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eyThe Daily Tar HeelMonday, November 5, 1990 (Gddd 9 Instead of t;lJ7or' j note: This article is reprinted $ram the Oct. 16 edition of The Daily Tdr Heel. By STACI COX 1 Staff Writer tDemocrat David Price is seeking his hird tenn in the U.S. House of Repre ehtatives in a campaign about his po etical views, largely ignoring his Re publican opponent John Carrington. ;Tm not a great fan of 30-second -ds," Price said in a Sept. 24 interview. K prefer face-to-face, small-town Campaigning. With TV, it's up to each pandidate to be responsible, careful about Avjiat's said, to talk about the real issues." Price said his major interests in Con gress were education and affordable housing. While education is primarily the re sponsibility of state and local govern ment, Price said he supported any role the federal government could assume in improving not only primary and sec ondary education, but Head Start and adult literacy training. : "A lot is up to the states, but I see Congress as having an important role," 4 he said. "Especially for the earlier years, vllead Start is one of the most effective vieducation programs ever." Price also suggested the federal vgovernmentcould supplement teacher salaries and certainly support teacher vteducation. He said student loans for vjhrgher education could be structured to vencourage students to teach. "We have got to strengthen our teaching," he said. But another important education is isue is a result of unreformed education: vthe rate of functional illiteracy. Price said thousands of North Carolinians can Tiot participate in government and soci ety because either they could not read or lvrite or they could not understand basic government and employment forms. State prison bond to add space, programs ' By ANDRE HAUSER J staff Writer On Election Day, voters in North Carolina will decide the fate of a pro posed $200 million state prison bond that would increase prison space and provide programs and facilities for juvenile detention. "We will get the word of the people about whether they favor prison ex pansion," said Bill Poston, a spokes man for the N.C. Department of Cor rections. If the referendum is approved, most of the bond money will be used to provide additional bed space in state prisons and to replace or repair aging facilities. This would provide North Carolina's prison system with 4,478 .new beds and provide 1,168 replace ment beds, Poston said. -1 ' "We are interested in it because we 'need to see more prison space," said 'Deputy Attorney General John Simmons. However, about $9. 1 million dollars "of the bond would go to the Department "of Human Resources Division of 'Youth Services, Poston said. "If this money is made available, it will allow us to put students in pro grams that will meet their individual needs," said Chuck Beidler, assistant director for administrative services of the Division of Youth Services. "Without the additional funding, it will be almost impossible to carry out these programs." -' The referendum would fund Youth Services programs like constructing or purchasing seven new group juve nile homes, doubling the beds in the Voters may face lines at the ' Editor' s note :This article is reprinted from the Oct. 30 edition of the Daily Tar Heel. By ERIC LUSK :v Staff Writer UNC students may have to stand in . line to cast their vote Nov. 6 for the first time since Richard Nixon ran for re election amid the 1 972 Vietnam turmoil. --"The same interest in voting that stu- -dents had in the early 1970s "has not been equaled until this year," said Chapel Hill Town Councilman Joe Herzenberg. . "'Students have worked harder to register people to vote." The high expected turnout stems partly from student interest in the U.S. Senate race between Republican Jesse -Helms and Democrat Harvey Gantt. yc? "A lot of people will turn out because .it's a heated race," said Gloria Sutton, a freshman Young Democrats member from Fayetteville. ,T.: 'Mike Nelson, a campaign coordina tor for the Orange County Democratic party, said 4,000 to 5,000 students reg istered to vote in Orange County this year higher numbers than in past elections. Unlike the early 1980s when both parties added nearly the same number of opponent in race "And in economic terms, it includes being shut out from the job market," he said. "They're simply unable to perform jobs because they can't understand the new technology." Price also said there was a lack of affordable housing across the nation. He supported a "soft second" program, allowing low-cost deferred payment on second payment on second mortgages in Raleigh and CHapel Hill to assist young moderate-income families buy houses. 