Congress Member Wants More Debate on CAA Inquiry

Larson, who chairs the Congress Finance Committee, sent an e-mail Monday encouraging Congress members to reconsider a resolution that would have set up a special committee to investigate the CAA's general procedures. The resolution was voted down 9-3 last week.

The 82nd Congress voted earlier this month to place the CAA under the oversight of Congress after allegations of questionable CAA practices.

Larson attributes the failure to pass the new resolution partly to new Congress members' unfamiliarity with the issues involved and wants to see the measure reintroduced at Congress' Tuesday meeting. "I'm going to motion to reconsider and re-debate it," Larson said Tuesday. "If we vote to reconsider, that does not mean we vote to pass it, but we could discuss the issue (further)."

Reopening debate would require a two-thirds vote of Congress.

Returning Congress members led the opposition to the resolution last week, arguing that an investigation would negatively affect this year's CAA administration, that the people responsible for any wrongdoing could not be brought to justice because they are graduating and that there is insufficient proof of guilt.

Larson said his main concern is that many of the new Congress members did not fully understand the issue and the format of the debate last week. "This was their first meeting in Congress ever for some of them, and they did not completely understand parliamentary procedure."

Ethics Committee Chairman Dave Ruddell, who introduced the initial resolution, said he hopes the new Congress members will get more involved in the debate if the resolution is reconsidered. Although Ruddell plans to support Larson's motion, he said he wants members to decide for themselves if they think more debate is warranted.

"I am concerned that some people will (vote to) reconsider just because The Daily Tar Heel had an editorial about it," he said. Larson cited in his e-mail a Monday editorial that took issue with Congress' action last week.

Some of the new Congress members said they felt lost during the debate over the resolution. Rep. Dana Culp, Dist. 5, who had been to one meeting before last week, said a training session would help the new members feel more comfortable.

Larson said he is concerned that the new members didn't fully understand the issues of the debate, especially those members who had not been to any meetings before where the CAA had been discussed.

While Larson and Ruddell said they were not sure if they could obtain the two-thirds vote needed to reconsider the resolution, Culp appeared more optimistic. Culp said she hopes more members will come to the next full Congress meeting so the issue could receive the full attention of the Congress. "It's so controversial that I would have to think that people would want to debate it again."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.