WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOL.117 ISSUE 53
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
PAGE 1A
ELECTION 2006
Unitemized contributions spark debate
BY ERIN CASTANEDA
The attorney general campaign finance reports are in, and Democratic challenger Paul Morrison's campaign is questioning Republican incumbent Phill Kline's numbers.
Morrison's campaign spokesman Mark Simpson, said they wanted an explanation for $41,552 in unitem-
ized contributions.
Carol Williams with the Governmental Ethics Commission said state law permitted any candidate party or political committee to lump together any contributions that were less than $50. Candidates are required to provide the names and addresses of contributors who donate more than $50.
"This is indicating to us he has
that many contributors, he knows the name and address of them, but he doesn't have to report them," she said. "Law does not require him to."
There is no limit on the number of $50 contributions a candidate can have, she said. Kline would need about 830 contributors giving $50 or less to his campaign to equal the $41,552 amount in unitemized
contributions.
Messages left with Kline's campaign office were not returned throughout the day.
According to campaign finance reports released Monday, Morrison has raised more than $2 million and has $11,685 left on hand. Kline raised about $1 million and has $94,209 left at the close of the period.
Morrison and Kline have had a fierce campaign so far. In September, a leaked memo written by Kline caused a stir because he stated he was accepting contributions from churches, which were paid to his wife's company SWT Communications Inc. Later, Kline's top adviser, former Attorney General Bob Stephan, resigned because he didn't agree with Kline's actions.
Morrison came under heat when Kline brought up a 15-year-old allegation by a woman who claimed Morrison sexually harassed her. Morrison has debated throughout his campaign that Kline violated people's privacy by using abortion records for investigations. Both candidates have used several ads
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ARTS
Dancers try new style
Indian performers visit, teach classes
Sorokhalam Ibomcha Singh, a dancer from Raman Thiyanam Chorus Reporter Theatre, leads students in Patrick Suzeau's ideoklasis class class on Robinson Gym. Thiyanam spoke with several student groups and classes this week. Thiyanam's company will perform "Nine Hills One Valley" at 7:30 p.m. ononday and the Tried at Lied Censor,站start at 14. It is the only performance in the Midwest.
BY DARLA SLIPKE
Dance students watched carefully as professional Indian dancers moved rhythmically to the beat of a wooden drum in their dance studio in Robinson Center.
The bare-foot dancers rose up on their toes and then dipped and swayed from side to side in slow, controlled movements. Students began to join in, first mimicking the movements of the other dancers, and then creating their own variations as they adjusted to the new dance form.
Vanessa Pearson/KANSAN
"We are not dancers, we are actors," he said. "An actor has to work with all the composing art forms."
Actors in Thiyam's company went through rigorous training to master traditional art forms, movement, narration, martial arts and costume design. Many of them also perform music.
The chorus will be performing "Nine Hills One Valley" at 7:30 on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at the Lied Center as part of its U.S. tour.
Ratan Thiyam, an internationally acclaimed performance artist, and the Chorus Repertory Theatre from Imphal, India, visited several theater and dance classes this week.
Thiyam said dancing involved theater, which consisted of all types
They demonstrated high-energy tribal dances, which Thiyam said "lift up the entire atmosphere" in northeastern India, and classical dances as students watched, mesmerized.
Thiyam said the classical dances were performed for spiritual purposes, not to entertain. These dances invited the audience to participate in the ceremony rather than isolating it with space.
In between the dances, the actors and students formed a large human chain, holding hands and weaving around each other in the small studio. They moved to the beat of a wooden hand drum, stomping on
Thiyam said the music created a charge and a connection between
the ground, twisting their bodies and kicking their legs into the circle. When the beat intensified, the dancers increased the force behind their steps, which resounded with a loud slap against the floor.
the dancers.
Kathy Patterson, Topeka junior, said she enjoyed taking part in the dance steps. It allowed her to have a better feel for the dancers' lives, she said.
'It's interesting to see other cultures and how dance plays into their
lives," she said.
Shama Doering, Mulvane freshman, also enforced the dance style.
"I like how different it was and that it was out of my comfort zone," she said. "It was like they were dancing a story instead of to a beat."
Kansan staff writer Darla Slipke can be contacted at dslipke@kansan.com.
Edited by Mindy Ricketts
TRENDS
Fashion industry offers negative-sized clothing
BY ANNA FALTERMEIER
Women's clothing sizes are getting smaller, but women aren't necessarily doing the same.
Several clothing retailers are taking up "vanity sizing," or lowering sizes numerically, but keeping measurements exactly the same.
Next fall, fashion designer Nicole Miller plans to introduce a size smaller than zero. Many people are calling it a "subzero" and referring to it as a negative size. Banana Republic currently offers size 00, which is smaller than a zero.
promoted during America's obesity epidemic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 1991, no state had obesity levels above 20 percent of the population. Today only four states have obesity levels less than 20 percent of the population.
Negative clothing sizes are being
According to the CDC, 20 to 24 percent of the population in Kansas is obese.
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Opinion. ... 5A
Sports. ... 12A
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© 2006The University Daily Kansan
Each candidate vying for Thornburgh's job has two common goals: make sure each vote counts and don't use electronic voting machines to count them.
The Secretary of state race in Kansas may not be the most glamorous race this year, but that hasn't stopped candidates from challenging Republican incumbent Ron Thornburgh.
BY DAVID LINHARDT
Candidates focus on polling
Libertarian Party candidate Rob Hodgkinson said younger voters, who were willing to look at third parties, were key to his campaign.
Voter-verified paper ballots are his top issue. He said he sat through an election day in Johnson County once, and despite the generally solid procedures he witnessed, Hodgkinson thought Kansas could do better.
However, Thornburgh quickly pointed out that federal law required electronic voting machines in every polling place.
"Let's not pretend the only voting device available is that touch-screen system," Thornburgh said. "In many
counties there are optical scanners and even hand-counted paper ballots"
Hodgkinson and Democratic candidate David Haley both said voter awareness was one of the main problems with Thornburgh's 12-year tenure in office.
"The majority of Kansens even after 12 years can't name Ron Thornburgh," Haley said. "He has alienated and disenfranchised many voters from the polls."
Despite Thornburgh's work on a 2002 federal law that mandated further poll worker training and new voting machines, Haley said that voter registrations must be "purged of duplication."
Haley, who has been a state senator since 2000, cited illegal immigrants or students who temporarily resided in Kansas and ended up being able to vote in Kansas and their home states as examples of incorrect registrations.
Corrupted voter registration might be one reason turnout in Kansas is not as high as it should be, Haley said. One way to encourage voting
is to possibly give people a ticket for not voting — not make them pay a fine, but just send a reminder to citizens, Haley said.
Thornburgh said his office had been aggressive in pushing voter turnout, including the expansion of advance ballots. He also has pushed for legislation to allow "satellite voting" where voting machines would be placed in public areas like malls or the Kansas Union.
Governor Kathleen Sebelius has vetoed the legislation once, but Thornburgh wants to bring it back again.
Reform party candidate Joseph Martin disagreed.
Those programs pull "data from Ohio or Florida, states that don't have the security requirements that Kansas has," Thornburgh said. "Security in Kansas is not just on the polling machines but throughout the system from election day through vote tabulation."
Thornburgh said he was frustrated.
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by satirical news shows like Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" that portray elections as rife with fraud.
secretary of state candidates
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