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Robak returns to education
ROBAK from page 1
Robak helped create and lead the
Nebraska Information Technology
Commission, which became a state
agency in 1998.
Because of her previous duties,
Smith said Robak will carry out duties
in the university information systems.
“I am by no means a techno whiz,”
Robak said. “My eyes in fact glaze
over when I hear about megahertz apd^
oioaKufps”. ■ '
f
and experience win be an added con
tribution to this university.” 7 e
Graduating from the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln Teachers College
in 1977, Robak, a Columbus native,
decided to become a speech and
drama teacher at Irving Middle
School.
As an undergraduate, Robak pur
sued speech and theater. Robak said
she has alwayshad a dream to become
an actress. ' -•
“I really didn’t know what I want
ed to do at the time,” Robak said.
“However, I still do regret not going to
New York and seeking an acting
career.”
In 1982, Robak decided to go back
to school. Past experiences, including
working on Sen. Bob Kerrey’s guber
natorial campaign, influenced her
decision to seek a law degree, she
said.
Robak graduated from the NU
1
College of Law in 1985.
Following Gov. Ben Nelson’s
1991 election, Robak launched her
political career as Nelson’s legal coun
sel and then his chief of staff.
She moved to the office of lieu
tenant governor in 1993 to replace
Maxine Moul, who became the direc
tor of the Department of Economic
Development.
In 1994, Robak was elected with
Nelson, and she maintained her state
office until December 1998.
“Now I am at the university, and I
want to make a difference,” Robak
said.
Some of Robak’s short-term goals
include staying on top of the universi
ty’s agenda and setting priorities for
the NU system.
In the long term, Robak wants the
state to recognize ami understand how
important the University of Nebraska
is.
“I’m a big football fan, but 1 want
there to be as much love for the insti
tution as there is for the institution's
football team,” she said. “This is the
state’s institution.”
Sen. Jennie Robak of Columbus
said her daughter, Kim, has always
voiced her opinions and provided
motivation to create positive change.
“I remember in third grade how
Kim argued with a neighbor bey why
Barry Goldwater should not be presi
dent,” Jennie Robak said. “She voiced
her opinion then, and she continues to
do so today.”
Jennie Robak, who has been a sen
-1
ator for 11 years, said she missed her
daughter and the times they would
spend together at the capitol.
“I keep thinking I still can walk
down the hall to her office and talk to
her,” Jennie Robak said. “Instead, I
have to keep reminding myself I must
pick up the phone.”
Kim Robak said her decision to
accept Smith’s offer was influenced by
her family and children.
“I wanted to maintain a position
that would still be able to impact poli
cy and spend time with my family,”
she said. “Here I can do that.” 1
As vice president for external
affairs, Robak’s responsibilities
include strengthening relationships
with external constituents, such as
chambers of commerce and the
Legislature.
She is also one of Smith’s two
closest advisers. She will work with
Smith and other senior administrators
to develop programs, policies and pro
cedures.
As corporation secretary, she will
be the principal staff liaison to the NU
Boardof Regents.
Smith said one of Robak’s great
abilities is to take a big-picture view
and turn it into reality.
“She wants to maintain the quality
of this institution, as well as improve
it,” Smith said. “She is ready to make
things happen.” ,
Jennie Robak agreed.
“She is just touching the tip of an
iceberg,” she said. “We have not heard
the end of Kim Robak.”
i-y »—i—i-1 x- \
Johanns’first speech
reveals budget plans
STATE from page 1
demon a sustained healthy economy
*lhe plan would put excess state
revenue and savings from govern
ment efficiency in a trust fund,
which could accumulate almost
- $400 million over the next three
years.
Under die plan, property taxpay
ers would receive a check for about
11 percent of their property taxes by
the beginning of2001.
Speaker Doug Kristensen of
Minden said although Johanns’ plan
is a switch from the Legislature’s
focus on reducing property tax levy
limits to achieve property tax relief,
senators should not discount it. 7
“I think it’s a legitimate plan that
will receive good attention,”
Kristensen said. “I don’t think any
one should underestimate the diffi
culty of a change of course that
we’ve been going on.”
