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Opinion
Tuesday, September 5, 2000
For comments, contact Ben Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com
Perspective
Clinton's corruption hits new low
It's hardly shocking anymore to hear about new revelations of corruption at the highest levels of the Clinton administration. Indeed, after almost eight years of the man who allegedly raised illegal campaign money from the communist Chinese, was fined $80,000 for contempt of court by a federal judge and was impeached by the House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice, corruption is about as surprising as the sunrise.
But there is a new and insidious revelation of corruption, although "new" only because the mainstream media has been ignoring this knowledge for years. Since 1993, the Clinton administration has been actively harassing its political opponents with bogus IRS audits, "the economic equivalent of a complete rectal examination," as Jerry Seinfeld once put it. The message: "Before you speak out against this administration, you better have a good tax lawyer." Or perhaps: "Keep your mouth shut, or else."
Just a few strategically timed audits here or there and you might, with good reason, simply pass them off as coincidence. But when you start examining the Clinton record, a disturbing pattern forms, a pattern of abuse and harassment that no reasonable person can ignore, much less defend.
Three days after Paula Jones declined to settle her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton, she and her husband were notified by the Internal Revenue Service that they were being audited
John McCool guest columnist opinion@kansan.com
Two days after Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) subpoenaed Attorney General Janet Reno for information on the mysterious death of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, IRS agents showed up demanding his tax records from the past five years.
Just last week, Katherine Prudhomme, a defender of a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by Clinton, was notified of an IRS audit just hours before she was to speak at a rape-awareness rally outside Hillary Clinton's New York campaign headquarters, according to the Washington Times.
According to the government watchdog group Judicial Watch, several individuals and organizations have been targeted. They include: Gennifer Flowers and Elizabeth Ward Gracen, who both admitted they'd had affairs with the president; conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation, the Christian Coalition and the National Rifle Association; five foundations and colleges associated with Newt Gingrich; conservative magazines such as the National Review; "unfriendly" journalists; and many others.
The smoking memo hasn't surfaced and likely never will because this isn't the sort of thing presidents put their John Hancocks on. But it simply cannot be a coincidence that dqzens of organizations and individuals have been audited by the IRS (at taxpayers' expense), all of which have either openly criticized the administration or are believed to possess information harmful to the president. This seems not only a Soviet-style assault on free speech but also abuse of power at its worst.
Targeting one's political opponents with IRS audits is a criminal offense; in 1974, it was even an impeachable offense: one of the crimes for which President Nixon was (rightly) condemned and forced to resign by Democrats and Republicans alike. But Jerome Zeifman, former chief counsel for the Democratic committee that drafted the articles of impeachment against Nixon, criticized Clinton's conduct.
"In my opinion, the misconduct of President Clinton and his White House is more egregious by far than the misconduct of the Nixon White House with respect to the misuse of the IRS," Zeilman said.
Can it be true that, for the mainstream media, when a Republican uses the IRS to menace his opponents, it's scandalous, impeachable and threatens our democracy, but that it's somehow acceptable when done by a Democrat? Sadly, it seems that the media, the public's once-respected watchdog, now has been neutered.
McCool is an Evansville, Ind., graduate student.
Chan Lowe/ TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
Kansan.com poll
Last week's question:
Does Lawrence need a casino?
Yes, Lawrence needs a casino. It'll help the economy, and I'll go every day.
Bring it on. It'll be great for the economy, but I'll stay away.
No, we don't need a casino in lawrence. It'll bring the city down.
Keep casinos out of here. I don't need the temptation.
Note: Poll is not scientific. Numbers do not add up to 100 percent because of rounding. Total votes: 175
Next week's question
Should third-party candidates be allowed in the presidential debates? Log on to www.kansan.com to cast your vote.
Perspective
Student Senate works to meet student needs
W ait! Don't turn the page yet. If you are like most KU students, you saw that this column was Student
Senate-related and automatically moved on. A recent Student Senate survey indicates that most students are indifferent to Student
Senate and its activities.
Either you don't know what we do, you don't care or both. But many issues that you identified as important are issues that we confront all the time.
Even though the survey results indicate that you care about many of the same issues and use many of our services, you still don't care about Senate. That is largely because we haven't done a good job communicating our efforts, soliciting your feedback or getting you involved with our projects. The only time you usually hear from Senate is during the spring campaign. We hope to change that this year.
