STATE/NATION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Friday. February 18. 1994
Term-limit proposals rejected by legislators
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Supporters of term limits got the debate they wanted yesterday, but not the results. The House rejected two of their proposals.
The first was a proposed constitutional amendment to limit legislators to serving 12 years in the Kansas House of Representatives and 12 years in the Senate. It failed on a 59-63 vote.
The second proposal was a bill to limit members of the state's delegation to Congress to serving 12 years in the U.S. House and 12 years in the Senate. The vote on it was 42-81.
The votes were on motions to advance the measures to final action. The proposals remained on the House calendar but were likely to drop to the bottom.
The votes tell only part of the story. The debate lasted more than three hours and sometimes degenerated into anarchy. Sometimes the House chamber resembled an elementary school classroom without a teacher.
"I'm going to go home and go to bed," said a weary Rep. Tom Bradley, R-Topeka. Bradley supports the term-limit proposals.
The events probably ended the debate on term limits this year. Even
Bedlam dominated during the debate's first 90 minutes.
But opponents said term limits are not necessary, especially for the Legislature. Seventy-one of the House's 125 members began serving only after the 1990 elections.
Supporters like Bradley pushed the term-limit proposals as ways to ensure fresh blood in government. Also, surveys have indicated most Kansans support the idea.
"The people of this state already have term limits," he said. "They have the opportunity to bounce our butts out of here every two years."
And, in an angry speech, freshman Rep. David Adkins, R-Leawood, accused term-limit supporters of pandering to polls.
Rep. Ed McKechnie, D-Pittsburgh, offered an amendment to change the length of individual terms for senators and House members. Currently, the constitution sets House terms at two years each, and Senate terms at four years each. McKechnie wanted to make them four and six years, respectively.
ardent supporters predicted strong opposition in the Senate.
NEW YORK — An attorney for a World Trade Center bombing suspect accused another defense lawyer yesterday of sabotaging his client's case by implicit linking him with the attack's alleged mastermind.
Members approved his changes, 65- 57.
It was the first time a defense lawyer had conceded that there was a conspiracy and that his client was involved.
Gulf War potential motive in Trade Center bombing
And another defense lawyer suggested that anger about the Persian Gulf War may have motivated some participants in the Feb. 26 bombing that killed six people and injured 1,000.
On Wednesday, defense attorney Robert Precht accused fugitive Ramzi Yousef, 26, of coming to the United States on Sept. 1, 1992, with a plan to bomb a U.S. building and duping Precht's client, Mohamad Salameh, into participating in the scheme.
Defendant Ahmad Ajaj, 27, of Houston, came into the country on the same flight as Yousef. Therefore, if the jury believes Precht's argument, it would link Ajaj to the bombing's mastermind.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry DePipio already has reminded the federal court jury that Youset's fingerprints were found on bomb making manuals in Yousef's luggage.
The Associated Press
Prosecutors had portrayed Yousef as a busy participant in the bomb making, but not as the central figure.
"In my view, Mr. Precht did more damage to Mr. Ajaj in the first six minutes or so of his summation than Mr. DePippo did in the six hours of his summation." Ajaj's attorney, Austin Campriello, said yesterday in asking Judge Kevin Duffy for a mistrial. The request was denied.
The two fugitives, Yasin and Yousef, also have been indicted and the United States has offered a $2 million reward for each man's return. Ahmed was the second defense lawyer to raise the possibility that it may have been more than coincidence that both had connections to Iraq.
Four defendants are on trial for conspiracy in the bombing. They face life in prison without parole if convicted.
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