Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Nov. 7, 1980, edition 1 / Page 10
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10 i Daily Tar Heel Friday. November 7, 1980- .George Shadroui, Editor 77 -7 c. 7 (3 c ' c 7 1? tJ w .-' bo J I t. . . I r , : 4 . I. "Dinita James, Managing Editor . " Brad Kutrow, Assocute Editor . Thomas Jessiman, Assocute Editor Karen Rowley, News Editor Pam Kelley, University Editor Maitha Waggoner, dry Editor Jim Hummel, State and- National Editor Bill Fields, Sports Editor Marx Musrell, Features Editor Tom Moose, Arts Editor Scott SitxtPE,- Photography Editor Melanie Sol, Weekender Editor 1 . i. A. F if SA .year o editorial freedom 22 e: Go mg St The most surprising and to us, the most disturbing of the Republican upsets in last Tuesday's election was John East's toppling of incumbent Sen. Robert Morgan. Morgan was generally expected to win, and no one has been able to figure out quite why he lost. Morgan and East are clearly different in style and substance; unfortunately, it seems as if most voters' decisions were determined by the former. Morgan, an experienced legislator, began his political career as a state senator in 1955. After serving five terms there, he was elected North Carolina's attorney general in 1968 and 1972. He won his Senate seat in 1974 by a wide margin. Morgan had run for the Senate only after serving the state in other capacities, and he had been a moderately effective senator. Few of Morgan's votes had set the home folks' blood to boiling, and he had little reason to expect stiff opposition this fall. Then East, a political science professor at East Carolina University, declared that he would run against Morgan despite his lack of political or governmental experience. East's campaign was run, as were those of fellow Republicans I. Beverly Lake for governor and Bill Cobey for lieutenant governor, by the conservative Congressional Club political action committee. The organization raised more than $1 million and began to flood the state's television stations with 30- and 60-second East spots. Morgan, who was able to raise only two-thirds as much as East, relied on down-home Democratic politicking barbecues and backwoods stumping. Morgan might have won this test of political styles if East's Congressional Club handlers had run some kind of fair campaign. Instead, they chose to dredge up old stands and misconstrue others in an effort to make East appear' even more conservative, than Morgan, who is probably the most conservative Democrat in the Senate. The East campaign asserted that Morgan was irresponsible because he voted against a B-l bomber bill even when that piece of legislation was already hopelessly deads. It decried him for supporting aid to "the Marxist government in Nicaragua" and "giving away our Panama Canal." These shrill denunciations from the far right have little to do with Morgan's overall record. Yet, as the senator said, if thevoters have such accusations beamed at them all day by the television set, they'll begin to believe them and perhaps even the blind philosophy behind them. East proved little in the campaign; it is clear only that he supports any and all military expenditures. Since the state is stuck with Senator elect East for six years, we can only hope he broadens his areas of interest. Jamaica's mandate The United States is not the only country holding elections this year. And it is not the only country that apparently reached rope's end with the government in power. In Jamaica, a country violence-ridden as it struggled to solve its woes, a new government came into power last week as free enterprise advocate Edward Seaga defeated Prime Minister Michael Manley's "democratic socialist" government. Jamaica suffers from a 40 percent inflation rate, a severe food shortage and a large foreign debt certain to take its toll for some time. It also must weather the meddling of the seemingly omnipresent Cuba, whose Fidel Castro as taken a strong interest in the affairs of Manley and Jamaica for strategic reasons. The victory of Seaga's Labor Partv which took 51 of 60 seats in the House of Representatives was devastating to Manley's People's National Party. Seaga called the victory a mandate against communism . and Manley admitted the election was fair, if not favorable. Seaga will now try to piece together a country in which more than 700 people have died this year in political terrorist action and open fighting in the streets. That is the first priority of Seaga's moderate government. High on that list, however, is seeking the aid of the friendly nations. In this instance, the United States would do well to lend a hand to Seaga and the Jamaican people in an effort to stabilize the country and perhaps win a loyal ally that respects the idealism on which this country was founded. Otherwise, violence and instability may continue unabated and Jamaica's call for economic and political freedom will go unanswered. 3 'J By JOHN DRESCHER Tuesday was a day North Carolina Democrats would like to forget. Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Morgan failed to keep his Senate seat from Republican John East, and incumbent U.S. Representatives Richardson Preyer and Lamar Gudger lost to Republican opponents. These three losses, coupled with surprisingly strong showings by Republicans in the races for governor and lieutenant governor, made it difficult for state Democrats to be optimistic about the election results. - i tie. At stake was more than just the selection of various candidates. The 1980 election was a battle of basic 'political ideology . For Democrats, and especially for those believers in the more liberal philosophies of social equality and government activity, it was a bitter pill to swallow. There may be, however, a brighter side of the election results for Democrats: The recent rise of the Republican party in North Carolina, held down since Watergate,' may be a good thing for the state's politics. 1 For a moment, forget the political philosophies of the two parties. Forget the attack-and-counterattack campaigning of East and Morgan, of Lake and Hunt. What may be more important to the state is that the rise of the two-party system has given North Carolinians a second choice, one that it has lacked for most of the past 100 years. It is a choice North Carolinians should have for one simple reason: A one-party political system is bad and a two-party political system is good. Two-party politics is a variation on the basic American idea of competition as a desirable value. Competition among two political parties has been the American system of politics for nearly 200 years. It is a system based ( lop n on the virtues of competition,' and it is a system that works. Americans have thrived on this theory for more than two centuries, and it's no accident that our government reflects this. It is especially difficult for N.C. Democrats to realize the advantages of competition in light of the recent tactics of their opposition, which is really not the Republican Party, but actually the Congressional Club, a conservative political action committee. "The Republicans are getting credit, but don't kid yourself," said Thad Beyle, a UNC political science professor. "It's the Congressional Club that's providing the gas for the machine." Democrats must wonder how good competition can be after being victimized by the negative campaigning and big-buck media war staged by the Congressional Club. The . Congressional Club is an organization that relies on money, and works from the top downward there is no grassroots level of the Club and it certainly is threatening to change accepted practices of campaigning and party organization in the state. There are many Republicans in the state who oppose the club's methods, but Tuesday's results have given it added strength. ' "Some of the older lines of the Republicans might say, 'We better not fight this.' Nothing looks better the day after the election than the winning strategy," Beyle said. The question, however, is what's wrong with change in North Carolina? The state has been classified by noted political observer and author Daniel Elazar as having a "traditionalistic" political culture, part of which means that North Carolinians believe in preserving the status quo. This is the main reason why the state ranks among the lowest in minimum wage and quality of public education. The state will continue to be deficient in these and many other areas until North Carolinians realize they are going to have to make changes, both at 'the ballot box and in their political ideology. To make these changes, voters need two clear-cut opposing views based on differences in political ideology. For most of North Carolina's history, voters have had no choice on Election Day. The only decision they ever had to make was who to vote for in the primaries, and these choices often w ere pre-decided by high-ranking party officials. There was very little public debate on issues and, hence, the preservation of the status quo. It was a vicious cycle: There were no issues and consequently no opposition, so the one-party system and status quo continued to reicm. The dissatisfaction with the status quo is what has finally led to the rise of a second party in the state. There was much public debate this election year and, hence, there was a choice. "Ideally, you get competing ideas on how a particular problem will be handled," Beyle said. "The voter just sits back and chooses." North Carolina voters definitely did . choose. Despite heavy rainfall in many areas of the state, more than 62 percent of the state's 2.8 million registered voters voted, a record for voter turnout in the state. Voting is the ultimate sign that the participants believe the system works. "So you throw a lot of rascals out and put some new rascals in," Beyle said. "It's an imperfect system anyway, but it works." The 19S0 elections have shown that given distinct party choices, voters will become involved in the issues around them. Voter participation, a healthy sign for any democracy, b the best reason for having two strong parties in North Carolina. John Drescher, a junior journalism major from Raleigh, is tn editorial assistant for The Daily Tar Heel. 