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Cliff Notes of the first gubernatorial debate March 19th Republican Governor debate
Video clips of the debate can be found at www.ketv.com/politics/8129116/detail.html
Taxes are too high. What cuts would you make?
Nabity Taxes are far too high Running for Governor because so many retirees are leaving the state due to high taxes You can move to SD and tax cut to half To WY 1/3 To CO ˝ FL ˝ My goal is to modernize and streamline government Eliminate death tax Reduce motor vehicle tax Income tax set at a flat rate of 3.5% I want to modernize the educational system statewide so we can bring needed property tax relief I want to see property tax drop by 20%
Osborne #1 issue is to cut spending. We are increasing spending by 14.2% Bring private sector into government Reduce redundancy In first 4 months come up with plan Carol Burling has a bill before the legislature that we need to do For some rural areas, 20 to 30% of their income is going to property tax Income tax code has to be restructured. It has not be adjusted since 1996 Top tax bracket is $46,000 for a couple. That is middle income now.
Heineman Thank you for letting me work as governor Love to work for state. Last year passed comprehensive jobs creation package To create jobs we eliminated sales tax on the manufacture and purchase of machinery and equipment Focus on lowering taxes We have become a high tax state through tax creep This year we are focused on reducing income, sales and property tax We are going to lower ag land valuation from 80 to 75% Decade long approach to lowering taxes Eliminate estate tax Lower income tax rates Do all we can to be more competitive We now live in a global economy Lower taxes at every opportunity
We have talked about tax cuts. Where would you spend more money Heineman Education Medicaid, wait and watch what FL does Higher Education
Nabity Spend more on Water transfers. Moving water from areas of surplus to areas of need. Tourism. Only RI and CT are only ones that spend less Expand crime prevention measures especially on Meth
Osborne Foster care Venture Capitol Drug and Alcohol education
Education - One city / one school district Nabity 8 districts take over the 23 schools in Omaha No consolidation statewide unless it can be demonstrated that it can result in: Better education
Property tax relief. This will result in
Osborne True understanding of issue – if left to our own devices, we can figure out. My position is to bring people together and avoid court We need more mentoring. We need to expand to high need kids Heineman This is the campaign issue because of candidate differences This issue is more difficult than others 1. OPS has good schools Other schools also has good schools OPS has challenges Best addressed by adjusting state aid formula and giving more money to needy schools Oppose OPS take over. Need more focus on kids and less on lawyers
Some schools say they need more state aid Osborne Need to redo state aid formula. More help to areas of concentrations of poverty and English Language Learners Rural schools losing population, need help too Redo formula Throwing more money at OPS is complex and we have to look at option enrollment. This will eliminate boundary issue.
Heineman State Aid is very important to the state. Both state and local balance. Formula is too complex. Need to recognize OPS challenge, low income and English language issues Foreclosure of class I schools is bad. I vetoed. Lose schools, lose community. Money is not the answer Two issues, good teachers and parent involvement
Nabity I will be champion of taxpayers Do a performance review Property taxes are eating everyone alive Only way to reduce taxes is to streamline system Too many needless mandates Too many duplications Rebuild state aid formula after Modernize and streamline system Believe in parental choice and parental control Money follows children
Crime - Sex offender home limitations. Heineman Difficult issue. One child harmed is one too many State is taking a comprehensive approach Increase penalty for those that offend Mental health Monitoring Very narrow residency requirement Commend senator Pat Borne Will sign lb 1199
Nabity Lost patience with criminals, thugs, and sex criminals Find toughest penalties and implement Increase penalties, and put away for a long time. Bad news for anyone that preys on our young children Pain via laws and restrictions on where sex offenders live.
Osborne Issue of concern to parents and grandparents Stiffest penalties possible Judiciary is not consistent. One judge gives long sentence and another gives short sentence More monitoring, ankle bracelets Force registration These people will go somewhere so must treat. Norfolk center – was to be meth treatment then sex offenders, but we keep reducing the number of beds. Need a study that shows best way to deal with.
