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Show n OESERET NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH We WEEKEND OF DECEMBER 29, 1973 A5 stand for the Constitution of the United States with its three departments of government, each fully independent in its own field. Cos rationing takes another step closer Let's clarify Utah law on state fund deposits State and local treasurers hae S318 million in public money on deposit m Utah banks, and every single dollar may be deposited illegally As Governor Rampton explains, the deposits are made under authority of the 1933 State Depository Act. That act was specifically repealed in 1909 when the Legislature passed the Monev Management Act. But the Money Management Act was declared unconstitutional in part by the state Supreme Court in 1971. Officials nave continued to act under the 1933 aci, but that act is no longer found in the Utah Code and nobody knows for certain if it is still the law. Legislative action is clearly needed to clarify the situation, and the governor has appointed a Public Funds Investment Committee to draft a new law. Although the final version of the bill has not yet been drafted, the committee has reached agreement on important reforms in management of public monies. State law now forbids the State Department of Financial Institutions from telling the public where its money is deposited and under what terms. Some treasurers have deposited funds in accounts after a local banker wined him and dined him, or contributed to a political campaign, according to Sen. Hughes Brockbank, Lake. lt Under the proposed new bill, public treasurers would have to make periodic accountings to a state money manage "Prudence dictctes we place into position a standby rationing program." ment advisory council. And the reports w ould be open to the public. State Treasurer David Duncan believes public scrutiny of government banking practices would do more than anything else tc insure that public monies are managed for the public benefit. -- William F. Simon , U.S. energy czar The proposed new law would also allow public treasurers to shop on the free market for the best interest rates, the way private money managers do. Presently, interest rates on public deposits are set by the State Depositary Board, almost invariably at rates below the market. The proposed new bill will state the intention of the Legislature is that public monies should be retained in Utah to help the states economy. But treasurers will have the option of investing some funds outside the state. This will help keep local bank rates competitive. The state treasurer will have closer control over monies appropriated to uniif the proposed new bill versities, becomes law. In light of the recent oss of several million dollars at Utah State University through improper investments, this centralization is long overdue. Brockbank has estimated between $2 million and $8 million additional revenue per year can be generated for state and local government from improved management of surplus monies. The Public Funds Investment Committee has made a good start towards gaining this money for the people of Utah. Now its up to the Legislature to follow through. Full campaign disclosure The more the public knows about the financing of political campaigns, the more confidence it can have in its elected officials. Thats why Salt Lake County is to be commended for moving to fill one of the gaps in the law that the Legislature created earlier this year when it eliminated the requirement that candidates at the county level disclose their campaign contributions and expenditures. The proposed new county ordinance reinstating campaign disclosures is fine as far as it goes, but it should go farther. That is, campaign disclosures should be made not only within 30 days after primary and general elections as the ordinance proposes, but also before these elections. The idea is not only to let voters know who is financially supporting various can- didates and how much, but also to let the electorate know in time for it to put such information to use at the polls. With such an addition, the proposed Salt Lake County ordinance would provide a good model for other counties throughout Utah to follow. The terrorists vs. U.S. Then the challenge will be to fill the gaps by which campaign disclosures are required from winners of municipal elections but not from losers, and from candidates for governor, secretary of state, and attorney general but not from other elected state officials including members of the Legislature. By Norman Cousins L.A. The hijacking of commercial airplanes and the random slaughter of innocent people by terrorists will not cease until their sanctuaries are shut down. The best airport security procedures now in existence cannot stop armed men from Lets not permit the existence of a double standard by which campaign disclosures are required from some candidates but not from others. seizing planes and jeopardizing the lives of all those in the as the attack at the vicinity Rome airport has dramatized. So long as the terrorists know they have a place where they can put down their hijacked planes, with safety to themselves, hijackings will be continued and the lives of travelers and airline crew members will remain in hideous jeopardy. Only when the cnminals Help for fatherless boys Anyone who has grown up in a fatherless home will understand the importance of providing a father or image for a boy. is the objective of Big Brothers of Inc. Governor Rampton has pro- That Utah, claimed as Big the week of Jan. and the organization hopes to find 1,500 matches of fatherless boys in the state within the next brothers to see the boys at least once a week. Ideally, big brothers not only take their d activities, young wards to but also give them a taste of their own homelife to help them adjust better to life. male-oriente- three years. Objective of the program, of course, is to provide fatherless boys with adult or companionship to help fill the young-aduvoid caused by the loss of the father. The active now in Salt Lake, organization Utah and counties, as well as Weber, encourages big some peripheral areas lt Naturally, the screening process must be careful to match those with similar interests and to protect against overattachment to the point where it may harm the boys own family lift. But given those precautions, the program is much needed in Utah. If youre a volunteer Big Brother or know of a boy who can benefit from the program, the ,man to call is Glenn Taylor, the programs executive director in Salt Lake Ext. 40. County, at 322-128- An editorial from the Richmond (Va.) News Leader Its too much government resident of Arlington, Texas, recenton an ly wrote liis Congressman to report of inbe incident that he thought might terest. It seems that one day he and his wife had been making pear relish to use on finblack-eyepeas, and his wife cut her to her took He while paring pears. ger the local hospital, where a doctor closed the cut with five stitches. A d teledays later, a longdistance an from wife phone call came for his ElecNational the outfit he believes to be tronics Surveillance System of the Federal Food and Drug Administration. The Six caller wanted to know how his wife had cut her finger. Was a product involved, and was it to blame for the cut? His wife answered no. She had been using a kitchen knife, and the operator of the knife was solely responsible for the cut. The husband