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Show Fix the lobby ! Despite a massive public relations buildup, including full-page ads in the Chronicle, next year's ASUU lobbying effort is severely flawed. Already its integrity has been so compromised as to throw serious doubt on its ability to function as an effective advocate for student needs in the state legislature. Something needs to be done immediately. The lobbying effort this year is burdened by sheer size. ASUU wants to send one lobbyist to the Hill for every legislator 104 in all. This is mostly a stunt, since the real decisions about the University budget are decided not on the floor of the legislature, but in the appropriations committee and its higher education subcommittee. But we will have over 100 representatives up there, badgering everybody, and perhaps scaring some lawmakers by the magnitude of the project. "If the University really is in such bad shape," we can hear them say, "how can they afford to send all these kids up here every day for two months?" Nobody likes to be stampeded, especially ambitious politicians. And by March the ASUU lobby will start to look like a gigantic snow job, the biggest organized lobbying effort, perhaps, in the history of the state. The 100-piece-marching-band lobby may work; but it may also create antagonism. This aspect should be carefully reevaluated with these considerations firmly in mind. The most serious charge against the Legislative Relations Committee, though, is that of a potential conflict of interest. Two key figures in the student drive, Rick Evans and Clark Campbell, are paid by the University administration. They will be compensated, reportedly, $160 each month as interns for Vice President Ray Hixson, who is heading up the University's own lobbying. Last year the administration and ASUU differed on several key points during the legislature's budget session. For instance, while ASUU was battling against a tuition increase, President Emery was declaring he couldn't live without one. A student lobby must be independent in order to be credible. The lobbyists must be their own men; how else can we the students know our interests are being defended? The ASUU Legislative Relations Committee needs a thorough housecleaning before January. It should reevaluate its hard-sell tactics. It must make itself a truly bi-partisan and independent voice for student (though not necessarily University) needs in the legislature. |