In a state with a history of non-partisan and bipartisan actions, and a legislature that is supposedly non-partisan, you might think that Nebraska would be more likely to avoid partisan gerrymandering. You might also think, in this non-partisan atmosphere, that questionably legal maneuvers by the political party with the largest majority in the state legislature would never happen.
Unfortunately this year, you'd be wrong.
If you're unfamiliar with the concept of legislative redistricting, the idea is a simple one to understand. After the U.S. Census, every ten years, legislative district lines are supposed to be redrawn, so that each district has a roughly equal population to all the other districts within a state.
The usual political approach for most state legislatures when redistricting comes around is quite simple; keep things almost exactly the same as they were before the census. Their political motives are highly understandable. When political winds shift, as they always eventually do, political payback can be hell. Further, if a political party overreaches during redistricting, they can end up in Federal Court – and appear like they're trying to cheat and stack the deck against their political rivals.
Still, some political parties do attempt to gerrymander, to redraw the boundaries of an electoral district in an obviously corrupt way, to create a specific kind of political advantage.
Surprisingly, this year in Nebraska, the state Republican Party is attempting to do just that - and they are angering constituents from border to border.
To begin, the Nebraska Republican party is attempting to cut out the area near Offutt Air Force base, including Bellevue - which is on the EASTERN edge of Omaha - and move it into the district that includes the capitol city of Lincoln. This makes no logical geographic sense, since most of Omaha lies between the Offutt/Bellevue area and Lincoln. Further, most residents of Bellevue and Offutt know where they live - in the suburbs of Omaha, nearly an hour from Lincoln.
The gerrymandering doesn't stop there.
The Republican's proposed redistricting also includes splitting Alliance, a town that has traditionally had problems with being spilt by irregular legislative lines. Those lines were fixed a decade ago - but now are threatened by the redistricting plan backed by the Nebraska Republican Party. Nebraska City, Hastings, Chadron, Columbus, and all of Custer County face similar unorthodox splits if the Republican-backed plan is crammed down the throats of Nebraskans.
Even an expert in redistricting, UNL Professor Michael Wagner, says the proposal before the Nebraska legislature makes no sense.
We understand that BOTH parties have engaged in this type of political corruption before, and they will likely do so again. Gerrymandering is 200 years old in 2012 and we doubt that term or its corresponding action will disappear anytime soon. That kind of corruption is still so bad, sixteen states with a history of gerrymandering and election violations - including Florida - must have their redistricting plans approved by the Justice Department before they can move forward into the 2012 elections.
Even so, we think the actions of Nebraska Republicans this year are so outrageous, even the most distracted Nebraskan should sit up and take notice.
When even loyal partisan voters are being jerked around by their own party's representatives in the legislature, the question that comes to our mind is simple and direct: If your legislators don't even care enough about you to know where you live, how can they be trusted to make laws to protect you?
Monday, May 16, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Send in The Clowns
As our longtime readers know, when appropriate, we give kudos to those politicians and other figures who deserve them - and we excoriate those who have also earned our ire.
We also fully admit - while we're hard on our national politicians, we usually judge Nebraska politicians along a steeper scale than we do politicos from virtually any other place.
We also have a tendency to not want to go out on a limb, in general, when calling political contests. We've berated others for calling elections over before they've begun - so we won't do that today.
What we will say is this: We're pretty sure of the outcome of at least one race for U.S. Senate next year - and you can thank the Tea Party for that.
In case you missed it, the extremist far-right wing group, the Tea Party Express let it leak yesterday that the first official candidate they'll support for 2012 is Republican Jon Bruning. Bruning is one of three Republicans to have formally announced their intention to compete with Senator Ben Nelson for the U.S. Senate seat Nelson already occupies.
We can understand the possibility that you missed the non-announcement announcement on Wednesday. Not only was it one of the worst-kept secrets of the infant 2012 political season, but for those people interested in politics, the announcement only seemed to be a surprise to people outside the Cornhusker state.
We find it infinitely amusing that a foundering fledgling political group, that claims to be more focused on fiscal responsibility than either the Democratic or Republican parties, would choose Mr. Bruning as the first candidate of the 2012 season they'll support - on the same day that former Berkshire executive David Sokol resigned from the Bruning campaign, as the finance chairman, for unethical and irresponsible actions at Berkshire.
Of course, if your memory is like that of many Americans, let us remind you that the Tea Party Express is the same group responsible for Christine "I'm not a witch" O'Donnell, Joe "Free speech for me but not for you" Miller, and Sharron "I'll take Second Amendment remedies if I don't win" Angle.
We'll admit - we've praised Attorney General Bruning in the past for things he's done well, and docked him for things he's done wrong. In general, though, while we're not a fan of many of his political positions, we do think he'd have more potential if he would simply choose to be himself, and push away the insanity of those like the Tea Party Express.
As long as Republicans like Bruning continue to side with the insane wing of the GOP, their futures will continue to look like the approval ratings of the Tea Party: embarrassingly low and falling fast.
We also fully admit - while we're hard on our national politicians, we usually judge Nebraska politicians along a steeper scale than we do politicos from virtually any other place.
We also have a tendency to not want to go out on a limb, in general, when calling political contests. We've berated others for calling elections over before they've begun - so we won't do that today.
What we will say is this: We're pretty sure of the outcome of at least one race for U.S. Senate next year - and you can thank the Tea Party for that.
In case you missed it, the extremist far-right wing group, the Tea Party Express let it leak yesterday that the first official candidate they'll support for 2012 is Republican Jon Bruning. Bruning is one of three Republicans to have formally announced their intention to compete with Senator Ben Nelson for the U.S. Senate seat Nelson already occupies.
