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Thursdav October 27,1988 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Jim Slattery
Attnough both Jim Slattery and Phil Meinhardt care about the state they want to serve, there is a key difference between the two: a record of service to the state.
In his three two-year terms, Slattery has built an impressive record of service to the Second Congressional District, especially to the rural areas in northeast Kansas.
Slattery, who serves on the prestigious Budget Committee, last year helped to form the Rural Health Care Coalition to promote rural health care and to lead the fight against the closing of rural hospitals nationwide.
He has also stressed innovative options for the state, such as fiber optic telecommunications technology, so that Kansas can compete more effectively as a business state.
His opponent, Phil Meinhardt, has just completed a 30-year career in the Air Force. However, Meinhardt built his career in almost every corner of the globe except Kansas. He returned to the state only after the Kansas Republican Party asked him to run against Slattery.
Judging from recent campaign actions, Meinhardt appears to be walking close to the fringe. Among other antics, Meinhardt has charged that Slattery was soft on communism for helping to reunite a Cuban defector and the family he left behind. He pulled a cheap campaign stunt in Topeka when he confronted Slattery and demanded that he sign a placard against raising taxes.
His methods indicate that he is out of touch with the way most Kansans feel.
most Kansasans. Slattery has proven to be an independent thinker. Although he isn't always responsive to his party, he is responsive to his constituents.
conscience.
Slattery has proven his responsibility, his commitment and his perception of the future for northeast Kansans. He deserves two more years in office.
The editorial board
STATE SENATE
Wint Winter, Jr.
State Senator Wint Winter's commitment to the University of Kansas probably started soon after his graduation from the University. His focus on, and support for, educational issues in his first term as senator has earned him a reputation as a good friend of the University.
Winter, a Republican, is running for a second term. He is challenged by Mike DuPree, a Democrat. DuPree has 10 years of business experience and political involvement, mainly in environmental issues. Dupree seems to be a dynamic and goal-oriented person, and he has compiled a forward-thinking agenda, including support for wind generators, recycling and biodegradable packaging. However, these items do not top the state's list of priorities at this time.
Winter's platform, on the other hand, gives more attention to KU's most pressing needs. He is determined to finance the next two years of the Margin of Excellence and push for equal education opportunities for all Kansas children.
The University is poised for a major expansion plan in the next 10 years. Success in that expansion program is, to a large extent, dependent on the Margin of Excellence. KU needs Winter's experience and leadership in the Legislature.
Winter also believes that general fund sales tax revenue should be reserved for education, property tax relief, reclassification of state employees and programs for elderly and disabled people, and not for highway and prison imprisonment.
In the imminent fight over the use of general fund and sales tax revenue, Winter will present a strong case to secure funds for the Margin of Excellence.
The editorial board
That plan is only one of the educational programs that he promises to protect. Education is an important state priority, and Winter should be given the opportunity to finish what he started.
Editor's note: Throughout this week the Kansan editorial board will be announcing its endorsements for the Nov. 8 general election. The endorsements represent the viewpoint of the editorial board.
The editorial board consists of Michael Merschel, Mark Tilford, Todd Cohen, Michael Horak, Julie Adam, Julie McMahon, Christine Martin, Tony Balandran and Muktha Jost.
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A copying miracle at the library? Well, maybe it was just a malfunction, but who's complaining?
Miracles still happen.
Barnacles and whalers
Remember how Jesus fed the multitudes with only a few loaves and fish? Something came from nothing.
A similar thing happened last week at Watson Library, but on a smaller scale.
I get 10.9% for photocopies for the first time.
It started as a lousy day. My word processor had broken down, and I had to type the two papers due that morning. I felt so primitive.
Ever since a first grade teacher misplaced my coloring assignment. I've been leery of surrendering an only copy to authorities. So, being unable to print extra copies of my papers on the computer, en route to class I dropped by copy services at Watson
The copier's tiny green indicator said "BRAUD" It lied.
There the saga began
Inserting my Vendamant card, I waited for the machine to recognize the 46 cents I knew it held.
but instead, the indicator said, "BAD CARD"
but says optimist. I tried another machine
I resigned to losing 46 cents and tried to buy a new card.
My wallet held $61 (not a result of my columnist's paycheck); three twenties and a one.
But I had the wrong money.
Derek Schmidt
Staff columnist
get changed.
Frustrated, irritated and doubting all high-tech gadgets, I left, swearing never to patronize those conjoins again.
I could have bought a new card for $1, but it would have held no value, making it about as useful as Confederate currency. I had no time to get change.
But that evening, I returned to the library, burdened with more papers to copy.
burried with milk papers. This time, I was armed with small change.
Charlie Brown always figured that if he tried to kick the football just one more time, maybe Lucy wouldn't pull it away. I admire Charlie Brown, so I shoved the Vendard card in one more time.
BAD CARD
I didn't see the lightning bolt that struck next,
but I know it was there. Lightning bolts always
accompany miracles.
