The Capital Times from Madison, Wisconsin • 15

ade Us Wiser i Water 1 sharpened awareness of the importance of a vigilant and participating electorate, and a reinforced belief in the system to survive and overcome abuses by crooked politicans. In Des Moines, Homer Vandervclde, 46, a soft-spoken engineer, said Watergate has shown me that politics has room for Improvement and that it will be improved." Why? Because, he said, people can now see' that it needs improvement." In Denver, Cheryl Daniel, 28, said she has "a stronger interest in politics now, because so many bad things have happened, the country is more aware and interested In straightening things out. We did encounter those for whom Watergate meant the end of trust in the Republican Party. Watergate has really turned me off, right down to the local Republican running for office," said a young housewife in North Hempstead, Long Island. Im very disillusioned and Id never want mv husband to get involved in government.

But the reaction arising Republicans seemed more typically reflected by the comment of 68-ysar-old Oliver Mct'lintock, a (CMtinued Page 16, Cel. 1) take a good look at the candidates before voting. All this does not assure, of course, that come November the Republicans will be spared the wrath of the voters after one of the stormiest periods In American political history. The Party in control of the white House traditionally loses strength in the Whal the Voters Think In an flection teuton, politician fall orer each other a they court the nation' ciliten. Thoutand of word are written about their wont and deed, but ho litten to the abject of their affection, the otenf Thi fall.

The Capital Time going to put a tpeclal emfthati on the oter. Beginning today and running through the election, ue trill feature rtorie probing the thought and mood of the people In our Hate and In our nation. off-year congressional elections. What The Post's Interv iews do suggest is that Republicans have a chance to win, and incumbents of both parties to survive, if they ran make case in this full's campaigning. Though many voters said they were not surprised by the revelations of Watergate and its aftermath both parties do it but only one got caught," some continue to say they did not hide their revulsion.

They had a variety of strong words to describe their feelings: disgust," dismay," rotten," dirty," corrupt," "terrible." "stupid." But most hastened to say that the experience had not stampeded them into any throw-the-rascals-out temper or turned them off politics completely. Some said just the opposite, in fact Out of Watergate, these people suggested, might come a ByJUlESWlTCOVEB Lee Davis, a 32-year-old newspaper circulation superviser, sat in his living room in San Jose, sipping a soft drink and talking over an old movie on TV. He explained why be was not of a mind to punish Republican candidates automatically this fall for Watergate. "Most Republicans who are going to run for election, said Davis, an independent who voted for Richard M. Nixon in 1972, "had nothing to do with Watergate.

Down the suburban street tucked under the eastern Santa Clara foothills, Oliver Pasquinelll, 56, a produce man, rejected the idea that the way to recover from Watergato is to clean out incumbents of both parties and bring in a whole crop of new faces. "If a man does a good job he should stay in, he said. If not, out" These San Jose neighbors are typical of voters a Washington Bst team of six reporters talked to during two weeks in 16 states in all regions of the country. A basic attitude found after the long nightmare of Watergate das a disposition to examine the candidates and cast a discriminating ballot, rather than deliver a knee-jerk verdict against all Republicans, or all incumbents. This attitude, expressed widely in 158 in-depth Interviews, suggests that for all the public skepticism about politics that has grown out of Watergate, voters this fall are not so much turned off politics as they have been sobered by events to take their own responsibility as citizens more seriously.

In contrast with the bulk of those interviewed by Post reporters in 1972 who testified to yawning apathy over politics and the electoral process, the voters we talked to this time indicated generally that theyre paying attention and intend to I The CAPITAL TIMES Special I J-rS'i i iW4 Autries wffl get Watergate aft Its chest at the pells this (Staff photo by Bruce R. Fritz) September 30, 1974 15 SECTION i i Colorful Grover Takes A Final Poke alt Politics Who Do We Blame For Els of Inflation? Skokie, a suburb of Chicago. "Theyre our leaders." But the fireman, who is a union member but a ticket-splitting independent, quickly added that, I wouldn't blame the Democrats or the Republicans. I don't think anybody's going to be able to come up with a candidate that's gut one single solution." There seemed to be several reasons why inflation is such a disembodied issue so far in this year's campaigning. One is that not only Is there no presidential election to serve as a focal point in all the electioneering; there is not even a sitting President to blame.

