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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1982)
Former wrestler "Shag" Thomas dies Texas cooking Ur« Frances Scho»n-” e*3paper Paco U n iv e rs ity of Oregon L ib ra ry tu g c ao , Oregsn &7403 See Page 9 Reagan and South Africa Voter drive Page 1 Section II Page 4 Page 3 PORTLAND ERMER July 28,1962 Volume XII, Number 42 25C Per Copy Two Sections USPS 959-6H0 855 Ivancie's budget policy by M ayo r Frank lvancie As we’ ve all seen, the wage issue is an em o tio n al one. It is easily made in to a p o litic al one. But the fact is that first and forem ost, the question o f wages is a practical one. It is a basic one. Its outcome wil! be determ ined not by our in d ivid u al preferences, but by the limits o f our collective resources. We cannot hope to please every one affected by this issue. There is only one thing that we all have in co m m o n — and that is the b o tto m line o f our city ledger. Our responsi bility to the citizens o f (his city is to see that that bottom line is written in black ink instead o f red. I intend to do my part to meet that responsi bility, and to serve the best interests o f the citizens o f Portland. For the record, I want to make my position clear on how that re sponsibility should best be met. I . As you k n o w , I have recom mended an across the board wage freeze for city employees from the start. I believe that this city has higher p rio ritie s than increasing wages. The funds that would go to wage increases would be better spent fighting crime, fighting unem ploy ment w ith expanded city jo b p ro grams, and maintaining the quality o f our basic services. But in order to have any meaning ful benefit on this c ity ’ s budget, a freeze must be substantial. Regard less o f their political value, symbolic freezes for the few have negligible practical value. The citizens o f this city know that. They know that if we choose not to freeze wages when funds are tight, the quality o f their services will suffer. Our first prior ity as elected officials is to serve the needs o f all P ortland citizens, not just those o f city employees. I f we cannot impose a wage freeze that w ill achieve that p ra ctica l g o al— that will meet that basic obligation — then we should abandon the idea o f a freeze altogether. 2. A wage freeze is not a unique sacrifice to make under today’s cir cumstances. Cities, counties and en terprises public and p riv ate all across this country are turning to wage freezes. I think everyone will agree that between a freeze and lay o ffs , a freeze is the lesser o f two evils. A wage freeze sounds like a no- win situation. It is not comfortable for the politicians who impose it or fo r those who have th e ir wages frozen. But the fact is that everyone who retains a job instead of losing it because of a freeze is a winner. Every citizen who benefits fro m a basic service protected by a wage freeze is a winner. And every politician who supports a wage freeze in the best in terests o f the citizens is a winner in the eyes o f those citizens. The wage freeze is a workable solution to our fiscal p ro b lem s .. a solution that offers the least amount o f harm and the greatest amount o f protection to the greatest number o f Portlanders. T h a t is what governm ent is sup posed to p rovide fo r its c iti zens— and that is why 1 have consistently supported a wage freeze. 3. In this tim e o f growing costs and shrinking revenues, a strong re serve fund in our city budget be comes more im p o rtan t than ever. Not just because o f our current bud get concerns— but because o f the new threat presented by the p rop erty tax lim itation issue. There is a good possibility that measure w ill pass. I f it does, it will have a mas sive impact on this c ity ’ s finances and its o p eratio n. N ow is not too soon to prepare fo r that im p act. And the best way (hat we can pre pare is to preserve as much o f our reserve as we can. Good fiscal management is a hall Campaign launched MAYOR FRANK IVANCIE mark o f this city’s government. The nature o f our times demands that we exercise even more caution today than we have in the past. Otherwise the rainy day that we’ve been saving for so carefully year after year may finally arrive— as a downpour. by Claudia Fisher A cam paign was launched last Friday by supporters o f City Ballot Measure 51, which seeks to establish a Police A u d itin g C o m m ittee ap pointed by the C ity C o u n c il. The Committee would audit the internal investigations system o f the P o rt land Police Bureau to resolve allega tions o f officer misconduct. The Council set up the committee w ith passage o f an ordinance in A p ril follow ing recommendations from a panel appointed by Commis sioner Charles Jordan and headed by D r. Francis Stores^ O regon Health Sciences University profes sor. The