Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Leventis 4 BY LEE POWELL Of The Gamecock staff SGA President Leigh IAventis charged Tuesday that many members of the student senate have become "vindictive" toward the executive branch of student government. 4' "A few senators have become vindictive toward the executive branch," said Leventis, "not just toward me but the Cabinet." A few senators, he added, are doing everything they can to oppose him. While not mentioning any names, he said he hopes they do not in terfere with the expressed main concern of SGA-the well-being of the student body. While friction between executive and legislative branches is nothing new to government, and especially USC student government, tension between Leventis and the senate are at an all-time high. The recent senate overriding of his budget vetoes is a cause of some of the friction that exists between the two branches. Leventis vetoed two parts (three and four) of the budget on the grounds that part three was un necessary because of redundancy and part four was futile as it was. Leventis was strongly opposed to part four of the budget, which states all appropriations approved by the senate must also be ap proved by the Senate Finance Committee and SGA Treasurer seven days before the money can be used. Leventis said he does not see the need for this part to include all approved appropriations, since all fund bills are proposed by the Senate Finance Committee anyway. He added that "if the section read 'Be enacted that all approved "lump sum" ap propriations...,' then that would have been fine." He said that if the veto had held up, he hoped the senate would change those clauses of the rule he had reasons for opposing. (The seven day clause and the Finance Committee clause.) with2 On ind the se Another act which may be considered as an attack on Leventis was the senate's denial of the appointment of Ray Snyder to various committees. Snyder has been asked to appear before the senate to answer questions. Leventis, who backed Snyder for the appointment, said "Four (the number of committees to which Snyder was to be appointed) committees are a lot for one person and I can see how people (senators) are-interested in him." He said what made him angry Sen ate. c BY LEE POWELL Of The Gamecock staff Several members of the USC Student Senate expressed their opinions of the difficulty between SGA President Leigh Leventis and the senate as an increasingly better system of checks and balances resulting from the need of the senate to be a strong part of the government. The senators claim they were not trying to grab power from the executive branch, but attempting to increase the power of the senate so that the two branches would be equal in power. The overriding of Leventis' budget vetoes were a factor in strengthening the power of the senate. Tom Efland, chairman of the Judicial Committee, said that the overriding was "not intended as a slap at Leventis or as a power struggle." Efland voted for the override of the vetoes on the grounds that he was "not sure they were absolutely necessary," stressing "absolutely." He reported that the senate has a "physical responsibility" to maintain a system of checks and balances. He added, "This is the first time checks and balances STOP! TRAFFIC will appear at iarolina Coliseum special guest John Mart; red., Oct. 30--7:30 pr Tickets: '4 5 '6 Sale: Coliseum Box Office nate: A S about the denial was the senate's justification. "Such things like asking what he did during the summer," Leventis said, "is really what burned me up." Leventis feels the SGA budget is not all it could be is the fact that it! contains no contingency fund money allocated to the president to use on various projects. Any money he uses must be approved by the senate. ites 'check among the branches have been played this year." One section of the budget overridden by Leventis dealt with funds being approved by the Senate Finance Committee and the SGA Treasurer seven days before they can be used. Jim Stuart, chairman of Off Campus Student Affairs Com mittee, also voted in favor of the override. "We need line item budgeting," he said, which was a clause in the overridden section, "one reason being we can't work it through the computer without it." Also, he said, "I am against him (Leventis) on the (Student Finance) committee clause." This concerns funds having to go back to the committee for approval. Stuart said money has been "recklessly spent" in the past. Robert Kilgo, who is head of the Student Finance Committee, gave his reason for voting in favor of the override as being a means "to provide a check on how much money is being appropriated." Kilgo proposed the amendment which Leventis vetoed. Kilgo again mentioned "checks and balances" as a means for the override. Kilgo cited several examples of GA power While this is not the most dominant reason on his list and while he still has the right to transfer ten per cent of ap propriated funds from one section of the budget to another, Leventis expressed his need for a con tingency fund. He gave the example that there was "a real problem getting flowers for Dr. John R. Welsh's funeral." If he had the contingency fund, Leventis said, the problem would not have arisen. .s and bal past budgets to show why checking was needed. There were several sections of last year's budget that were very ambiguous, he said. "If for some reason.. .a und bill got by the Treasurer, we would never know what happened to the money without the amendment." Stuart said he believes the budget is good, and that the senators did a good job. "Now we've got a very efficient system," said Stuart, adding that power is being put back into perspective. "We need a balance of power between all branches. It used to be the executive branch was the only branch getting anything done." Kilgo agreed with Stuart somewhat. He is against Leventis' feeling that the budget is not as good as it could be. He reports that his committee spent about the same amount of time on the budget this year as they did on last year's budget, although he acknowledged the fact that the senate did not spend a lot of time on it because of the time involved in changing the quorum rule. Kilgo answered Leventis' at titude toward the senate for not taking separate votes on both items that were overridden by saying, "I think the vote (on the appropriated funds section) would SAVE T to remind DINNER - Oct. National GL Dinner & Dance Dance *3.00 cot Music by c) Tickets sold .H. Lobbu struggle LEIGH LEVENTIS ...senate problems ances have turned out exactly the same; maybe a one or two vote dif ference." There was some disagreement involved concerning the case of Ray Snyder, who was denied ap pointment to several governmental positions by the senate.Stuart was the senator who suggested Snyder's removal, and said he has been thanked for making the suggestion. Stuart said, "Four committees is an awful lot for one person. I had to have several questions answered before I could approve him." He went on to say, "If he (Snyder)is so well-qualified, why did Leigh get so upset when we asked Snyder to come up before the senate?" These senators and others feel the senate is not fighting Leventis, just maintaining a system of checks and balances and evening out the power of each branch. "We've given him just about everything he's asked for," said Kilgo, referring to Leventis' proposals. He too wants to see the power of the executive and legislative branches even out. Efland said he tended to trust Leventis. "People may seem to slam Leventis but are actually against the system," said Efland. 'HIS AD you of the - DANCE 26, iard Armory *6.00 couple iple (RNIVAL |in advance u.U.C.C.