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Krist: Partisan politics hobbling Legislature
McCOOK, Neb. — The partisan politics being played in the Nebraska Legislature is causing havoc and is not good for Nebraskans, Sen. Bob Krist said Thursday night.
There has been no significant property tax relief for Nebraskans because of the stalemate in the legislature, Krist said, a 10-year veteran of the state senate and running against Pete Ricketts for governor. Speaking at Loop Brewery Thursday night in McCook, the life-long Republican switched to the Democratic ticket for his candidacy, although “I’m somewhere between a Reagan-Republican, Kennedy-Democrat, except those parties don’t exist anymore,” he said.
Property taxes have increased in Red Willow County by 56.61 percent over the last decade, but median household income has only grown by 9.15 percent during the same time period, he said. This is unsustainable, Krist said, with the three-legged stool of property taxes, sales tax and income taxes wobbling under the load.
But the partisanship in the Legislature and the lack of discussion among issues are getting worse and not helping the problem, Krist said. It’s something he witnessed again and again, with his decision to run for governor coming after last year’s budget session.
When defending provider rates for the disabled from the governor’s cuts, Krist said he was told again and again by other senators that their minds were already made up, that they were told how to vote and the issue was not open for discussion.
“And that, to me, was disgusting,” he said. And maybe other Nebraskan’s feel the same way, he thinks. Krist said in a listening tour he took in Nebraska’s Third district, before deciding to run for governor, he heard repeatedly that Gov. Ricketts was not listening to property owner’s request for relief and that “the governor is buying the best legislature he could buy.”
Being a governor is about leadership and not power, he maintained.This extends even into the Medicaid expansion petition, that thousands of Nebraska signed, with the lawyer for the lawsuit to block it affiliated with a law firm owned by the Ricketts family. Matthew L. Trail, Director of Communications for Pete Ricketts for Governor, said that is inaccurate and that the law firm is not owned by Ricketts.
That kind of partiality has to stop, he said. “That’s the number one thing that has to change, this my-way-or-the-highway kind of leadership because it’s not allowing us to do the things we need to do.”
Solutions and ideas Krist brought up Thursday night included:
* for property tax relief, one alternative to the current assessment process could be an eight-year average of high-to-low property evaluations.
* allow the production of industrial hemp. Often confused with marijuana, it’s a billion dollar industry in Canada that the U.S. imports for oil and filter. “If it’s important enough to import, it’s important enough to produce.”
* legalize medical marijuana. It reduces seizures in some disabled individuals, Krist said, and is a better way to fight the opioid addiction
* allow the use of bonding to shore up the state’s infrastructure, particularly for roads. Krist said the current administration is following the lead of previous governor, Dave Heineman, who believed in the “we don’t spend money we don’t have” thinking. But nowadays bonding is the only way to for major construction to take place without forcing the general fund to cover costs.
* have an in-depth study done on sales tax exemptions on which exemptions can be withdrawn, “disregarding special interests and lobbyists.”
* take a good, hard look at the Nebraska corrections system, including early intervention of at-risk individuals. “Treat them in the playpen, before they get to the state pen,” Krist said. And with a 30 percent turnover rate in employees, make jobs in the correction system a viable profession, with good wages and benefits.
* Medicaid expansion will not bankrupt the state as there are Medicaid waivers that other states have used, where funds are pulled from other sources.
For Krist, it’s not about rural versus urban senators or a political party, but making decisions for Nebraskan’s based on evidence-based data. “It’s what I did as a military commander, as a business owner and in the legislature.”
Krist was first appointed to the Nebraska Legislature in 2009 to complete the term of a District 10, Omaha senator who resigned. He was then elected 2010 and re-elected in 2014. A retired 21-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he was a pilot that flew more than 100 combat sorties in Desert Storm and Desert Shield in Iraq. After retiring as a lieutenant colonel, he now owns an aviation business. Growing up in Omaha, his father was an electrician and his mother a nurse. He and his wife have two children, Courtney, their special needs daughter who lives with them and Justin, married to Aura who is a naturalized citizen. He has one grandson.