ordinance came after a year o f scandals w ith in the Po lice Bu reau, including abuses o f authority in the narcotics division, the killing and dumping o f opossums by o ffi cers in front o f a black-owned res tau ran t and frequent citizen com plaints o f police misconduct. M ayor Frank lvancie opposed the ordinance along Commissioner M il dred Schwab who, while favoring the review com mittee concept, op posed the ordinance as written. Po lice Chief Ron Still and police union leader Stan Peters opposed the o r dinance. O pponents organized against the ordinance were success ful in efforts to refer it to voters. Robert Shoemaker, a Portland at torney who chairs the cam paign committee, said Friday that the pur pose o f the committee is to allow ci tizen review o f police investigation o f charges. Cam paign organizers, he said, are not charging that police in general are abusing their author ity . The aim is “ to restore citizen trust in the police department, an es sential ingredient in any e ffo rt to fight crime.’ ’ M ayor lvancie believes that " n o m ajor organization can be run by a committee,** and has stated that the authority being granted the commit tee under the ordinance would be “ only the first step.” T he a u d itin g com m ittee w ould have the authority to review the Po lice Bureau’s Internal Investigation process fo r handling citizen com plaints and could hear appeals from citizens or police dissatisfied w ith in tern al investigations. H o w ever, the com mittee could not intervene during the division’s investigations and would have no authority to dis cipline officers. Instead, the com m ittee would make recom m enda tions to the police a dm in istration and to C ity Council. Supporters state that "th e citizen who pays the bills for police service has a right to know that those o ffi cers who do engage in misconduct or who use excessive force are dealt w ith appropriately by police m an agement.” Organizations support ing the effort include the American C iv il Lib erties U n io n , the Black U n ited F ro n t, Ecum enical M in is- nre? of Oregon, Criminal Justice Com m ittee o f the N a tio n a l Law yers G uild, Portland W om en’s Political Caucus, Urban Indian Council, U r ban League o f P o rtla n d and the Y W C A . T h irty-six individuals are also members o f the cam paign committee. Shoem aker, who believes v ih er organizations w ill become part o f the cam paign, expects to spend from $10,000 to $35,000. Treasurer fo r the campaign is P h ilip Bogue. The firm C ram er H ulse has been hired to coordinate the campaign ef fort. T he cam paign w ill include a speakers’ bureau intent on “ being rational and reasonable” and coun teractin g expected argum ents against the measure which “ play on emotions,” said Shoemaker. Princi pal opposition, he said, will be cen tered in the police union and will be well-financed. Spectre of Khomeini Booms over Egypt by Paul Magnelia Pacific News Service C A IR O — Ira n ’s invasion o f Iraq has left the Egyptian government profoundly concerned over its own p o litic a l s ta b ility . T h e A y a to lla h K hom ein i’s revolutionary Islamic ideology sends quivers o f fear through those responsible for main taining this country’s moderate and secular political course. Putting aside all the foreign pol icy ramifications o f Ira n ’s actions, and they are m any, fo r Egyptians the real threat comes from Khomeini’s appeal to the radical re ligious elements in Egypt— the one group that threatens President Hos ni M ubarak’s still uncertain political position. W hile these religious radicals are relatively small in number, they are well organized and deeply com m it ted to fu n d a m en tal changes in Egyptian society. As described by one w ell-inform ed source, the core o f the religious movement is com posed o f “ young, un iversity-ed u cated in d ivid u als w ho are high achievers fro m the lo w e r-m id d le class and who see themselves as up wardly mobile.” In effect, they are men and wom en who are not only harsh critics o f what is, but who are also fu tu re leaders o f what might be. N o one should dismiss them as a bunch o f religious crackpots. T h at these religious groups have the power to strike at the heart o f the E gyptian establishm ent was amply demonstrated in the assassin ation o f (he late President A nw ar Sadat. T h a t they are w illin g and able to link themselves to their radi cal counterparts outside Egypt was clearly revealed in the funds and guns secretly fun n elled to them from Iran and L ib ya just p rio r to Sadat's downfall. And that they have, at least the p o te n tial to a ttra c t a wider following is suggested by the fact that Sadat’s death was met by little or no public outcry. W h at is now especially discon certing to the Egyptian government is that these religious groups have been able to penetrate