Grage 2 University Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 10, 1955
Roberts Affair Stirs Kansans
C. Wesley Roberts, recently appointed Republican national chairman, probably could sell iceboxes to Eskimos or the Brooklyn bridge to Flatbush residents. At least he seems to have sold the State of Kansas a $110,000 bargain building which already belonged to the state, while neatly pocketing an $11,000 fee as "public relations counsel" in the deal.
In 1951 Mr. Roberts, then a public relations man, was hired as counsel by Edgar C. Bennett, president of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, a Newton fraternal life insurance company. Mr. Bennett wanted advice on selling the state the AOUW's 65-bed hospital on the grounds of the state tuberculosis sanitarium at Norton.
Mr. Roberts accordingly asked advice of several state officials and legislators about disposing of the building, and in the closing days of the 1951 legislative session the bill for purchase of the hospital was hurriedly passed.
Mr. Roberts, accused of lobbying, said he did not "button-hole" or try to influence legislators to get the appropriation bill passed. Since he is not a registered lobbyist, if charges of trying to "influence" legislation can be proved against him he will face a severe fine and perhaps imprisonment.
An agreement, reached in 1928 between the AOUW and the state on administration of the hospital, said that since the building was on state property the building would revert to state ownership when the AOUW withdrew from the building.
Whether Mr. Roberts knew of this provision in the contract is a moot question. State legislators are red-faced that they did not investigate more thoroughly to see what they were spending $110,000 in tax funds for.
Senate members voted down 20-12 a measure to declare an "emergency" in order to get a resolution authorizing an investigation of the entire Roberts affair. Although members agreed that such an investigation should be made, the majority held out for a "go-slow" policy.
Lt. Gov. Fred Hall, re-elected this year despite Gov. Edward Arn's effort to oust him from office, urged complete investigation of the "morally reprehensible" affair. Gov. Arn, however, said he was "entirely satisfied" with Mr. Roberts' explanation. President Eisenhower accepted the word of Gov. Arn and Mr. Roberts, and also is "satisfied."
Lt. Gov. Hall urged immediate action by the legislature and attorney general to recover the $110,000 in tax money, charging that the public tax money was not spent for a public purpose.
Dr. C. F. Taylor, head of the Norton sanitorium, "could not remember" who had initiated action to buy the hospital. He also could not explain why state officials suddenly had decided to buy the hospital after resisting sales efforts for 10 years. The state had almost complete control of the hospital for the past few years anyway, he said, and certainly the state was "on the long end of the deal."
"If selling influence and collecting 5 per cent is bad in Washington, it is equally bad in Topeka," Mr. Hall said.
State legislators reported that many of their constituents were demanding action and a complete investigation of the case. People all over Kansas are aroused at this waste of their money, and many are clamoring for removal of Mr. Roberts from his new high position for fear his actions will reflect on the state.
Perhaps this "deal" will be a good thing for Kansas if it arouses the Republicans, grown fat and complacent from continuous control of the state, to investigate this and several other allegedly corrupt state organizations. —Mary Betz
Little Man on Campus
by Dick Bibler
"Nice to have you in one of my classes again Mis - - - ah, Miss
- - - I can't remember your name, but I never forget a beautiful face."
Random Thoughts
Don Moser
SAYINGS-WE-WISH-WE-WERE-THERE-TO-HEAR DEPARTMENT: The scene is a bomber flying over the Bay of Biscay during the Spanish civil war. The plane comes down in a bombing run over a small Pyrenees village. Below can be seen a lone native of the region.
Pilot: I'm going to drop our load right on that guy!
Co-Pilot: Hold it. Don't drop all your eggs on one Basque.
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Now that warm weather is coming we can almost hear Mamie yelling out the window, "Dwight, why can't you be like other men on Sunday afternoons and read your paper instead of ripping up the lawn with your golf clubs?"
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A bamber in town Saturday was in a position that millions of veterans would envy. He had one of his former officers in the chair. As he said, "I've been waiting for this minute for years."
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St. Patrick's day will really start off with a bang this year in Las Vegas when the government sets off another A bomb. This will be something new to the Irish, the flame and explosion usually comes, inwardly, on the morning after.
★ ★ ★
The Atomic Energy commission said for the first time they are going to use cars in the experiment. We thought it was pretty common practice after seeing some of the snow and mud drenched cars on the hill.
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It's nice to know that the American girl is still the simple and homey type. After all the excitement over Virginia May Iser, she is still the home-town girl. Just interested in comic books, candy bars, and her sack of Bull Durham.
With both Josef Stalin and his predecessor dying of practically the same malady, I'd check on my Blue Cross policy if I were Georgi Malenkov.
We suppose the newest villain in wrestling circles will be Gorgi Georgi.
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Fair Vote Bill Not for Kansas
One of several new bills before the state legislature deals with a subject which long has been unmentionable in this one-party state with its political heirarchy. The bill calls for a presidential primary in Kansas.
Introduced in the House by 10 minority Democratic members, this bill seems doomed to failure. However, Gov. Edward Arn has recommended a "study" to allow a subsequent session "to enact a modern, effective and workable presidential preference primary law"—if it deens it "advisable."
The Democrat-sponsored bill would bind delegates and alternates to the national party conventions to carry out "to the best of their judgment and ability" the preferences expressed by the voters.
The state primary for committed convention delegates has long been recognized by progressive leaders as the means to rid the present convention hoop-la of "smoke-filled rooms," boss-pushed "deals," and last-minute stampedes—in short, to give the people the voice they have a right to exercise in choosing presidential and vice presidential candidates.
The need for clearing the convention air was vividly demonstrated last summer. In spite of Adlai Stevenson's outstanding qualifications for the Democratic presidential candidacy, the fact remains that Sen. Estes Kefauver won 14 of the 15 primaries he entered and received 3,140,000 of 4,600,000 Democratic primary votes cast. But he never had a chance at the Chicago convention. *
Before the convention Sen. Kefauver joined a bi-partisan movement with Senators Douglas, Smathers, Tobey, Hunt, Murray, Aiken, and Margaret Chase Smith to sponsor a bill authorizing the U.S. attorney general to make agreements with all states to conduct national primaries.
Nineteen states now have presidential preference primaries in one form or another; however, the laws are far from being uniform and delegates are not even bound in several states. Wisconsin was the first to adopt the procedure in 1903 and still has one of the best systems. There the candidate receiving the largest state-wide vote wins a certain number of delegates at large, while winners in congressional districts receive the district's delegates.
Now Sen. Kefauver is pushing a bill for a national referendum on nation-wide primaries based on a Constitutional amendment. But even if this were passed by Congress—which is extremely doubtful—the three-tourths ratification by the states would be next to impossible to achieve.
If our electoral process is to be truly democratic, the people of each party must choose the party's standard bearer. There is little choice involved between two men selected by the hit-and-run methods of an emotion-charged convention.
—Jerry Knudson
But it very evidently is going to require pinching, and in view of this fact, it seems strange that the House Appropriations committee directed that new automobiles be pursued for the House majority and minority leaders.
What's the reason? To follow the Joneses, of course. The Senate leaders have limousines and chauffeurs, so why not the House leaders? And who's going to foot*the bill? The taxpayers, naturally. —Bob Nold
The new administration promised to balance the budget. It's cutting unnecessary expenses in most of the departments, and this is good.
House Car Buying Won't Help Budget