THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1976
Page 2
Editorials
Congress involved in more than sex scandalsL_ Editor ' s joj
Approval of bond issues
recommended for progress
The Battalion recommends that
College Station voters pass all nine of
the capital improvements bond is
sues on the June 29 ballot.
The Battalion’s city staff, through
its coverage of the city’s governmen
tal body meetings during the past
year, is satisfied that all of the pro
posed improvements are badly
needed.
These bonds would provide re
medies for problems which have re
ceived mention at frequent intervals
at City Council meetings during the
past year.
The proposed move away from
Bryan for utilities can only be hailed
as a step in the right direction.
Bryan’s seemingly unjustified an
nual rate increases are taking money
out of the pockets of College Station
residents. With a partially indepen
dent electrical system and a wholly
independent water system, less
money would be taken from College
Station residents and more of the
profits would remain in College Sta
tion.
In light of the tremendous popula
tion growth. College Station resi
dents have to make plans and put
those plans into action in order to
stay a step ahead of the problems.
It’s nice to communicate
We would like to thank the Administration for so
promptly informing us of Dr. Williams’ release from
Houston Methodist Hospital last Friday.
The Administration’s secrecy about Williams’ con
dition had prompted last week’s editorial. We now
wish to commend the Administration not only for
notifying us so promptly but also for notifying us first.
Aspiring journalists
offered opportunity
Aspiring journalists, budding ace
reporters and shutter-happy photo-
graphers should sharpen their pen
cils and clean their camera lenses.
The Battalion is searching for vol
unteer reporters and photographers
for the remaining summer months.
Positions are open for feature writers
and campus and city reporters. All
applicants would be asked to do one
or two stories per week and would be
able to work on their own time.'
Stories would be submitted to the
Battalion in time to meet the weekly
deadline.
Any student with a little free time
and a desire to see his name in print
should call 845-2611 between 8 a.m.
and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Applicants may also leave their name
and phone number with the Student
Publications secretaries in Reed-
McDonald 217.
WASHINGTON — Just in time
for the summer doldrums, there is a
genuine sex scandal breaking on
Capitol Hill. The newspapers are
mobilizing their investigative re
sources in the greatest display of
moral outrage since Watergate.
Platoons of top-flight reporters
are going down the names in the
congressional staff directories of re
cent years, looking for the former
secretary who will spill the beans on
her boss. Predictably, they will find
her and her sisters, and the result
ing exposes will provide enough
headlines to compensate for the ab
sence of a contest at the Democratic
convention.
In time, there will—be remedial
legislation proposed. The same re
formers who thought the answer to
abuse of power in the executive
branch was to cut off private sources
of campaign financing will undoub
tedly argue that the remedy for the
sins of Congress is to cut the mem
bers off from intramural sex.
A bill will be passed and some
scoundrels purged at the polls.
Everyone will relax with the warm
glow of a moral triumph. And all the
serious problems of Congress will
still remain.
That is not to say these men do
not deserve the censure they are
getting. Of course it is an outrage if
some old goat of a congressman
keeps his girl friend on the payroll
and procures his pleasures with
public funds.
Of course it is an affront to de
cency if the hiring policies of some
congressional offices reflect the sex
ual appetites of the boss rather than
the competence of the prospective
employees.
But one cannot help btit being
struck by the selectivity of the in
dignation the press and public dis
play on this question. These scan
dals, gamy as they may be, are
tangential and trivial compared to
the real abuses of power on Capitol
Hill.
Wayne Hays had been a chronic
violator of the standards of political
behavior for years before any allega
tions were raised about his private
conduct. Elizabeth Ray, for all her
headlines, is not the first woman on
Capitol Hill to cross Hays’ path.
As House Minority Leader John
J. Rhodes (R-Ariz.) writes in his new
book on Congress, “The Futile Sys
tem,’’ there was an incident last
year that should have — but did not
— receive equal publicity.
“During debate on a controversial
Cbe Battalion
i
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u niversity administration or the Board of Regents. The Battal-
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policy is determined by the editor. ing rates furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 217,
Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843.
