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Gingrich penalized
for ethics breaches
Nebraska’s three
congressmen vote for
the $300,000 penalty.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
House voted 395-28 to slap Newt
Gingrich with a $300,000 fine in an
unprecedented disciplining of its
Speaker.
The action taken Tuesday included
a reprimand for Gingrich.
Partisanship was undiminished as
some Democrats still sought to oust
Gingrich from the position to which
he was recently re-elected. At one
point, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
questioned whether he was “ethically
fit” to continue as speaker.
Nebraska’s three Republican con
gressmen all voted for the penalties,
Rep. Doug Bereuter presided over de
bate on the issue, at one time chiding
his fellow representatives to “maintain
an atmosphere of mutual respect.”
There were 196 Republicans, 198
Democrats and 1 Independent whc
supported the penalty. TWenty-six Re
publicans and two Democrats were
opposed and five members merel)
voted “present.”
Gingrich misses the action
Gingrich was attending meetings
in his office and did not watch the
debate, said his spokeswoman, Lauren
Maddox. Still unannounced is how
Gingrich will pay the $300,000. Some
Republicans said he would risk fur
ther political uproar if he used cam
paign money or established a legal
defense fund rather than using his own
money.
The $300,000 penalty imposed on
Newt Gingrich emerged from plea
bargain negotiations in which the eth
ics committee’s special counsel men
tioned a penalty as high as $800,000,
the speaker’s lawyer said Tuesday.
Attorney J. Randolph Evans said
Gingrich was “shocked” even upon
hearing the lower figure.
Penalty first in history
A vote to reprimand a member is
reserved for “serious violations” of the
rules. The financial penalty, never
before imposed, was to reimburse the
ethics panel for costs associated with
expanding the investigation after
Gingrich submitted his misleading
statements.
When admitting his guilt Dec. 21,
Gingrich acknowledged in a written
statement that he “brought down on
the people’s house a controversy which
could weaken the faith people have in
their government.”
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Parking meters beheaded in D.C.
Residents take out
frustration on least
favorite city revenue
device.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top
less parking meters are a common
sight here, where vandals pocket
the fountain of change resulting
from a well-placed sledgehammer
blow.
Nearly 2,000 of Washington’s
16,000 parking meters are out of
business, and it is costing this cash
strapped capital $3 million a year.
There is no money for repairs or
replacements.
“We’ve got to do something,”
D.C. Council member Harold Bra
zil said Tuesday. “They need to be
staked out We need to catch a few
of these people, get some publicity
on the arrests and put 'em in jail.”
Parking revenue drops
The vandalism is blamed for a
big drop in revenue from the meters
- from $12.5 million in 1995 to
$9.5 million last year.
“We shouldn’t lose that kind of
revenue, especially when we’re
hurting so bad,” said Brazil, who
may seek stiffer penalties for the
vandalism, now a misdemeanor.
Besides beheading the meters to
get at the quarters inside, some van
dals spray-paint meters to prevent
enforcers from knowing when the
meter has expired. Others jam the
devices with slugs, foreign coins or
other objects.
11*/ :
Reaping the whirlwind?
The city has prided itself on
how aggressively it issues parking
tickets. Tickets for expired meters
and other routine parking infrac
tions pumped more than $46 mil
lion into the city’s coffers each year
* -1
Matt Haney/DN
in 1995 and 1996.
Brazil said some of the vandal
ism may reflect a backlash against
“the greed that has driven the park
ing-enforcement process.
“People are just fed up.”
China earthquake kills seven
lemoior Knocks
down a prison wall.
BEUING (AP) — Two powerful
earthquakes struck China’s remote
northwestern province of Xinjiang on
Tuesday, killing at least seven people
and seriously injuring 10 others, offi
cials said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake at
9:47 ajn. and 6.3 quake a minute later
were centered in the region of Jiashi,
near the maiket city of Kashgar, said
a spokeswoman of the Central Seis
mology Bureau, who gave her name
as Ren.
Houses collapsed, apartment
blocks cracked and people in the cit
ies of Artux and Kashgar felt heavy
shaking, Ren said.
Seven deaths and more than 10”
serious injuries were repented in three
towns near Jiashi inhabited mainly by
poor farmers, said an official of the
Kashgar earthquake station, who gave
her name as Cun.
The temblors knocked down the
surrounding wall of the Jiashi police
detention center, although inmates
remained locked in their cells, said a
duty officer at the station who refused
to give her name.
At least three aftershocks followed
the two large quakes, and some older
houses collapsed, she said.
“We don’t dare go inside our of
fices, we’re all outside,” she said.
The stricken region is a remote
desert area 2,000 miles west of Beijing
that is prone to earthquakes and was
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recently hit by heavy snow.
On March 19, Jiashi County, about
40 miles east of Kashgar, was hit by a
magnitude 6.9 earthquake that killed
28 people.
Democrats adopt new campaign rules
WASHINGTON (AP)—Trying to
improve its tarnished image, the
Democratic National Committee an
nounced Tuesday it would no longer
accept money from people or compa
nies with foreign ties and would limit4
contributions from labor unions and
wealthy benefactors.
The party also listed steps it said
would prevent unseemly characters
from gaining access to die president
and vice president through political
receptions at the White House and vice
presidential residence.
Separately, the Clinton administra
tion announced efforts of its own to
conduct moire thorough background
checks on people invited into the
White House.
The actions were part of an effort
to move beyond embarrassing disclo
sures about the Democratic National
Committee’s fund raising in last year’s
campaign. The committee’s practices
are under investigation by the Justice
Department and Congress.
The committee has returned nearly
$1.5 million in questionable contribu
tions, some from noncitizens who did
not appear to have the financial re
sources to make such large contribu
tions.
Under the new guidelines, the
DNC will dose the door on two legal,
lucrative sources of campaign dollars:
contributions from U.S.-based subsid
iaries of foreign contributions and
from foreign nationals who have per
manent resident status in the United
States.
“We do not want to have any taint
of influence of foreign people and for
eign interests in the United States,”
Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, the
committee’s newly-elected general
chairman, said in an interview.
Clinton hand-picked Romer for the
leadership role.
Advocacy groups for legal immi
grants have criticized such proposals
as discrimination, but Romer said the
party decided it would not take money
from those who are not eligible to vote.
“You have to draw the line some
where,” he said.
Also, the party will cap at
$100,000 the amount it will accept
annually from any contributor. Fed
eral law strictly limits contributions
to candidates but allows corporations,
labor unions and wealthy individuals
to make giant, unregulated contribu
tions to the national parties.
This “soft money” has become a
critical resource for both parties. They
cannot give it directly to candidates
but use it for critical direct mail, get
out-the-vote and advertising efforts, as
well as to pay for day-to-day party
operations.
FAX NUMBER: 472-1761
The Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080)
is published by the UNL Publications
Board, Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St.,
Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through
Friday during the academic year; weekly
during summer sessions.
Readers are encouraged to submit
story ideas and comments to the Daily Ne
braskan by calling 472-2588. The public
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Postmaster: Send address changes to
, the Daily Nebraskan. Nebraska Union 34,
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1997
DAILY NEBRASKAN