www.grassrootsne.

com

grassroots in nebraska

grassroots in nebraska

election

2012

FOCUS ON NEBRASKA
If youre concerned about issues like
health care law implementation - government spending state sovereignty - federal deficit - spending - taxes loss of personal liberty - Illegal immigration - state budget campaign finance - conflicts of interest

HELPFUL LINKS: Sample Ballots:

Lancaster County
http://www.scribd.com/doc/ 110858875/Lancaster-County-NE-SampleBallot-November-6-2012

Douglas County
http://www.scribd.com/doc/ 110859123/Douglas-County-NE-SampleBallot-November-6-2012

...then focusing on state, county, and local level races is at least as important as all of the attention being paid to the federal level races (President, U.S. Senate & House). If youre interested in Nebraska issues not covered in this guide, we still may have covered it - just visit our website and use the Search box on the main page.

Full Language of Proposed Amendments

http://www.scribd.com/doc/ 109329151/Proposed-Amendments-to-theConstitution-of-the-State-of-Nebraska-2012

AMENDMENT 1:
Amendment No. 1 should not only receive AGAINST votes, it should constitute a wake up call to Nebraska voters. Purportedly would close a loophole in Nebraska law regarding impeachment of particular elective ofceholders who engage in misconduct while running for an ofce. Has an obvious law and order appeal, but, when examined, has many problems, and indicates the two primary motives were pure politics.

Vote AGAINST Political Games

Quick tip... All of the underlined phrases, and webpages in this document, when viewed online, are clickable. Additional information, including longer versions of articles on the Amendments are available at www.grassrootsne.com

Full ballot text and more information: http://grassrootsne.com/?p=22930 Is not only unnecessary, it is just more of the same type of poorly written laws which are already unevenly applied and require reform. Provides broad, vague powers to one body of government (Unicameral) with trust us as the sole protection. Has high potential for unintended (perhaps intended) consequences. Sponsoring Senator Bill Avery has openly admitted that existing laws governing the same issues can be used to harass ones political enemies. Bill Avery seemed to argue that corrupt ofcials arent held accountable, but that must mean existing laws arent enforced. Dismisses NE citizens as part of the body politic: elective ofceholders proven corrupt SHOULD experience the scorn of their constituents and resign. Therefore, Amendnment No. 1 fails to meet the high standards which should be applied to all Constitutional changes.

In This Guide...
Page 2: Quick Tips for those obscure ballot items

Page 3: Unicameral Focus Page 4: Constitutional Amendments General Criteria and recommendations on 2,3, and 4 Visit our Election 2012 page for more detail on items in this guide:
http://grassrootsne.com/?page_id=20010

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.GRASSROOTSNE.COM

Too Many Ballot Items...Too Little Time? QUICK TIPS

Lesser Known Items Got You Scratching Your Head?
Checking on candidates: 1. Candidate Website:
Read their On the Issues section, etc.

Voting & Other History

Nebraska Legislature
Find your State Senators page and check Bills Introduced http:// www.nebraskalegislature.g ov/senators/ senator_list.php

Follow the Money

Opposite Views

FollowtheMoney.org
National Institute on Money in State Politics
http:// www.followthemoney.org/ database/ advancedsearch.phtml

Nebraska Teachers Union

As the most powerful and wellfunded political influence in Nebraska, candidate and issue recommendations by this entity should be viewed with a critical eye. http://www.nsea.org/2012candidates

2. Google search:
Contrast the information with stated issue positions. Look for visible relationships, such as particular interest groups and other politicians.

Judges
Nebraska Bar Association Evaluations
http://nebar.com/ displaycommon.cfm? an=1&subarticlenbr=78

3. YouTube search: There

may be video outside of news coverage.

Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission

Official government repository for political financial reporting. (see Voting Records, below for additional information)

Nebraska Appleseed
This very left-leaning group mostly survives on government funding and works constantly to expand it. http://neappleseed.org/ legislature#bdp http://neappleseed.org/news

4. Find out what the locals think about the person. For lesser known or less covered offices
For very local races, obtain direct contact information and attempt to interact with the candidate in some way.

Our Unicameral articles:

http://grassrootsne.com/? cat=33

Overview: http:// grassrootsne.com/? p=10036

http://nadc.nol.org/ccdb/ search.cgi Political Influence in Nebraska: Where the Money Leads

http://grassrootsne.com/? p=1381

SEIU Local 226

(Service Employees International Union, NE Local) http://www.seiu226.org/

Obscure Offices on Your Ballot

Natural Resource Districts
Rather unique to Nebraska, these bodies possess TAXING authority - check your property tax assessment for confirmation. Nebraskans who have researched NRDs have reported to us significant problems with wasteful spending and implementation of policies that impinge upon private property rights, among other issues. Official site: www.nrdnet.org/

Board of Regents Considering the influence generally and cost of Nebraskas state university system, this body, which sets policy, requires more monitoring. http://
nebraska.edu/board.html

New Nebraska

Unabashedly owning the title progressive, New Nebraska promotes candidates and issues in direct conflict with a limited government philosophy. http:// www.newnebraska.net/

