Today Friday Saturday
High: 53 High: 52 High: 53
Low: 41 Low: 40 Low: 40
Precip: 100% Precip: 90% Precip: 30%
IN BRIEF
Sponsors, Inc. to answer
questions at area meeting
Representatives from Sponsors,
Inc. will be at tonight’s West Uni
versity Neighbors meeting to an
swer questions about the program.
Sponsors, Inc. is looking to buy a
house in the West University neigh
borhood to provide a place where
parolees and ex-convicts currently
residing in the area can live together
in a supervised environment.
The meeting is at 7 p.m. at the
Central Presbyterian Church on the
corner of East 15th Avenue and
Patterson Street.
Eugene Police Chief Robert Lehn
er will discuss policing and crime
related issues in the neighborhood
and answer questions for neighbor
hood residents at the meeting. West
University Neighbors board mem
ber and University student Don
Goldman has lambasted the police
at past meetings for unfairly target
ing college students and writing
tickets without proper justification.
West University Neighbors Chair
Drix Rixmann said Lehner will par
ticipate in a group discussion about
how to throw safe parties in
the neighborhood and how to
party responsibly.
“I’m all for parties; it’s just get
ting people to be aware that there’s
neighbors,’’ Rixmann said.
There are two open spots on the
group’s board of directors, and Rix
mann said members of the ASUO
contacted him to express their inter
est in attending the meeting and
seeking election to the board.
Rixmann said the ASUO repre
sentatives were not very friendly to
him and left him feeling rather dis
heartened about the state of the
University’s student government.
“I just kept thinking, ‘Man, what
a shitty way to be,’” Rixmann said.
ASUO President Adam Petkun
said he is not sure who spoke with
Rixmann on the phone and said the
ASUO has not decided which staff
member will attend the meeting.
Rixmann said he has been bom
barded with phone calls in the past
month from people interested in
talking with the neighborhood asso
ciation, and he is excited about
the responses.
“The bottom line is we have ac
tivity, and that’s what we wanted,”
Rixmann said.
— Meghann M. Cuniff
House approves bill
to adopt tax changes
SALEM — A bill to tie Oregon in
come taxes to recent changes in fed
eral tax law won House approval
Wednesday after Democrats failed
to have two business tax breaks re
moved from it.
The Republican-run House
passed the bill 37-23. The measure
now goes to the Democrat
controlled Senate.
The Legislature regularly updates
Oregon tax law to include most
federal changes in deductions and
exemptions, which simplifies tax fil
ing for the average Oregon tax payer
by minimizing differences between
state and federal tax forms.
The minority House Democrats
argued that lawmakers shouldn’t go
along with two new corporate tax
breaks that they said would reduce
state revenue by an estimated $27
million for the 2005-07 budget.
Their attempt to delete the breaks
from the bill failed on a 33-27, par
ty-line vote.
One of the breaks passed by Con
gress last year gives domestic man
ufacturers a tax deduction for part
of their income from producing a
wide variety of goods.
The other federal change gives a
tax-free subsidy to employers who
continue providing prescription
coverage for workers after the new
Medicare prescription drug plan
takes effect next year.
Opponents of the breaks said they
will enrich big companies but do lit
tle or nothing to help Oregon be
cause they reduce tax revenue for
education and other needs.
Rep. Larry Galizio, D-Tigard, said
linking the state to federal tax
breaks across-the-board “fully
adopts the corporate subsidies pur
chased by high-powered lobbyists
in Washington, D.C.”
But supporters of the federal-state
tax link said the tax breaks would
help Oregon create jobs.
“This is about competitiveness,”
said Rep. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas.
He said states that have adopted the
federal changes would have an ad
vantage over Oregon when compet
ing for businesses.
— The Associated Press
ASUO: Candidates say stipends need review
Continued from page 1
attended a finance retreat two years
ago when he was on the Athletic De
partment Finance Committee, adding
that retreats will be “very beneficial. ”
“We will have a retreat with the
ASUO Executive where president
takes a hands-on role,” he said.