LETTERS POLICY Rights of reproduction of all matter herein are reserved.
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas.
subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial Editor Jerry Needham
staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guaran- Managing Editor Richard Chamberlain
tee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the Sports Editor Paul McGrath
address of the writer and list a telephone number for verifica- Campus Editor Lisi Junod
Photographer Steve Goble
Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room Layout LeAnn Roby Susan Brown
217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Reporter Sandy Russo
MSC Recreation Committee presents
Ice Cream Eating Contest and Ice Cream Social
Rudder Fountain Area
Thursday, June 24
3 p.m.
contest at 3 p.m.
ice cream sales 12 - 4 p.m.
Please sign up for contest first floor MSC
Battalion
Classified
Call 845-2611
David S.
B voder
pay raise for members of Congress, ’’
Rhodes writes, “Hayes . . . had a
spirited exchange with freshman
Republican Millicent Fenwick of
New Jersey. The high point. . . oc
curred when Hays threatened to cut
off the staff allowances of Republi
cans who objected to the pay raise.
T think,’ Mrs. Fenwick said
softly, ‘that we have heard some
thing here today for which we are all
going to be sorry and ashamed.’
But the next day, Rhodes notes,
there was not a trace of Hays’ threat
in the Congressional Record. The
Ohioan had used his privilege to re
vise his remarks right out of exis
tence.
That story had both the elements
— abuse of power and coverup — of
Watergate, but it was a one-day
item in the press.
Before that, the Democrats in the
House had created an obvious con
flict of interest situation by allowing
Hays to serve simultaneously as the
chairman of the House Administra
tion Committee, which writes the
election finance laws, and as chair
man of the Democratic Congres
sional Campaign Committee, which
raises and spends the funds to keep
Democratic congressmen in office.
Hays’ flagrant efforts to sabotage
and obstruct campaign finance re
form legislation over the last five
years were documented in this col
umn and in many other places.
But the Democratic party which
controls the House did not disci
pline Hays for that, any more than it
rebuked him for his threat to Mrs.
Fenwick. On the contrary, when
the House Democratic steering
committee last year summoned the
courage to recommend Hays’ dis
missal from his committee chair
manship, Hays was rescued by a
vote of the Democratic members of
the House.
Today, many of those same Dem
ocrats are complaining of the injus
tice of being tarred by the Hays’
brush. They are right, for the amor-
ality of his demonstrated public rec
ord and his alleged private life is not
the norm on Capitol Hill.
But will they now have the cour
age — as they did not last year — to
discipline Hays, not on the shaky
grounds of the allegations of a re-
jected lover, but on his demon
strated record of abuse of official
powers?
Will the press that is so vigilant in
tracing the activities of his one em
ployee devote comparable re
sources to the story of the millions
of dollars being squandered in the
mushrooming bureaucracy of con
gressional subcommittees — one of
which provided shelter for Miss
Ray?
Will the public learn — in the de
tail it has learned of Miss Ray’s loves
— which of the men now running
for House majority leader led the
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effort to reform the wasteful, ineffi
cient and patronage-ridden House
committee structure — and which
of his rivals were responsible for kil
ling that reform?
Or will we see that, once the
summer scandal has been mined for
all the headline sensations it can
furnish, the press once again forgets
about the existence of the House of
Representatives and its Members
relax into business as usual?
© 1976, The Washington Post
Company
For those of you who
obscure corners for facts andfigM /
to engrave upon your memory,n
these: Slightly over more thanlp
cent of the 9,528 students em
for the first summer session at 1(|
A&M are women. This translato
2,910 to he exact. One-thirdofj
total are graduate students (3,111
McLaughlin’s
of corpus christi £
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COLLEGE STATION
Call 846-5764 for appointments
Top of the Tower
Texas A&M University
Pleasant Dining — Great View
SERVING LUNCHEON BUFFET
11:00 A.M. - 1:30 P.M.
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$3.00 SUNDAY
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