DiAnna Schimek (born March 21, 1940) is a politician from

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

who has served in the

Nebraska Legislature The Nebraska Legislature (also called the Unicameral) is the legislature of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The Legislature meets at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln. With 49 members, known as "senators", the Nebraska Legislature is the small ...

and the

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

City Council.

Personal life

She was born on March 21, 1940, in

Holdrege, Nebraska Holdrege is a city in Phelps County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 5,495 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Phelps County. The Nebraska Prairie Museum is located in Holdrege. History Holdrege was established in 1883 wh ...

, and graduated from Alma High School in 1958. She attended

Colorado Women's College Colorado Women's College was a division of the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, focusing on evening, weekend, and online courses for women. It originally opened in 1909 as a private women's college and merged with the University of Denver i ...

and

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and graduated from

Kearney State College The University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) is a campus of the public University of Nebraska system and located in Kearney, Nebraska. It was founded in 1905 as the Nebraska State Normal School at Kearney. History In March 1903 the Nebraska Stat ...

in 1963. She also did some graduate work at both the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Kearney State College. She is a past member of boards of directors for the First Security National Bank, Women in Community Service Home for Girls, and Nebraska Repertory Theatre. She won the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

Tribute to Women Award in 1992. Her husband is named Herbert, and they have two children, Samuel Wolfgang and Saul William.

Early political activity

Schimek was a member of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...

from 1976 to 1988, and unsuccessfully ran for

state treasurer In the state governments of the United States, 48 of the 50 states have the executive position of treasurer. New York abolished the position in 1926; duties were transferred to New York State Comptroller. Texas abolished the position of Texas ...

in 1986.

State Legislature

Schimek was elected in 1988 to represent the 27th Nebraska legislative district and reelected in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004. In 2007, she sat on the Business and Labor and Urban Affairs committees as well as the Committee on Committees and chairs the Government, Military and Veterans' Affairs. Nebraska State Capitol Courtyard Fountain

Nebraska State Capitol Courtyard Fountain

Schimek was largely responsible for the enactment of Nebraska's method of apportioning electoral votes in

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...

by congressional district (see Electoral College (United States): Congressional District Method). She has described the system as "one that I think will energize the electorate and perhaps even bring more candidates to Nebraska, although certainly that wasn't the overall selling point that I used." Schimek introduced legislation in 2005 giving Nebraskans with

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

convictions the right to vote two years after serving their sentences. Schimek co-sponsored legislation granting in-state

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

tuition to children of

undocumented immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

who graduate from Nebraska's high schools. In 2007 Schimek unsuccessfully ran for the position of

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the Legislature, a position won by Mike Flood. She left the legislature in 2008.

Lincoln City Council

In September 2011, Schimek was appointed to replace Jane Snyder, who resigned for health reasons, on the Lincoln City Council. She took her seat on October 10, 2011 to represent one of the

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

seats. She did not seek reelection to the council in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schimek, DiAnna 1940 births Living people Democratic Party Nebraska state senators Politicians from Lincoln, Nebraska People from Holdrege, Nebraska Women state legislators in Nebraska Nebraska city council members University of Nebraska at Kearney alumni Women city councillors in Nebraska Colorado Women's College alumni University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians