Dealing with the 'Kintner Issue'

The thing that has captured the most attention in Lincoln lately is the "Kintner Issue." As I am sure most of you are aware Senator Kintner has been fined $1000 by the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission for using his state-owned laptop computer to have cybersex with a woman he friended on Facebook. There seems to be much confusion about what and can be done about Senator Kintner's actions. Let me be very clear, Senator Kintner should resign and I have told him so several times. I believe as elected representatives we should be held to a higher standard and should conduct ourselves accordingly. As of this writing he has not resigned and has given no indication that he will resign any time in the near future.

Since the Legislature is not currently in session, the business of the Legislature is handled by the Executive Board of the Legislative Council. The Legislative Council is the full legislature and can have meetings and training sessions without having to call a special session. The Executive Board of the Legislative Council, of which I am a member, is made up of ten senators, nine voting members and the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee as a non-voting member. There are some things the Executive Board can take away from Senator Kintner to try and encourage him to resign, like his office, his staff, his phone and mail privileges, his parking and his computer. The Executive Board could also recommend to the full legislature that a special session be called.

In order to call a special session 10 senators must sign a letter to the Secretary of State asking for a special session on this or any other particular issue. The Secretary of State must then poll the remaining senators and if a total of 33 of the 49 senators want to have a special session on that specific issue he will notify the Governor. The Governor must convene a special session within 5 days. In the past Governors have called for special sessions many times, but it is my understanding the Legislature has never called itself into special session. The Governor should not call for a special session on the Kintner issue because of the separation of powers. This is a matter of the Legislative branch of our government, not the Executive branch. The full Legislature can deal with the Kintner issue either in a special session or in the regular session coming up in January.

Currently, the legislature is also looking at different options, censure, expel or impeach. Having never gone through this before there is disagreement about what actions can be taken that would be legally binding. If this issue has not been resolved within the next month I'll give you more details in my next article.