Gerald R. Ford is too recently in office; no one interviewed blamed him. The inflation Issue also has been neutralized so far by the bafflement most voters feel. The President might be able to cut through some of this by stating and selling the country on an explanation and some answers. Right now, though, many voters say quite openly that they do not understand inflation what has caused it, how to cure it and have little faith tfiat the experts and the politicians understand it, either.

Ask them what they want done, and most voters have trouble going past the honest answer of an auto worker in Detroit: Lower the taxes and raise the wages." Some a minority say they wouM like to see government spending cut. A nearly equal minority says, sometimes reluctantly, that perhaps the government should reinstitute wage and By DIANE SHERMAN Of TM Cm Timm SMI The Buffalo has left state politics. State Rep. Herbert Grover, a Shawano Democrat who for the last ten years has whomped his opposition in that traditionally conservative Republican area, has left the Assembly to become superintendent of schools in Niagara, Wis. The nickname, the Buffalo, is one he has promoted himself.

The large figure of the rumpted, full-bellied Grover has cut one of the most colorful paths the Legislature in the ten years he represented Shawano and Menominee Counties. Grover, 37, invariably rolling a well-chewed cigar around in his mouth, took a physical delight in the political process, bear-hugging his blends, or jabbing an index finger into a foe's gut. He had his feet planted firmly in two worlds. Grover delighted in playing the role of the bumpkin, the rube who only knew what he read in the papers, who was sick of too much government and too many rules. But the other side of Bert Grover was a well-educated, sophisticated man with a moderate voting record, a former management analyst for the state, and staffer to S.

Sen. William Proxijiire. The same Bert Grover could twit the Department of Natural Resources as a bunch of book-learned bureaucrats" ho didnt i understand the practical realities of rural life, and in the next breath, deliver a scholarly presentation on the development of the United denouncing right-wingers Wio pressed the state Legislature to investigate the international organization. A wheeler and a dealer by his own description, Grover puts a high premium on personal friendship and loyalty. He unabashedly admits to having voted on the basis of friendship, when the merits of an issue were not clear.

He resigned his Assembly seat a few weeks ago to accept a i job with the Department of Public Instruction, but when the Niagara job opened up, he accepted quickly. As he prepared to leave Madison, Grover reflected soberly i on his political Theres a lot of role playing that goes on here. Ill miss the 1 people, but not the process, he said. After a period of time, it becomes frustrating and one begins to quekiori the significance of ones contribution. You begin to think you might have peaked.

Grover.said that the very structure of the Legislature, with its party caucus system, cuts down the options of the individual to go his own way. 7 don't know who goofed it up so bad. And I don't know who's running who can do anything about it." By PETER MHJUS WlHmlM PmI Nmn itntc WASHINGTON Go out across the country and almost all the voters you talk to will say that inflation is the No. 1 problem facing America today. But ask them how inflation will affect the way they vote this November and you may find yourself surprised.

Many voters a majority, perhaps said it probably will not affect their chokes at the polls this year. This surface paradox an overwhelming issue that is somehow not quite yet a political issue may melt away as the Nov. 5 election day approaches. Opposing candidates for everything from senator to selectman will try to drive the Issue home in the next six weeks. President Ford might also try to drive it home, campaigning fur an inflation-proof" Congress.

Democrats will respond by blaming the inflation and developing recession, if not on hun, then on his party. Right now, though: A grandmother in Detroit said she had started buying fish off the docks" and driving out into the countryside to buy vegetables and put them up, because we couldn't afford to eat just out of the supermarket" any more. Yet, I couldn't blame anyone for it, she said. I don't know who goofed it up so bad," and, I don't know who's running who can do anything about She was not alone in feeling baffled, feeling there was no way she could vote inflation out of office this year, and in asserting that her vote will probably be based on other factors. A young couple in an Akron subdiv ision, he a salesman, she a teacher, told an interviewer something we kept hearing all across the country, that in spite of the inflation they are not really hurting, that "we've got some money, we don't live on tight a budget right now." And yet inflation still affects them: A team of six Washington Post reporters spent almost a week interviewing a cross-section of voters in selected precincts in 16 states, North and South, Hast and West.