'The old and young are pinched for good, affordable housing," Price said. "I'd like to see that changed." Additionally, Price sponsored a bill to expand the national reverse mortgage program from 2,500 to 25,000 reverse mortgages. The bill helps the elderly who have paid off their homes but need cash and includes a provision to preserve part of the equity of the home. Although he has come under attack from his opponent for failing to restrict campaign financing. Price proposed a spending limit of $400,00 for both candidates in a July 1 1 letter. In the letter, Price wrote: "Campaigns based on saturation advertising, personal attacks and systematic distortions have no place in North Carolina politics. I believe my proposal to limit spending and to highlight the sources of campaign funds are consistent with the open and honest campaign I have run in the past." The agreement, signed only by Price, called for: a $400,000 spending limit, of which $300,000 would be provided by private donors and $100,000 could be provided by political action committees; full itemization of all contributions, in cluding those below $200; and a ban of all independent expenditures on either candidate's behalf. Price has also been under attack from Carrington for holding a position on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs 'If we wait, we're just going to see increases in the state crime rate." Bill Poston Pitt County juvenile detention center, renovating dormitories in training schools and providing transition homes for students coming out of training schools, Beidler said. A training school is a facility for children between the ages of 1 0 and 1 6 who are committed to the Division of Youth Services by the court for crimes for which adults would serve prison sentences. The drastic increase in North Carolina's prison population since the mid-1980s has strained the state's le gal system, Poston said. In 1987, a limit was placed on the number of inmates allowed in the state's prisons, causing an average 1 1 percent decrease in the time served by inmatesconvicted of committing a felony, he said. Be tween 1986 and 1 989, the average time served dropped from 40 percent of the time sentenced to only 29 per cent, Poston said. "This has eroded both the public's faith in the system and the deterrence to criminals," Poston said. "If we wait, we're just going to see increases in the state crime rate." students to their ranks, registration this year has favored Democrats, Nelson said. About 80 percent of the students who registered in Orange County this year are Democrats, 10 percent are Re publicans and 1 0 percent chose to remain unaffiliated, he said. According to Orange County Board of Elections figures, 57,384 people are registered: 39,628 as Democrats, 1 2,358 as Republicans and 5,396 unaffiliated. In addition to the U.S. Senate race. Orange County voters can select a U.S. Representative, two state senators, two state representatives, three county commissioners and numerous judges. Also on the ballot are two bond refer endums a statewide, $200 million prison bond and a Chapel Hill bond for a new public library. Because major races like Gantt Helms have drawn much of the media's attention, most students know little about candidates for local offices, Nelson said. "We're working to get that informa tion to the students," he said. "I would encourage them to do some research on races they don't know much about." The University campus is divided into four precincts: D Students registered in the Country Club precinct, including all South Committee during the Savings and Loan Crisis. But Price claimed they did ev erything that could be done to head off the crisis, and there was no one person who could be blamed. Price is unwavering in his support of a woman's right to abortion. Congress had a limited role in what could be changed, he said. "We do a lot for (Washington) D.C., and any number of abortion topics are amended onto bills.". Fourth District Congressional Race Issues DAVID PRICE-DEMOCRAT Education: Wrote legislation improving science and math education and technical training programs and co-authored a bill to restore income tax deductibility for student loans and scholarships. Helped steer a national literacy and teacher recruitment initiative to passage. Environment: Wrote a bill, which is now a law, to stop a high-level nuclear waste dump planned for Wake and Franklin counties. Supported Clean Air and Clean Water acts. Co-sponsored legislation to stop offshore oil drilling at the Outer Banks and bills to encourage recycling and to protect rain forests and wilderness areas. Abortion: Pro-choice. Believes abortion is a personal and family decision. JOHN CARRINGTON-REPUBLICAN Wants to change in Congress: Stop waste in Congress, including an end to congressional pensions. Begin to pay off the national debt by a two-year freeze in spending. He sees paying off the debt as more important that the growth of any social or military program. Get taxpayer approval before any congressional pay raises. Sweep career politicians out of Congress and limit Representatives to four terms. Environment: Particularly sensitive to the conflict between business interests and