Osborne stepping up the pace

After winning national championships as a football coach and serving in the U.S. Congress, you might think that Tom Osborne would be ready to take it easy.

You would be wrong. He is a driven man. He worked relentlessly as a coach and a congressman, and now he is giving the same kind of all-out effort in his bid to be governor of Nebraska.

That was illustrated emphatically Thursday afternoon when he stopped in McCook to visit with supporters and the news media. Although he must have been worn out -- after a round of visits in Western Nebraska -- he talked in detail about his reasons for wanting to become Nebraska's chief executive officer.

"I have three main goals," he said. "One, I want to unite the state; two, I want to turn around the brain drain; and, three, I want to get taxes under control."

In an interview with the Gazette's publisher, Gene Morris, and city editor, Lorri Sughroue, Osborne was most emphatic about taxes. "Nebraska ranks eighth in the nation in the amount of taxes paid per person. There was an opportunity to address the issue during the past two years, but effective action was not taken. Instead, taxes rose 7.1 per cent this year and they are going up another 7.1 percent next year."

If elected governor, Osborne pledged to do three things to turn the tide on taxes. "We need to create efficiencies, we need to do performance audits and we need to turn to the private sector for guidance," he said. One opportunity for savings is Medicaid. "Other states have been more effective in dealing with Medicaid. Nebraska needs to take similar action."

On his visit, Osborne was accompanied by his wife, Nancy, and his running mate, Kate Witek. Nancy called her husband "The right man at the right time" for the governor's office. "Earlier I wouldn't have said this, but I think Tom's time as a congressman has prepared him well for the governor's job."

Witek, who currently serves as state auditor, says the state needs Tom Osborne for many reasons, most especially because he is a trusted leader.

Osborne concluded by saying, "I'm not running for governor because of the title or the airplane. I am running because I believe we have an opportunity to make the state better."

As the primary campaign enters the stretch drive, Osborne is stepping up the pace in his race against the sitting governor, Dave Heineman, and a businessman from Omaha, David Nabity. Judging from his past performances -- as a congressman and the Cornhuskers' coach -- his foes will have their hands full in their attempts to turn back his bid to be the state's chief executive.