6A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY BARRY KANSAN
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2006
Dancing the night away
Yanting Wang, Tai Yuan City, China, junior, dances at the Discoteca Series Saturday at the Kansas Union, a Hawk Night event sponsored by Student Union Activities. Taylor Miller, Hawk Night coordinator, said the goal of Hawk Night events was to provide late-night alternatives to drinking.
Vanessa Pearson/KANSAN
Border control on agenda
GOVERNMENT
Candidates make immigration an issue in 2006 state election
BY JOHN HANNA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA — Jim Barnett, Nancy Boyda and David Haley come from different hometowns and different political parties, but they've all made illegal immigrants an issue as they attempt to dislodge well-established incumbents from office.
Barnett, an Emporia Republican, is challenging Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, suggesting she not only won't get tough with illegal immigrants but will coddle them.
Boyda, the Topeka Democrat taking on Republican Rep. Jim Ryun in the 2nd Congressional District, has argued that his support this year for tough border control legislation doesn't make up for a decade of neglect on immigration issues.
Haley, a Kansas City Democrat, hopes to unseat Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh and has picked up arguments Thornburgh faced in the Republican primary — that he's been so lax about voter fraud that illegal immigrants might be voting.
It's all evidence of Kansans' frustration over illegal immigration, particularly from Mexico. It's fanned by concerns about the economy, fears about national security and, perhaps unfortunately, some racism.
Illegal immigration hasn't been an important issue in past contests for governor or other state offices. Even in congressional
races, it has seemed, secondary, except for the 3rd District race in 2004, where Republican challenger Kris Kobach emphasized it in his unsuccessful attempt to oust Democratic incumbent Dennis Moore.
The debate this past year in Washington undoubtedly has spurred voter interest. In fending off Barnett's criticism, Sebelius has said immigration is an issue because the federal government isn't dealing with it adequately.
"It starts with the border. That's where the problem lies," said Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran. "Washington needs to step up."
Yet related policy issues for states allow Barnett to talk about immigration.
For example, Sebellius signed a law in 2004 to allow some illegal immigrants to qualify for the lower tuition rates reserved for legal Kansas residents at state universities and colleges, rather than paying the rates for out-of-state students.
The issue is perhaps more symbolic than substantive. An immigrant must have lived in Kansas at least three years and must either seek or promise to seek legal residence. Only 221 students took advantage of the law last year.
"Ilegal should mean illegal," Barnett said. "They are breaking the law, and the governor wants to reward them."
But it's nevertheless a powerful symbol of what's wrong for some Kansans.
The question of whether illegal immigrants might be voting in Kansas elections touches both the governor's race and the secretary of state's.
Barnett criticizes Sebelius over her veto in 2003 of a bill that, among other things, would have required all voters to show identification at the polls. She favored a plan to require ID only from new voters, which passed the next year.
The Republican challenger argues that requiring ID from all voters will prevent illegal immigrants from voting, but Sebelius and her supporters that similar laws have been struck down by judges in Georgia and Missouri.
In the secretary of state's race, Haley's issue isn't so much having voters show ID as the care Thornburgh and other election officials have shown in monitoring who's registering to vote. He contends Thornburgh has been inattentive.
Thornburgh has said fears that illegal immigrants are voting are unfounded. He faced the same criticism from Sen. Kay O'Connor, of Olathe, in the GOP primary and captured 73 percent of the vote. He also defeated Haley soundly in 2002.
Perhaps the most intriguing political dynamic is in the 2nd District race, a rematch of the 2004 race.
Ryun supported legislation to toughen border security and subject illegal immigrants to felony charges.
CRASH
Deceased pilots cleared decades after plane wreck as more details come to light.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — First there was the crash that killed the three crew members and 13 passengers aboard TWA Flight 260.
Next, there was a report that
generated suspicion that the Kansas City-based crew intentionally flew the plane into the Sandia Mountains shortly after taking off on Feb. 19, 1955, from the Albuquerque, N.W. airport.
Finally, last week, there was healing for the family of the victims as they hiked to the scene of the crash to remember and thank the man who cleared the pilots of wrongdoing in the crash.
"God bless you," said Jana Childers of Kansas City, who was 11 months
old when she lost her father, co-pilot Jim Creason. "There are no words. Just, thank you."
The subject of her thanks was Larry DeCelles.
A fellow TWA pilot from Kansas City, he was shocked when an initial
report about the crash noted "excellent weather" and went on to include this damming sentence: "From all available evidence, and the lack of any evidence to the contrary, the board can conclude only that the direct course taken by the flight was
intentional."
Civil Aeronautics Board authorities later said they were suggesting only that perhaps the pilots Creason, 29, and Ivan Spong.44
Creation, DV, and Warp Spring. 4 tried to take a shortcut.