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Thursday, March 15, 1984
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 83 No. 121
Legislature passes resolution
to begin Douglas impeachment
By Petty Prycr
The Legislature voted Wednesday to
begin impeachment proceedings ag
ainst Nebraska Attorney General Paul
Douglas.
The vote on LR277, sponsored by
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, was
met with scattered applause from the
capacity crowd.
Only one public official has been
impeached in Nebraska history. The
state's first governor, David Butler,
was removed from office in 1871 on a
charge of misappropriating state funds.
Douglas' impeachment was consider
ed after legislators passed a separate
resolution, LR278, condemning the at
torney general's actions in his dealings
with Commonwealth Savings Co. and
Marvin Copple, son of Commonwealth
President S. E. Copple.
Both resolutions, along with a third
recommendation for censure, were de
bated in a special five-hour meeting of
the Legislature's Commonwealth Com
mittee March 4.
Much of Wednesday's discussion con
cerned Douglas' knowledge of his in
volvement in inside transactions bet
ween Copple and his secretary, Judith
DriscolL
In earlier investigations, Douglas
gave conflicting testimony concerning
his awareness of such transactions.
Several senators called for impeach
ment proceedings rather than con
demnation to allow Douglas the oppor
tunity to defend himselt
Impeachment proceedings must be
taken up within 10 days by the state
Supreme Court, which will conduct a
full trial on the events in question.
"I felt that Paul Douglas needed that
opportunity to go to the supreme court
and defend his actions," said Sen. Ber
nice Labedz of Omaha, who voted for
impeachment during the Common
wealth Committee's March 4 meeting.
"If I were in his situation, I would ask
for impeachment; I'd ask for my day in
court," she said.
Chambers, in introducing the im
peachment proposal, said that passing
just the condemnation resolution
alone would be "a symbolic washing of
the hands by Pilate."
Others also expressed support for
both condemnation and impeach
ment. "We've just condemned the attorney
general now he's going to serve
another two years with that hanging
over his head?" Sen. Don Wesley of Lin
coln asked. "The same reasons that
justify condemnation also justify im
peachment. ; .;.
Continued cn Pc3 3
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Craig AndresenOs'ly Nebraskan
Aim party candidates Paul Edens, Mark Scudder end Curt Olteans cele
brate their ASUN election victory Wednesday night
Loss surprises Goldstein
Reactions were mixed from the five
losing ASUN parties Wednesday night.
United Students presidential candi
date Kevin Goldstein said the election
results surprised him.
"I was especially surprised at the
margin," Goldstein said. The second
place US party received 22 percent of
the vote, while the Scudder's Aim party
recieved 38 percent.
Goldstein said US campaign meth
ods had not been as effective off
campus and' in residence halls as he
had hoped. This affected the size of the
voter margin, Goldstein said.
Mike Geiger, presidential candidate
for UNITE said he was disappointed at
the loss.
"But, I've won and lost things before,
and when I lost, something better has
often turned up," Gieger said.
Geiger said his campaign and the
election were "seriously affected" by
the Electoral Commission ruling, which
stopped UNITE's campaigning at 8
am. Wednesday because of improper
filing of its financial statement.
, In Wednesday's Daily Nebraskan
article, "Error stops UNITE campaign,"
also hurt the party, Geiger said. Geiger
said he thought the headline was mis
leading because voters thought his
party was disqualified.
Although not surprised by the out
come, Fashin presidential candidate
Tim Burke said he had hoped a last
minute media blitz by his party would
provide a winning margin.
Aim is a "fine, good party," Burke
said. "I just hope they appoint me to
some high executive office."
"I'm crushed...speechless" said Ed
Bennett, first vice presidential candi-'
date for the Don Ho party. "Oh well, we
knew we didn't have a chance."
"We didn't kiss enough babies, I
guess," said Jeff Jackson, presidential
candidate. -
"I'm glad we didn't win," Bennett
said. "They'll get more done than we'd
have time for."
"We didn't plan on winning," said
John Hazuka, presidential candidate
of the Rco party. "We just wanted to
corrupt the other parties."
"If Aim needs any corruption, well
do it for them," said Hazuka.
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Crsij AndrcsenDa'.Iy Nebraskan
Sen. Ernie Chambers listens to arguments in favor of Attorney General
'. Paul DcuIr.3 befcre epealdr.g cn his racticn for the impeachment of
Dongas. - A ';. r". '": '
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SUM elecctMdDini mGtimy
By Terry Hyland
Aim Party candidate Mark Scudder
easily captured the ASUN presidency
Wednesday, outdistancing his closest
opponent by almost 400 votes.
Scudder's running mate for first vice
president is Curt Oltmans.
Scudder was as surprised as anyone
when the final tally came in about
1 1 :45 p.m. Wednesday.
"I'm just very happy right now," Scud
der said. He spent election night with
more than 100 Aim supporters crammed
into his home on the outskirts of Lin
coln." "I don't think I would have won if if
hadn't been for the organization of my
candidates," Scudder said. "We had
people out 12 hours (yesterday), and
no one's ever done that before. The
whole party is so close, there is a unity
among us that's almost like family."
Aim also swept the early senatorial
seat returns, with one exception on
the business advisory board, where an
Aim candidate lost by two votes.
A total of 2,266 students voted in the
election, representing about 11 per
cent of eligible voters.
Dave Spencer, director of ASUN Elec
tion Committee, said the turnout was
better than expected He said he thought
reducing the number of polling places
to three for the elections might have
an effect on voter turnout. But the
effect was negligible.
"Three polling sites still pulled in
about the average for every (previous)
election," he said.
The final vote totals and percen
tages: Aim, 871, 38 percent; United
Students, 494, 22 percent; United, 300,
13 percent; Don Ho, 298, 13 percent;
Fashin, 180, 8 percent; Roo, 89, 4 per
cent. There were 34 write-in votes.
Complete election results will run in
Friday's Daily Nebraskan.
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Davs Trouba Da!!y Nebraskan
Troy Ililysrd, Julie MecsbnOr and Kevin Goldstein cf the United Stu
dents psrty reset to their less in Wednesday's ASUN elections. -
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