one of the houses rented by ASUO members in Sunriver: “Do you pay incidental fees at the Univ. of Oregon? If so, your money just paid for six people to sleep here for two nights. We got drunk, played taboo, and learned about the finance system, all on your dime. We are some cocky, smooth, motherfuckers. ” The ASUO’s lame excuses for refusing to do the responsible thing is further evidence that they just don’t care about the student body and our dime. When elections come around, the student body should kick the entire group out of office. EDITORIAL BOARD Jennifer Sudick Editor in Chief David Jagernauth Editorial Editor Steven R. Neuman Managing Editor Gabe Bradley Freelance Editor