the environment. Says he recognizes the economic impact of cleaning up water supplies and certain industries. Abortion: Opposed to abortion except in the case of rape, incest and the life of the mother. Supports a national referendum in which only women vote to decide the issue. State judicial candidates struggle for attention By ERIC LUSK Staff Writer As major political candidates strive to steal headlines and promote their views while campaigning, North Carolina's judrciar Candidates struggle for visibility against strict election laws, j Judicial hopefuls follow the same guidelines as all candidates for public office in the state, including filing for office, paying fees to enter the race and reporting campaign spending. But that's where the similarities end. The N.C. Judicial Code of Conduct prohibits any judicial candidate, in cumbent or challenger, from announc ing his views on legal or political issues. The code of conduct restricts politi cal activity of a judge considerably, said Dallas Cameron, assistant director of the Administrative Office of the Courts. "This puts them at a disadvantage. A lot of pressure groups don't understand why they're not expressing their views." Lauren Snipes, ascheduler for Friends of the Court, said the code of conduct stressed a judge's experience instead of his stance on issues. Friends of the Court promotes 17 Democratic judicial can didates. "We want judges to interpret the law," Snipes said. "It would be a great offense to me to know I was facing a judge who already had a fixed idea." Most judicial candidates have party affiliation, but they are prohibited from endorsing or contributing to any candi date in a non-judicial race. Other judi cial candidates can be endorsed, but only if qualifications are the basis for endorsement. Judicial candidates can contribute money to other judicial hopefuls, but the code prohibits them from soliciting funds for others. While the code of conduct prohibits judges from expressing their views, other polls Tuesday Campus highrises and Avery, Car michael, Parker and Teague residence halls, vote in Fetzer Gym. D Students in the Greenwood pre cinct, including Alexander, Aycock, Cobb, Connor, Everett, Graham, Grimes, Joyner, Lewis, Mangum, Manly, Ruffin, Stacy and Winston residence halls, vote at the General Ad ministration building on Raleigh Road. D Students in the East Franklin pre cinct, including Alderman, Kenan, Mclver, Old East, Old West and Spen cer dormitories and all fraternities and sororities on Franklin and Rosemary streets, vote at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church at 300 E. Rosemary St. B Students in the Lincoln precinct, including Granville Towers, Whitehead Residence Hall and all fraternities and sororities on Columbia Street, vote at the Lincoln Center on Merritt Mill Road. A free shuttle for the General Admin istration site and the Lincoln Center site will be provided by the Young Demo crats. Students who must vote at the General Administration building can be picked up at the Union circle. The van for the Lincoln Center site will stop at Sitterson Hall and between Granville Towers West and East, at the pool. Shuttles will run every 20 minutes. Cammgton platform stresses less government iiivolveiiieiit Editor' s note: This article is reprinted from the Oct. 15 edition of The Daily Tar Heel. By WENDY BOUNDS Staff Writer John Carrington says he doesn't en ter races he isn't going to win. And to beat incumbent U.S. Rep. David Price, D-4th District, the Re publican challenger will go to voters with a platform stressing less: less support groups usually do it for them, said Thad Beyle, UNC political science professor. "I don't see how else you can do it (promote a candidate)," Beyle said. "These judges are invisible." Julia Jones, a candidate for superior court from Charlotte, said she cam paigned by writing friends, traveling across the state and informing potential voters on her background and experi ence. "The only thing we can't do is discuss how we would rule on an issue," said Jones, who taught for two years at Chapel Hill High School."I have been instructed by campaign workers to adhere to the same rules." The code of conduct prohibits a ju dicial candidate from making any campaign promise, except to uphold his or her position in a non-partisan way. Candidates must also be members of the N.C. Bar Association. Prior to the election, they may not hold any elected office that is not related to the judicial branch. While Republicans have held few state-wide judicial positions this century, they have posted stronger than usual opposition to Democratic judicial can didates. "These (1990 judicial races) are the most intense since 1902," said Franklin Freeman, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts. "And that was a very intense year." The 1902 elections featured a Re publican Supreme Court chief justice facing a strong Democratic challenger. The challenger prevailed