GOP flexing—some—new statehouse muscle

[Dan W]

http://watchdog.org/185308/gop-statehouse-muscle/

This is the change that NFOA-PAF has worked hard to achieve

For years it’s been driving the GOP crazy.

While Republicans have held a clear majority of the seats in the Nebraska Legislature, Democrats have been running much of the show.

How? By holding the top spot in several committees, bottling up bills they don’t like and freeing ones they do.

Here’s four committees where the GOP is flexing its new statehouse muscle.

    Judiciary: Democrat Brad Ashford—elected to Congress—is out, apparently to be replaced by Republican Les Seiler.
    Government: Republican John Murante set to take over for Democrat Bill Avery—as Nebraska Watchdog has reported the state’s “winner take all” Electoral College vote is likely to take center stage here.
    Transportation: Republican Jim Smith is in line to follow Democrat Annette Dubas.
    General Affairs: Republican Tyson Larson is expected to replace Democrat Russ Karpisek

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 Read the whole article at the link
 http://watchdog.org/185308/gop-statehouse-muscle/

[DenmanShooter]

Sounds like good news. 

[RedDot]

The thing to watch for will be liberal attempts to completely circumvent the Unicameral by writing their own bills and forcing them onto ballots by petition.  "Democracy in Action"  Just like they did with minimum wage, and they've alluded to doing over medicare expansion.

[bkoenig]

I'll believe it when they start standing up to Ernie.

[FarmerRick]

Resolution passed by the Douglas County Republican Party, and also by the NEGOP.

http://dcrponline.com/resolution-to-require-public-vote-of-committee-chair-persons/

Douglas County Republican Party

Resolution to Require Public Vote of
Committee Chair-persons
Dated this 2nd day of December, 2014

WHEREAS the members of the Unicameral are elected by Nebraska voters; and

WHEREAS the citizens of Nebraska entrust their elected senators to conduct the state’s business in an open and transparent manner; and

WHEREAS under Nebraska’s unique one-house system the voters are regarded as the “second house;” and

WHEREAS George Norris, the father of the Unicameral, said, “Every act of the legislature and every act of each individual must be transacted in the spotlight of publicity;” and

WHEREAS Unicameral committee chairs are currently selected in secret; and

WHEREAS committee chairs have a significant bearing on potential legislation, and

WHEREAS secret elections prevent Nebraska voters from being able to evaluate their elected state senators on all their decisions and votes, and

WHEREAS secret election of committee chairs violates the fundamental precept of unicameralism that the citizens are the “second house;” and

WHEREAS secret election of committee chairs violates the principle of transparency in government,

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Douglas County Republican Party strongly supports the open and transparent election of all Unicameral committee chairs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Douglas County Republican Party calls upon state senators to open all future Unicameral committee chair elections to a transparent process wherein their votes are publicly disclosed and recorded.


Call, email and write to your Senators and tell them you EXPECT THEM TO HONOR THIS RESOLUTION!!  Well, at least those of you with Republican Senators...

[jFader]

I'll believe it when they start standing up to Ernie.

Very interested to see who stands tall & who bows! 

[bullit]

What kind of person is Seiler?  Frankly, the Judiciary Comm is about the only one of real importance. 

[DenmanShooter]

What kind of person is Seiler?  Frankly, the Judiciary Comm is about the only one of real importance. 

He is fair and a good conservative.  I have known Les for many years.  I was happy to see him run for office and to be elected.  He is a lawyer, though.   He is very accessible and you can discuss things with him like a regular guy.

[Sandhillian]

What kind of person is Seiler?  Frankly, the Judiciary Comm is about the only one of real importance.

That's a great question.  From watching him on the Judiciary Committee while Ashford was chair, I wasn't impressed.  Hopefully, with Ashford and Lathrop gone, Seiler will be willing to have a little more backbone.  There's no doubt he will be an improvement over Ashford, but to what degree is yet to be seen.

[DanClrk51]

Yeah I wasn't too impressed with Les Seiler either. He didn't support the bill at first in regards to keeping gun owner records (names & addresses) private because apparently nobody could point to a case in Nebraska where it happened that the media published the info.

Well I'm sorry but that is the WRONG approach and the wrong attitude to have. The legislature needs to be PROACTIVE not reactive. If we wait until we actually have a case then the damage has been done, and a bill after the fact would be too little too late.

He also heavily criticized Senator Bill Kintner's firearms freedom bill that would nullify all federal laws regarding guns in this state. I do agree though that the language in that bill was extreme and would have caused problems. Many said it would have gotten rid of any federal regulation including background checks and they would have had to arrest federal officials only doing their job.

But the main purpose of the bill was to push back at the federal overreach (proposed Assault Weapons Ban, Limit on magazine capacity, Universal Background Checks). In addition to the criticism he could have offered support for the heart of the bill and suggested amendments that would have removed the extreme stuff out and put it what we wanted, but he didn't do that.

I would have thought that a Heineman appointee would have been more conservative in regards to 2nd Amendment rights. I hope he changes his tune this coming session.