University of Miami - The Ibis Yearbook

“Hattflttal Jferos wmm Page 9 Millionaire car dealer John De Lorean: busted in a $60 million cocaine deal. Dems gain 26 seats The Democrats picked up 26 seats in the House of Represen- tatives and seven governorships in an election where the reigning Republican party was lucky to get out alive. After all was said and done, the Democrats had 46 seats in the Senate, 267 seats in the House and 34 governorships. The Republicans had 54 seats in the Senate, 166 seats in the House and 15 governorships. Still to be determined were two Georgia House seats and the close race for governor in Illinois where the incumbent James Thompson and Democratic challenger Adlai Stevenson were locked in a battle that was too close to call. Some of the big winners on Election Day were: San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson, who defeat- ed California Governor Jerry Brown for the Senate; Republi- can George Deukmejian, who beat out Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley for the governor- ship despite the fact that two lo- cal Los Angeles TV stations had projected Bradley as the winner; Mario Cuomo, who won the gov- ernorship of New York in a tight race against Lew Lehrman, who spent $11 million in his bid for the post; Jeff Bingaman, who beat Reagan loyalist Harrison Schmidt for a senate seat in New Mexico; Democrat Frank Lau- tenberg, who defeated Republi- can Rep. Millicent Fenwick for a New Jersey Senate seat; and Texas Attorney General Mark White, who scored an impressive upset victory over GOP incu- mbent William P. Clements, Jr. in the Texas gubenatorial derby. The Republicans were indeed lucky to escape with many of the victories that they did. House Minority Leader Robert Michel from Illinois won by only four percent over his opponent G. Douglas Stephens, a Peoria Lawyer who won the Democratic nomination as a write-in candi- date. Many political analysts theorize that this was a direct message to the White House by dissatisfied Americans. With the election returns from this year ' s elections count- ed, vulnerable GOP senators up for re-election in 1984, such as John Warner of Virginia, Gor- don Humphrey of New Hamp- shire and Roger Jepsen of Iowa, were already working on their campaign strategies; the fresh- ness of the Democratic gains of 1982 very much in mind. In their usual political jargon, the Democrats called this year ' s results a signal that the voters wanted a change, while the Re- publicans, still in control of the Senate, called the results a man- date from the voters that they were willing to " stay the course. " By Howard Burns DeLorean busted in cocaine deal Multi-millionaire automobile designer John De Lorean was ar- rested by police for dealing co- caine just seven hours after the British government closed down his ailing company. De Lorean, a former top ex- ecutive with General Motors who quit his position there to form his own automobile com- pany, was arrested by FBI agents in what was the final stage of a drug deal that would have netted him up to $60 mil- lion. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Walsh tried for a $20 mil- lion bail for De Lorean. Walsh contended: " This man is recog- nized as a genius, a visionary. But one does not create an in- dustry on the backs of cocaine users and heroin addicts. " Walsh said that he had a vid- eotape of De Lorean cradling a packet of cocaine in his lap and saying: " This is better than gold. This comes in the nick of time. " After his defense attorney ar- gued that his client was more of a " victim " than a lawbreaker, De Lorean pleaded not guilty. DeLorean was held on $5 mil- lion bail. By Howard Burns War in Middle East; Israelis invade Beirut On June 6, the Israeli army in- vaded southern Lebanon, thus triggering the most thorough at- tack Israel had ever launched in its attempt to destroy the Pales- tinian Liberation Organization. The most immediate reason for the bombardment was the assassination attempt in Lon- don of Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador to Britain. Israel ac- cused the PLO of the attack and immediately retaliated the next day by attacking PLO guerrilla camps in Lebanon. On July 6, President Reagan agreed to send a small group of U.S. troops to Beirut to help in a multinational peace-keeping force, sparking some concern in the U.S. that American troops were being asked to fight some- body else ' s war. A week later, Reagan an- nounced that he would hold up a U.S. shipment of cluster bombs to Israel because reports were saying that Israel had used the American-made bombs in its at- tack of Lebanon. At about this time, the U.S. sent in special envoy Phillip Ha- bib to act as a mediator between the two waring factions. On August 6, the PLO agreed to Habib ' s withdrawal plan, pending the agreement of Jor- dan, Syria and Egypt to take in some of the PLO members. The next day, they agreed. Towards the end of the month, a contingent of U.S. Ma- rines landed in Beirut and PLO members led by Yasir Arafat left for Syria and other Middle East settlements. On Sept. 14, Lebanese Presi- dent-elect Bashir Gemayel was killed when a bomb exploded and destroyed the headquarters of the Christian Philangist Par- ty. Three days later, there was revenge. Over 300 Lebanese citizens were killed on Sept. 17 by Phi- langist soldiers who went on a raid of refugee camps in south- ern Beirut. Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon later admitted that the Israelis helped the Philangists gain entry into the camps. Calls for Sharon ' s resignation, as well as the resignation of Prime Min- ister Menachem Begin started being heard worldwide. In Feb. of this year, Sharon was found to be guilty of negli- gence in his handling of the situ- ation and was asked to step down as defense minister while retaining his position in the cabinet. By Howard Burns ”