Legislative debate gets partisan

LINCOLN -- Voices rose and charges of partisanship were exchanged during a heated debate today over a campaign reporting measure in the officially non-partisan Legislature.

In the end, 25 legislators (all Republican) voted to procedurally kill a measure introduced by a Democrat, Omaha Sen. Heath Mello.

The 25-12 vote was a reminder that Republicans out-number Democrats, 32-17, in the Legislature, which is elected on a non-partisan ballot.

Mello said that Legislative Bill 635 was a simple measure that would have required political parties to file the same reports on contributions in the final two weeks of an election that independent political committees must file.

He said it wasn't a partisan issue but one of transparency: political parties shouldn't be shielded from reporting late contributions until after an election, and should be treated just like independent committees.

But two Republicans senators from Omaha, Scott Lautenbaugh and Beau McCoy, called LB 635 a needless "solution in search of a problem." Lautenbaugh said he suspected it was being sought by the Democratic Party to gain a political advantage.

Mello denied that. Another Democrat, Omaha Sen. Jeremy Nordquist, said that Attorney General Jon Bruning, a Republican, formed an independent committee to help other candidates as had Omaha Sen. Tom White, a Democrat. GOP Gov. Dave Heineman also has an independent committee, "Nebraskans for a Better Tomorrow."

Lautenbaugh said he was upset because Mello was "one of the partisans ...lecturing us about partisanship." Mello responded that he was offended by the "dirty word" accusation. "We can't have government be a campaign every day, it can't be about who wins and who loses," he said.

In the end, senators voted to put off debate on the Mello bill until April 14. The vote effectively kills the bill because that is the last day of the 2010 session.

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