Campaign '80
Page 6 University Daily Kansan, November 3, 1980
Law School alums battle for Senate seat
State Sen. Arnold Berman, a Democrat, is seeking his second term representing the 2nd district in the Kansas Senate. Berman, 51, a graduate of University of Kansas School of Law has lived in Lawrence for about 10 years.
Jane Eldredge
are is the third ranking Democrat in the Senate and is the party's caucus chairman. His committees assignments include serving as Means, Natural Resources and Energy.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Jane Eldredge, the Republican candidate, is running for office for the first time. A lawyer and a former computer programmer and systems analyst, Eldredge has lived in Lawrence about 10 years.
Also a graduate of the University of Kansas, School of Law, Eldredge, 36, is a member of the Pinkney Neighborhood Association.
Berman: In the future, my degree of support for all of those issues will be exactly my degree of support in my first four years in the Senate. For example, my motion on the Ways and Means Committee helped obtain 60 percent funding for graduate student universities.
Eldridge: The allocated resources for the University need to be looked at carefully. We need to pay teachers adequately and make it possible so that students can go to school if they need help. I think that students performing teaching functions should be paid for teaching.
research assistants. Salaries should apply to research assistants in addition to teaching assistants.
ANDIORDTENANT
But graduate students often are
Arnold Berman
Berman: I favor it. I think that there are perhaps other ways to address the problem, other ways that are at least good. A bill by the Senate Judiciary Committee, for example, put the audited federal Act under the Consumer Protection Act.
It needs some cleaning up in the technical details, but the fundamental principle, that a landlord should be responsible for his contractual obligations, is good.
ELDREDGE: I am for an amendment. I am opposed to the one that was proposed last year. A landlord-tenant act sets up a lot of provisions that need to be done when clear violations are found. The tenant ought to be able to make repairs and he should be paid back on small scale items.
DRINKING AGE
Berman: I oppose it. When the issue has come up before I have consistently agreed.
Eldredge: I oppose it. I think 3.2 beer for 18-year-olds is fine.
year-olds is fine.
DECRIMINALIZATION
Berman: When the issue has come up
before I voted for Rep. (Mike) Glover's bill.
Eldredge: I don't know. I am concerned about the amount of marjuana used by kids in junior high and high school. It has had an effect on them. But there is some medicinal good to marijuana. I honestly don't know.
DEATH PENALTY
Berman: I am opposed to capital punishment.
NUCLEAR ENERGY
Berman: There is absolutely no question that the ball is now in the court of congressional delegation. Much has to be done at the congressional level.
Eldredge: I am in favor of it under certain limited circumstances, if it is limited to certain kinds of crime and is no other alternative punishment.
There is no question that the state can take initiative in certain areas. But we are pre-empted by federal law from making decisions relative to nuclear power purely from the nuclear safety issue.
Eldredge: It is a complicated issue. A couple of things are important. I am convinced that the Kansas Corporation must take steps to improve feasibility studies and not just fix rates.
I don't think it is appropriate to have Wolf Creek, which would provide more water than the entire state. It is inappropriate to have no known method for waste disposal.
Political novices vie for 44th District seat
Jessie Branson
The race in the newly formed 44th District features two newcomers on the political scene. The district was restructured by the Kansas Legislature during its reapportionment of districts last year. The district no longer includes the KU campus, which now belongs to the 46th District.
Jessie Branson, Democratic candidate for the office, attended both the University of Kansas and Kansas State University and graduated from the KU School of Nursing.
Branson, 59, has a long history of working with the bandicapped on a state level.
Her opponent, Wint Winter Jr., attended KU as an undergraduate and graduated from the KU School of Law in 1978.
Wint Winter Jr.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Winter, 27, is the son of former state Sen. Wint Wint Sr., R-Ottawa. Winter is a former KU football player and practices law in Lawrence.
I will fight hard for additional state funding for staff salary increases.
BRANSON: I support paying students minimum wage. I was surprised to learn that they are not paid minimum wage. That is helping them minimum wage is exploitation.
I am very much in favor of full fee waivers for graduate students and was disappointed that a hill which would have provided access did not pass the Legislature this year.
I don't think it is fair for students to have to pay for academic buildings. That is the state's responsibility.
Winter: Education has to be re-formed as the state's highest priority. We don't have a firm commitment now.
I support full tuition waivers for graduate students.
I don't think students should have to pay for academic buildings. The Legislature didn't pay attention to KU back in the '70s when there were all of the problems caused by the Vietnam War on campus, and we are still fighting the effects of that retribution today.
LANDLORD-TENANT
Branson: I would support the best amendment available for a self-help amendment. It would have to be a tenant or both the tenant and the landlord.
Winter: I favor the concept of a self-
help amendment but I could not support
John Solbach's amendment to the
Landlord-Tenant Act.
I would support expansion of the jurisdiction of the small claims courts to handle these problems.
