P^TT7 J!^ 1 Nebraskan
M~l VI JL lr V# JL A Cl JL Tuesday, February 14,1989
I Nebraskan
University of Nebraska-Lincotn
Cun Wagner, Editor. 472-1766
Amy Edwards, Editorial Page Editor
Jane Hin, Managing Editor
Loe Rood, Associate Mews Editor
Diana Johnson, Wire Page Editor
Chuck Green, Copy Desk Chief
Lisa Donovan, Columnist
What others think?
Media tests First Amendment Rights
• “Congress shall make no law ... abridging die free
dom of speech, or of die press ...”
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution stales
this, but unfortunately it is not tree. The Oklahoma Daily
has reason to believe that our beloved university has
violated the Oklahoma Open Records Act, as do other
media outlets, but we have no power to protect our rights.
One Hate agency cannot bring suit against another stale
agency according to Oklahoma law. Fortunately, other
media outlets have brought their own suit, and we can
benefit from this.
But what happens when we don’t have other media
outlets involved? If any arm of die university decides to
not release information to us, as required by law, what
recourse do we have? Almost none...
We will And out Tuesday if OU indeed is acting in
violation of state law. Hopefully, the court will find that
the police department has to make its actions and reports
open to the public. If the court finds otherwise, a danger
ous precedent will be set. If the police are not accountable
to the public, who will control them? Our country is
* government by the people, not government by police
secrecy.
If the people arc going to give us information only they
want to give, instead of the information they have to give,
why don’t they just complete the censorship by control
ling which stories appear in the paper each day?
- The Oklahoma Daily
University of Oklahoma
• Yet another segment of the university has hopped
aboard the fee-hike bandwagon, news that should come as
no surprise to a student population bombarded with hikes
and increases and fees. But this time, the administration
has taken the admirable position that if students don’t
want the increase, they won’t get the increase.
The lllini Union Board wants to renovate the Union's
fourth floor. Plans are still sketchy, but the board may
move offices of registered student organizations up to the
fourth floor’s north side, eliminate the hotel rooms al
ready there and perhaps install a non-alcoholic bar...
Students control the fate of that increase ($6 a year for
three years), administrators say. “This fee isn’t going
. anywhere without student input," said Stanley Levy, vice
chancellor for student affairs. “If they don’t approve it,
we won't do it."
A refreshing attitude coming from this university. Stu
dents should make the most of it...
University cj Illinois at j
• Some little tidbits of news are just too good to pass
up without making some sort of comment Such is the
case with this Business Note for this week's Time Maga
zine.
We're all familiar with Domino’s Pizza’s Noid, that
devilish little gremlin intent on delaying the delivery of
your pizza, or turning that piping hot cheese into a sheet
of ice.
Well, it seems that last week, Kenneth Noid, 22,
walked into a Domino’s Pizza in Chamblee, Ga. with
357 Magnum mvoHtf and took two employees hos
demanding $1C„ZDll fash, a getaway car, a cop
185 novel The Widow's Son and, we’re guessing
slivery in less than 30 minutes. The two employees
avoid Noid and slipped away, after which
wondered what would happen if the
the roadrunner, we wondered how the
’s. We •k™*- this would
»wa State Daily
Slate University
SUoRT UAlR WITH 1ft
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to Surface
WEAPOM OBTAINED
in i ram-contra
affair
CENSORED • • —
THIS IS STILL
CGNloets/i
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wave become
UNNECESSARY
Free-speech democracy works
Columnist blames Congress and Wright for salary raise fiasco
You know, they almost got
away with il They would
have, too, if you and I had not
raised such a fuss.
Rank may have its privileges, but
in a free-speech democracy, bitchin'
is the great equalizer.
In this day when everyone from
the While House to Aunt Tilly’s
house is screaming about the budget
deficit, Congress was all set to let an
automatic pay increase of over 50
percent go through for themselves
and other top government officials.
