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Wednesday, April 7, 1976
University Daily Kansan
KANSAN Comment Opinions on this page reflect only the view of the writer.
Doctor quota folly
The Kansas House decided last week to take time out from its usual mundane and serious considerations for a little foolishness. It passed a bill requiring the KU Medical Center to admit five students from each of Kansas' 40 senatorial districts before considering other applicants.
FORTUNATELY, GOV. Robert F. Bennett and the Senate took a dim view of the proposal, and the Senate Ways and Means Committee killed it Friday. The unfortunate thing about that 104-18 vote in the House is that the legislators didn't tell us they weren't serious when they first passed the measure.
Now that the bill is dead, news reports have said leaders in the House never intended for it to become law. Being aware that the shortage of doctors in rural areas in Kansas makes good sense, the legislators evidently decided to use the Med Center admissions for political dramatization.
SURELY THE IDEA of putting the Med Center admissions on a geographical quota system is such obvious folly that it needs no refutation. It has been ignored in admission, the danger to the quality of physicians and the unfeasibility of the idea.
Just because a medical student's parents live in a rural senatorial district isn't enough to make sure their child gets
return there to practice. In fact, many medical students are probably willing to make the sacrifices necessary to get into school so they can leave rural KAURAS.
MANY OF THE legislators who voted for this bill are no doubt the same ones who were so quick to criticize quota systems intended to eliminate racial, ethnic and sex discrimination as inefficient, restrictive and unfair.
But isn't it unfair to the legislators to criticize a bill they passed, never intending for it to become law? The idea is that the legislature shouldn't operate along the lines of the Will Rogers saying "The Constitution made someone make a joke, Congress made it a law and that when Congress made a law, it was a joke.
THE MED CENTER bill wasn't a good joke, and it would have been an even worse law. If the legislators really want to do something about the rural problems, they would do well to consider a proposal made by former Ren. Bill Rov.
He suggested that scholarships be given to students who would agree to practice for a set period in designated areas of Kansas Such a sensible approach would have helped election year publicity, but it would come closer to solving the problem.
By John Hickey Contributing Writer
Reagan's bid helps Ford
By DON SMITH
WASHINGTON - Regardless of what liberals and Democrats are thinking this political season, the fact remains that President Gerald Ford is going to be tough to beat.
Although he's been President less than two years, Ford's looking more like presidential material than ever before.
FOR THE FIRST time in his political career Ford is courting
a national constituency, Ford, who had never campaigned for himself outside of his Michigan office. The state has been this year, has beaten former California Gov. Ronald Reagan in all but one of the first round of primaries. And although he hasn't won, they've still been important.
In fact, the Reagan entry into the campaign has probably helped the President. Some would point to Ford's dismal
showing in North Carolina as an indication of Reagan's growing popularity. That might be the case, but just as important is the fact that the Ford campaign was grossly over-confident in North Carolina, leaving many Republicans in expression that Ford himself
THE CHANCES of that happening again aren't too great since Rogers Morton has been accused of plotting, Morton is a political pro,
knows what he's doing and probably won't make the same foolish and often emotionally-provoked mistakes of his predecessor, Howard "Bo" Callaway.
If Ford does receive the Republican nomination, the chances are that he'll be opposing a Democratic candidate who will be trying to mend his own government. Democrats seemed almost bent on self destruction and this year appears to be no exception.
"IM NOT SURE LEBANON CAN SURVIVE MANY MORE CEASEFIRMLY!"
Mercv called for in pardon of Hunt
WASHINGTON-Under the Constitution, as Gerald Ford well knows, the President has power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States. This month the
entering of Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate in June of 1972. Beyond question, Hunt was deeply involved in that sordid and stupid affair. He pleaded
Another problem for the Democrites will be campaign issues. Issues has either taken most of the issues away from them or is letting the Democrates inaction in their own inaction.
final consideration. Hunt's wife died in an airplane crash in December 1972. He has four children, ranging in age from 12 to 24. Because he has no living mother, he and his other close relatives, the children are wholly dependent upon him both emotionally and financially. The eight-year sentence imposed on Hunt was not final until his death. The President can correct it through an act of mercy now.