Predictably, nearly all these voters said inflation was the leading problem the country faces. Perhai the most striking thing about voters' answers was how few named the government," or politicians, or the White House or Congress, or either of the two major political parties anyone in public life when asked who or what they blamed. A few voters gave the kind of simple, classic answers to the question that politicians both play upon and fear. I blame the Republicans," said a black nurse's aide and mother of five, a Straight-Democratic ticket voter in Detroit. Things didn't get like this until they got in.

A wealthy Republican attorney in Nassau County, Long Island, was just as quick to blame Democratic spenders in Congress stupid politicians like Kennedy and McGovern who speak one way and act another and give it away to attract have-nots to their cause and take it away from me." Most of those interviewed shied away from such easy explanations; many said frankly they do not know who to blame. I suppose the government," said a young fireman in price controls. We live in a democracy," says an accountant in Illinois, but perhaps the government does have to do It." Many of those interviewed said it was not so much that they were losing to inflation as that they were not gaining any more. Thus a young black father in Detroit who had worked up to become a project engineer for General Motors said, I havent had it hard" even though prices have gone up; "it's pretty much the same." But you cant save," he went on. "You dont ever seem to reap the benefits you're entitled to." lbs family's income is well over the national median, which was 112,051 last year.

Poorer and older people plainly have been harder hit. Even there, it is hard to generalize. A mailman in Jacksonville, said he was one of those who are hurting. More of my kids are in school, so my costs are going up that way," he said, plus the price of food, utilities, everything is going up but my wages. Now I get a $92 light bill." But what had set him back the most, he said, was that I just paid $1,500 for one quarter for my child In college." Back in a black neighborhood In Detroit, when asked what they thought was the leading problem that the country faces, more voters said crime than said inflation.

A retired auto worker, living now on $6,000 a year, was asked what he wanted President Ford to do most urgently. Cure inflation, for Gods sake," he said, and push the law. The economy would not affect the way he votes this November, he said. But he added that next time it might. Retiring Assemblyman Herbert Graver (Staff photo by Carmie Thompson) i transitory, its temporary.

All the blackslapping and the collegial behavior, It sometimes wears thin because you know full well after ten years, maybe five or six will send you a Christmas card. The atmosphere is artificially stimulated by the idea that 1 each one has something to give his vote. Although you may walk knee deep in each others blood by the end of the day, you come back with the backslapping and the camaraderie because you know you might need the other guys vote. Its kind of archaic, and kind of outmoded, maybe even immature in terms of dealing with the backstabbing society we live in, he said. I paid a helluva price for my friendship with Harold Froehlieh, Grover went on.

News accounts alleged thut Grover had made a pre-election deal with the former Republican speaker two years ago, which would guarantee no Opponent for Grover, if he would endorse Froehlieh and raise money for him. -To this day, Grover insists there was no deal. I just told a lot of good Republicans in my area that he was the best candidate in the Republican primary," he said. Grover observed that the type of personality found in the Legislature is changing. In 65, when I came, there were great peaks and valleys in (CMtiniKd Page 16, Col.

1) You come down here as equals, then you elect leadership, create a committee structure. When you find your position in the pecking order, you find youve compromised away, through the structure of the Legislature, most of your basic alternatives and, to some degree, principles. You won't even get a committee chairmanship if you don't at least play ball," he said. The garrulous Grover is a fascinated observer of human nature. He had a pretty good instinct for what make his fellows tick, and he was always out there threatening, cajoling, wheedling, soothing his way into a deal.

