Friday, September 4, 2009

Omaha Mayor Suttle and A Recall

It is no secret Omaha's Mayor Suttle has had a tumultuous first few months in office. He'll soon end up with a budget that probably won't make him any more popular. We understand that although no decision has been made as to a definite go ahead that a committee is in the process of forming to coordinate a recall effort as early as December. The committee would have a prominent leader or leaders and start raising money and developing a plan so as to be much more organized and effective than the fledgling attempts to recall former Mayor Fahey.



Omaha is headed for continued controversy.

Senator Friend's Replacement

Sometime as early as today you can expect Governor Dave Heineman to appoint a replacement to fill the seat of Mike Friend. Known contenders include Tim Lonergan who serves on the Metro Tech Board; Bob Krist, a retired military guy and pilot, and Jeff Miller who earlier planned on running for the position, pulled back because of health reasons and now has returned to the mix because of improved health expectations. Of the three, certainly Bob Krist is the most impressive.

Krist and Lonergan will fight for the seat no matter whom the governor appoints. The governor is under pressure by supporters like union chief Terry Moore to appoint Lonergan. Other Republican leaders have suggested that Krist is the best choice. Miller won't get the job because he won't run for it if he isn't appointed.

Where does this leave the governor? Well, perhaps with a dark horse female media type? Yes, we understand that he wants to appoint an Omaha reporter, Mary Williams, to fill the seat. If he does, her term will be short because she has no political base.

Friday, August 14, 2009

World Herald and Public Discussion Lacking on Decision

Last week the Douglas County Board approved a request on a vote of 7 to 0 by Sheriff Tim Dunning to spend $2.5 million of confiscated drug funds on a regional crime lab. This as its current chief is under indictment for evidence tampering. The Omaha World Herald was totally absent from the room as its County Board reporter was on vacation.

Unbelieveable.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Obama Will Come To Omaha

Yes, it is true. President Obama is planning a visit to Omaha to support Lee Terry's opponent, Democrat State Senator Tom White. Obama apparently believes this will give him the chance to solidify the Democrat hold and future of the Second District.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Tom White Vs Lee Terry

State Senator White is working his non-campaign or pre-announcement by regular communications with Nebraska Democrats. Here is what he sent out today:

"We’ve had a great response to the email I sent you earlier this week asking for you to help us start strong as I move toward a race for Congress. I’m emailing today with a significant update.

The news just came from D.C. that national Republicans have added Lee Terry to their “Patriot” program – the Republican equivalent of the Endangered Species List. They know Nebraskans aren't happy with the status quo, and that it will take significant resources to defend it.

Show Republican leaders that they’re right to think Lee Terry is among their most vulnerable incumbents by giving at least $10 online right now:www.TomWhite2010.com/contribute

Now that they consider this seat in danger, we need to be ready for increased attention from Republican leaders in Congress. The D.C. newspaper Roll Call reports that Terry and the other most vulnerable incumbents will compete for 10 spots on the next scheduled “Patriot Day” — a one-day fundraising blitz that brought in almost $100,000 in contributions for each of the 10 original program members when it debuted in June.

Washington Republicans will be bringing serious muscle into our district to defend the status quo. It will take a strong grassroots network to fight back."

Ben Nelson

Hard to believe but several folks have told us that recent visits by Senator Nelson to the Whitehouse may have included discussion about more than the health care bill. In fact, some are suggesting he might be the next replacement for Secretary of Defense Gates. Seems implausible when the senator could be expected to easily win re-election in 2012 assuming he doesn't do something really stupid.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Democrats continue attack on Terry

The Democrats are stepping up their attacks on Congressman Terry as they try to soften him up for a challenge by Senator Tom White. Here is what they sent out today:

The Nebraska Democratic Party is announcing that we have set up an email hotline to collect information on "What has Lee Terry Done?"

It is designed to help identify what, if anything, the Republican Congressman has done for Nebraska.

"We know he jaywalks and maybe uses profanity, but otherwise, we don't know what Lee Terry is doing in Washington." Said State Chair, Vic Covalt.

"Other than voting No, we have no idea whether he does anything back there." Covalt said.

Lee Terry has voted lock step with the Party of No on everything this year.

No on the Stimulus.

No on Women's right to equal wages.

No on the SCHIP program to get insurance for Children.

No on supporting the troops.

No new commands for Offutt Air Force Base.