the m ilitary and related security forces. In a re cent official report on Sadat’s assas- ination, it was revealed (hat o f the 302 people involved from a funda mentalist Islamic group called Holy Struggle, 13 came from the military and police. W hile this figure is not large, it is highly s ig nificant and deeply troubling Io the present re gime. On a less authoritative level, ru mors abound about the number o f lower ranking m ilitary officers in fected by religious fundamentalism. O ne fig u re o fte n m entioned is as high as 70 per cent. Most people dis miss this as a gross exaggeration, bu, everyone is apprehensive since the exact numbers are so uncertain. Nervousness over the military is per haps understandable since radical army factions have been involved in all three recent internal upheavals: (he uprising at the military technical academy in 1974; the bread riots o f 1977; and Sadat’ s assassination in 1981. W hile the professed aim o f these religious groups is to establish an Is lamic social order, those intimately acquainted with their thinking argue that they are really d riven by a strong sense o f resentment against the corruption, poverty, and weak ness that surrounds their daily lives. Their anger with the social injus tice that prevails throughout Egyp tian society and the humiliation that comes fro m weakness has been translated to an intense anti-W est ern feelin g , much like that which helped inflam e the Iran ian revolu tion. M any blame the West and its long domination o f the Arab world for many o f their ills. As one person associated with these groups pointed out, "M odernization Western-style has meant the disintegration o f the fam ily, moral decadence, spiritual decay and vulgarization o f culture.” More concretely, they vehemently oppose peace with Israel, for they see the Jewish state as “ an illegitimate encroachm ent on the land o f Is la m ,” and they bitterly resent Sa- d a t /M u b a r a k ’ s em brace o f the United States. They want Egypt out o f the Western orbit. As one radical remarked, quoting the Koran, “ The land o f Islam belongs to neither East nor West.” President M ubark, acutely aware o f the p o te n tia l power o f these groups, has sought to undercut their criticism by downplaying Western cultu re and encouraging Islam ic values. The A m erican T V show “ D a lla s ,” fo r instance, has been taken o ff the air, while religious tel evision has been expanded; one ra d io station is now exclusively de voted to religious teaching. M rs. M ub arak, unlike Sadat’s w ife, has respected Islamic tradition by m ak ing few if any public appearances. These moves, how ever, hardly meet the major demands o f the reli gious radicals. It is Khom eini, who has stood up to the West and public ly denounced Israel, who serves as the re vo lu tio n a ry m odel. In d iv i duals w ithin the Egyptian religious movement argue that not only does Khomeini have their support, but al so the sym pathy o f a significant number o f non-radicals. Islam, they claim, is bringing radicals and sim ple believers together. W h ile it is im possible to know precisely how deep the radical reli gious influence goes in Egyptian so ciety, everyone agrees that it poses the single most significant threat to the M ubarak regime. Whatever the precise assessment, the magnitude o f the problem will be intensified if Khom eini is successful in p ro m o t ing his re vo lu tio n ary ideology by overthrowing the Saddam Hussein regime in Ira q . F or this reason, Egyptians are watching the Ira n - Iraq conflict with considerable ap prehension. © PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE. I«82 MENACHEM BEGIN YASSER ARAFAT Israel deserves no special treatment (E d ito r’s not«: Paul N. McCloskey, Jr., Is a Republican congressman from California, and a former candidate for praal- dant of the United States.] by Paul N. McCloskey. Jr. Pacific News Service The current bloodshed in L e b anon has several tragic implications for the United States. First is the hardening conviction elsewhere in the w o rld that the U n ited States has authorized and approved the in d is crim in ate and massive use o f firepower against an innocent and largely defenseless Lebanese civilian population. T o the rest o f the w o rld , Israel has now become a U .S . proxy— an instrument o f U .S policy in the M id east, much as we view C uba as an instrum ent o f Soviet policy in the Western Hemisphere. W hen Israel uses U .S .-s u p p lied artillery, air craft and weaponry, in cluding the fearsom e C B U s or “ cluster b o m b s," against refugee camps and urban areas, the world— and particularly the A rab w o rld — understands that these are U .S. wea pons, supplied under agreem ents that they will not be used save with U.S. consent, express or implied. The blood o f innocent wom en (Please turn to page 2. column / )
