Esch Predicts Fantastic Growth For District

For a man who has to represent both John Sinclair and Robert Miles in Congress, Rep. Marvin L. Esch looks remarkably well. The Republican Congressman's constituency in the Second District includes both Ann Arbor - home of radical leader Sinclair - and Livingston County, where Miles, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, holds forth. The two constituencies are at opposite ends of the rainbow politically - Ann Arbor leaning liberalward and Livingston County generally i servative. "How does one represent both Livingston County and Ann Arbor?" Esch was asked yesterday after the congressman appeared before the Rotary Club at the Michigan Union to give nis "State of the District" message. "Well," said Esch. "It's not easy. I can usually count on being attacked from both sides. No matter what position I take, I know someone is going to attack me. But it also gives me a certain degree of freedom." Marvin Esch is a Republican, but says he's an independent-minded man. He supports a Republican president on many issues "when I think he's right" but he doesn't support him "when I think he's wrong." Yesterday, after the Rotarians serenaded Esch with a few oldtime songs, the Congressman outlined what he sees as the major problems his district faces in the next decade. The Congressman noted that 'change is rampant aróund us" and predicted that this district will grow fantastically in the next decade. Thought, he said, must be given to insuring orderly growth. "The jurisdictional problem will become a major 1 lem," he said, and Ann Arbor I will have to attack its 1 lems in cooperation with all I of southeast Michigan. Esch also cited "the problem of continued support for scientific research, since Aon ' Arbor relies so heavily on research for employment." Said Esch: "We've been through the post-Sputnik era, but we still haven't delineated a scientific policy for the antion. As research funds continue to drop, the federal government tends to do in-house rather tñan in-field research, and there is a tendency to throw out basic research. I think this trend is an inherent danger. "At a time when funds are tighter, suddenly the scientific community finds itself without a constituency in Congress. And there is a danger that decisions will be made on a political basis rather than on a scientific basis." Another problem which must be faced, said Esch, is "the question of tax tures." People, he observed, "are beginning to discover the limitations of the present tax structure. Most people recognize that we can no longer rely on the property tax." Esch also predicted that, in this session of Congress, "some kind of medical delivery system will be approved ' by the House," and that ' "medicaid will be an issue in the f all elections." The congressman was optimistic about the state of the economy. He predicted that the economy "will continue to improve." However, he also noted that "because of the a d m i n i stration's Phase 1 and Phase 2 programs, a general attitude will develop approving more government control in the private sector." Esch reported that the Congress has made "some progress" in instituting internal reforms, but that he still wasn't satisfied. "We're still dominated too much by mittee chairmen," he said, "and because of that, Congress doesn't always respond to changes in the nation." He noted that "of 126 appropriations bilis earmarked by Congress for government operations, only 10 were passed on time. If you and I ran a business like that, we'd be in trouble in a hurry." Esch said he was espeeially interested in developing a code of ethics for Congress. The Congress man introduced a bilí requiring full disclosure by congressmen of campaign contributions four times a year. The bill passed both the House and Senate, and Esch said he expected President Nixon to sign it into law within a month. "I'm hopeful," said Esch, "that in this decade we can get down to some fundamental changes - starting with Congress itself." Esch is a member of the House's Education and Labor Committee, and also of the Science and Astronautics