News Clips

State legislatures, including in Nebraska, have called hundreds of times to convene a constitutional convention to address topics ranging from reining in federal spending to banning polygamy.

A complete count committee can help to “engage with those communities directly to assure them it’s not harmful and it does benefit them,” said Gavin Geis of Common Cause Nebraska.

Electioneering communications would be subject to increased regulation under a bill considered March 13 by the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. Jack Gould of Common Cause Nebraska testified in favor of the bill. A group called Trees of Liberty produced ads opposing three Nebraska legislative candidates that aired days before the 2016 election, he said. The ads were filled with “half-truths,” he said, and the targeted candidates had no time to react.

Have you ever given money to one political candidate only to have the money go to an entirely different candidate? You may not think so but it happens. And it happens a lot. Now there’s a push in the state legislature to stop this political double dealing. A public hearing on a bill to end campaign cash shuffling is scheduled for Friday.

“That is a lot of money and pretty unprecedented for Nebraska fundraising,” said Gavin Geis, executive director of Common Cause Nebraska, a nonpartisan government accountability group. “That’s D.C.-level fundraising… It goes to show what a deep-pocketed candidate can do to buy influence.”

“Almost $17.5 million tops the most ever that’s been earned by the lobby,” Gould tells Nebraska Radio Network affiliate KLIN. “In light of the fact that we’ve never seen an increase in the senators’ money for their salaries from $12,000, and the governor’s cutting everybody’s budget, the lobby seems to be doing very well.”