DRINKING AGE
Branson: I really don't favor or oppose. I think there should either be no liquor or no laws regarding consumption of it.
Winter: I am opposed to raising the drinking age because from practical experience I know it would not be effective.
Laws which say you have to be 18 to drink are ridiculous and private clubs are a farce.
The Legislature is trying to address a problem but to single out people who are ill.
DECIMALIZATION
Branson: I don't think the penalties
DECRIMINALIZATION
Winter: I favor it because the present
waters are not enforced. It is ludicrous to
bring the sea level up to 10 feet.
or marijuana should be greater than those for alcohol.
DEATH PENALTY Branson: I oppose the death penalty as a matter of principle.
When you have the death penalty, I think minorities and poor people suffer more executions because they have limited resources.
Winter: I oppose reinstating the death penalty because it would not be effective.
Also, it would be possible to execute someone who was not guilty and it would be impossible to do anything to correct that if it occurred.
NUCLEAR ENERGY
Branson: I think industry, government and the public must work hard at the management and reduction of waste we produce waste, we must manage it.
I oppose having a dump site in Kansas for other states.
I oppose the construction of new plants, but I don't think that is a problem any more because of high costs.
The real answer is to stop the production of hazardous waste. We can't allow any more of the Wolf Creek units to be activated.
I think we should concentrate on developing alternative forms of energy at the university.
Winter: I think we should prohibit the storage of waste in Kannas. We have to
I am opposed to nuclear power and the states should regulate it closely and actively.
45th District candidates agree on student wages
Incumbent Democrat John Solbach, 33 was first elected to the Kansas House from the 48th District in 1978. He received a bachelor's degree in history from Kansas State University. He has served at Barnabas University in Topeka and has attended graduate school at the University of Kansas.
He has had a private law practice in Lawrence since 1977 and his wife, Pat, is a research psychologist who is the Meningean Foundation in Topeka.
Sobach's Republican opponent in the race, Kent Snider, 21, is a Lawrence counselor. He is a part-time dedicated fellow in international relations.
Snyder is a past executive director of the Kansas College Republicans and former treasurer of the KU College Republicans. He was also a staff member of President Ford's campaign committee.
Snyder: As far as student salaries go, I'm in favor of making them comparable to the private sector. We have a same level as the minimum wage.
I also favor full tuition waivers for graduate students doing research or teaching. It's a good incentive to attract talented graduate students.
Faculty pay increases should be the top priority. I'm in favor of taking money spent on facilities and using it for faculty salaries instead. We need to take money out of buildings and put it into people.
Solbach: I support each of the categories. Student salaries should be at least minimum wage.
I support full tuition waivers for graduate students in a teaching or research capacity. It helps attract quality graduate students to KU.
I strongly believe we must be competitive in the area of staff salaries.
I have no trouble supporting legislation that prohibits the use of student fees to pay for academic ittems. It amounts to a tax on students.
LANDLORD-TENANT ACT
Sayder: I'm opposed to the amendment in the form it was presented to the House during the last session. It would overburden the court system and the $100 limit on the compensation for tenants is unrealistic. It wouldn't pay for anything.
I think the Landlord-Tenant Act that recently passed the Legislature guarantees tenants opportunities to handle any problem they might have.
Sobach: I sponsored the self-help bill in 1979. We got it out of committee twice into an intercommittee on my request. I've been in charge of the amendment that has a chance to pass this session since last summer.
DRINKING AGE
Snyder: I oppose that. It's not an issue here. Eighteen-year-olds are adults by any standards. If you're not able to fight you're old enough to drink.
Solbach: I'm not in favor of
raising the drinking age for 3.2 beer There are no hard, compelling reasons for raising the age.
DECRIMINALIZATION
Syder: I oppose the decriminalization of marjana. I'm unsure of the merits of the argument in way or the other, but I personally opposed to marjana use.
Sobach: Penalties for marjana possession are a $2,500 fine and one year in jail. The penalty for being
John Solbach
Kent Snvder
DEATH PENALTY
caught with a half a joint is greater than the one for walking out and punching out the first person you see. The severity of the penalty goes far beyond what is necessary to accomplish any purpose of the state.
Snyder: I'm in favor of it. Capital punishment is a deterrent to crime. It is a mandate from the people to kill. But we are now law that these arm the consequences.
Solbach: Based on my information, I could not support the death penalty.
Snyder: The state of Kansas must be kept informed of all events related to nuclear energy power plants and disposal sites.
Solbach: I was a member of the committee that was instrumental in getting Senate Bill 151 passed in 1979. The bill, called the Power Plant Siting Act, is probably the most significant legislation in recent years to prevent the unnecessary building of power plants.
In a practical sense, we will have to store our low-level waste somewhere in the state. However, I want to do everything possible to keep Kansas from becoming the national high-level waste dump.
