Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, July 28, 1982, Image 1

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Page 1 Section II
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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
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