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The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, January
Letters to the Editor Campaign ads become
childish as race nears end
Letters to the Editor need
to be turned in by 1 p.m. on
the Friday before publica
tion. All letters need to be
signed. Letters should be
500 words or less.
Send to the Print at:
e-mail:
CCCprint@clackamas.cc.or.us
phone: 657-6958 ext. 2309
Fax Number: 655-5153
Our address is:
Clackamas Community
College, 19600 S. Molalla
Avenue, Oregon City,
Oregon, 97045; Barlow 104;
(503) 657-6958, ext. 2309.
The Print reserves the right
to not print Letters to the
Editor.
Media shies away from
unpopular candidates
Karin Redston
Staff Writer
With all of the negative cam
paigning in the senate race by Ron
Wyden and Gordon Smith, can
didates from other parties have
had little, if any, media coverage.
According to the State of
Oregon’s voting pamphlet, there
are six parties providing candi
dates for former Senator
Packwood’s seat. They are the
American Party, the Democratic
Party, the Libertarian Party, the
Pacific Party, the Republican
Party, and the Socialist Party. All
but two parties are, for the most
part, excluded from media cover
age.
In a country whose constitu
tion guarantees a multi-party sys
tem, the Democrats and the Re
publicans have maneuvered to
eliminate any chance of partici
pation by other parties.
The closest anyone has
come to establishing a successful
third party has been Ross Perot.
The disturbing part about this
situation is that the media has
strongly supported this estab
lished system.
Mass media has always
claimed to be speaking for the
people but, in reality, it tends to
represent the views of the few.
They represent the views of the
wealthy few who own the various
newspapers, radio and television
stations. Media coverage or lack
of it has made or broken candi
dates running for office.
Ideally, journalists are objec
tive and non-biased. In reality,
this is not the case. Lack of re
porting of smaller political par
ties, not allowing all candidates
to debate the issues and endorse
ments of candidates have put the
media in a very powerful position.
Major corporations have
bought out major networks and
radio stations and have systemati
cally terminated those who do not
agree with their corporate point
of view.
The last few years have seen
many radio announcers, newspa
per reporters and television news
casters out of work because they
did not follow the corporate line.
Any party, no matter what the
size deserves the right to be heard.
This includes fair debates and
equal news time and coverage.
Journalists have a responsibility
to report as fairly and as accu
rately as possible.
To exclude any party is bias
and this Oregon senate election
has been anything but fair to the
candidates and to the United
States electoral process.
The Clackamas Print Staff
Editor-in-Chief: Chad Patteson (Ext. 2576)
Managing Editor: Amy K. Hanson (Ext. 2576)
Feature Editor: Jon Roberts (Ext. 2578)
Sports Editor: Jesse Sowa (Ext. 2578)
Photography Editor: Josh Kehler (Ext. 2578)
Copy Editor: Vicki Welch (Ext. 2578)
Opinion Editor: Brendon Neal (Ext. 2576)
Business Manager: Cori Kargel (Ext. 2578)
Assistant Opinion Editor: Ryan Humphris (Ext. 2309)
Assistant Feature Editor: Brad Zimmerman (Ext. 2309)
Assistant Photo Editor: Lora Wahrgren (Ext. 2578)
News Editor: Pamela Sirianni (Ext. 2309)
♦ ♦♦♦
Staff Writers/Photographers:
Eric Eatherton, Megan Friedow,
Andrew Beck, Laney Fouse, Damon Fouts,
Tarah Nimz, Karin Redston, Joel Shempert
Cartoonist: Joel Gunderson
Secretary: Joanne Gale (Ext. 2309)
Advisor : Linda Vogt (Ext. 2310)
The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased,
professional manner. The opinions expressed in The Clackamas Print do
not necessarily reflect those of the student body, college administration, its
faculty or The Clackamas Print's advertisers. Products and services adver
tised in The Clackamas Print are not necessarily endorsed by anyone associ
ated with The Clackamas Print. The Clackamas Print is a weekly publica
tion distributed every Wednesday except for finals week. The advertising rate
is $4.50 per column inch. .
Clackamas Community College, 19600 S. Molalla Avenue, Oregon City,
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Brendon Neal,
Opinion Editor and
Brad Zimmerman,
Assistant Feature Editor
The current senate race be
tween Ron Wyden and Gordon
Smith has broken down into a
mudslinging contest.