'timdemits mmnist oppose coiade - conversion By ANN SMALL WOOD You are as good a student as the next person. You work hard; you play, hard; you pay a high rent for a small apartment you share with three other people. You don 7 have time to move in the middle of a semester, to look for a new apartment, new roommates. You and your friends certainly can 't afford to pay $600 a month $200 each to buy your old apartment that has gained that new fancy name: condominium. But you got this notice shoved under your door that gave you 30 days to make your decision buy in or get out. You're mad; something should be done. You appeal to your Town Council member, but sadly, he says, his hands are tied. The state has given him no authority to obstruct free trade by violating the landlord's right to sell his property. This scenario is not as farfetched as it may sound, even for Chapel. Hill. Protection for tenants in condominium conversion is a new idea, one that North Carolina has just begun to deal with. Although Chapel Hill students have been spared the strong-armed, quick-sales tactics used by profiteering developers, the Town Council's recent denial of a permit modification to allow the conversion of The Oaks Apartments has brought this whole emotional issue into the local spotlight. " Technically, the state has given Chapel Hill no authority to prevent a change from landlord to resident ownership, but since a special-use permit was required in both the attempted Graham Court conversion and the similar proposal for The Oaks, town policies were invoked. Council opponents of The Oaks conversion argued that the proposed conversion was not consistent with the town's stated plans for development. These opponents, notably Mayor Joe Nassif, contended that it was implicit in the town's Comprehensive Plan that the town needed i:o support a mix of private and rental 11 11 housing for its lower-income and transient population. Nassif said that with no new apartments built since 1974 and a low vacancy rate, the town rental market could ill-afford to lose the 124 units of The Oaks.: Other council members agreed with the developer, Jerry Hyman of Greensboro, that requiring any review by the council of a property sale was illegal. Hyman, however, since the Oct. 13 decision to deny his conversion request, has withdrawn his suit challenging this special-use permitting procedure. In any case, most town officials, whether fans or foes of condominium conversion, agree that something more needs to be done by the state legislature to define local powers in cases like The Oaks. A committee has been meeting since February to prepare condominium conversion and construction pniHelln";. Locally The Condominium Statutes Drafting Committee has been using a Uniform Condominium Act recently passed by Congress as a model for its state legislation. Among the tenant protections being considered in the third draft of a possible conversion bill were: requiring a 45-day notice period for tenants of a building being converted. allowing inspection of an apartment by prospective buyers only after this period has expired, giving the current tenant first choice in his unit's purchase. providing a 75-day period before a non-purchasing tenant can be forced to move. requiring , the converter to present prospective buyers with a financial analysis of the entire development, estimating costs of routine maintenance and membership in a homeowners association. The committee also is studying the practicality of drafting separate laws for group-owned vacation condominiums. This would protect the elderly and help towns, presumably with a limited rental vacancy rate, that need state authority to declare temporary moratoriums on condominium conversion. Although few students were threatened with displacement by the proposed conversions of Graham Court and The Oaks, town Planning Director Mike Jennings warns that other student apartment developments are not immune. "National experience has been that owners of rental property, especially investment groups, will milk, them (apartments) for what they can for the first eight years," Jennings says. "Then, when the property is fully depreciated under federal tax laws, they start looking to make a quick, capital gain, so they sell to a developer (who resells the units as condominiums). "Since about everything in town is over ciht years old, there is a potential for conversion to happen in other complexes. Usually, apartments have to be in more marketable forms like the townhouse, but in a crowded market, anything is possible." . This is the fear that gripped UNC Student Government when it opposed The Oaks conversion. Student Government sent letters "opposing conversion to town council members and spoke out against the issue in public. So far, undergraduate apartment dwellers have been lucky. Most residents of The Oaks who spoke out against conversion were retirees or graduate and postdoctoral students, many with families, who could see no middle-income rental alternative to the "luxury" three-bedroom Oaks. Others of us, the less-affluent student tenants, should be conscientious in monitoring the pai-ase of tenant-protection or condominium moratorium bills when they reach the General Assembly in early '81. If, as in many states and cities, lawmakers can be convinced to restrict conversions to communitites with no less than a 5 percent rental vacancy rate, we could keep big-city condomania out of Chapel Hill Indefinitely. Otherwise, we may all find ourselves