The copier's indicator went blank. Then it sputtered some garbled figures. When it calmed down, my card had value again: $80.46.
That's enough for 1.341 copies. So if anybody needs to dumplicate any . . .
I faced a dilemma. If I told my story, secret copying services police might rap on my door late one night and demand that I surrender my card, or else
But as a journalist, I knew the public had the right to know.
right to know.
After sleepsless nights, I decided that if this really had been a miracle, I had to tell the world. So was it really a miracle?
Maybe there is an earthly explanation for the whole thing. What if some high-tech development had enabled the copier to be part of a covert plot to give more money to good students?
Maybe the copier somehow scanned the papers it copied, and if one clearly had been a work of brilliance, awarded a sort of copying-services grant in an amount proportional to the quality of the copy.
That bashed my ego. I only got 80 bucks.
Nevertheless, reason prevailed, and I am able to explain the incident in worldly terms. It was just an attempt to give more merit-based scholarships at the KU.
But wait. That wouldn't matter.
That would be a mime's too.
Derek Schmidt is an independence junior major in journalism
Democrats aren't fighting dirty enough
Sen. Lloyd Benttsen says he's fed up with nasty Republican mudling and negative campaign-
In an angry outburst, Bentsen said, “What has
you done to me?” He noticed, an utterly
violence onslaught and churned his mind.
"They don't seem to mind if what they say is untrue. They don't seem to worry if it mislead me."
"They don't seem to care that what they do is
packaging," she says. "If it sells, backage it.
If it looks good, nominate."
"We've been a little too flabbergasted sometimes to make a proper response. But I don't think we ever imagined that George Bush and the Republicans would be so willing to debase that precious currency of our Democracy."
Bentsen is correct. The Republicans have, at times, been showing sharp fangs.
For example, I have a slick pamphlet on my desk that is being mass-mailed to voters in Illinois by the Illinois Republican State Central Committee.
The pamphlet says that if mass-murderer John Gacy, a Chicagoan, were in Boston, Dukakis probably would let him roam the streets on weekends.
In big black type, it says, "ALL THE MURDERERS AND RAPISTS AND DRUG PUSHERS IN MASSACHUSETTS VOTE FOR MICHAEL DUKAKIS.
It referred to **15** the now-famous case of Wilie Horton, a convicted killer who committed rape on his brother. It was charged.
a week earlier in Georgia.
Thanks to the Republicans, this has become one of the most notorious rapes in history. Before this campaign is over, many Americans will believe
Mike Royko
Syndicated columnist
that Dukakis himself did the dirty deed
And, I'm sure, this is what Bentsen is talking about. We're well into the nuclear age, global chaos makes us dizzy, domestic problems are piling up.
ping up. But the Republicans are hammering Dukakis because a creep named Willie Horton committed a rape while on a weekend furlough.
rape white on a weekend burrow.
What probably bothers Benten most, though, is that it's working. It's effective. Illinois Republicans have a sense of what grabs votes.
out white Horton, the rapist, is probably good
one for his part of the lead that Bush has over
Dukakis in the polls.
The silly flaps about the Pledge of Allegiance and the ACLU, which also are mentioned, are good for another point or two.
It might make Bentsen feel good to be indignant. But right or wrong, the Républicans know which emotional buttons to push. And they've been pushing them.
They know that just the mention of a Willie Horton (Ah, such a convenient black-sounding name) is enough to set white urban dwellers to trembling.
Sure, the pamphlet is misleading. How do Illinois Republicans know how "murdersers and rapists and drug pushers and child molesters in Massachusetts"? vote? Do they hang around dark alleys
with them?
But the pitch works. Every presidential election begins with 40 percent on this side, 40 percent on that side, and the fight is for the 20 percent in the middle.
The Republicans know Bush will get a bigger share of that 20 percent by saying, "Boo! Dukakis will let big, black Willie Horton crawl through your window," then Dukakis will get by droning on about how his ma and pa came here from the Old Country in a leaky boat.
Randy's problem isn't that the Republicans are kicking them in the shins. It's that the Democrats don't know how to respond with a knee in the groin.
While Republicans have been gouging their eyes, Democrats have been thumbing through the Marathon.
When the Republicans mentioned Willie Horton, the Democrats should have jogged Bush's memory.Hey, Georgie Boy, didn't you help found and sponsor a Texas halfway house? And didn't one of your halfway lads celebrate his freedom by raping and murdering a minister's wife?
Is that fair to Bush and Reagan? Of course not. Almost every state has a furfong program and halfway houses. Most work well, but all have failures. But if you are going to knee groins, you don't think fair. Bush doesn't. Illinois Republics don't. Why should Dukakis and Benson?
Despite Bentens' bleatings, if the Republicans win, they deserve it.
They found the Dark Side of America. And although they may be prepuce, Bush and Quyale
Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist who writes for the Chicago Tribune.
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed