Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 34

2D Lincoln Journal Star Sunday, October 12, 1997 CITYSTATE Page design: Matt Obercfing LOU ANN BARRERA KELLY KAY BITTLE PROPRIETORS egents to vote on 1 4 -V 'tJ Fred Knapp 2 -f plan to buy building rhe University of Nebraska 'on plans for renovating the former The TKE Fraternity House at 420 Uni Board of Regents will vote Friday on a proposal to buy the Reunion --i x' I ThL- llrrnrilflflrifTi-iimiifliiiiiir-iffilaiii rnrat-ifiT-ri: -J' versity Terrace at a cost of $829,852, plus $61,851 for design services by The Shemmer Associates. The regents bought the property in October 1996 for $300,000. Several campus offices would be relocated to the remodeled building. Other agenda items up for regents' approval include: A consulting agreement' with Premier Sports Marketing, at $135,000 for the first year, as a consultant for improvements to Bob De-vaney Sports Center. Spending up to $1.5 million from student fee sources to make repairs in student unions and housing facilities.

Naming the new Omaha Technology Institute as the Peter Kiewit Sr. Institute of Information Science, Technology and Engineering. The Kiewit Foundation has donated $15 million toward construction of the building. Building on the northwest corner of 16th and streets for $1.27 million. The board will meet at 8:30 am at Varner Hall, 3835 Holdrege St The building, a former watch factory, is surrounded by university buildings.

Several years ago, developer David Hunter bought the building and renovated it as a food court and shops. It has 21,800 square feet on three floors, including the basement The University of Nebraska Foundation bought the building for $1.2 million last December and is leasing it to the university for $49,000 per year. The top floor is used for collection storage and exhibit preparation by the University of Nebraska Museum, and would continue to be used for that purpose. The lower floor and basement now vacant would become temporary locations for programs being displaced by construction projects elsewhere on campus. "The property is completely surrounded by the UNL City Campus and should be acquired to consolidate campus land holdings and prevent possible reuse in a manner incompatible with university operations," said Melvin Jones, vice chancellor for business and finance.

Also Friday, the regents will vote Lobbyist, legislator link looms ever larger News that Speaker of the Legislature Ron Withem is a finalist to be the chief lobbyist for the University of Nebraska raises some not-so-new questions about whether there ought to be restrictions on lawmakers' ability to move from one job to the other. For Jack Gould, a board member of Common CauseNebraska, the answer is "yes." Gould Isn't criticizing Withem "I respect the guy," he says but rather, the system that allows someone with such inside information and contacts in the Legislature to be considered for the job of trying to influence that body. "If it's offered and he (Withem) were to take it, it would certainly give the university an advantage over any other public interest group going in there. Maybe even more of an advantage than any other individual who could be hired," says Gould. "Society has said it's okay here in Nebraska, and in reality it isn't good for the system," says Gould, whose organization has tried unsuccessfully in recent years to impose a two-year delay on what he calls the "revolving door" between legislating and lobbying.

If that is an apt analogy, it is a door that has spun with regularity in recent times, and not only, or even primarily, for the benefit of "public interest" groups. As of June, the list of people registered to lobby the Nebraska Legislature included no fewer than 14 former legislators: Brad Ashford, Dennis Baack, Don Eret, John Lindsay, Gordon McDonald, Arlene Nelson, Jim Pappas, Dennis Rasmussen, Lee Rupp, Loran Schmit, Tom Vickers, Steve Wiitala, John DeCamp and Bill Wylie, not to mention former governors Bob Crosby and Charley Thone. But there is a flip side to the exception that Gould takes to this phenomenon, expressed by none other than former Common Cause Nebraska lobbyist Tom Vickers. In fact, Vickers says, the organization's push for a delay in the revolving door was "one of the issues that broke us apart." Interest groups tend to hire ex-legislators for two reasons, says Vickers. The first is their relationships with people still in the body.

But the former insider will soon discover that "the day he leaves the Legislature he is no longer part of the club," says Vickers, a former senator from Farnam who left the Legislature after losing a re-election bid in November 1986 and started work as a lobbyist in December of that year. With the high turnover among lawmakers, "In a few years, there's hardly anybody that knows who you are or cares," he says. The second reason for hiring an ex-legislator is that the person knows the system, says Vickers. And he finds no fault with that "You wouldn't hire a plumber who doesn't know what a pipe wrench is," he said, adding that many successful lobbyists never have served as legislators. If there's one point that Gould and Vickers agree on, it's that legislators are underpaid.

For Gould, that makes a time delay on moving into lobbying all the more necessary. Without such a delay, the system allows a lawmaker making $12,000 a year to "use that position as a springboard to another position that can be very lucrative," he says. But for Vickers, saying that a legislator should not be able to use what he has learned in a new position is "almost un-Americaa" "You lose money to serve," said Vickers, adding that the biggest loss of all probably comes from balancing concern for state issues with family dinners and kids' football games. Whichever way you look at it, money talks. Ultimately, it's up to us to decide what it's saying, and what to do about it Lincoln General Hospital will offer a fall session of the Safe Sitter program, a 1 3-hour series which teaches youths age 11-13 how to handle emergencies when caring for young children.

Safe Sitters learn about: tm 1 fssl Wm Pari I I I 1 First aid What to do for choking Infant and child rescue breathing i i.n.. i ihm.1. i 'in' i ujib Accident prevention and management Development stages from infant to school age Lincoln General is one of only two sites in Nebraska certified to teach the Safe Sitter course. This program is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. October 23 and 24 8:00 a.m.

3:30 p.m. Lincoln General Hospital Sixth-floor Education suites The registration fee of $35 includes program materials and 1 I. I -I IT I CARE TO YOUTH 4 fit AM CUSTOM FRAMINC CHCNty RD 420-5353 20 OFF ON ALL CUJT0M FKXMINC OVR.322. FBAMCD PICTURjEI IN ttOCK CONTtMPO IXm TlkXDITIONM. ABSTRACT uicdK.

leireirimeriib. udss is iimnea ro 'v the first 1 8 prepaid registrations. Council to consider health board director To register your child, call 473-5638. JP0MI OWCINMJ I01THWJTM The Lincoln City Council will have a hearing and vote Monday on approving Dr. Gregg Wright as interim director of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department The city-county Board of Health selected Wright after firing former Health Director Jane Ford last month.

Also Monday, the council will consider approving the distribution of $34,425 in keno proceeds for various human services. The council will meet at 1:30 p.m. in its chamber on the first floor of the County-City Building, 555 S. 10th St. For agenda, see Page 8E.

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