Nebraska’s two largest metropolitan areas just completed their election cycles. In Lincoln, the Democrats won big with the most diverse slate in the history of the city. The results in Omaha were inconclusive and were a bit of a draw — Jean Stothert was re-elected in a landslide and the Democrats maintained a 4–3 majority on the city council. In both cities, the status quo prevailed.
In Nebraska’s capital city, the Democrats began the cycle with the mayor’s office and a 5–2 majority on the city council. The results for the Democrats were a clean sweep of all three city…
The Democrats have long had the reputation of being the tax and spend party. This all began in the 1930s when Franklin Roosevelt aide and close friend Harry Hopkins said: “We shall tax and tax, and spend and spend, and elect and elect.” This reputation is also based upon the fact that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama raised taxes on the wealthy and that Joe Biden has proposed to do the same.
What is little known is that Clinton, Obama and Biden have all cut taxes for the middle class. Unfortunately, the GOP is known as the party that cut…
President Biden has introduced his American Jobs Plan which will fund investments in our people and our infrastructure with higher taxes on corporations and individuals who make over $400,000.00 per year. “S&P predicts that Biden’s infrastructure plan will create 2.3 million jobs by 2024, inject $5.7 trillion into the economy — which would be 10 times what was lost during the recession — and raise per-capita income by $2,400,” Axios reported.
This should come as no surprise to anybody but the sabotage minded D.C. Republicans have come out in opposition to Biden’s plan. One of the key talking points from…
Ricketts’ signature proposal for the legislative session was a bill (LB408) that would’ve imposed an arbitrary 3% annual limit on local property tax increases. The billionaire governor proposed to use these cuts to education to fund additional property tax cuts. These tax cuts would have been in addition to the $500 million in unfunded property tax cuts passed in the 2020 session.
The 24 largest school districts in Nebraska opposed Ricketts’ regressive plan. Stand for Schools — a non profit working to support public education in Nebraska — tweeted: “Public schools already work under levy limits and spending limits. Ricketts…
An unfortunate pattern we’ve seen since 1993 have been attempts by the D.C. Republicans to sabotage a new Democratic President in a cynical effort to grab power. During Clinton’s first term, the GOP blocked a stimulus bill and a universal health coverage bill.
GOP sabotage escalated during Obama’s first term. Mitch McConnell and the House Republicans decided to oppose Obama on every front to prolong the recession and regain power. The likes of Mitch McConnell and Rush Limbaugh were open about their hopes that the country would fail and Obama would be a one term president. …
When the Democrats swept the Lincoln city elections in 2019, the local economy was booming and there appeared to be blue skies ahead. However, in 2020, we were hit with the world’s worst pandemic since 1918 and our Democratic city government was tested as never before.
Fortunately for the people of Lincoln, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and the five Democrats on the City Council rose to the occasion. Gaylor Baird and the Democrats made the tough choices by implementing a mask mandate and a Covid emergency declaration. …
In the last few weeks, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts has been very outspoken in his opposition to President Biden and his agenda. It’s unusual for a Nebraska governor to speak out on national issues. It’s evident to me that Ricketts has aspirations for higher office. The billionaire governor will most likely run for the U.S. Senate in 2024 or even the presidency.
The Nebraska press has dutifully reported on Ricketts partisan rants without doing any fact checking. Many of the articles read like a Ricketts press release. …
This timeline from an April 10 Associated Press story indicates that Donald Trump didn’t take action to stop the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. (While the attack was being carried out, Trump was delighted and excited.)
12 Noon. Trump speech. Trump told his followers: “You will never take our country back with weakness…We fight. We fight like hell…If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Rudy Giuliani called for “trial by combat.” Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said: “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.”
1:15…
Pete Ricketts ran for governor in 2014 on the theme that his alleged business savvy qualified him for the job. Unfortunately, Ricketts has visibly struggled in his job as governor since he was inaugurated in 2015. His repeated failures and missteps have long since punctured the notion that he was a good businessman. Ricketts’ reputation first took a huge hit in 2015 when he sent $54,000 to a shady middle man in India to purchase drugs for executions. Nebraska never got the drugs and we never got our money back. He has never recovered or improved. …
This story was published on August 1, 2016.
One of the many down sides of the Nebraska GOP’s control of the state Constitutional offices and Unicameral is that it is difficult to hold their elected officials and candidates to account for their misdeeds. This has created a certain arrogance and high handedness that makes them believe that they can do anything and get away with it.
I wrote a piece about this issue in 2013 during the Heineman Administration when then Lieutenant Governor Rick Sheehy was forced to resign over the use of a state cell phone to call his…
Dennis Crawford
I’m a trial lawyer, a Democratic activist and a sports fan.