Presidential candidate Anthony
Caruso said the retreat will
offer opportunities and a bonding
experience.
“Once you have a well-bonded
group of people, they feel more moti
vated to work together for a better
cause,” he said. “I feel like the retreat
will be more well monitored this
year, especially under the scope of
the media eye; with transparency in
volving everyone and the media
looking at us, it’s not like it would
happen again.”
Vice presidential candidate
Christopher Haak said student
money should be spent on retreats,
but they don’t need to be held
in Sunriver.
“It can be done there; it can be
done here,” he said. “Leadership can
be done anywhere. ”
Vice presidential candidate David
Goward said retreats are “extremely
important” but proposed the retreat
be held at a camp near Junction City,
which would cost about one-third of
the roughly $3,200 of student money
spent on this year’s retreat.
Presidential candidate Adam
Walsh said, “Instead of a retreat to
Sunriver, our administration would
have a bonding experience in the
skylight of the EMU.”
ASUO Student Senator Rona Yang
asked the candidates why they had
n’t attended controversial Programs
Finance Committee meetings this
year and what they would do to ad
dress the controversial pay model
r
formulated by the committee.
Daniels said the PFC “isn’t
working.”
“The reason I haven’t been at
these meetings is that I don’t feel wel
comed, and that’s why I’m running
for this office,” he said. “I tried to
find information on the budget; I got
the 2000-2001 budget. I have no idea
what’s going on because they won’t
let me, and the meetings are held up
on the third floor in a dark room, and
there’s room for 17 senators and the
vice president.”
Hudson said he sat on the Senate
during a special meeting Monday to
approve the PFC budget.
“The stipend model has to be
fixed,” he said. “There are some
budgets that 60 percent of their budg
eting goes to the stipend, so it does
need to be fixed.”
Walsh said he attended the
emergency PFC meeting last week,
adding that the stipend model needs
to be reevaluated.
Goward said he has been an ad
ministrative assistant for the PFC and
his running-mate, Evan Geier, has at
tended multiple PFC meetings this
year. Goward said pay for student
leaders should be paid directly to
those leaders.
“It’s important to have the money
going directly to the students because
when you enter the real world, your
employer will not pay your bills for
you, so we won’t be paying students’
bills,” he said.
Haak said it is important to pay
student government leaders because
they work long hours. He added that
he did not attend the meetings.
“I can’t say I’ve been to a meeting.
I don’t know where they’re held; I
don’t know much about them,” he
said. “But I’d encourage that anyone
who gets elected, we should sit in on
all their meetings. ”
Caruso said he didn’t learn about
problems with the PFC budget until
he was busy with finals, gone for
spring break and involved with
political campaigns.
PFC member Anker-Lagos said she
as “learned so much” from her time
on the committee.
“I find it very difficult to hear a
bunch of students talk about PFC
when they did not go through the
process,” she said. “It’s very long
process with many variables.”
Online voting through DuckWeb
runs through Friday at 5 p.m.
parkerhowell@dailyemerald.com
■ How to vote
ASUO primary elections run through Friday.
Students must log onto their DuckWeb
accounts to vote at duckweb.uoregon.edu.
Students can vote for all general and at-large
candidates but will only be able to vote for
academic senators running for the seat related to
their majors. Each student can vote only once.
Twenty seats are up for grabs in the primary
elections, with 46 total candidates vying for po
sitions. Eight of the races are uncontested, with
only one candidate currently slated to run for'
those positions. However, students may write
in candidates for all positions. Students must
vote by 5 p.m. on Friday. The top two candi
dates from the primary elections move on to
the general elections, which will be held from
April 13-15. However, if any candidate gets
more than 50 percent of the vote in the primar
ies, he or she gets the seat.
Students can vote from any computer with ac
cess to DuckWeb. Campus locations include:
• EMU Computer Lab
• Knight Library Information Technology' Center
• McKenzie Hall Computer Lab
We’ve got sp
at www.dailyemerald.com
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