It began last week with Outreach Week. Many of your senators and executive staff members, led by our Student Executive Committee chairwoman, Kim Fuchs, braved the scorching temperatures sat at Wescoe Beach not only to give you the opportunity to learn what we have been doing but also to get your ideas and invite you to get
meas and invite you to get involved in Senate. Our outreach efforts will not end there. We will be writing guest columns through-
Ben Walker
student body
president
opinion@karsan.com
Marlon Marshall
student body
vice president
opinion@kansan.com
out the year to keep you informed. We will be visiting your student organizations, your residence and scholarship halls, your fraternities and sororites. We will be sending out newsletters and having more information tables throughout the year. If you are interested in getting involved in Senate, stop by our table at Wescoe Beach today and pick up a membership form or come to committee orientation at 6 tomorrow night at the Kansas Union Ballroom.
We also want to let you know some of our major plans for the year. Overall, we want to change the focus of Senate to be more relevant to your everyday life. We want to provide more services that will directly impact you. We are developing an off-campus housing guide on the Internet to help you find a place to live, know your rights as a tenant or find a sublease. We are working to provide students free cards that will give them discounts at local businesses. We are attempting to give you free access to national newspapers, such as the New York Times or USA Today. We want to improve services in the residence halls, such as allowing use of meal cards at other campus locations. We have been working to get a firm commitment from the University to finally allow online enrollment. We have an ambitious proposal prepared for the state legislature to bring tuition rates under control. This is just the beginning of a long list of Student Senate projects this year. Stay tuned for more as the year goes on.
If you have a problem or idea of something Senate can do for students, stop by the office at room 410 in the Kansas Union, call us at 864-3710 or email Ben at bw@ukans.edu or Marlon at dooble@ukans.edu. As your student body president and vice president, we are your representatives, and we encourage you to let us know what is on your mind.
Walmer is a Hutchinson senior in political science. Marshall is a St. Louis senior in communications.
Editorial
Enrollment burdens travelers
The Office of Study Abroad should revise its antiquated enrollment procedure.
Although foreign study can be a rewarding experience, the enrollment problems KU Study Abroad students can encounter upon returning to the University sometimes undermine the pleasure of having traveled.
Before traveling, students who choose to study abroad through KU are responsible for completing enrollment forms for the semester following their program's completion. Students list their desired classes on the forms, as well as some alternatives. The Office of Study Abroad then attempts to enroll the students in their classes during the main enrollment period.
However, students are not guaranteed a full schedule.
Unfortunately, the University does not list the classes that will be offered during a semester until a few weeks before main enrollment begins. Students studying abroad must rely on outdated timetables to anticipate the classes that will be offered the following semester. This frequently causes problems as classes that are offered one semester are not offered the next.
An enrollment official at the office estimated that 15 percent to 20 percent of study abroad returnees face the same problems and are subsequently forced to Add/Drop.
Blame lies not only on the lack of communication between the office, enrollment officials and students but also on students. The office cannot attempt to enroll students in classes other than those that have been specified through the enrollment form. Many times, students don't list enough alternatives to classes that may be difficult to obtain, and they return to find that they are not enrolled in enough hours. This may put them at risk of losing scholarships or other financial aid.
Dated timetables, the students' absence and the unpredictability of class offerings create problems that lead to confusion and student dissatisfaction.
The University should not promise students a full schedule of classes upon their return if it cannot deliver.
The University encourages foreign study, but it needs to update its antiquated enrollment system to ensure that returning students will be able to get the classes they need to continue making progress toward their degrees.
Michael Blue for the editorial board
free all for
864-0500 = 864-0500
Free for all callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish.
The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed.
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About the Free for All ... If that's all that people are calling in and saying, that's pretty poor.
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Feminists ... are fighting a battle on the path of the richest and most powerful organizations of the world. The pharmaceutical companies won't allow any wholesale revision of abortion rights in case the mode of operation of their so-called contraceptives should be called into question.
If you insist on being one of those obnoxious people who smokes on campus, at least have the decency to put your cigarette butts in the trash can and not on the steps of Wescoe.
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A lot of people complain about the air conditioners and how hot it is ... but you have to realize that there are other people in the world who don't have air conditioners and have never had it. So just be grateful for what you have.
KU's Housing Department needs to really get their life together. First of all, it's about 100,000 degrees in Jayhawker Tower B, and we pay all of the money to stay in these raggedy Towers. But yet we are burning up like slaves ... It is really a shame.
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Kleenex are so cool. You pull one out, and there's another one waiting right behind it.
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I'm all about pro-life, but isn't it a little drastic to say it in the newspaper every day?
The University of Kansas is all about inconvenience to the student, from parking on down to enrollment policies. When is it ever going to be about the student?
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The KU football team not only embarassed themselves this weekend, but they embarrassed us fans who drove eight hours to go see them play horribly down in Dallas.
I runn it's great that the football players were punished for what they did to the female soccer player, but I'd like to know when Terry Allen is going to be punished for endangering the well-being of female students.
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If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
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