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Barry Richards making second run for governor
Although you've never seen one of his ads -- and won't in this campaign -- there's a third candidate for governor in this year's Nebraska general election.
His name is Barry Richards. He's a Hayes County farmer-rancher who is making his second run for statewide office as the Nebraska Party's nominee in the 2006 race with Gov. David Heineman, the Republican candidate, and David Hahn, the Democratic nominee.
"I'm speaking for the common folks at the grass roots level," Richards said Thursday in a telephone interview with the Gazette. "I want to show that anyone can stand up and participate. We need to take government back into the hands of the people and stand up strong for local control of education."
He is doing it all at the lowest cost possible, not spending any money for television, radio or newspaper ads. Instead he is relying on free publicity, such as this interview, and appearances at debates and rallies.
At the heart of Richards' campaign is his desire to abolish sales, income and property taxes and replace them with a one half percent "transaction tax," payable by both the buyer and seller on every transaction that takes place.
As proposed by Richards, no transaction would be exempt. "It doesn't matter if it's a cup of coffee or the multi-million dollar sale of a ranch or business," Richards said. "All transactions would be subject to the tax, with an equal amount (.05%) paid by both the buyer and seller."
At that rate, both the buyer and seller would be taxed half a cent on a dollar cup of coffee, and $5,000 each on a $1 million ranch sale.
Richards first heard the idea from an Atkinson area farmer, Stan Dobrovolny. The idea garnered support in the McCook area, but efforts to translate the plan into legislative action were unsuccessful.
While the intent of the transaction tax would be to eliminate sales, income and property taxes, Richards said that would not be immediately possible. That's because bonded indebtedness -- incurred for schools, jails and other public needs -- would have to be retired.
Richards became active in statewide politics in the last general election. In that campaign he was the Nebraska Party's nominee for lieutenant governor. Richards was the running mate of Paul Rosberg of Wausa, the Nebraska Party's founder and their nominee for governor in 2002.
This time around, Barry Richards, 49, is heading the Nebraska Party's ticket as the nominee for governor. Barry's running mate, as the party's lieutenant governor nominee, is his brother, Terry Richards, 51.
The Richards' brothers and their parents, Harold and Delores, have a farming and ranching operation northeast of Hayes Center. They have around 10,000 acres of land and maintain a 950-head cow herd. "It truly is a family farm," Barry Richards said.
Barry and his wife, Marian, became interested in government when their three sons, Derek, 23; Zach, 21, and Beau, 19, were going through school. "It was then that we saw people were losing control on the local level," he said.
The nominee for governor said he joined the Nebraska Party because it stands for what he believes in, namely, putting more God in government and upholding the U.S. Constitution.
"We can get control, but we can't do it the way we have been, which is complaining every day about government, then turning around and voting in the same old career politicians."
What Richards wants voters to know is that it's not how much money candidates have that is important; it's how many ideas they have. "We need to exercise our right to be heard. We need to get back to what the Nebraska Party stands for: Christianity and the Constitution," he said.