Luttich's One Party stunned by last-place finish
■ Presidential candidate Jaron tuttkh blasts
ASUN elections, saying they're not about issues,
but about who you know.
byjuzbuam
For members of The One Party, it was agony
waiting for the ASUN election results.
Presidential Candidate Jaron Luttich received
a phone call on his cellular phone from Electoral
Commission Director John D. Conley at 9:15 p.m.
on Wednesday.
Luttich, whose party met at P.O. Pears, 322 S.
9™ St., told Conley he didn’t want to take die call in
public—he told him to call back.
Luttich then gathered his First Vice
Presidential Candidate, Melanie Mitzel, and his
sister, Cheney Luttich, to take the call while sitting
on some steps.
Luttich sat with his head buried in his knees,
waiting for Conley to call back as the theme song
from ‘Pee Wee’s Playhouse" blared in the back
ground.
At 9:40 pjn., Luttich gave in and called Conley
baric
"Holy shit... holy shit... wow," Luttich said as
he heard the results.
The One Party had come in last
Luttich’s party received 10.79 percent of the
vote, falling behind top vote-getting Score! with
31.45 percent, No Bull with 29.92 percent, inde
pendent candidate John Matzen with 15.61 per
cent and NUForce with 11.57 percent.
Afterward, Luttich said he was disenchanted
with die Association of Students of the University
of Nebraska’s election process.
In Luttich's eyes, the whole election boiled
down to personal friendships and loyalties, not
the most qualified candidates.
“People forget the votes they cast in the booths
are secret," he said.
Luttich said he was proud of his campaign and
he wouldn’t have changed a thing.
His favorite part of the campaign were the
debates, he said.
During the actual debates Luttich was nerv
One Party
Presidential
Canddate Jaron
LuiUvn reviews
results at P.O. Pears
Wednesday night
after receiving the
phone cal that told
him of his loss in the
ASUN election.
Melanie Mitzel left
Luttidft first vkn
presidential cand
date and Cheney
luttich,Jarart sis
ter, looked on.
ous, but when he began speaking, he immediately
relaxed, he said.
“That’s why I know I was the best candidate,”
he said. “I was up-front and honest and told every
one what they’d get.
“But for some reason, that didn’t work out”
Luttich said he wasn't comfortable supporting
either Score! or No Bull in next week's runoff elec
tion.
“One reason you run is because you think the
other choices are inadequate,” he said.
Luttich said he may or mav not change his
mind about endorsing a candidate later this week.
Mitzel said she was relieved the election was
over, but was still disappointed with the results.
Even though things didn’t turned out the way
she hoped, Mitzel said the campaign was definite
ly worthwhile.
She made friends - like Luttich - and fought for
issues she cared about, she said.
Mitzel, who’s also involved in the Residence
Hall Association, said when working with other
student leaders, she hasn’t met anyone like
Luttich.
bteven Bender/UN
"With all the people I work
with, many of them I enjoy working with, but very
few do I respect,” she said.
“Jaron is definitely one of those people (I
respect).”
Luttich’s sister, Cheney, a freshman art major,
said she was disappointed and somewhat sur
prised with the results.
But the loss isn't the end of the world, she said.
“Jaron’s getting even stronger,” she said. "Hels
not going to shrink back because he never has.”
President touts plan in Omaha
HKSIPEHTfrom page!
Echoing the comments he
made lliesday night to Congress,
Bush said the federal government
has to increase its portion of edu
cational funding,
“One erf our priorities... must
be to make sure that every child-I
mean every cMd-gets educated
in the great land called America,”
he said.
But Bush cautioned that fed
eral bucks don't equal federal con
trol
"Even though I have a
Washington, D.C., temporary
address, I want you to know I
strongly believe in local control erf
schools,” he sakL
The president also pumped
his new proposals to revamp and
bolster funding for Sodal Security
and Medicare.
Bush’s plan would double the
Medicare budget over the next 10
yean and set aside $2.6 triflion for
Social Serenity
Funding these proposals will
takeahefty drunk of change out of
_the government’s pocket,
but Bush said, "There’s still
money left over”
Bush proposed tossing some
of the excess cash-to the tune of
nearly a trillion dollars - into a
special contingency fund for
Farmers might see some of the
money as his administration
works to promote 'trade freely
around the world.”
After expanding Medicare and
education budgets and creating a
contingency fund, Bush said his
budget numbers still put the fed
eral government far from the red.
The totals, Bush said, give him
two choices: "Do we spend it? Or
do we remember whose money it
is in the first placer
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lars are 'not the government's,”
Bush called for a massive $1.6 tril
lion dollar slash in taxes.