Voting Records, Finance: Tips

We find that the Nebraska statutory scheme for regulating political spending and policing ethics is woefully inadequate and useful information difficult to obtain. Of the two recommended information sources, FollowtheMoney.org is the more user-friendly site of the two, so if youre very pressed for time, visit that site and put in the full name of a candidate - just be sure to fully expand information for each individual. To do so, be sure to click candidate highlighted in red on the left-hand side bar when the results of a search appear. The result should look like the following example page: http://
www.followthemoney.org/database/search.phtml? searchbox=tom+carlson

Bold Nebraska
Led by former SEIU We Are Change NE employee Jane Flemming Kleeb, BN attempts to wrap itself in a populist blue-dogish cloak of legitimacy, but the agenda of Kleeb & Co. is very progressive.

Public Service Commission

A regulatory body with jurisdiction over telecommunications, carriers and transporters of goods, grain sales, modular housing, RVs, and most recently, larger diameter petroleum pipelines. Official site: http://
www.psc.state.ne.us/

http://boldnebraska.org/ search.php?q=election +2012&submit=

Focus: NE Unicameral & State Budget

Nebraskas budget should be of primary concern to voters

Nebraskas Budget is in worse shape than advertised

FINANCIAL PRUDENCE? The Governor has not balanced our budget without raising taxes.

The percentage of NE funds which comes from Federal government has been steadily increasing to well beyond 30% - now consistently nearly 40%. (See State Funding Chart, upper left).
Graphic source: Nebraskaspending.gov - note typo re: 2010 is just that; the data is confirmed.

We apologize to any voters looking for candidate recommendations as we have done in the past. For the past several years, the majority of our focus has been on the Unicameral, legislation, and conduct of our State Senators, and find it difficult to compete with special interests and party influences, even if significant boots on the ground are provided to candidates. We are choosing to focus on the bigger picture until more Nebraskans see the need for several important reforms.

The percentages sited do NOT include Federal funds to the University of Nebraska system. Considering repeated shortfalls, NE Legislators and Governor have difficulty managing the other 60-65%. The only way our budget has been balanced, especially 2009-2012, has been to: Request and accept $1.7 billion in Stimulus (ARRA) federal funds. Across the board and other cuts to the state budget have resulted in tax and fee increases by county and local governments. HEALTH CARE & EDUCATION SPENDING A 2005 projection by NE Dept. of Health and Human Services showed that NE spending on education health care, left unchecked, would consume 95% of the entire State budget by 2025. Instead of implementing necessary reforms and curtailing spending, our Legislators have done the opposite by repeated health care program expansions and annual education increases. While Governor Heineman has fought some spending expansions in health care, he consistently advocates for increasing education spending. He has not used his own significant bully pulpit effectively to rally Nebraskas citizens to pressure their State Senators or even to make an appeal that voters send actual fiscal conservatives to the Unicameral. http://grassrootsne.com/?p=19775

Unicameral: Screaming For Voters Attention AFTER the Election

Unfortunately, Election 2012 outcomes are unlikely to bring necessary changes to the Nebraska Unicameral in the next legislative session. That statement is based on our knowledge of how the Unicameral works, the voting records of officeholders who were not up for re-election, and a brief review of the candidates on this years ballots, even if each seat is filled by the best available candidate. KEY CONCERNS: BUDGET & HEALTH CARE LAW
http://grassrootsne.com/?p=19531

Collective Bargaining: Issue Should Be REVISITED Legislation passed in 2011 has been proven inadequate. Just three examples: 1) The City of Omaha recently received notice of a bond rating downgrade due to the terms of one public employee collective bargaining contract. 2) City of Lincoln firefighters, with average salaries of $80,000 per year, and 100% health insurance premiums paid, have seen NO impact from 2011 reform of the sweeteners, despite several tax and fee increases in the City. 3) Official Time not curtailed. Some City of Lincoln bargaining agreements actually pay some union workers to do union business on official time and one Omaha bargaining unit has added that benefit to their list of recent demands. CIR / Collective Bargaining reform was no reform at all, and the entire episode reveals much that should trouble Nebraska voters, but especially, Nebraskas taxpayers. Employees are the #1 administrative cost of government, and continuing levels of spending on salaries, but most especially benefits in our state, at all levels, was not touched and may have been worsened by 2011 reform. http://grassrootsne.com/?p=7312

Legislators will decide how to handle an issue of vast importance to all Nebraskans, the implementation of the health care law. A strong and consistent majority of Nebraskans have been opposed to the health care law since before it was passed by Congress. Appropriate handling of the issue, then, logically, would be for our representatives to take a slow and very minimalist approach in implementing the law, looking for opportunities to minimize its effects. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Nebraskans would be well advised to turn their focus on the Unicameral and the Governor on their handling of the issue - our research and monitoring indicate the likelihood of big trouble. TransCanada Pipeline Legislative redo? Newly reviewed developments indicate our legislators mis-handled this issue so badly, the legislation passed in special session may be wholly inadequate, and therefore, require redrafting.

