It’s acceptable to imagine that Ald. Tom Powell, District 5, can change his mind and answer to a different calling of service after spending some time on the Madison Common Council. What isn’t acceptable is The Badger Herald’s cheap shot (“District 5 Dishonesty,” 11-29-2001) at Ald. Powell.

What is most disturbing about the editorial was the tag “dishonest politician” that is applied to Powell. Agree with his politics or not, what is beyond argument is the fact that, with Powell, what you see is what you get.

Powell has fought hard for four years for the issues he has clearly said he would fight for. And the students in District 5, most likely to the dismay of the Editorial Board, have twice elected him by some of the largest margins in recent history.

It should be no secret that the Herald harbors some animosity towards Powell. After all, one of his vanquished opponents (Joe Alexander) was once a staff writer.

Also, Associate Opinion Editor James Kent fronted a stealth PAC called “Students for Responsible Government.” In 1998, SRG funneled hundreds of Republican dollars into a failed last-minute smear campaign against Powell.

There’s no doubt that if Powell shared the conservative proclivities of the Editorial Board, his change of heart wouldn’t be an issue. As today’s editorial is no doubt the opening salvo in what will be a long campaign in the Opinion page against Powell, students should be informed as to who the real players are and what are their real motivations.

Michael Basford, Madison, Wis.

I was not so much insulted as I was surprised at a segment of my minutes being showcased as “Insult & Inquiry” in Thursday’s Badger Herald. First, I was surprised that anyone actually reads the minutes I painstakingly labor over every other week. I was under the impression that the minutes of the ASM Council had only a slightly smaller readership than the opinions of the Herald Editorial Board.

Furthermore, I was surprised that the Herald’s writers, of all people, would object to someone injecting their own ideas into otherwise factual information.

What I don’t understand, however, and what genuinely upset me about the Herald’s scrutiny of my minutes was not what the Herald chose to highlight, but rather what they missed. Had they read the rest of the minutes of that meeting, they would have seen that ASM passed stipend guidelines to hold its members accountable for the work they do.

We passed a resolution to educate the student body about segregated fees and a measure in support of electoral reform to guarantee students’ enfranchisement at the polling place. We also appointed students to serve on faculty and university committees to ensure that student input is heard in the governance of this university.

But I suppose the Herald is too busy informing the student body of my sense of humor to inform them about how their student government is making their campus a better place.

Faith Kurtyka, ASM Council Secretary