Johanns did not recommend
dropping the current property tax
levy limit of $ 1.10 per $ 100 assessed
valuation to $1, which the
Legislature planned several years
ago.
But Hastings Sen. Ardyce
Bohlke said if the economy took a
downturn, less money from state
revenue would mean a smaller
rebate portion for taxpayers.
That scenario, coupled with
Johanns’ proposal to keep the prop
erty tax levy limit at $1.10, will offer
little relief, said Bohlke, who is
chairwoman of the Education
Committee.
Harrison Sen. Bob Wickersham
said he was disappointed that
Johanns decided to keep the limit at
$1.10 and worried about maintain
ing stability in property tax relief.
“His proposal is substituting
uncertainty for certainty already on
the books,” Wickersham said.
The University of Nebraska and
state colleges would receive $42.7
million under Johanns’ budget.
The budget for the University of
Nebraska included money for
salaries, health insurance and opera
tions and maintenance.
Although Wehrbein had not ana
lyzed the proposed budget for NU,
he said he was happy that there was
“At this point, at least it’s provid
ed some increase,” he said. “It was
not nothing.” -
Johanns’ budget did not include
the $22 million in additional state aid
to schools proposed in Bohlke’s
LB 149. Johanns said LB 149 may
cause more instability to the state’s -
formula for calculation of aid to
schools.
Johanna said a group of school
officials recently told him they
favored predictability in the formula
to calculate state aid to schools over
increased state aid.
“We must agree to improve sta
bility and move away from annual
changes to the mechanics of the for
mula which serve to make the sys
tem even less predictable,” he said.
“I believe there is a better way to
fund property tax relief than increas
ing state aid to local school districts.
“Attempting to provide property
tax relief through state aid to local
governments is simply not an effec
tive method of providing property
tax relief.”
But Bohlke said LB 149 was a
steady solution because it would
provide the schools with the $22 mil
lion they are expecting as well as set
out a more accurate formula for fig
uring state aid.
“The one thing 149 does is really
bring stability and predictability,”
Bohlke said.
Bohlke and Johanns plan to dis
cuss some possible solutions to
funding and calculation of state aid
to schools.
Other proposals in the budget
included:
■ Funds of $280 million next
year, and $294 million the following
year for state highway and interstate
construction projects.
■ Funds of $8.5 million for
Platte River and Republican River
water rights litigation with surround
ing states.
■ A $1,000-per-year tax credit
for each child a family adopts until
that child turns 6 years old.
KFC employee robbed
A masked man robbed a KFC
employee at gunpoint as he was closing
the restaurant Tuesday night.
Just before 11 pm, the 17-year-old
employee was approached as he was
closing the restaurant at 2100 N. 48th
St, Lincoln Police Sgt. Ann Heermann
said.
The employee’s girlfriend was wait
ing for him in the parking lot, and the
robber was standing near her car.
After locking the door, the employ
ee was approached by the robber, who
displayed a handgun and demanded the
bank bag.
The robber fled with an undisclosed
amount of cash and checks. He was
wearing a black ski mask, a black hood
ed sweatshirt and black pants.
He was described as a Mack man, 5
feet 4 inches tall, weighing 135 pounds.
Teens paintball garages
Two teen-agers were caught after
firing paintballs at their neighbors’
garages Tuesday afternoon.
One of the neighbors, who lives
on the 4000 block of Locust Street,
heard something hit his house around
3:30 p.m., and went outside to find
yellow paint on his garage,
Heermann said.
Police tracked down the teens,
ages 16 and 17, with a description of
the car they had been driving.
The teens were cited for vandal
ism and discharging a weapon within
the city limits. Police said there are
nine similar cases in the neighbor
hood that the teens may be charged
for.
* Family center vandalized
Someone broke into the Carol
Yoakum Family Center on Tuesday
evening by smashing a glass door.
An employee entering the back
door of the 4621 N.W. 48* St. facili
ty found the broken glass door,
Heermann said.
Between 6 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.
someone threw a rock through the
door, and took a VCR and a stereo
from inside, a $300 loss. The damage
was estimated at $370.
Compiled by senior staff writer
Josh Funk