Proposed Amendment No. 2: Unintended Consequences?

For additional information, including our letter to Senator Pirsch, and a follow-up on his response: http://grassrootsne.com/?p=23048

Criteria for Constitutional Amendments:

1. Constitutional changes are not to
http:/grassrootsne.com/?p=22830

Amendment 2 is the very sort of Cons2tu2onal Amendment we conserva2ve gun-lovers would normally cheer about. Unfortunately, although we support the idea of enshrining the rights to hunt, sh, and harvest wildlife by Nebraskas private ci<zenry into our States Cons<tu<on, we cannot recommend vo<ng FOR Amendment 2 - even aIer speaking directly to the legisla<ve sponsor, Senator Pete Pirsch about the issue. LEGAL LANGUAGE HAS PROBLEMS Choice of specic language either renders

open bureaucra<c discre<on to choose the top priority in managing game, sh, and wildlife - it doesnt require The phrase which causes Nebraskans rights to do so to be primary, as we concern, with the might believe in reading troubling words it. highlighted: the measure ineec<ve OR could even have nega<ve impact in future. a cons)tu)onal right to hunt, to sh,and to harvest wildlife and would designate public hun)ng, shing, and harves)ng of wildlife as a preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife. The best example available to Midwesterners regarding the importance of such language, is to recall the devasta<ng 2011 ooding all along the Missouri River valley.

property rights the #1 priority. The evidence is clear: without clear direc<ves from lawmakers, bureaucrats will employ discre<on, some<mes with very nega<ve consequences.

be undertaken lightly. Americans constitutions were designed to protect individual inalienable rights, and therefore, changes should be examined careful to ensure those rights are preserved.

We believe Sen. Pirsch is incorrect in his 2. Is the proposed amendment even explana<on that the necessary? word choice was either necessary or would Is the problem presented really uphold Nebraskans a problem and is the only remedy rights to sh, hunt, etc. if legally challenged. amending the Constitution? The U.S. Army Corps. of Judges only take ONE WORD can make a Engineers had within the legisla<ve intent into account when the 3. Does the proposed amendment huge dierence in a legal array of choices, the considera<on of wildlife language is unclear. The challenge. protect inalienable rights or does preserva<on, power use of a is clear, and a genera<on, and ood Court would uphold that it potentially infringe upon them? By using a preferred means instead of the control - they didnt have Game, Fish, and Parks an explicit direc<ve to has wide discre<on. preferred means, make ood control or 4. What are the potential Amendment No. 2 leaves unintended consequences of the proposed amendment? 5. What was the stated intent of those who proposed the amendment, who was involved, and are they people of character and credibility? 6. Who supports and opposes the

Proposed Amendments No. 3 & 4: Vote AGAINST Professional Politicians

For more information: http://grassrootsne.com/?p=22702 and http://grassrootsne.com/?p=22627

We see Amendments No. 3 & 4 as very much related, for a variety of reasons, the most important of which, is that we firmly believe Nebraskans should send a desperately needed message to members of the Nebraska Unicameral by voting AGAINST both of them. First, it should strike Nebraskans as odd that the same group of State Senators, (a two-thirds majority) would vote to pass BOTH measures in the same session. Taken together, these amendments say, Please give us a raise, we are so overworked, but we want four more years anyway. We think of this as the GM model:

We lose money on every car we make, but we make it up on volume. And we all know what happened to GM. Beyond this illogical tangle, we rmly urge votes AGAINST for the following reasons: 1) RULE OF LAW: The NE Cons<tu<on has mandatory provisions for the number of days our Legislature can be convened each year. Our State Senators are now conduc<ng legisla<ve business virtually year round. IF our legislators believe the business of Nebraska government requires more than the 90 and 60 day sessions mandated by law,

then they should make their case to the people of Nebraska and we should have a vote to amend the Cons<tu<on - they should NOT go around the law as they have been doing for some <me. 2) WRONG SOLUTION Some Senators argue that the demands on State Senators are too great for the pay and essen<ally require a whole term to learn. The solu<on is NOT to increase pay or extend terms - it is to say STOP! and then ask WHY the <me demands and complexity have become so great and spilled outside the bounds of the mandated session

length. Has the State Legislature over <me expanded the role of government too extensively and what IS the proper role of government? 3) FISCAL IMPRUDENCE See Page 3 of this guide.

measure, and how do their 4) PROBLEMS OF THEIR various philosophies of OWN MAKING Why government align (or not) with are Senators complaining so much yours? about the demands on mee<ngs and do include everyone their <me? Much of other work. BUT Nebraskas these problems are taxpayers and self-inicted: In the ci<zens. The most recent Legisla<ve 5) EVERYONE BUT Unicameral is session, Senators TAXPAYERS Our screaming for passed over 200 research and reform, and un<l Interim Study experience has that occurs, resolu<ons, meaning taught us that all salaries should that out of session, of the not be increased, they would have to stakeholders nor term limits conduct hearings, have considered by our extended. Legislators

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.GRASSROOTSNE.COM