FOR EXAMPLE, some of the Democrats have suggested that the military budget should be cut. Somebody had better tell that to the Congressional budget committees that are overwhelmingly dominated by the Republican party and voted just last week to approve the President's 1977 military budget almost in total.
"Damn it," one liberal Democratic congressman said last week. "I don't mind again. We spend all of our time tearing each other up and what are we really doing? Are we playing right into (Ford's) hands?"
FIRST SEN. HENRY Jackson D-Wash., attacks former Gov. Jimmy Carter and then Carter attacks Rep. Morris Udall, D-Ariz, and then Udall attacks Jackson and so forth.
in their own hands. Currently, there's a jurisdictional dispute between two House subcommittees on health, one in the Ways and Means and the other in the Consumer Commerce. The Democrats on both committees want their respective committee to get the credit for being the first act on this issue. In the meantime, between the two committees, continues little is being done.
The unemployment issue might also be getting away from the Democrats. Unemployment has continued to drop the last few months, which has helped Ford. But in addition, voters this year don't seem to be convinced by Democrats promised to put more people on the federal payroll. New Deal answers for 1970s problems just don't seem to be popular this year.
FINALLY, ITS difficult for any challenger to out stage an incumbent, whether in a city with a strong race. The incumbent has a tremendous advantage and if Ford comes through the Republican nomination unchanged, he'll be in great position.
And more important from the President's standpoint, he hasn't been forced into the position of telling the American people why he'd veto such a program (which he said he'd do if the Democrats passed their proposal).
A POTENTIALLY big issue for the Democrats, national health insurance, is floundering
SURELY IT IS pointless to incarcerate Hunt; it is inconceivable that he would take up a burglar's career. He needs no "rehabilitation"; he is an accomplished writer, fully capable of supporting himself. He has now spent almost two years in prison for a political escape in which no one was hurt and nothing of value was stolen. This seems more than sufficient.
Why do we sentence men to prison? Three reasons usually are advanced. The first is simple incarceration: the object is to keep dangerous criminals behind bars, where they cannot endanger society. The second is rehabilitation: the thought is to train men for useful roles in society. The third is punishment. The fourth idea exact punishment for an offense against the state.
Of course this is not to say that Ford doesn't have any weaknesses or faults. He was the one who pardoned Richard Nikon and explained administration against a really comprehensive national health care bill. His proposed military budget is up more than $10 billion over last year while his proposed food budget has been unmercifully slashed almost 83 percent.
Simple compassion adds a
**THIS WAS THE CASE in the matter of the Watergate defendants. They ran up against "Hanging John" Sirica, as harsh a judge as ever sat on the federal bench. His thought was to tterry "Watergate defender by impunity" in the severity of a uneffected unhalf in simple breaking-and-entering cases. He hit them originally with sentences to shock the conscience and to extort their "cooperation" in the investigation imposed in other federal courts in other burglary trials, his sentences were outrageous.
THESE ARE THE issues that liberals and Democrats want the President to confront this But by then it might be too late.
President will receive a petition for commutation in the case of E. Howard Hunt. In the name of Mr. Hunt, the petition should be granted.
guilty. It is no defense to his crime, though it is a valid consideration in a plea for commutation, that he acted under the aegis of a former attorney general in what he then was the service of the then president of the United States.
EXCEPT FOR G. Gordon Liddy, also who merits relief from the persistent ferent, Hunt is the only Watergate defendant still in prison. No useful purpose was derived for being served by keeping him there.
Eventually, after letting them twist slowly in the wind, Hanging John had mercy on five of the seven defendants. Frank Sturgis, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenia Martinez, James McCord and Bernard Barker, who shot and killed Mr. Sirkia were released after four to 15 months Sirica had no mercy in his soul for Hunt or Liddy. Their pleas for reduction of sentence were flatly denied.