complimented a system that can inform Washington about a cut finger in six days, but he figured that when a cut requiring only five stitches elicits a long distance telephone call from a Washington bureaucrat, he is getting a great deal more government than he wants to pay for. Agreed! Obviously, such a declaration by the United States would gain in strength in direct proportion to the number of nations that would be willing to join with us in making it. Most particularly, the by the Soviet participation Union would be of incalculable value. I am not willing to accept the view that there is no chance that the Soviet Union would associate itself with the United States in a stem warning, not alone to terrorists but to any country that involves itself in their crimes. President Nixon was able to arrive at even more difficult agreements with the Soviet leaders over a joint approach to the Middle East. Both countries recognized that they had divergent interests in the Middle East, but they had an even stronger mutual interest in putting an end to the fight- ing. The furor over Watergate has tended to obscure the historic success of American foreign policy in getting the Soviet Union to act jointly with us in setting a stage for a possible long-terpeace settlement between the Arab states and Israel. Henry Kissinger has been able to bring off a number of remarkable diplomatic triumphs. His role as mediator in the Middle East peace talks could bring him to a high point in a short but spec tacular career figure in policy. as the key American foreign He will have ample opportunity, away from the table, at the peace talks to to Russians the communicate our intention to put an end to the insane crimes of the terrorists by announcing to the world that henceforth such actions will be construed as acts of war against the United States. He can urge the Russians, as a measure of the importance they attach to reducing world tensions, to associate themselves with us and other major nations in this approach. Acceptance by the Russians would no doubt assure the success of the policy. But even if the Russians decide they do not wish to go along, there is no reason why the United States should not make every effort to persuade as many nations as possible to join us in the declaration. We should go before the United Nations and announce that, in accordance with tne charter, we intend to invoke the right of for such a purpose. e 'There be some may outcries, but 1 believe that people everywhere who have been sickened and outraged by the wanton acts of the terrorists would feel that the United States, at long last, had brought some sanity, courage and hope to an otherwise impossible situation. know there are no sanctuaries, no place that will grant them immunity, will there be an end to the sickening crimes. The United States should announce immediately that it will regard the hijacking of any American plane, or the 2 Brothers Week Times Syndicate sanctuaries can be maintained only at a prohibitive risk, we are likely to see the end of this particular madness. an act of war . seizure of U.S. citizens as hostages, or violence against U.S. citizens in connection with these crimes, as an act of war against the United States. Further, we should announce that we will regard the action of any country in granting refuge to these criminals as part of that same act of war against the United States. This does not mean that we would start throwing nuclear bombs around, or that we offenwould launch an all-osive against any nation that is in cahoots with the terrorists. We have a wide range of appropriate actions open to us in coping with an act of war against the United States. We need not say in advance exactly what countermeasures were prepared to take in any given case. The very fact that we would regard hijacking and murder on the airlines as acts of war and that we intend to make emphatic and appropriate response would give the offending nations something to think about. Once they become convinced that the policy of Put up or shut up on impeachment By Godfrey Sperling Jr. The Christian Science Monitor News Service A Monitor survey of RepubliWASHINGTON, D.C. can State Chairmen and National Committeemen in 20 states, covering every region, indicates: There is nearly unanimous sentiment among party leaders in urging that Democrats in the House put up or shut up on impeachment, as Senator Barry Goldwater has expressed it. Almost all of the leaders contacted expressed an expectation that a House vote on impeachment, if it came, would fall short. Except in parts of the South and West and in the more rural regions, there is growing Republican leadership dissatisfaction with the President and with his efforts to restore his credibility. Calling for a quick resolution of the presidential impeachment question, a state chairman from the Northeast expressed a view shared by many others: 1 think we should get this impeachment question resolved right away. To use a familar idiom the president is hanging there twisting in the wind. And so is the counto the country cr the Retry. It is not fair to any of us publican Party. There are crises abroad, in the Mideast and now, again in Vietnam. And then theres this big energy crisis. The President cant keep his mind on thee problems as long as Watergate is around. Said a state chairman from the Deep South: We must get a President who can govern in there. Yes, lets move ahead with the Impeachment process. Let them (the Democrats) put their cards on the table. If the President is impeached and convicted and Ford comes in, thats fine with me. Or if Nixon is not impeached, thats fine, too. A Midwestern leader, particularly respected in Republican circles everywhere, had this to say: 1 think we must get this impeachment thing settled. It seems to be the only way to clear the air for Nixon on Watergate. Hes just been too little and too late on disclos- ing his hand . . . Im convinced that the President was slow at getting at the energy crisis simply because he was fiddling around with things like executive privilege Watergate continually gets in his way. Lets get this thing over with once and for all." leader spoke in stout defense However, a border-stat- e of the President, saying: I think impeachment is a joke. s want. They lost the election and Its what the think they can win now by having an impeachment proceeding. I think if the President has dibbled and on bringing forth dabbled as Goldwater says he has his position on Watergate, it has been for good reason for preserving national secrets and confidentiality. Nixon-hater- But the South and West also is showing dissatisfaction with the President now, the survey showed. Said a leader from the Rocky Mountain area: The people here have gotten to the place where they Okay, if the President has committed an impeachable offense, lets impeach him. If he hasnt, lets get, it over with. Lets let the President get back to running the country again. Or lets get another president. Theyre sick and tired of this whole thing. I have to agree. And a leader from the West Coast: President Nixon has dibbled and dabbled and done little to restore his credibility. It has now come down to a question of the Presidents honesty. Not Watergate. But his honesty. So this must be resolved. are saying Whatever these leaders thought about the ultimate effect of an impeachment resolution, almost all wanted quick action by the House committee looking into the matter. |