4A the university daily kansan --- opinion tuesday, april 6, 2004 BUDGET OVERVIEW: A 'KANSAN' SERIES Budget changes effective, but just a one-time solution One of the main sticking points of the budget proposed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is the reallocation of certain funds at the University of Kansas. OURVIEW this tactic has been used at a federal level before but ie Budget reallocations could use restricted fees for salary increases at the University. The Legislature should pass this only if it passes a resolution assuring voters that this is a one-time solution. level before but is fairly innovative for Kansas. The premise behind the changes is that there are budget excesses in certain areas of the University. The budget will put some of the excess into a one-time account to help fund Senate Bill 345, which calls for a 3 percent salary increase. The bill was passed in 1999 but would be implemented now with the funds from this year's budget. Provost David Shulenburger said he thought the bill was strong. "We're getting a trade-off of taking funds one time, in return for permanently adding to the budget of the University the amount of the salary increase," Shulenburger said. If the costs are taken for more than c BUDGET REALLOCATIONS State Water Plan, KGS, $856 Law Enforcement Training Center Zach Newton for The University Daily Kansan Regents Development Fund $13,235 Fire Service Training $14,093 KLETC $25,748 $25,748 General restricted fee Continuing education $75,501 $5,747 Watkins Memorial Health Center $75,130 Department of Student Housing $344,473 Parking Fee Fund $18,618 $18,618 ■ Health Facility Maintenance $1,976 ■ Interest, permanent University fund $296 ■ Hilltop Child Development Center, $13,832 ■ Student Fitness Recreation Center $9,977 $1,007,518 one year, Shulenburger said there would be problems. He received a commitment from Sebelius that the costs would only be for one year, but the Legislature should join the resolve. In order to show a good faith effort of compromise, the Legislature should pass a resolution that binds the state to fund salary increases in future years, without the use of restricted fees. SB 345 is important because it offers an increase to all state employees' salaries, which would include employees at the University. This increase would allow the University to stay competitive with peer research institutions. But how does the state decide which costs are excessive and which costs can afford to be cut for reallocation? For this purpose, the governor called in the B.E.S.T. teams.The B.E.S.T. teams are part of an agency that specializes in looking at business efficiency. They look at different areas of expenditure and attempt to find areas where money can be cut. Sebelius asked these teams to find 10 percent to cut out. That 10 percent will help to go toward the salary increase. Shulenburger said the teams appeared to be one of the better possible solutions to the SB 345 problems. "If she says there's going to be savings in these categories because of the B.E.S.T. teams, then we don't have better logic to apply," Shulenburred said. But not everyone is so sure that the B.E.S.T. teams are the best solution. Student Senate legislative director Blake Shuart said some of the costs were a mystery. "Pertaining to B.E.S.T. team analysis of the specific fees, they really seem arbitrary to me," Shuart said. "The information on exactly how they arrived at these cuts has not been easy to come by." One of the main arguments against the teams is that the proposed budget will take control of restricted fees away from students. Money that was originally slated for Hilltop Childcare Center, for example, will now be used for SB345. Some don't agree with the philosophy, but it appears to be the best possible solution. The B.E.S.T. teams aren't taking money from sources that need those particular funds. The purpose is to find the areas that can afford cuts. If SB 345 is to be funded, the cost will be a one-time fee to organizations that can afford the hit. The bill should pass, as long as it is a one-time fix because this should not be more than a one-time cost and because the areas being affected are funds that can handle the loss. The money will be taken from areas of excess, not from areas with in need. So while the numbers may seem murky, they are perfectly understandable to a professional. The B.E.S.T. team for the job can handle the allocations. ON POLITICS U.S. intelligence needs help, not Clarke COMMENTARY Richard Clarke, President Bush's former counterterrorism chief, has come under fire from the Republican CENNIAL PARTY. Party in recent Anna Gregory opinion@hansan.com weeks after Clarke's testimony in front of Congress and the 9/11 Commission revealed his true feelings about the current administration's commitment to the War on Terror. Clarke pointed out two failings of the Bush administration. First, though the president and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice were warned about the threat of Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden when they first took office, they did not take the warning seriously until the Sept. 11 attacks. The second accusation made by Clarke is that Bush's war in Iraq is taking needed resources and energy away from the War on Terror. Republican response to Clarke's testimony and his new book, Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror, which gives more detail to Clarke's claims, has been predictable. Republican leaders, instead of defending their actions against Clarke's claims, have attacked Clarke's credibility. Last week, Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) accused Clarke of lying under oath. In July 2002, Clarke testified in front of a joint congressional inquiry on the Sept. 11 attacks. Frist claims that in that hearing Clarke was not at all critical of the aumnistration's pursuit of Al-Qaeda. Frist points to Clarke's present testimony as a complete contradiction of what Clarke said two years ago. Conservative columnist Robert Novak accused Clarke of joining ranks with the Kerry campaign in an article in last week's Chicago Sun-Times. Though Clarke has publicly declared that he would not accept any position offered to him by the Kerry campaign or a Kerry administration, Novak claims that Clarke is in cohorts with Rand Beers, the successor of Clarke who left the Bush administration for a position in the Kerry campaign. Our government officials need to be asking themselves what they can do to better American intelligence and better protect the citizens of this country instead of how they can cut down Richard Clarke. Maybe Clarke did change his tune. Maybe Clarke is even a Democrat, or at least a Democratic supporter. But both of these accusations miss the point. The point is that Clarke, a reputable enough person to serve under multiple administrations — both Democrat and Republican — as the expert on terrorism, says that we did not do the best job we could have in preventing Sept. 11 then and preventing future terrorist attacks now. Gregory is a Topeka junior in political science and history. THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT The TRUTH.* (*WHICH in NO WAY SETS A PreceDeNT For ANY OTHER INFORMATION YOU'LL GET FROM THIS ADMINiSi- TRATion.) Steve Sack for KRT For more comments, go to www.kansan.com I was just running down Kentucky street naked and I realize that the Lawrence police department will send six cop cars after you if you're naked. Awesome. Oh my God. Where the hell is Beyond the Wall? What the hell happened to Beyond the Wall? 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