His tax (dan would also con
solidate the five tax codes into
four, and lower the top tier’s rate
from 39.5 percent to 333 percent
and the bottom tier's rate from 15
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percent to 10. '
Bush lauded the plan pointing
to Tony and Cynthia Ojeda, a
Lincoln couple who attended die
talk, as a family who would benefit
from his {dan.
Bush said the Ojedas and their
three children would save $2,120
under his plan.
Critics say $2,120 isn't much
money, he said.
But, said Bush: "It means a lot
when you are worried about the
education ofyour three children.”
A long line of Democrats have
objected to the Bush tax plan
claiming it unfairly aids the rich
while leaving the tax burden on
the poor virtually untouched.
Bush briefly addressed the
criticism saying he was “going to
reject dass warfare.”
Nelson congratulated Bush
for steering dear of the dass con
flict, and said he wasn't concerned
about that aspect of the cut
Rather, he said he wanted to
see a “safety valve” installed in the
plan so Congress won’t be bound
to one spending plan.
The valve would let Congress
change course midstream if the
economy takes an unexpected
turn, he said.
Ttadlfemderlinden of Omaha
took off work to bring her daugh
ter Kristine, to greet the president
“One of our
priorities...must be to
make sure that every
child - / mean every
child- gets educated
in the great land
called America ”
George W. Bosh
President
and Nelson on their stop in
Omaha.
Vanderiinden said she wanted
her daughter to get a look at a
president working hard to
improve the tax code so she can
getabreak.
Kristine said she was excited
to see Bush because she has been
a Bush fan since he announced his
candidacy.
When her class divided up
into Gore and Bush supporters
during the election, Kristine said
she anchored the Bush team.
But she said she wasn’t alone
then, just as she wasn’t alone
Wednesday.
“Everybody was for Bush; it
was 15-5."
,4s
Nebraska may see
more AIDS funds
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Nearly
50,000 people with AIDS in cities
like LosAngdes and New’Vbik get
government help paying their
rent Not so, for those in towns like
Anchorage, Fargo and Omaha.
President Bush wants to
x expand the housing program
started in 1992, when his father
was president
The recommendation was
viewed by some as positive ges
ture to gay lights activists, who
have been jittery of the new
Republican president. Their
pleasure was tempered with con
cern that the policy change was at
odds with wtmt they requested.
The Department of Housing
and Urban Development is
spending about $258 million this
year on the AIDS housing subsi
dies, which help poor people who
have had trouble finding a place
to live. The president had been
asked to increase that to $300mil
lion, with most of the new money
going to communities that
already have programs.
Instead, Bush announced
Wednesday that without cutting
present programs, HUD should
instead add new areas.
Thirteen states do not receive
money from the Housing
Opportunities for Persons with
AIDS program: Alaska, Idaho,
Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Montana,
Nebraska, New Hampshire, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont,
West Virginia and Wyoming.
To qualify, cities or regions
must have had at least 1,500 HIV
cases.
In arguing for more money for
existing programs, the president
of the AIDS Housing Coalition
said rising housing costs and
longer life expectancies of the
HIV-infected are burdening the
programs.
“We welcome an expansion
but it has to be an expansion with
an increase in funding. Otherwise
it will jeopardize current pro
grams," said Gina Quattrochi, the
group president who also over
sees die Bailey House, a New York
center for homeless AIDS
patients.
She said without more money
for existing programs, the Bush
proposal could have die opposite
effect, causing evictions of people
with AIDS.
The White House referred
calls about the proposal to HUD,
where no onewould comment on
the plan.
Quattrochi’s group said in a
recent report that more AIDS
housing needs have been report
ed in the cities of Boston, Dallas,
Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami
and New York and in communi
ties in Alabama, Florida,
Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan,
New Jersey and Tfexas.
They said there were waiting
lists for assistance of about 5,000
in New York, 1,800 in Boston and
about 500 each in Dallas, Los
Angeles and Washington.
Bush's budget proposal did
not specify how much money
would be spent in the new areas
or what the revised qualification
formula would be.
*1 don't think any area should
be written off,* said Eddie
Sandifer, who helps people with
AIDS find housing in Jackson,
Miss., which does not qualify for
the program now
Gay rights activists have been
closely watching Bush, particu
larly after a February report that
Bush was abolishing the Office of
National AIDS Policy. Bush said
later that the office was not being
dosed and that “we’re concerned
about AIDS inside our White *
House, make no mistake about
it"
Despite Bush's latest housing
proposal, Sandifer said, “I’m leery
of him. There’s an unsettled feel
ing about where hels going."
“I think the administration is
aware there is a great deal of
apprehension," said David Smith,
spokesman for the Human Rights
Campaign, a gay rights advocacy
group.
Smith said the proposed poli
cy change shows Bush has taken
note of die needs of people with
AIDS.