Almost all political cam
paigning eventually degrades
into candidates insulting their
opponents, with complaints be
coming more frivolous as elec
tion time arrives. However, this
is one of the worst state cam
paigns in many years.
Claims include wasting tax
dollars on cleaning up pollution
caused by his company (Smith);
untrustworthy (Wyden), being a
career politician (Wyden) and
many other insults, with more
sure to come.
An unusually severe case of
mudslinging came into the me
dia spotlight on Jan. 9. The
Teamsters Union put out a ra
dio ad against Gorden Smith. It
indicated that several deaths and
injuries at his business were
caused by bad working condi
tions. Wyden wouldn’t even
condone it. He has asked the
Teamsters to remove it, but they
said no for now, saying that they
would take his complaint into
consideration.
Do these commercials work
to the voters’ advantage? Does
knowing all the distorted truths
about the politicians’ past give us
If voters keep
listening to and
accepting
these commer
cials politicians
won’t ever
change their
ways.
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a better idea as to what they will
or won’t do for Oregon if they are
elected?
If the information was
backed by fact and published by
someone other than their oppo
sition, it might help, but not the
answer to the above questions is
no, as is. The information is un
substantiated and appears to be
name calling. They raise anger
and confusion in the viewers by
taking subjects such as environ
ment, use of taxes, without giv
ing the hard facts on politicians.
We would like to see fewer
commercials overall. And those
that would run should have
“pure” fact, with sources cited,
dealing with their past politi
cal activities. People do things
that they shouldn’t, but it
doesn’t necessarily make them
bad politicians. More often the
claims against them hurt their
effectiveness rather than what
they actually did.
What we need to know
about, is what they have stood
for in their last term in office,
or at least no more than six
years.
A real danger of current po
litical advertising is the loss of
potential candidates. People
with skeletons in their closets,
even minor ones, are often
afraid to run.
Voters need to convince
candidates that their mud sling
ing doesn’t work. This is espe
cially true in a Senate race like
this one where the two major
candidates are tied in the polls.
If voters keep listening to
and accepting these commer
cials, politicians won’t ever
change their ways. We need to
encourage candidates to give us
what we want before they are
elected as well as after.
Voters need to take a
hand in nation’s future
Ryan Humphris
Assistant Opinion Editor
Leave it up to our govern
ment to screw up again. The
Christmas present our country re
ceived was, yes, another Federal
shutdown.
Why this surprises me, I do
not know. The Republicans and
Democrats are up to their old
tricks again, never seeming to
-agree on anything. But, in fact,
they have agreed to become egg
heads.
Clinton should realize that
Dole and Gingrich are not mak
ing any tremendous effort to con
form to his wishes; the same goes
for Dole and Gingrich when it
comes to Clinton. Clinton basi
cally has his head so full of bu
reaucratic bullsh** that it has
clouded his judgment.
In our last senate election,
Clinton lost his backing in Con
gress to a majority of freshman
Republicans. Knowing this,
Clinton needs to make the deci
sion to agree to disagree.
If our people voted in more
Republicans than Democrats,
then this must mean they would
rather have the Republicans’ way
of thinking representing us in
decisions concerning our country.
The thought of having right
wing conservatives running our
country makes me sick. How can
so many people be so anal-reten
tive as to think that our country
doesn’t need any help?
' I see plenty of people walk
ing the streets, kids dropping out
of school, and have experienced
enough drive-by shootings to re
alize that we need to help our
selves before we can help others.
The President sending our
troops to Bosnia may have been a
good idea to some; but in my
opinion, for us to honestly think
hate that began hundreds of years
ago can be stopped in just under
a year is ludicrous.
I n -
stead of using money to deploy
our troops in Bosnia, we should
use it to educate our citizens.
If Clinton and Congress
would like to make our country
better, then they should start by
taking care of us.
Granted, everything usually
does get blown out of proportion
through media and “he-said, she-
said” information. But, come on,
this is our country we are talking
about here.
| know, the one
our forefathers gave their lives to
create.
I honestly do not think this
is what they had in mind when
writing our Declaration of Inde
pendence.
As students of CCC, and the
next generation to run our coun
try, we need to take it upon our
selves to rekindle the drive that
once made our country great. Get
involved in what is going on in
our Oval Office and Senate steam
rooms. Don’t let our country go
to waste.
Vote in our Senate election by
Jan. 30 and also let your voices
be heard in the presidential cam
paign.
Do not just vote for who your
parents or friends tell you to vote
for.
At least give each candidate
^seeondglance; find out what
they are really about before you
decide.