| PERSPECTIVE |
[October 30, 2002] -
Who will run Nebraska for the next four years? Voters will decide Nov. 5. Republican Gov. Mike Johanns would like a second term. Johanns is an attorney, but he's also held a number of local government offices, including mayor of Lincoln. Democrat Stormy Dean is chief financial officer for Info USA. He's also on the Ralston School Board. Dean says his business experience will help him deal with the state budget deficits. Nebraska Party candidate Paul Rosberg is also running for governor. He declined "Statewide's" request for an interview. "Statewide's" Brad Penner looks at the Dean and Johanns campaigns in our Perspective report. |
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Transcript of Governor's Race
[Brad Penner/Reporting]
Running for governor isn't always glamorous.
[Stormy Dean/Democratic Candidate for Governor]
This is a low-tech operation, sometimes.
[Penner]
The name is memorable, but the candidate must make an impression.
[Dean]
People need to see who you are, what you look like, put a name with the face, and I think it's really important to the extent that you can actually touch someone, you know you actually shake their hands and touch 'em, they remember that.
[Penner]
So the Dean family put thousands of miles on the family minivan this summer. Daughters Jessica and Samantha campaigned when they could. Kim Dean kept it all together.
[Kim Dean/Wife of Candidate]
We're very positive. We have a great attitude and we're having fun. And everyone told us, have fun with this, past candidates. And at first it was, fun, this isn't fun. But now it is fun. You just laugh and you do things like this and you just have fun with it.
[Penner]
The serious side of the Dean campaign involves getting his ideas to voters.
[Penner]
Earlier on this day, Dean criticized Governor Mike Johanns on the issue of tax incentives for corporations. Dean wants to change the program commonly know as LB 775.
[Dean]
I know when you create jobs you get tax credits but I also know that later, if you lay off people you don't lose the tax credits. Those are the items we need to look at. We need to find out if the jobs that are being created are sustainable, and if they're not, then we ought to be able to go back and recapture some of those tax credits that we gave to the companies.
[Penner]
Dean's pronouncements got him some brief attention in newspapers and on television. But the story didn't last long.
[Dean]
...and I support having this on the ballot so people can decide if they want to keep the money here in Nebraska.
[Penner]
Dean's biggest splash came when he announced his support for a slot-machine initiative. It clearly set him apart from Governor Johanns.
[Dean]
Can you imagine what gaming in our state would mean for your taxes? The revenue we would capture could be huge, and it could lessen your tax burden.
[Gov. Mike Johanns/Republican Candidate for Governor]
If gambling is really the secret here, if that's where he's headed, why is it that Iowa's having greater financial problems than the State of Nebraska? Why is it that every gambling state in the nation is facing the same difficult budget issues that the state is facing?
[Penner]
But the gamble on slots lost when a judge tossed the initiative off the ballot. Dean maintains expanded gambling is still an important issue for voters.
[Dean]
It's something that people in Nebraska can say, wait a minute, I know we have a 461 million dollar shortfall and I don't like the idea of constantly seeing cuts to public education, and the University, and Medicaid, but I don't know what to do about it because I don't want my taxes to go up either. But I do know this, I do know that there's millions of dollars going across state lines to Iowa and South Dakota and Missouri. Why don't we do something to keep some of that money here?
[Penner]
Longtime political observers say the Dean campaign just hasn't gained traction.
[John Vermeer, Nebraska Wesleyan University Political Scientist]
I don't sense that the name recognition is where it should be to attract the votes of even independents leaning toward the Democratic party.
[Richard Shugrue, Creighton University Political Scientist]
I think the Stormy Dean candidacy, I think the campaign may have gotten off to a bad start. It didn't have the kind of cash in the bank that one needed to overcome the truly smart campaigning that Mike Johanns has done.
[Vermeer]
But it's also the result of not having an issue or a well-defined campaign theme that would lead to ongoing coverage of the campaign. There is no ongoing Stormy Dean campaign story for the media to report, and therefore Dean doesn't get the news coverage that he otherwise might have.
[Penner]
Shugrue says state budget woes should give Dean the issue he needs.
[Shugrue]
This is one of those years the Democrats should be wringing their hands, saying boy are we lucky, a couple special sessions of the Legislature and this Johanns is dead meat.
[Penner]
Dean has criticized Johanns for the way the governor has handled state budget shortfalls. He made these comments as the legislature began a special session last July.
[Dean]
We have experienced cuts to public education which will cause property taxes to increase. We've experienced cuts to Medicaid, to economic development. We have seen a pattern of neglect and incompetence.
[Penner]
Dean has not offered specific ideas for balancing the budget.