standing at the door of the apartment we have learned to call home, as residents of The Oakes did this August, with mimeographed conversion notices in our hands and no legal way to defy them. , Ann Smaliwood, a senior journahzm major from Greensboro, covers the Che pel Hill town government for The Daily Tar Heel. 1 777) (TP, if JlfTTiJrTj ?f(Tl) 777) 77 770 fT (D Til) T ,7 hi) iinrPm I I 1 ryi) ! I I I . J US u 77 L . By BRAD KUTROW Sometime Tuesday night, the nation's eyes glazed over.. Bathed in the glow of a million television set:, America watched its collective opinion take shape. Anchormen Walter Cronkite of CDS, John Chancellor of NBC and Frank Reynolds of AHC bejan predicting Ronald Reagan's triumph in the race for president almost before the polls closed. NEC was using red to signify a Kc.r-in victory on its map of the states, and red splotches moved across the nation. "The nation's f.oir.g red!" John Chancellor said, and . 1 ,., , r-rvr-'-fv. m m m $ 1 ii He.i;;..in's vurtery was quicker and more overwhelming than r.n one, even his staffers, had cxpccttJ, With it came U;wns of victories in the Home zrj Senate, and the GOP won its first K53ttity in t!U upper home in 24 years. The Repu! iicans wen 33 Hou'-e scats, 12 Senate seats end four rn er:v--r -.hips frvr.i the Democrats. On Tuesday, lit f..-..:icn turned rpaickly to the rH;t, zv.l il; tea-.oMs ( t that turn are tecoruiaj nr." -rr. v I , 1 If su"..!J 1 e ta-.y Ut I !..rr.e I'ir.idcnt Carter fur Rra-ai'i i.ts ry aal U) f.u:e $!:t many setei s - t'.e P.auvrat er than tor the Republican. Carter is widely perceived as a failure, an ineffective president who has left the nation in worse shape than he found it. Reagan's margin of 10 percent in the popular vote seems to indicate that Americans simply wanted to turn the rascal out. Carter said yesterday, though, that he did not see "any indication of a personal turn cainst me." Although that may not be a completely objective, or accurate, assessment of electoral opinion, Carter is not sole' responsible for the Democratic defeats that occurred all over the country. It is difficult to argue that,, say, RLhard-.cn Preyer, uho has been in the House sir.ee r,-'3, b-,t t :c::u' : the voters were d. . .ati fed with Junmy CrUr. 1 here is a latent, le-s chvicus feehrj e.r-: vetirs. It is, v.rply, that th'.r;s I .e to ch . Carter i ...I u:ar car .em over the economy s"J t! e . :! . ca! 1 ff il; American ha i i-i i;.. . . t: : f. -s th-i I -J to his L-J ' f- t.CV: r'sr:.."- iiatha e areas u' ..' v : !tJ T. ; .a's v tct "ry, tut t: -re u a I .r le;: ; l lu r:.-:.a clcit t: a- J - p- .:.! iv .r i the c, .r.try las ta'en ur 'er i.r.t ;: ! v. :v if Dean vr.u-.e if Ca: :c . '11 v 1 :r? t t ty r:;rirs ! ft i 1 .1 . , i i. a ., v 2 . . . $ Arvr.: th e .! : ! I v,:. i L: Crt.r, rra ny r pre i t; .rv..:. of thoe who had voted for Reagan expressed doubts about his policies, but saw him as a sure way to see that things were changed. Reagan and the Republicans offered a clearly conservative philosophy, one that offered an opportunity for quick, clean change. The nation's most severe problems dwindling influence abroad, a stagnant, inflationary economy and failure to respond to demeatia problemshave developed under Democratic leaden!.;? in Congress. The Republicans e"bowcd aside the Democrats who had most" consistently and clearly voiced their party's liberal portion: Sen. G:crge 'I Hi McGovern of South Dakota. Sen. Rlrch Cayh of Indiana, Sen. Frank Church of Idaho 2nd Sen. John Culver cf Iowa. That wi'.l largely remove the Senate's liberal caucus, with Edward Kennedy of Mav.aehuetts ar.d Gary Hart of Colorado left to lead the left-wing opposition. Moreover, the new Republican majority will mean drastic changes in the structure cf the Senate committees through which all legislation mu:t move. Tor instance, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be Strom Thurmond cf South Carolina, who replaces the liberal Kennedy. Thurmond has j-1 edged to work , ... as chairman for 3 r ccr.ititutiuT.il amendta.tnt t: , :. Z 3 t ' . ' A : an Jfv r I ..i i t . p.-j; ;r in I . e ',1 1. a- 1 r; 'ri.t t - f : tl ; : f ir.it rat if ::. 'I I jf : - ?. I ' ; . - 4 J. ' - - t - 0.;r e.,n S.-.i. I. uh.i v. !1 likely Uecr.e th.r:- t f l! ; A::..aa;e Committee, zUo has made his o b j e c t i v e s clear. His committee has jurbdleticn over the food stamp frcgram, which H.-hr.s ujs could be cut by 40 percent if all "frctbadert" were talrn off its rcllj. He alio cppo-.es the expansion cf w.Urrr.est preterves, which are prctecteJ from r..'-'.?z, drilling and devcle-pmer.!. Helms tponaartJ a t.:l that would hac prch.Mtttd the sitting a-.U: cf any more wilderness areas in ?arth C..t',n-i, which at least proves that he is cer.ive ahaat which state's wilderness bnd ought to be exploited. :". w.ll trin? this clrercut ccr.'.ervati.m to th: ihalr of the Arrieuhurc Committee in the new, predominantly negathcan senate. Catal'Vt tl ti t-1 " f -t.er, ti w i. t? e ka ! t f C . i . t 1 i'-i . 1 i'i r in j 4-. 1 - H' :, t : V. . t : f r . cf t: e t. -:-- 1 f. r: ; i :-..,i.e I" n w caantj t.j. rfrV.: V SI
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Nov. 7, 1980, edition 1
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