We can understand the possibility that you missed the non-announcement announcement on Wednesday. Not only was it one of the worst-kept secrets of the infant 2012 political season, but for those people interested in politics, the announcement only seemed to be a surprise to people outside the Cornhusker state.
We find it infinitely amusing that a foundering fledgling political group, that claims to be more focused on fiscal responsibility than either the Democratic or Republican parties, would choose Mr. Bruning as the first candidate of the 2012 season they'll support - on the same day that former Berkshire executive David Sokol resigned from the Bruning campaign, as the finance chairman, for unethical and irresponsible actions at Berkshire.
Of course, if your memory is like that of many Americans, let us remind you that the Tea Party Express is the same group responsible for Christine "I'm not a witch" O'Donnell, Joe "Free speech for me but not for you" Miller, and Sharron "I'll take Second Amendment remedies if I don't win" Angle.
We'll admit - we've praised Attorney General Bruning in the past for things he's done well, and docked him for things he's done wrong. In general, though, while we're not a fan of many of his political positions, we do think he'd have more potential if he would simply choose to be himself, and push away the insanity of those like the Tea Party Express.
As long as Republicans like Bruning continue to side with the insane wing of the GOP, their futures will continue to look like the approval ratings of the Tea Party: embarrassingly low and falling fast.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Keeping Promises
There are a host of different topics filling the headline spots of newspapers today. There's almost any kind of story you could want, from the separation of actor and former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from his wife, journalist Maria Shriver; to the idea that crazy liberals in Southern Arizona are attempting to split the state to get away from the crazy conservatives. There's even hard news, like the report released Monday by the Kaiser Family Foundation that agrees the Republican plan to change Medicare would really destroy Medicare - and leave 44 million more Americans (mostly elderly) uninsured.
The one story we're seeing very little of is a report on what President Barack Obama did on Tuesday.
It would be completely understandable, after nearly two weeks where the President has addressed and put to rest a whole host of major and minor issues, from the insanity that was birthism, to ordering the successful killing of the number one terrorist in the world, that he might take a day off.
Instead, the President traveled halfway across the nation to the Texas border town of El Paso. During the hottest part of the day, under the glaring sun, he gave a lengthy, detailed, and thoughtful address dealing with a political issue that is so volatile, neither major political party has enough courage to fully face the issue: immigration.
We're not going to rehash the President's speech here. You can read it for yourself, or watch the video of it - which we recommend if immigration is at all an issue you feel passionate about.
What we want to point out today is this: in less than two-and-a-half years on the job, this current President is not only NOT slowing down, nor is he losing focus. He is actually gaining momentum and picking up speed on his agenda.
When Senator Barack Obama began campaigning for the Presidency like most candidates, he made promises. By the time he won the Presidential election, Politifact had counted over 500 promises that he had made to attempt to change things.
According to that same organization, including promises he has yet to fulfill, items he's compromised on, items that are still in the works, and those that have been stalled by the GOP, President Obama has either completed or is working on 464 of 508 promises.
He's only left two items on the proverbial table that he hasn't begun to address.
Remember - he hasn't even been in office two-and-a-half years.
You may not like our current President, and you may not agree with his methods. You may believe he's too liberal - or that he's not liberal enough.
The one thing that can't legitimately be said about Barack Obama is that he's lazy. Very few Presidents have ever attempted so much in such a short time, save for some of our founding fathers, and both Presidents Roosevelt.
Even if you are a person who disagrees with President Obama on nearly everything, we hope you give the man some respect for what he has attempted so far.
He has set a standard of action for politicians of both parties that will be hard to match in the future. We can only hope to see more wise individuals from across the spectrum step up in the future and attempt to meet the marks Mr. Obama has already set.
The one story we're seeing very little of is a report on what President Barack Obama did on Tuesday.
It would be completely understandable, after nearly two weeks where the President has addressed and put to rest a whole host of major and minor issues, from the insanity that was birthism, to ordering the successful killing of the number one terrorist in the world, that he might take a day off.
Instead, the President traveled halfway across the nation to the Texas border town of El Paso. During the hottest part of the day, under the glaring sun, he gave a lengthy, detailed, and thoughtful address dealing with a political issue that is so volatile, neither major political party has enough courage to fully face the issue: immigration.
We're not going to rehash the President's speech here. You can read it for yourself, or watch the video of it - which we recommend if immigration is at all an issue you feel passionate about.
What we want to point out today is this: in less than two-and-a-half years on the job, this current President is not only NOT slowing down, nor is he losing focus. He is actually gaining momentum and picking up speed on his agenda.
When Senator Barack Obama began campaigning for the Presidency like most candidates, he made promises. By the time he won the Presidential election, Politifact had counted over 500 promises that he had made to attempt to change things.
According to that same organization, including promises he has yet to fulfill, items he's compromised on, items that are still in the works, and those that have been stalled by the GOP, President Obama has either completed or is working on 464 of 508 promises.
He's only left two items on the proverbial table that he hasn't begun to address.
Remember - he hasn't even been in office two-and-a-half years.
You may not like our current President, and you may not agree with his methods. You may believe he's too liberal - or that he's not liberal enough.
The one thing that can't legitimately be said about Barack Obama is that he's lazy. Very few Presidents have ever attempted so much in such a short time, save for some of our founding fathers, and both Presidents Roosevelt.
Even if you are a person who disagrees with President Obama on nearly everything, we hope you give the man some respect for what he has attempted so far.
He has set a standard of action for politicians of both parties that will be hard to match in the future. We can only hope to see more wise individuals from across the spectrum step up in the future and attempt to meet the marks Mr. Obama has already set.
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