Candidates questioned on state issues
Candidates for the 44th, 45th and 46th District of the Kansas House of Representatives and the 2nd District of the Kansas Senate were asked the following questions by reporters Ray Formanek, Brian Levinson and Dan Torchia:
1) What is your position on state support for higher education, which includes issues such as student salary increases, full tuition waivers for graduate students, legislation prohibiting the use of student fees to pay for academic facilities, increased state funding for financial aid and state funding for staff salary increases?
3) Do you favor or oppose legislation to raise the legal age for consumption of 3.2 beer?
2) Do you favor or oppose the selfhelp amendment to the Landlord- Tenant Act?
6) What efforts, if any, should Kansas take, through state agencies or discussion with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to regulate nuclear waste plants and storage of nuclear wastes in Kansas?
3 proposals face voters
4) Do you favor or oppose the decriminalization of marijuana?
5) Do you favor or oppose the reinstatement of the death penalty in Kansas?
Kansans will decide on three constitutional amendments tomorrow when they go to the polls.
The first proposed amendment would allow the state to accept more federal matching funds for works of public improvement and improvements include mass transportation, airport projects, low-income housing developments, rehabilitation of rafbeds, and preservation of historic sites.
The amendment would allow projects only if the federal matching funds covered at least half the cost. The state's property taxes to the state's share.
Proposition two, the "plain language" amendment, is intended to make proposed constitutional changes more understandable to the voters.
Betty Jo Charlton
would permit the state to become more involved in federally funded works of internal improvement.
The third amendment would remove obsolete banking and currency provisions from the contract to the banks that issue their own currency, a common practice in the 19th century, would be deleted.
Charlton, Amison pledge support to KU
A "yes" vote on this amendment
A "yes" vote would require propositions to be submitted in simple, non-technical language.
Willie Amison
Betty Jo Charlton is the Democratic candidate for Kansas' 46th District. She is the district's current representative, although she was not elected.
Charlton, 57, was appointed to Mike Glover's 44th District seat when Glover resigned last year to concentrate on his private law practice. She became the representative of the 46th District when district lines were redrawn.
Willie Amison Jr. is the Republican candidate. He never has held public office.
Amison, 32, is a teacher at the Kaw Valley School.
Both Charlton and Amison are Lawrence residents.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Charlton: I voted on every one of those things that came up this session. I would support the rest of them.
I supported the classified employees' raises. I have a son who's working at a student salary. Until July of this year, he worked for three years at the art museum for less than minimum wage. And he's trying to support himself and go to school. I support every appropriations bill for the University. Amison: I think higher education is one of the toes of issues of the campaign. I think more thing is the salaries of the teachers. We are losing a lot of high-quality instructors because other institutions have higher salaries. The quality of education starts from the quality of teachers we have in the classrooms.
LANDLORD-TENANT
Charlton: I supported that last session.
I tried to help Rep. Solbach pr his bill
out of committee. We got it out of
committee. We got it on the House
calendar, but the House leadership refused to bring it up. They kept passing over it, and it died at the end of the session.
I will support it. I think there will be a
thing and I will do everything I can
to support it.
Amison: I support the concept of the self-help amendment to the Landlord-Tenant Act. There are various things in it that need to be redone.
I support it, but not in its present form.
Charlton: I would not support such a bill. I was asked this by the Associated Students of Kansas once that the session, and I assured them that I didn't
Amison: I'm not in favor of legislation along that line. I don't support raising the legal age for consumption of 3.2 beer.
DECRIMINALIZATION
think it would ever come out of com-
mission or out of the committee, I would not support it.
I supported it then, and I would support it now. I think the fewer criminal laws we have, the fewer crimes are committed.
Amison: I don't think about it that
DECIMALIZATION Charlton: Well, actually the bill that Charlton was not deciminalization. It was to lower the penalty for possession.
much. It is kind of a dead-horse issue. I don't see it as one of my major issues.
I wouldn't be the one to bring it up. But if someone brought it up, I probably would vote for it.
DEATH PENALTY
**Amison:** I haven't been shown that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. On a practical scale, I can't see that it deters crime.
Should it come up, I would oppose legislation.
Charlton: Well, whatever legislation is passed, probably the federal law will take precedence. I believe that if the states keep passing laws to prevent dumping of nuclear waste and transportation through the state, then the federal government will have to listen to us. So I'm in favor of going ahead and passing the state laws, even though it isn't legal. Let's look at the states do it, the federal government's going to have to stop creating nuclear waste.
As far as the power plants are concerned, after Wolf Creek was started, there was a bill introduced in the Kansas Legislature to require that the Legislature approve any more nuclear plants in Kansas. The Legislature failed to give itself that power. If I had known that I could not do it, I think nuclear power is terribly wasteful, terribly expensive and terribly dangerous.
**Amison:** The number one thing we're doing is going the wrong direction. If we are going in the opposite way, take care of nuclear energy. It is a dangerous type of energy.