The imposing of just sentences is the hardest task of criminal jurusprudence. Judges have to explain why Defendant A gets one year, Defendant B gets five years, and Defendant C gets 10 years, when the defendants have made their records and are convicted of substantially identical offenses. Unhappily, these disparities turn up all the time, and as often as not they reflect little more than the position and prejudice on preside judge.
THE CRIME ITSELF, of course, was the breaking and
We are concerned here with elementary questions of crime and punishment. Hunt's crime was conspiracy to commit burglary; his punishment is a prospective eight years in prison, and he is freed. Froxen for the brutal 20-year sentence imposed on Liddy, the punishment given Hunt is the most severe of them all.
An official on the Civil Aeronautics Board, who is a former top aide to a Republican governmentalist and the situation best last week.
LIDDY HAS stonewaled from the beginning: his circumstances, to repeat, are different. Hunt, by contrast, has cooperated fully since his conviction. In the past two years, he has been prosecuted in court, press and in the trials of such defendants as John Mitchell and John Ehrlichman. His prison record is exemplary.
"Things have changed around here ('Washington;)', he said. "It's the new administration and the breath of fresh air that's happening," he said, seem to be baker. And they are doing a bad job either."
County Democrats miss chance
The majority of the Douglas County registered Democrats have ignored the one chance to become involved in the select committee candidate On Saturday only 324 of the 3,500 registered Democrats, or fewer than 10 percent, were present at the Lawrence West Junior High to represent the district convention.
ALTHOUGH KANAS IS ONE of only 19 states that doesn't state primaries, great efforts have been made to the system as representative as possible. Any registered Democrat could have participated; Saturday and any candidate could have been registered until Friday at 5 p.m.
26 delegates will be selected through the county and district selection process. The other eight will be chosen by the
Advanced publicity told of the meeting, and urged people to attend. Telephone numbers were provided for people to call
By Marne Rindom Contributing Writer
for rides. Vet, only 324 people managed to attend.
THE KANSAS
DELEGATION to the national convention in Miami will consist of 75 members, of these, 75 per cent, or
Democratic party's state committee, which comprises members selected through a process begun two years ago.
its meeting in May. The 20 Democrats selected Saturday in Lawrence will represent County at the district meeting.
The 26 delegates will be selected from the five district colleges, which includes Douglas County, will select five delegates during
THE PEOPLE WHO were present Saturday found that changes had been made to insure that the delegates would represent the people's choice. The winner-take-all rule has been eliminated. However, through an interpellation, it was determined that only groups whose candidates received more than 15 per cent of the total votes could select delegates.
When the meeting began, a vote of candidate preferences was taken. The count showed that Wallace, Henry Jackson, Frank Wallace, Henry Jackson, Frank
Church and Jerry Brown was below 15 per cent and they were eliminated from the balloting. The two groups were allowed to join one of the remaining groups for Morris Udall, Fred Harris or Jimmy Carter. A fourth group, made up of uncommitted, was also an option.
THE ANOTHER count was taken and each group was allowed to choose an allotted number of individuals determined by the total percentage of the vote. Each group then nominated members of their groups to fill the available seats, and those who were voted on by the entire group. Except for two changes made in the uncommitted group, all the nominations from individual groups were approved.
'HE'D HAVE WANTED IT THIS WAY!
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So now Douglas County has its slate of delegates to the district convention. The breakdown is: six each for Udall and Carter, five for Harris and three uncommitted. These delegates plus those from Franklin, Carroll and counties will select the five delegates from this district to attend the national convention.
IT CAN PROBABLY be argued that the breakdown isn't truly representative of the preferences of the Douglas County Democrats. What the totals do show is which groups would bring out the voters. The delegates represent the people who cared enough to get themselves and their friends to the junior high. They were the ones who were dedicated enough to spend a Saturday with them and meetings to participate in this important phase of national politics.
FROM HERE ON, the delegate selection will be made for you. For the ordinary voter, Saturday was his only chance to participate. And in Douglas' letter, he said let that opportunity slip by.
The system in Kansas isn't perfect and it probably isn't as representative as a primary provider, because people provide for, though, is the representation of people who care enough to become informed and involved. The sad fact is that this number is so low.