CAPITAL COMMENT

Fuss and Little Accomplishment in the Statehouse

By Richard G. Zimmerman

Plain Dealer Columbus Bureau COLUMBUS Considering the fact that the only real debate of last week's legislative sessions concerned the length of a female reporter's miniskirt, it seemed singularly inappropriate to write

a serious column for today.

And in light of the fact that relations between the press and the Senate leadership have become so strained over the minskirt affair that! we soon may all be evicted from that unpleasant, little hole called the Statehouse pressroom, it seemed an appropriate time to preserve in print some of the graffiti which now decorates its bulletin board.

RICHARD G. ZIMMERMAN

As could be expected, the head man, Gov. James A. Rhodes, is the favorite subject of the graffiti artists.

LAST WEEK, most of the graffiti centered around a newspaper clipping from the Toledo Blade. headlined: "Governor Says Tax Plan for Schools Wasn't His: Attributes It to Task Force, Voices Opposition to Any New Mandatory Levy."

The clipping was labeled "Weed Patch Report Number 110-B." "Weed Patch" refers to the proverbial hideout ou." governor dashes to when confronted with a controversial issue or after suffering a political setback. It all started when Finance Director

Howard L. Collier was asked what the governor planned to do after the overwhelming defeat of his Ohio Bond Commission constitutional amendment in 1967.

"Head for the weeds," Collier replied.

And sure enough, Rhodes seldom was seen in public for weeks afterward. But his whereabouts was reported in a long series of "Weed Patch Reports" that mysteriously popped up on the pressroom bulletin board.

Under the clipping reporting Rhodes' disavowal of his own new tax and education bill was a memo from the office of Rep. John C. McDonald, House Democratic leader. It read: “Mr. McDonald wishes to assure his friends that it isn't HIS bill, either."

A NEWS RELEASE quoting Rhodes as maintaining that "the public supports vocational education" had been placed beside a recent newspaper headline reading: "Vo-ed Levy Defeated in Light Voter Turnout."

Also on the bulletin board was a clipping of a long letter to the editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer from John J. Gilligan, unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate. Gilligan and the Enquirer had been bitter enemies over the years. Predictably, the letter ripped apart a recent Enquirer editoria!.

Pencilled beside the letter to the editor was this note: “John J. Gilligan is alive and well in Cincinnati, renewing old friendships."

Beside the letter to the editor was a

brief note reading simply: "Jim Rhodes, please call 469-4363. The governor wants to talk to you." The telephone number belongs to John M. McElroy, the governor's righthand man who some believe performs more gubernatorial chores than does Rhodes.

An irate legislator sometime ago scrawled this note to the press: “Homosexuals and newsmen are a pain." A reporter had added this thought: "...and legislators are a bigger pain than a homosexual news-

man.

The recent influx of a large number of young reporters in the pressroom also did not go unnoticed. A note to lobbyists read: "Because of the increasing divergence in the ages in the pressroom, it is suggested that any future offerings be ratioed in twopart Scotch, one-part pablum.'

A LOUDSPEAKER that pipes the proceedings of the House of Representatives into the pressroom had been appropriately labeled "The Speaker of the House"-a label which Speaker of the House Charles F. Kurfess finds only mildly amusing.

The press enjoys no great respect for the television news media. which normally covers the Statehouse only on such occasions as the great miniskirt debate. This may explain this notation: “NBC and CBS are as simple as ABC."

If you happen to be a graffiti fan, rejoice. At the legislature's present pace, we all will have plenty of time to think up additional examples in weeks to come.