OCR Text |
Show Page 54 THE HERALD. Provo. Utah. Sunday. April 6. 1980 What the Herald thinks, what the columnists sav and what our readers think Opinions In! The Herald Comments eeroif Camprngm Help Elsewhere "Chutzpah" is a yiddish word which denotes an extreme of unmitigated gall. The Daily Herald just witnessed an outstanding example of either that or extreme naivete from one political candidate, and it seems appropriate to deal with it in the interest of saving equally naive or brassy candidates from wasting their time. The Herald publisher, managing editor, city editor and one reporter recently received identical letters from a candidate for major office who had visited the Herald offices shortly after declaring his candidacy. The Herald will keep the candidate nameless in case the letters were the product of an over-zealo- us or brainless campaign worker rather than the candidate himself. The letter begins in- nocuously enough by thank- ing the Herald staff members to whom it was addressed for their courtesy during the visit. Then it steps over the "I need your help in my campaign. Our first goal will be delegates to the State Convention," it says. The letter suggests the Herald staffer to whom it is addressed get in touch with the candidate's Utah County campaign manager to run as a delegate from his voting district "or maybe you would prefer telephoning, helping in the employees vote or donate money to political causes is their business, but they are discouraged strongly from serving as convention delegates or assuming visible, active roles in political campaigns. The reason for this ground rule is simple. It's a reporter's job to report on political even-handed- office, passing out issues. Journalists are We brochures or making a donation to the campaign. There are many things to do to reach our most important goal of winning in November." If this blatant appeal to Herald staff members to compromise their professional ethics was the result of some mindless letter-writin- g machine, the candidate would do well to reprogram it before it burns too many bridges for him. If it really is his work or he knowingly allowed it to be sent out in his name, he has a problem in understanding the press's role in the political process. How Daily Herald line. human. political beliefs like anyone else, but in the same way a lawyer will fight for a client with whom he shares political disagreements or a doctor operates on Democrats and Republicans without regard to their politics, we try to do our job with professional detachment. If readers know reporter or a news articles recently printed in your paper indicate to me that the Utah County Commission is dedicated to the cause of Kenneth White in his construction of White Hills Subdivision in Cedar Valley. This is a most interesting situation in view of the following points: 1 The County Planning Board initially recommended that the Commission deny Mr. White approval. 2. The County Attorney has pointed out two areas where Mr. White has failed to follow legal and normal procedure: i.e.. the Manning Road issue and failure to post sufficient bond 3. The citizens of Cedar Valley are opposed to Mr. White's development. They recognize a ex- ecutive has stuffed envelopes or gone for a candidate, their reporting or commentary door-to-do- or on that race is automatically suspect. Any editorial endorsement in the same situation would covering political coverage, editorial news en- dorsements and political letters to the editor. Doubtless it will be necessary to repeat them in detail several times during the campaign, but briefly stated: The Daily Herald will make editorial endorsements of individual candidates only in the most extreme cases and only when the differences between candidates bear not on political philosophies but rather on their technical, moral or physical fitness to serve. The Daily Herald will not publish any letters to the editor endorsing in- - - dividual political candidates. "Feedback" on the Opinions Page is a forum for ideas and issues not an extra bulletin board on which letter-writin- g claques can hype their favorite candidates. The Daily Herald will not accept any news releases or public state ments during the last days of the campaign which bring up theretofore issues or allega- ed tions against opponents and which give the opponent no time to respond. The Daily Herald will also advocate the defeat of any candidate who employs a "last-minut- e dump" tactic or allows it to be used in his behalf. - The Herald will publish news releases and other handout material from candidates only when they illuminate issues for the readers. Releases which attack the record or philosophies of an opponent also must offer a specific alternative plan for action. The Herald will conduct one interview with each candidate which must be set up by advance ap- pointment. Candidates must be prepared to answer a wide variety of specific questions relating to their fitness, ability and proposals for conduct of the office. The Herald will not guarantee publication of interviews for which appointments are set up less than 15 days before either the primary or general elections. Nor will it guarantee publication of an interview in which the candidate refuses to answer important questions. The Herald will not waste staff time covering any events (such as shoppg ing center hand-shakin- frivolously-calle- d news conferences, which are intended solely to get attention for the candidate baby-kissing- s) without providing any useful information to the voters. Finally and most certainly, the Herald and its staff will not react favorably to the appeal couched in the feigned familiarity contained in the recent form letter to our offices. Just as attorneys for one litigant should know better than to ask the presiding judge to help them win their case, political candidates should know better than to seek their campaign workers on a newspaper staff. We Let People Supply Go Wild Who's Serving Whom? Two do have The Herald already stated its ground rules Paul Harvey Feedback: Editor. Herald: ly be equally so. growth is inevitable, but believe growth should begin with the two existing communities. Fairfield and Cedar Fort, and not with a new and dissimilar one. e A 4 housing area which Mr. White desires to build logically should be located near employment, not 45 miles from the nearest major industries. 