Blog

by Shelli Dawdy

The City of Lincoln has had some serious budget problems for many years running, and there seems no end in sight to the trend of living beyond our means, especially considering the May 11 vote to approve the building of the new arena.

There have been a number articles on the topic of Lincoln’s budget in the last year and a half, but there have been none about the Lancaster County Board. Here at GiN it is among our priorities to become more familiar with the Board and its operation, but, I believe it is fair to state, based upon what I do know, that Lancaster County has been more reserved in its spending and taxation than the City of Lincoln. This fact is apparent when you examine your property tax assessment break down.

Since there are so many problems with budgets at the State and City level, it’s obviously important to prevent the same trend from occurring at the County level. County formerly http://lancaster.ne.gov/election/maps/County_Bd_City_2010.pdf Districts formerly http://lancaster.ne.gov/election/maps/County_Bd_Rural_2010.pdf 1, 3, 5 are up for re-election. In District 3, Commissioner Deb Schorr is running unopposed and, to the best of our understanding, she is doing a good job, and is responsive to constituents.

As I have mentioned before, neither I nor anyone else with GiN can make any statements on issues or candidates about which we have no knowledge. We do not  have any information about either of the candidates in District 1. (As we have a made an effort to do consistently, we urge all interested in limited government to do their homework about candidates in their particular districts.)

In District 5, the candidates are Brent Smoyer and Greg Butcher. In some ways they seem to be very similar; each has worked at the legislature, are young, and are either in pursuit of or currently hold a law degree.

That appears to be where the similarities end, however.

Several members of GiN have spoken with Mr. Smoyer and I have gotten to know him a bit in the last few months, and he appears to be the right man for the job. Unlike many politicians, Mr. Smoyer will state his position on an issue whether or not he is sure, beforehand, that you will agree with him.  His positions are sensible and display a clear understanding of the economic times.

Mr. Smoyer knows now is the time for government to look everywhere it can for cuts and that it is time to be very cautious about new expenditures. A good example is his idea of what should be done with the funds from Lancaster County Manor:  He thinks the money should not be spent, but held in savings for the time being.

Beyond his knowledge and his outlook on the specifics associated with the Lancaster County Board, Mr. Smoyer is an attorney who has been working as legal counsel at the Nebraska Legislature, so he has knowledge and experience about the workings of state government. It has provided him with a clear understanding, for example, that cities’ and counties’ expenditures for government employees’ wages and benefits are unsustainable. He is keenly aware of the dire need for reform of the Council on Industrial Relations (CIR) if governing localities have any hopes of either getting or keeping spending under control.

Regardless of the outcome of his campaign for County Board, several of us hope to work with Mr. Smoyer on the CIR issue during the legislative session.

Smoyer has worked for Senator Scott Lautenbaugh, a Senator with whom none here are very familiar, but who, by many accounts, votes to keep government growth in check. A direct example recently is regards the resolution in the Unicameral on Amendment 2, which, if passed, would eliminate the State Treasurer. Lautenbaugh was among the very short list of Senators who voted against that resolution.

Contrast Smoyer’s employer with his opponent’s: Greg Butcher worked as a legislative aide for District 26 Senator Amanda McGill. Another GiN article briefly lists some concerns about Ms. McGill, and it is clear that having worked to promote this Senator’s agenda gives Butcher experience and perspective that would translate into policies at the Lancaster County Board that are contrary to GiN’s mission and principles.

Additionally, there is reason to question how much Greg Butcher respects his potential constituents, and this, again, is in contrast to Brent Smoyer. Mr. Smoyer’s respect for those of us in Lancaster County was apparent in a recent interview on KLIN’s Drive Time Lincoln with Coby Mach. On the previous day, Butcher had appeared for an interview, during which he said that Lancaster County residents don’t know what the Lancaster County Board does. Smoyer disagreed, stating that, in his contacts with residents, he has found them to be more aware of what the Board does than his opponent gives them credit for.

A bit of a strange phenomenon underlines the question about respect for potential constituents; I have received reports that Butcher and/or his campaign staff, while going door to door in District 5, have told residents that he is running unopposed. Certainly, this misrepresentation makes little sense because it is so easily exposed as false, but misrepresentation of any sort is not something to be tolerated in any candidate, regardless of how transparent it might be.

Yesterday, we published an article urging anyone interested in impacting the outcome of this election to give a couple of hours of their time sometime before the end of the day Tuesday. I recommend to anyone in the Lincoln area who is willing and able to help a candidate to focus on providing assistance to Brent Smoyer.

I make this recommendation because, unfortunately, people tend to focus less attention and effort, the more local the races. If you can spend some time in the next couple of days working on Brent Smoyer’s behalf, his campaign can be contacted by email at brent@brentsmoyer.com.