Meth - How much to spend Nabity Move homeland security from Lt Governor to state patrol Anyone that report meth user is in danger. Need to protect the citizens and permit conceal carry We need treatment, but focus on removing from Nebraska or put behind bars, treatment second
Osborne 22,000 addicted to Meth Arkansas study shows cost is $47,500 to treat meth user. We need more education and prevention. Partnership for Drug Free America will come in with ads. Interdiction. Need to fund drug task forces Treatment, make or sell, put behind bars, but if user then treat. Invest in drug courts
Heineman We must address Meth Started last year, working with Attorney General and Senator Borne Passed comprehensive anti meth bill Removed certain drugs from shelf and put behind counter There has been a 70% reduction in meth labs arrests since last year Focus on prevention and importation of meth Asks for 45,000 allocation to study meth treatment center in Nebraska
Attracting new business in Nebraska, how attract Osborne Promote entrepreneurs Teach entrepreneurs Venture capital Focus on Bio science Put research centers in Omaha and Lincoln to help countryside Tourism Agri tourism Hunting. These could really revitalize our economy
Heineman 1st issue I heard about when taking over as Governor. Education and economic vitality of state are links We export our kids, we will reverse the trend We passed last year the most comprehensive job creation program. 26 companies have applied for more than money to help create 4000 new jobs since January Ethanol plants more than any other state, 75 to 100 construction jobs per plant. Went to Cuba, open export market
Nabity I have looked at research that shows what makes state grow Must modernize and streamline government Simplify tax code Get government off back of business Protect our two endangered species – the farmer and livestock producer. We must protect irrigators that produce corn for ethanol and the livestock feeding industry I want to be known as the water governor
Sued over foster care system, severe shortage of homes Heineman Children most precious resource. Hired 120 new protection and safety workers Very concerned about foster system Foster parents concerned about how things are working Asked for $500,000 independent study of what is wrong and how to fix Too many out of home placements
Nabity Time for leadership, it has been studied 10 or 20 times Need tough love in system If you are a drug parent you lose some of your rights And if you are abusive parent, you lose all rights Defend foster parents Get kids into the type of care they need, protect kids and foster parents We need to privatize as much as HHS as possible and to send out these services to private services such as the Catholic and Lutheran social services to help pick up where State has failed.
Osborne With respect to governor, we have already done the studies. Get the right people in the room and fix the problem. No one is happy with how system works Case workers last 1.5 years Kids see too may case workers. First responders such as police are not trained in this type of situation and don’t always know when to remove child.
Illegal immigrants Nabity Feds need to do their job, close border Trying to identify illegals is difficult Many are hard working Remove criminals and assimilate the hard working ones into our society Nebraska population would decline significantly if we did not have the immigrants These people are opportunity if done the right way
Osborne Penalize employers that hire illegals. The technology exists to identify illegals. We need the workers here but need to shrink the pool
Heineman Immigration is a federal issue It is important to security of country Secure borders Enforce current immigration laws Streamline application for legal immigration
Closing Statement
Heineman Graduate of small town. Went to west point. Honored to serve as governor. Wake up thinking of how to make Nebraska a great place. Legislation to create jobs should create 50,000 jobs over 8 years Cuba to help exports Modern tax structure 21st century education system Protect family and values Nebraska’s like job I am doing. Ask for your vote
Osborne People ask why run. Because I care about State Want to put Nebraska at the top Took football team in sparsely populated state and competed with TX and FL We had unity of purpose Pull state together and transcend school differences and urban/rural split Time in Washington, know the people in Washington and can get their help Funded campaign by limiting funding You can trust me to do the right thing, not the political thing
Nabity Most important election of last 40 or 50 years Champion of small business and farmer who is trying to make a living using irrigation Will go after bloated government Get government off the backs the producers, job creators, and tax payers. Immigrant from Czechoslovakia and forth generation Nebraskan. Tired of tax and regulatory burden Shrink size of government State needs extreme makeover Eliminate death tax Reduce motor vehicle taxes Modernize and streamline state government Hang on to young Need change now I am true conservative in the race Redesign Nebraska so we are the jewel of the Midwest.
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