in a battle of Populist movement issues, and the Democrats have retained their hold on the chief justice position ever since. Until 1986, when Republicans began winning seats, many Democrats ran Student registration favors Democratic Party By DAVID ETCHIS0N Staff Writer The role college students will play in the upcoming election is unclear as an unusually heavy state voter registration favors the Democratic Party. "Voter registration was very heavily Democratic," said John Humphrey, press secretary of the N.C. Democratic Party. From April 9 to Oct. 9, there were 112,579 people who registered as Democrats, compared to 60,543 who registered as Republicans. This year's registration was the state's heaviest since the last presidential election, said Alex Brock, executive director of the State Board of Elections. It has equalled that of the two Reagan elections and will probably exceed the totals of the Bush election. Many college students have registered as Democrats this year. "Historically, that (students register ing and voting Democratic) has been true," Humphrey said. "Except that in the last decade, many college students tended to vote more conservatively and vote for Reagan. "Since 1988, particularly this year here in North Carolina, we've seen a definite trend toward registration of college students as Democrats and not government spending, less U.S. con gressional involvement in education and less male involvement in the abortion issue. "My real feel ing is I would love to see the issue decided in a small referendum for all 50 states where only females vote," Carrington said. However, the abortion issue is overshadowing other issues that deserve concentration, he said. Regarding the national deficit, Carrington said the government needed to freeze spending for a couple of years. "Everyone needs to tighten their belt," he said. "The government shouldn't spend its revenues, but apply them against the national debt." Drawing an analogy from his business experience, Carrington said spending should be cut across the board. "If I have a department not paying for itself, do I continue to run it the same way?" The deficit must take precedent over other issues such as affordable housing, Carrington said. "It's difficult to have affordable housing when wasting $260 billion," he said. Carrington said the interest rate was too high because of the national debt and stressed that borrowing was driving the nation deeper into a hole. Congress must be held accountable for this, he said. The Savings and Loan crisis could have been stopped in 1987 when former President Reagan proposed a bail-out bill for the ailing financial institutions, Carrington said. But two former representatives, Jim Wright, D-Texas, and Tony Coelho, D Calif., worked to stall the bill in com mittee for 1 7 to 1 8 months to serve their own interests, Carrington said. Additionally, Coelho contributed funds to Price through a political action committee, and Wright gave Price unopposed. Some Republicans say finding can didates willing to run against the Democrats is difficult. "We've only elected (wo. statewide (Republican) judges this century," said Tom Ball us, communications director for the N.C. Republican party. "The only way Republicans can win is to bring up issues," he said. "The average citizen knows nothing about the candidates. The same judges get elected every time. Judicial candidates tend to be debating whose law school is the best." Snipes said announcing how a judge would decide in a case "is a real dis service to the public. It's important for judges to interpret the Constitution." But the Judicial Code Restrictions make campaigning especially difficult for Republicans, who lack name rec ognition, Freeman said. "In any judicial race, (voters) feel frustrated," he said. "There are so many races in the South where we elect people. The public and press can only give so much attention to all of those races." As a result, increasing amounts of money are being poured into judicial campaigns in North Carol ina and across the nation, Freeman said. More than three times the money spent in both the 1980 and 1982 campaigns will be used during this election. Beyle agreed that the money spent across the nation had become startling, and that most of those funds came from lawyers. "Then you have a question," Beyle said. "Is justice for sale?" The N.C. Supreme Court, which de cides questions of law presented in civil or criminal cases appealed from lower courts, is the state's highest court. A chief justice and six associate justices. as Republicans." Tom Ballus, communications direc tor for the N.C. Republ ican Party, agreed. "We've been real thrilled, actually, with the registration on campus," Ballus said. "Up until this year the students have mainly gone Republican." Both the parties cite many of the same reasons for the advantage the Democrats have in voter registration. "I think that's basically because of Harvey Gantt's