With a twist on the old Wilf Rogers line, Grover said, I 1 never met a legislator I didn't like. I never found a legislator I didn't find interesting, although there's some you wouldn't like to have for a brother-in-law. Yet, he added ruefully, the friendship in the institution is 4 I Whats Inside You. Is. Poetry, Ready to Escape BOOKS of the TIMES Lfcv GEORGE VVKEUCH Whats Inside You It Shines Out of You I i A i.

i by Marc Kamintky lloriton Trett 2M pp. 97.95 Using the established poets works as catalysts, the oldsters craft their own individual creations. They are joys. Beatrice Zucker writes: We are all connected to God with Invisible wires When we he or deceive we twist the wires make it impossible for us to reach the Supreme Mind I'll even tell you my true age Thats how much I believe in the truth I'm 78. Bella Jacsbsklnd: My father died in the sewer He hid himself so they wouldnt carry him off.

"I want to die like a proud Jew, not like a cockroach." He was one of the best watchmakers in Warsaw. He helped the boys make bombs grenades. They were in the sewer fighting. It thats where he died. Lilly Palace: My son-in-law all the dirty jokes he knows he comes tells me I enjoy them.

I'm not a sedate person. "They do not waste time and breath," Kaminsky concludes, "on all the crap that we spend our days pursuing. They know they are mortal and knowing their mortality is a strength beyond the strength of the young ones." What's Inside Ym It Shines Out sf Yan (Bella's observation) is a tribute to the power of the word written, spoken and listened to. University Extension should hire Marc Kaminsky. Or someone like him.

Marc Kaminsky was bom in New York in 1943 and has B.A. and M.A. degrees from Columbia University. He has written several books of poems and has conducted poetry workshops in a wide variety of settings in elementary schools, high schools, colleges, drug programs and vocational rehabilitation agencies. but there' alway water.

1 I dreamed that when I wa alone in thi cotutlry my parent apfteared before me, and my fttiher bletted me, and I knew uu their lat time, I knew they were writhed, thi wa jul before Shavuot, 1912. I dream altout the beautiful thing the color of nature, and muic, and I tee Haifa and hrael and the mountain of swilterland. I dreamed when I wa deeping at a window mar the fire encape a hand came and duiked me, ami in the morning I taw the watch wa there and no one had come. A poem, Kaminsky tells his oldsters, is really a way of talking to another person and a way of working with reality. For a senior citizens group to have any real value," Kaminsky says, I think it must allow room for activities that have the full dignity of work.

Making soup, setting the tables the whole business side of the club is a way of working with reality. Poetry is also a way." Moving on, the group studies Milton, Shakespeare, Allan Ginsberg, the Psalms of David, Lao-Tzu, James Wright, Sylvia Plath, Beats, Rilke, Frost and Walt Whitman. (If Whitman was gay, Vera Rosenfeld observes, so are a lot of other nay you can't read a tingle good nentence with the 1 tall In it unle you have previoutly heard it ioken. Neither can you with the hap of all the character and diacritical mark pronounce a ingle word unle you have previoutly heard it actually pronounced. Word exint In the mouth not In book Robert Frost IF are aim having a poetry group with Mr.

Marc Kamintky. lie i a wonderful teacher He i drilling our head, he it illuminating our life, he bring out the fire that wa deeping for to many year. Now when we are old i to go and be occupied in a clot of the teacher make feel that we are a ounce of Spring and a fountain of youth again. We fee I that we are blotmming again and thi make old people to turdre. Dora Brown, Senior Citizen and member of the Thursday Poetry Group In the summer of 1972, the young American poet Marc Kaminsky was hired by the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged to work with JASAs senior citizen clubs in New York.

You'll have to have cards and bingo, a club member told him in Brooklyn. "I myself don't play cards or bingo. A good discussion, a class, that's something I enjoy A lot of the women here they like something thats going to keep the mind active." Kaminsky decided to do a poetry workshop using as a handbook Kenneth Koch's collection of poem-recipes," Wishes, Lies and Dreams: Teaching Children ta Write Poetry. Koch's recipes, Kaminsky writes, are brilliant and simple devices for releasing the poetry In people. They provide the security of a pre-fabricatcd structure.

They remove people's anxiety about poetry by turning a single line moreover the line need not even be written. It may be dictated to the person conducting the workshop The first group-poem that came from Kaminskys work with old people was built around I dreamed that my huband all dreed up in hi gentle voice came back to me and told met Take care of yourtelf. dream ull the time of water, alway In my dream there' water muddy water. I.