5. The national economy makes completion and dispersal of such a subdivision at this time questionable. Perhaps the commission should explain to the county why the development would be of benefit at this time Thank you. Meredith Genho Mrs Paul C Genho . Cedar Vallev Carefully, the Federal Reserve calculates our nation's monetary policy in an effort to control the inflation fever. Hourly, economists recalculate the prime lending rate and other controllable factors in an effort to maintain the precarious balance between economic uppers and downers. Yet as meticulously as we try to manage our nation's money supply we are allowing our nation's "people supply" to run wild. Whereas other nations have learned to control their populations with punitive taxes for large families, we use tax dollars to encourage large families for those who can least afford them. While other nations are limiting immigration, we are opening our doors wider. Indeed, such is the avalanche of il legal immigrants now flooding our cities that it appears our nation has no doors at all. Labor Secretary Marshall calculates that our country's unemployment rate would be reduced to less than four percent except for illegal immigrants already in our country. What alerted the secretary was the recommendation by a Harvard professor that we should open our doors to all who want to come here; that immigrants take jobs would Americans not accept anyway; that the influx is "good for us." On the contrary. Secretary Marshall says, they are siphoning off jobs which homegrown American workers need. And worse, he says, the presence of an number of illegal im g migrants in the United States "is sowing the seeds of a bitter civil rights struggle." The limitless influx can become a "Trojan Horse." Secretary Marshall remembers that history provides endless examples of "a foreign population becoming an easy focal point for all kinds of social and economic discontent." We've got to find a solution, says Marshall, "before the problem reaches crisis proportions." Marshall says, "We have come too far in this century to turn back the clock. Long ago we decided to improve the working conditions and pay for all workers. We enacted standards for employees and we must enforce them." Immediately, while the problem is studied. Marshall says we should Social issue noncounterfeitable Security credentials to all workers and to all newly changing jobs hired employees and penalize any employer who hires undocumented workers. Most immigrants come to the United States from Mexico, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Algeria and Pakistan. Significantly, those are the countries which have most mismanaged their own economic planning and population policy. Population pressure is everywhere on the sunset side of the world. Refugees from Afghanistan are fleeing across the border into Pakistan at the rate of a thousand a day in a line 500,000 long! The United States, for all its melting pot tradition, cannot afford to recover all the world's fumbles without creating chaos in our own country. Robert Walters Has Democracy Run Amok? WASHINGTON (NEA) - When politicians and pundits recently were deprived of their favorite topic of conversation by the temporary collapse of both major parties' contests for the presidential nomination, they found a new subject for ceaseless discussion. It usually appeared under the rubric of, "Isn't there a better way to select the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees0" Those who thrived upon trading speculation and scenarios on the fa'es of the various Democratic and republican contenders were understandably disturbed by the arrival of the denouement after fewer than of the primaries have been one-thir- d held Westerners were upset because major candibeen effechave to dates appeared tively eliminated from the race before any state in their region had an opportunity to conduct a primary more than a half-citize- n election. Traditionalists and party activists complained that the current emphathe method used sis on primaries this year to select convention delegives gates in 35 of the 50 states - - too much influence to unsophisticated voters and not enough to veteran political leaders. countless variations on with those who unsuc- There are that theme, cessfully opposed the reforms that up the nominating process during the past decade continuing to gripe about democracy running amok under the new system. But those who yearn for a return to the good old days when presidential nominees presumably were selected by political bosses holding secret meetings in smoke-fillerooms might consider this question: If those "old pols" and power brokers could be convened this year to unilaterally select the two nominees, who would they choose? Th'e recently modified, refreshingly open selection process appears to be producing strikingly similar opened d results. That's not necessarily salu tary, but it certainly suggests that the reforms haven't destroyed many sacred political traditions. The absence of early primaries in but the West is disconcerting, authority for scheduling those elections is vested exclusively with the states. Although a Democratic Party rule confines most primaries to a period, no other party regulation or federal law would prevent California and Oregon, for example, from advancing their primary dates by two months or more. It should be noted, however, that About Letters "Feedback is intended to provide Daily Herald readers with an open forum in which they can discuss issues of hroad community interest and importance In lh.it spirit The Daily Herald welcomes letters to Feedback" on any suhjeel of hroad rommunily interest Letters should he typewritten double about spaced and not exceed 40l words a page and a half of typewritten double-spacecopy The lenKth limit will be rn forced strictly Without exception every letter must he signed in ink with the writer s full name home address and phone numher Phone numbers won t he published Names can he withheld for Rood reason hut only after personal consultation with the editor The Herald will not accept or publish letters photocopied, which are duplicated, or which otherwise (jive the appearance of being a mass mailing, letters which argue a specific religious dortnne; which attempt a personal debate with a previous contributor rather than addressing issues; which repeat positions previously expressed by other contributors or letters which are addressed to individuals or institutions other than the Herald The editor reserves the right to edit anv letter to remove potentially libelous material material in poor taste and to make letters conform to the length limit As nearly as possible, all letters which meet the above requirements will he published in the order they are received handwritten letters may be although delaved for typing, and letters which exceed the length limit or otherwise violate the stated policy may be returned to the writers for correction or revision many of the same voices now being raised in favor of improved geographical balance throughout the primary season were calling only a few years ago for a far different a series of regional change - primaries. That system has many advantages, especially in bringing rationality to candidate travel and advertising television markets, in multi-stat- e but it also would allow one region to enjoy the disproportionate influence that comes from voting first while others might suffer the fate of balloting long after the contest had been effectively resolved. Similarly, many of those who were complaining about the surprisingly sudden disappearance of competition in both parties' presidential contests were bemoaning the intolerable length of the primary season not long ago. In any event, those who feared that the selection process had been prematurely truncated have reason to remain hopeful. The recent history of presidential in the 1960s and 1970s -ipolitics ndicates that the only element that has become predictable in the process is unpredictability. It's still possible, as results in New York and - Connecticut unforeseen demonstrated, for developments to dramatically revive the competition for one or both nominations this year. |