appeal to college stu dents," Humphrey said. "The Demo cratic party has always been a party that tries to look forward, a party that tries to make things better, and that's some thing that students are very concerned about. "That sort of vision ahead is some thing that oftentimes comes from college students. We are certainly very depen dent on that vision within the party." Ballus agreed that Gantt was a more attractive candidate to college students than Jesse Helms. "We (the Republican party) just got outworked on college campuses this year," he said. "Gantt has worked the campuses hard, and he's worked them well. Helms has been in Washington money as well, Carrington said. Shifting the focus to education, Carrington said significant decisions about the schools should be made at the state level. "There are lots of people talking about education but not doing anything," Carrington said. "If Price says he is the education person, then why are we hearing the same statements in 1990 as we heard in 1986?" Price should take the money he saves in frank mail (free-postage mail sent to voters) and spend it on education, Carrington said. If elected, Carrington said he would never use frank mail unless a constituent wrote to him asking for a reply. Asked if he would set a limit on his campaign spending, Carrington said $450,000 spent between Aug. 1 and Nov. 6 would be his top dollar mark. Carrington said he asked Price to agree to the same limit but Price rejected the proposal. Carrington previously re jected a Price proposal that would have limited spending to $400,000 but al lowed for $100,000 in PAC contribu tions. Carrington said he would stick to the $450,000 limit. If elected, Carrington said he would not stay in Congress for more than four two-year terms. Carrington advocates a"clean sweep" of current congressional members from their seats in the Senate and House in favor of new candidates. He supports some form of taxpayer approval of congressional pay raises and an end of congressional pensions. Carrington has complained through out his campaign of unequal coverage by the local media in favor of his op ponent. In response, Carrington has taken out weekly advertisements ex pressing the point of view he says is obscured by the media. who are all elected to eight-year terms, sit on the supreme court. The candidates for state Supreme Court include: incumbent James G. Exum (D) versus Howard E. Manning (RJ for Chief Justice: John Webb (D) versus I. Beverly Lake for Assockue Justice; and Willis P. Whichard versus Samuel T. Currin for Associate Justice. The N.C. Court of Appeals, which has 12 judges, is the state's intermediate appellate court. Appellate judges hear cases appealed from trial courts and are elected to eight-year terms. Campaigns for seats on the state Court of Appeals include: Hugh A. Wells (D) versus J. Randolph (Randy) Ward (R); Eugene H. Phillips (D) versus Ralph A. Walker (R); Clifton E. Johnson (D) versus Carter T. Lambeth (R); Sarah Parker (D) versus Dena S. Lingle (R); Sidney S. Eagles (D) versus William M. Neely (R); K. Edward Greene (D) ver sus Sherry Fowler Alloway (R); and James A. Wynn (D) versus Allyson K. Duncan (R) for an unexpired term ending Dec. 31, 1992. By Jan. 1, 1991, North Carolina will have 82 resident superior court judges elected for eight-year terms. Superior court judges are the "strange ones in the bunch," Snipes said. They are nominated by their districts in the primaries, but elected on the statewide ballot Election Day. As with legislative and executive elections, incumbent judges stand the best chance of winning re-election, Snipes said. Judges affiliated with a political party have an advantage over independents, she said. "Independents don't have that much chance of winning." and has hardly had a chance to hit the normal campaign trail, much less get the campuses. "Jesse Helms' message is not the kind of message that appeals to college students," Ballus said. "Your average college student has never had their taxes as one of their main concerns. National defense is another big issue for Sen. Helms, and your average college stu dent doesn't even remember a war." Humphrey said he believed there would be a heavy voter turnout this year and a higher level of student voting than had been seen in a long time. Ballus predicted the turnout would be light in comparison to a presidential election. He said he wasn't sure about increased student participation in the voting process. "The Gantt campaign has motivated them more than usual to be activists and to be workers," he said. "It remains to be seen whether or not they're motivated enough to actually get to the polls. Students have a bad reputation for not voting, but we're still going to do ev erything we can to get the Republican college students out. We're not giving up on the student vote this year."
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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