It’s a nice system they have -• an
independent panel determines the
pay increase, which goes into effect
unless Congress overtly acts to slop
it.
All the perks, none of the pain.
The real culprit in all of this is
House Speaker Jim Wright I never
thought I would say il, but I miss Tip
O’Neill. At least O’Neill would look
you in the eye and treat you like a
grown human being. Jim Wright talks
to the American people and to the
President of the United States in the
most condescending lone I have ever
heard from a politician. He may want
us to believe that it is a sweet, “Aww,
shucks” Southern drawl. Lloyd
Bentsen has a sweet, “Aww
shucks” Southern drawl. Jim Wrig.it
has a “You’re just too young to
understand” smirk.
Anyway, the Senate had voted
overwhelmingly to refuse the pay
raise. Representative after represen
tative was calling for a vote in the
House. But Wright refused to hear.
For days, he totally ignored what
some reports said was a 9-1 ratio in
congressional mail against the in
crease.
Then, a few days before the raise
would go into effect, Wright intro
duced -- from the goodness of his
heart and his great concern for
American opinion - a bill that would
lower the increase all the way down
to 30 percent. It just brought a tear to
my eye.
Finally, with visions of his credi
bility sinking faster than the Com
huskers’ Big Eight basketball stand
ing, Wright scheduled an llth-hour
vote on the raise. The raise lost 380
48 in the House and 94-6 in the Sen
ate. And mark my word -- Wright will
choose any opportunity we give him
to take credit for this roll back on
government spending.
-I-1
Then, to add insult to imbecility,
Wright had the nerve to represent the
Democratic party and deliver the
response to President George Bush’s
budget speech last Thursday night.
The first words out of his mouth were
about the budget deficit and how
important it was that we do all we can
to gel it down. Is he really that out of
touch, or does he just think we are?
But Wright must not take all of the
blame here. As vocal as other mem
bers of Congress were against the
raise, the indications are that most
were hoping it would never come to a
vote. Tney wanted to have their
featherbed and eat it, too. For all the
cries about how atrocious the whole
thing was, I never once heard a single
lawmaker say they would not accept
the raise even if it went into effect. No
one volunteered to give all the raise
back to the federal treasury or to a
favorite charily.
There are many lessons to be
learned from this fiasco. First, it is
amazing how fast Congress can move
when their own political hides are at
stake. Present a bill for funding re
search on a deadly disease or protect
ing the rights of some oppressed
underclass and see how long it takes
even to get the thing out of commit
tee. But when a deadline is one day
away a bill becomes law before you
can say “pork barrel politics.”
Maybe the American citi/cn
should use this strategy on other is
sues that Congress ignores. Maybe if
we raised as big a stink about the
budget deficit or the line item veto or
national health insurance or any other
crucial issue. Congress could act just
as quickly. Of course, we would have
to set the deadlines for them, but that
could be arranged. They can move in r
a day on the pay raise, and I'd be
willing to give them a whole month
on the deficit.
There is a lesson that Congress
should learn, but I wouldn’t hold my
breath. Those few who were willing
to speak publicly in favor of the raise
spoke of how long it had been since
they had gotten a raise and how be
hind the times their current salary is.
Members of Congress make S89,(KK)
per year, plus many thousands more
in speaking honoraria. I live on less
than 15 percent of that, as do millions
of Americans.
How can we possibly relate to
people who insist that they must have
a minimum of $135,000 a year to
make ends meet? I know of no more
accurate measure of the distance be
tween our lawmakers and the people
they supposedly represent than this
startling and sad disparity.
Ronald Reagan told us for eight
years that the budget deficit was
largely the responsibility of Con
gress, not of the President. George
Bush is now telling us the same thing.
Congress, of course, wants to lay all
the blame-on the Oval Office. I have
struggled with whom to believe. Bui
when Congress pulls a stunt like this
one, I find it a lot easier to feel sym
pathy for the Executive branch.
Sennett is a graduate student in philoso
phy and a Daily Nebraskan editorial colum
nist.
--1
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