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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1976)
Page 2 THE BATTALION TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1976 Opinion/Commentary /Letters Committee smacks of censorship Stay off grass Editor: Some time ago I employed this forum as a vehicle to express my dis satisfaction with the 1976 Aggieland and its editor, Gary Baldasari. Ap parently 1 was not alone in my sen timents as a rather large number of students, both Corps and civilian echoed my sentiments. At the time I was speaking as a disgruntled C r l but at this time I would like to speak in my capacity as Senior Senator from the College of Business. At the last Senate meeting on November 17, a bill was presented for first reading which would effec tively abolish the position of Aggie land editor and replace it with a committee selected from various sectors of the student body. I dis agree with this plan for several rea sons. First, no provision was made which would insure any kind of ex pertise or ability among these com mittee members for the task which they would undertake. Second, it is unwieldly and would not work as a practical matter because there are too many decisions of a technical na ture which require quick resolution and it would not be practical to call a committee meeting to decide whether a picture should be run. Third, it smacks of censorship, which I don’t approve of, even when it apparently is in my better inter ests. Censorship breeds mediocrity, and if there is one thing I am proudest of it is the fact that Texas A&M can never be considered mediocre. The result of such a com mittee would be an Aggieland which did not offend Student Government, The MSC Directorate, the RHA, or the Corps but woidd probably fail to depict student life even as well as the 1976 Aggieland. I have the greatest respect for those Senators who have presented this bill. Their intentions are above reproach. But the problem lies not with the system but rather with the individuals who comprise it. I think Mr. Baldasari realizes he is not terri bly popular with many factions of the campus right now and I doubt if he will attempt to antagonize them again. What the Aggieland needs is some common sense and considera tion of the various groups on campus rather than publication by a commit tee and censorship. I would not be averse to a student advisory board to comment on the Aggieland before its publication. This might prevent the widespread dissatisfaction with this year’s vol ume. But they should be nothing more than an advisory board acting in an advisory capacity. For this reason I call upon my fel low Senators and their constituents not to support this bill. I feel that in an attempt to correct previous errors we are going above and beyond the call of reason and logic to prevent their happening again. Who knows, maybe Student Government will get a better write-up in the Aggieland than we “resume padders” did last year. Editor: Our University is spending thousands of dollars to beautify our campus while the students are de stroying the appearance by making paths through the grass. Students are taking these paths as a short cut to classes or shuttle bus stops. The majority of the paths seem to be to the shuttle bus stops. I have observed that as I walked on the sidewalk to my stop, the people taking the worn paths have not arrived there any faster than I. There are plenty of sidewalks lead ing to the buildings to avoid walking on the grass. Philip Sutton, Senior Senator, College of Business Even though this may appear to be a minor issue, students should be more concerned about the appear ance of our campus. Sherrie Allen, ’78 Congressional-presidential relationship fragile Slouch by Jim Ear! ‘Apparently someone offered them turkey left-overs! As AMERICL e press se ect Jimmy < _t White F when he thi ong or unf He says if c porters, iisiness.’ Powell, wf iews busine.' Jbsition as a vent staff co It of hand a ceives mor m controvei . Powell sail Joes not in (Bouse press (he claims he NEW YORK — Of all those watching Jimmy Carter s people preparing to take over power, few can empathize more with their ea gerness and their anxieties than Lawrence F. O’Brien. It has been 16 years since Larry O’Brien and the other Kennedy men were involved in the last Republican-to-Democratic transi tion. “I remember we were sitting around the pool in Palm Beach,’ O’Brien told a visitor the other day, “and President Kennedy said to me, ‘Why can’t we combine personnel and congressional liaison and give them to you, Larry?’ “I said. Okay, but you’ll have to point me toward Capitol Hill,’ O’Brien laughed. The red-haired politician from Springfield, Mass., now commis sioner of the National Basketball As sociation, was reminiscing in his of fice high above Madison Square Garden. On the wall facing his desk was a display case containing 50 pres idential pens — a memento from Democratic members of Congress of David S. Broder 50 major bills signed into law by John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson dur ing the years when O’Brien was perhaps the most successful con gressional lobbyist in White House history. Carter has sent his transition planning chief. Jack Watson, and his likely choice for the legislative liaison job, Frank Moore, to pick O’Brien’s brains. “I talked for two or three hours with each of them,” O’Brien said, “and what surprised me was that it all came down to very nitty-gritty things about human rela tions. Carter’s situation, as O’Brien sees it, is not unlike Kennedy’s. Both men won close elections, trailing their party’s congressional candi dates, and both were regarded with some skepticism by the power brok ers of Capitol Hill. But Carter has a bigger Democratic majority in Con gress than Kennedy did and the new President’s