We might be missing something here, but it seems to us that a faceless congressman with the minority party in Washington is not good Representation for Nebraska. If you know of anything positive that Lee Terry has done in his six terms in Washington, let us know.

We have created a special email account so people can send in proof to support their statements. "We know that the Party of No likes to bend the truth or simply use misleading rhetoric," said Vic Covalt, "so we asking for documented proof to support claims that Lee Terry has done anything."

Please send in anything you know to
leeterry@nebraskademocrats.org

If you agree that Nebraska deserves a better class of representative, help us lead the charge. Become a sustaining donor of the Nebraska Democratic Party. Contribute below. "

Saturday, June 27, 2009

More Democrat attacks

In another e-memo to the faithful the Nebraska Democrat chairman attacks Heineman, Terry, Smith and Fortenberry while claiming that Senator Nelson and President Obama are responsible for whatever is good about Nebraska's economic situation. You can expect to see more of this as the campaigns against these incumbents begin.


'Governor Dave, Leadership is more than deciding where to cut Ribbons
Governor's lack of leadership with State's Budget is telling'

"We were surprised when Dave Heineman announced that he might have to call a special session of the legislature later this year on the budget.1 Where was the Governor's veto pen as the budget sailed through in record time last month? Not a single item was struck.
Yes, these are tough economic times for our state. And, yes, the people deserve leaders who can rise to the occasion and lead in tough times. Dave Heineman is obviously not a leader for tough times.
President Obama and Senator Ben Nelson deserve the credit for saving the state budget. This year, Nebraska, along with nearly every State received direct help in the form of Stimulus funds. Dave Heineman accepted these funds with glee. He used them to pay the bill on State Aid to Education. He used them to launch road projects which were waiting in the queue without funding. He dumped an increase in federal Medicaid money into the general funds.
These economic stimulus funds arrived only with the NO votes from Johanns, Fortenberry, Smith and Terry. These funds are benefiting all Nebraskans, no thanks to the Republican Party of No. The economic recession shows signs of improvement because of the drastic actions taken by Democratic leadership.
We have seen the positive impact this has had for our state and thank you to Senator Nelson for continuing to look out for the interest of Nebraskans first.
But even with a $1.36 billion dollar Democratic gift, Dave Heineman still foresees budget problems. He has already raided the cash reserve. And now after failing to use a veto on any part of the Legislature's budget, he says they may need to call a special session.
The governor's job is not just about deciding whether to cut ribbons in Fremont or Kearney. If the Governor spent more time cutting budgets instead of ribbons, we wouldn't be in this mess. We need a governor who can make the right decisions at the right time for the future of our State."

Setting Up a Campaign Against Heineman

The Democrats are obviously setting up their talking points for a campaign with or without Senator Lathrop as his opponent. In a e-memo to their followers, the state Democrat party had this to say:

"We all know that Governor Dave Heineman is a good political operative. He had a long and successful career as a campaign operative before he entered elective office and he ran a good campaign when he beat Tom Osborne in 2006. However, it is apparent that Heineman's political skill set is limited to electioneering and spin because Heineman has proved to be incompetent when it comes to actually governing our state.
The problems at the Beatrice State Developmental Center (herein after BSDC) provide an object example of Heineman's failure as a Governor. Up until the Johanns Administration, governors of both parties made BSDC a high priority. BSDC was a model facility that other states attempted to emulate. However, beginning with the Johanns Administration and continuing on with the Heineman Administration, conditions at BSDC have steadily deteriorated and have reached crisis proportions.

Since Heineman has been Governor, BSDC has gone through not one but two CEOs. After BSDC was cited for several jeopardy incidents in 2007, Vincent Benjamin resigned. After that, things didn't get any better at BSDC and now John Wyvill has recently resigned. As a consequence, BSDC is now more leaderless than ever.

Heineman's failure to properly fund and manage BSDC has cost the lives of several residents and has cost the Nebraska taxpayers millions of dollars in lost federal funding. In the hopes of saving money, Heineman ordered a small on campus hospital at BSDC to be shut down. Unfortunately, that proved to be a disastrous decision since two BSDC residents died because of inadequate medical care. In a panic move that followed that tragedy, Heineman moved 47 medically fragile residents out of BSDC against the wishes of their guardians into hospitals in Omaha and Lincoln. Unfortunately, the cost of this in-patient hospital care was much higher than the cost of caring for these residents at BSDC. In addition, six of these medically fragile patients sued Heineman and state officials for this move.
Another cost of Heineman's mismanagement is that Medicaid has ended its contract with BSDC and the State will now lose roughly $25 million a year in federal funds. Fortunately, for BSDC and the State, those funds were made up with money from general funds. However, there are no guarantees that that kind of funding will be available in future years.