[Chris Peterson/Johanns' Spokesman]
Stormy Dean, meanwhile, sits on the sidelines and just throws bombs at the Governor, and yet Stormy Dean avoids having to take a solid position on the issue of where to set priorities, and how to cut spending. For all we know Stormy Dean would solve the budget problem with higher taxes.
[Johanns]
I have found in this job sometimes you have to do very, very difficult things. That's what we're doing these days, that's what I see him not doing.
[Penner]
Johanns must explain those budget cuts on the campaign trail.
[Woman at Campaign Event]
What sense did it make to take away the day care assistance for mothers on low income, where by now they have taken their child out of day care, and are now home on welfare?
[Johanns]
Well, I hope they're not home on welfare very long.
[Penner]
Johanns answered that Nebraska still has a generous safety net of programs, including Medicaid and education assistance.
[Johanns]
So what I kind of came down to is lets protect the very neediest. Lets not cut nursing homes, lets not pull in on the Medicaid program that we have. We still cover about 28 percent of all Nebraska children. But there was a limit to what I could do with the money that we have.
[Penner]
Dean says if elected, he'd implement a 5-point plan to deal with budget shortfalls. First, he'd review all agency spending and operations to see if they're doing their jobs effectively and efficiently. Second, he'd adopt zero-based budgeting, asking agencies to build their budgets from the ground up each year. The third point is something called EMT, efficiency and management tracking. It's a way of reviewing spending on a monthly basis. Dean would also establish a tax cabinet to offer ideas on tax policy. And he'd call annual summits to explore ways to make government more efficient.
[Dean]
You gotta sit down and you've got to talk to all the agencies that are responsible for spending money. Are you doing what you're supposed to. Examining what it is their charter is, what is their mission and are they on task.
[Penner]
Mike Johanns says he's proven his leadership by setting priorities and cutting the state budget. He doesn't believe those decisions will hurt him this election.
[Johanns]
You always hear some about it. There isn't any doubt about it. But I think we've really protected priorities that are really uppermost in Nebraskans' minds. The funding for K-12, funding for our school districts across the state was by and large protected. Funding for nursing homes.
[Penner]
Johanns vetoed tax increases, but the legislature overrode that veto and raised taxes. Dean still blames Johanns.
[Dean]
Well if I was the governor, and I had 33 of the 49 senators on my campaign committee, and I vetoed something and I wanted it sustained, I'm sure that I can get those senators to get on my side and sustain it. He didn't do that.
[Johanns]
You this was an instance where I put out a plan that would balance the budget. There were spending cuts in that, some of them very difficult, downright painful. And we got a lot of those adopted, but not all of them. And so the senators literally painted themselves into a corner of having to override my veto of the sales and income tax increase. So really his criticism is baseless.
[Ed Sheridan/Lincoln Police Union]
The members of the Lincoln Police Union, at our July 2002 general membership meeting, voted to give our endorsement to Gov. Mike Johanns reelected bid for a second term.
[Penner]
Lincoln's police union is one of several labor groups supporting Johanns, including the teamsters. His campaign got another boost from labor when the state AFL-CIO chose not to endorse a candidate. State AFL-CIO president Ken Mass says the last time they did not endorse a Democrat was 1976.
[Ken Mass/President, Nebraska AFL-CIO]
You know Gov. Johanns has done some things for the meatpackers, signing the packing house bill of rights. That showed a lot of support for them. The United Food and Commerical Workers came in and organized with that support.
[Penner]
The State Teachers Union, or NSEA, also decided to stay neutral.
[Johanns]
The decision by the NSEA to remain neutral was a victory for my campaign. There's just no doubt about it. The NSEA tends to endorse on the other side of the isle, and I don't say that critically, that's just the way it is.
[Penner]
As a candidate four years ago, Mike Johanns laid the foundation for his election. He met people like John Bowen of Pawnee County. Loyal supporters who see no reason to change.
[John Bowen/Johanns Supporter]
He's a very common man. I've found him to be the kind of guy I like to meet. Just the common, everyday man. I don't think of him as a politician, I think of him more as a friend.
[Penner]
Stormy Dean doesn't have the campaign cash to match Mike Johanns. But he's campaigned hard to win votes.
[Dean]
We've been able to do a terrific job in bringing out some issues over the summer and into the fall. Issues that Nebraskans are interested in and want to talk about. I think we've elevated the debate and have done a good job doing that. I think that there's still a tremendous opportunity here for me to win the election.
[Penner]
Mike Johanns faced tough times the last couple of years, but he's cautiously confident voters will give him four more years. But he's cautiously confident voters will give him another term.
[Johanns]
The response has been very good. I drive around the state, I see our signs up. We're drawing good crowds. So I am encouraged. I'm very optimistic.
[Penner]
Voters make their choice Nov. 5. Reporting for Statewide, I'm Brad Penner.