aides seem to O’Brien much better briefed for their duties than were the Kennedy men. There are certain enduring truths about a President and Congress which O’Brien tried to impart to Watson and Moore. “A President can’t whip members of Congress into line,” O’Brien said. “All he can do is work out a relation ship with the members that is com fortable for them and that keeps the lines of communication open. It’s a very fragile thing and it can break apart so easily if you lose touch with each other. “The little things are so important — returning their phone calls and setting aside time on the President’s schedule for informal, off-the-record meetings with members; getting their constituents on the White House VIP tours; helping them get publicity and speakers in their dis tricts. “We talked about the importance of answering their questions, of get ting them information that lets them justify their support for something the President wants to do. But mostly we talked about the impor tance of the personal relationships. Kennedy developed a real friend ship with Carl Albert and Phil Land rum and Albert Thomas — men from Southern states he’d hardly known before he became President. And Carter can have that kind of relation ship with Tip O’Neill (the new Speaker of the House). I ve known Tip all my adult life,” O’Brien said. “And there’s nobody who has a greater commitment to the pro grams of the Democratic party. He can be a tremendous asset to Car ter.” * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * O’Brien said he has little sym pathy with those cautioning Carter to postpone his promised push for reorganization of the government until he is on stronger political grounds. “It will be a long and rocky road, ” he said, “but if I were him I ’d go for it aggresively and early. Post poning the fight isn’t going to help win it.” On the other hand, Carter’s talk about taking the reorganization fight into the states and districts of recal citrant members of Congress and appealing over their heads directly to their constituents strikes O’Brien as imprudent. “I’d sure as the devil try to do everything humanly possible to avoid having to do that, he said. “That’s got to be the court of last resort — even for someone with Car ter’s flair for organization. You don’t go into somebody’s congressional district unless you’ve organized very carefully — or you’ll fall flat on your face. I think it’s much more produc tive to direct that kind of effort at Congress directly, rather than go over the heads of the members. You can’t deal with the Congress when the members feel they’ve got to em barrass you to keep you from embar rassing them.” That approach is consistent with * TO HAVE YOUR COLOR PORTRAIT TAKEN FOR CHRISTMAS b P * * * * * * * * & ograpfiy * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ****** 9*; 2fC ^ ^ •if*** 846-2828 NORTHGATE ^**9^*****3|c*9|C9|C*********9jc*************************9jc the view O’Brien outlined in his book, “No Final Victories,” an ap proach which helped put the Kennedy-Johnson legislation on the books and those pens on his wall. “Politics is the art of the possible, ’’ he wrote, “and it is an intensively personal art.. . .1 always felt that we could never discount any member of Congress, no matter how much we might disagree with him. The people of his state or district had elected him; he spoke for them and he was, therefore, deserving of our respect.. . . I never expected any member to commit political suicide in order to help the President, no matter how noble our cause. I ex pected politicians to be concerned with their own interests; I only hoped to convince them our inter ests were often the same. It will be interesting to see how much of O Brien’s teachings have rubbed off on the Carter crew. (c) 1976, The Washington Post The Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is a non profit, self-supporting enterprise ojterated hy stu- detits as a university and community newspaper'. Editorial policy is determined hy the editin'. paper «n<I local news of sponlineoui ojfJW lished herein. RighU of reproductW#*® 1 matter herein also reserved. Second-Class postage [raid at CoUtjewa Texas. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed300 words and are subject to being cut to that.length or less if longer. The editorial staff rt serves the right to edit such letters and does not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the ad dress of the tenter and list a telephone number fitr i ehjie at ion. Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Build ing, College Station, Texas 77843. Represented nationally by National Educa tional Advertising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester: $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 5% sales tax. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battal ion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building. Col lege Station, Texas 77843. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in the MEMBER The Associated Press, Southwestern Journalism Congress Editor H' N '* Managing Editor Richard Cbmtati Campus Editor City Editor Sports Editor Photography Director. News Editor Asst. News Editor .... Features Editor Assistant to the Editor Reporters Carolyn Blower, RustjUk Lee Ron Leschper, Paul McGritk w Mugg. Le Ann Rob>, Lynn Itoa.Da Sl| ll’ ns uiLJ. Photograph, rs ... Trade Nordhelm.M«tn \l, mbers of the Student fid)liC«tfr;Mji Hob f. Robert. Chairman. Jvr Dnu sry. Dr Cary Halter. Dr John W Hiw Kogrr Mitbr. Di Clinton A PM/lpt,J»n *rt Director of Student Publication!: Ml Cooper. Assistant to the director: ScottSw» ..Littlml .. .|»midilla . ...PiulAi* . Kevin Vbk . .Uoylhe Debbyh™ ...linn! H .Dm Ft V Aggie Ci :er Moon,” Muslim Sound Guard keeps your good sounds sounding good. 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