When you add it all up, Heineman's record regarding BSDC is a sorry one marked by mismanagement and incompetence."

It remains to be seen who will take on Heineman, but you can bet he will be accused of murder and other high crimes in what will probably be a losing effort to derail his re-election. This is particularly true given that everything that Heineman does and decides is based on its impact on his re-election.

Friday, June 26, 2009

One less Muslim Democrat

Democrats are a little disturbed with one of their own Central Committee members, a Muslim who supported Hal Daub in the recent Omaha mayoral election. Seems they voted to remove him from his position as leader of the Muslim caucus and from his position on their executive and central committees.

Apparently, non-partisan elections aren't non-partisan for the Democrat leadership.

2010

Seems a sure deal that Senator White will challenge Lee Terry for the 2nd Congressional District seat next year with an announcement imminent.

As to Heineman, Senator Lathrop is making lots of noise and enjoying the publicity but we have it on good word that he will not run against Heineman.

As regards Congressman Terry, seems that Matt Sakalosky is creating lots of angst as he, a Republican, is solidly moving ahead with his campaign. Some Republican leaders will try to exclude Sakalosky from participating in GOP events while there are many Republican faithful that think Sakalosky should have a fair chance. In any event, Sakalosky is going to raise money and actively challenge Terry. There is no way Terry will lose the nomination, but winning against a challenger will cost Terry money and may provide additional hope to White and the Democrats.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Immigration, fund raising, secret meetings

In an article today by Kyle Michaelis of the New Nebraska Network, on statepaper.com, Michaelis attacks the Nebraska Republican Party and it's chairman's fundraising attempt and fight against illegals. It's an interesting article but we were intrigued by one of the comments which said: "I'm wondering if this tactic is among the top secret outcomes of that secret meeting in Omaha of a handful of Republican stakeholders that Fahleson called together on February 28 to determine strategy of the Nebraska GOP. " Comment by "Wondering'

We suspect this was the meeting held by Carlos Castillo at his home with only some of the Douglas County GOP 'elite' invited. But we can tell you that illegal immigration wasn't the reason for the meeting. More likely this was a meeting sanctioned by the governor to build a extra-GOP coalition to further his interests.

Anyone who was there want to comment?

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Sigerson the Tax Raiser?

We were at the Suttle and council swearing in ceremony last night and it sure looks like Councilman Sigerson has started letting people know that he is going to vote for property tax increases. After 8 years of voting against them, it appears that he now realizes it is time to get the city out of the mess he helped create.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Is Beatrice the Governor's Albatross?

Is Beatrice the Governor's Albatross? Today's Omaha World-Herald tells of another resignation involved in the operation. It is not surprising to see quotes from potential state senators who might be opponents to the governor or even Lee Terry next year making hay over this.

Brashear and Governor Heineman at Odds?


Thursday, June 4, 2009

Trouble at Nebraska GOP

We understand that there is much unhappiness with the state of Nebraska's majority party. Appears Mark Fahleson is not the happiest guy and is getting little help in covering the debt produced last fall, not necessarily the fault of former chairman Quandahl. Seems the biggest fund raiser that the party can put together is a breakfast before the Cattleman's Ball for $25 per person. Fahleson's life appears to be further complicated by the fact that he apparently had little to do with the selection of his Executive Director, Perre Neilan who was the governor's choice for the job.

Fahleson is a capable guy who appears to be getting little support from where it should be coming from, the guy who lives on H-Street.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Is Governor Heineman Thin-skinned?

Over the last several months we've seen reports that Governor Heineman may be a little thin-skinned. Numerous reports come into us daily about the governor who apparently is totally consumed in his mission of obtaining re-election next year and broaching no potential distractions from anyone in his own party which might cost him one vote.

So here are just a few of the people (other entities) who he seems to be sideways with or at least not fully appreciative of.
  • Kermit Brashear
  • Mark Fahleson
  • Lee Polikov
  • Sarpy County

Anyone what to comment?