Omaha World-Herald. August 30, 2017
Residency in legislative district builds trust between senator and constituents
The public interest is ill served when a member of the Nebraska Legislature is no longer able to spend adequate time in his or her district.
This situation has arisen for State Sen. Tyson Larson, who says he spends most of his time in Omaha due to personal circumstances while representing District 40, consisting of six rural counties in northeastern Nebraska.
Larson, who chairs the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, is term-limited and will end his legislative service in January 2019.
A candidate for the Legislature is required to live for at least a year in his or her district prior to running, the Nebraska Constitution says. Residency, according to state law, is based not necessarily on where one is “domiciled” but on where the individual “has the intention of returning.”
Each district in the Legislature needs well-informed representation, buttressed by strong local connections, so the district’s interests can be explained and promoted vigorously. Larson, given his difficult personal circumstances, is at risk of coming across as a mere drop-in senator for District 40.
Larson “used to pop in to chatter every once in a while,” Holt County Clerk Cathy Pavel told a World-Herald reporter. More recently, she said she hasn’t seen him “except on TV, when they were showing the legislative floor.”
This situation is awkward for Larson and ill serves District 40.
The residency topic in general deserves discussion next year by the Legislature’s Executive Board to consider whether any practical adjustments need to be made to future requirements for senators.
A lawmaker’s personal circumstances obviously can change significantly over the potential eight years in office, and a degree of flexibility is appropriate, as Speaker Jim Scheer of Norfolk, the Legislature’s top leader, has said.
At the same time, the drop-in senator problem raises concerns about the quality of representation at the Legislature. Senators should examine what options are available to lessen the potential for it in the future.
This situation provides a key lesson for Nebraskans running for the Legislature. A candidate needs to demonstrate, from the get-go, a dedication to building a strong knowledge of and connection to the district. Nurturing that bond builds an all-important trust between a lawmaker and constituents.
Without such a bond, a candidate or lawmaker risks being seen as someone who merely parachutes into a district seeking to gain a measure of political power in Lincoln, with the need to stand up for the district’s needs taking a back seat in priority to feathering the candidate’s political nest.
Nebraska should do everything it can to avoid the impression that a state senator is a mere drop-in.
___
Lincoln Journal Star. August 31, 2017
Stebbing must resign after arrest
After being charged last week with five felonies, Lancaster County Treasurer Andy Stebbing must resign.
It must be noted that the charges filed against Stebbing are for alleged personal conduct, not improprieties in his role as Lancaster County Treasurer. But the nature of those charges conflicts directly with his elected office - and renders him ineffective to carry out the duties of his position.
Among the felonies with which he’s been charged are two counts of falsifying a bill of sale and two counts of filing a false income tax return. In Nebraska, county treasurers’ offices are responsible for collecting property taxes to be disbursed and managing motor vehicle registrations and titles.
The accusations of falsifying documents related to both taxes and automobiles run counter to duties explicitly given to his office. Accordingly, Stebbing’s ability to effectively execute the statutory requirements of the Lancaster County Treasurer would be overshadowed by the skepticism and concerns about the integrity of the man in charge.
Faith in Lancaster County’s government cannot be allowed to be undermined in that manner.
Yes, it goes without saying that Stebbing is innocent until - and only if - he’s found guilty in court. Those proceedings, however, are likely to drag on for several months. That timeframe is far too long for the Treasurer’s Office to have its leadership compromised.
Complicating the matters, too, is the inability of Stebbing to be recalled. State law requires recall petitions against elected officials to be filed within six months of the incumbent filing deadline. For his office, that date is Feb. 15 - meaning any recall petition would have had to be signed by more than 48,000 Lancaster County voters and filed by Aug. 15, which passed before Stebbing was charged.
For those reasons, Lancaster County Board Chairman Todd Wiltgen has called for Stebbing to resign - a suggestion in the best interest of all parties.
“I don’t know how he can continue to serve as treasurer with these charges having been filed,” Wiltgen told the Journal Star last Friday. “It’s the right thing to do for the sake of the county, the treasurer’s office and the taxpayers and residents of the county for him to resign.”
Lancaster County needs someone at the helm of the Treasurer’s Office while Stebbing’s case plays out in the courtroom. The serious nature of his charges, particularly in light of how they reflect on his responsibilities, mandates a fresh start at the top.
In 2018, voters will determine a new Lancaster County Treasurer. However, the position must not simply languish until then: Stebbing must step down to ensure the office can continue effectively serve Lancaster County without his felony charges looming over its important work.
___
Kearney Hub. August 30, 2017
Life jackets work best if they’re being worn
Motor vehicle laws in Nebraska require that all occupants wear safety belts or, for younger passengers, that child safety seats are used. The law makes sense because seat belts really reduce the chances that occupants will be thrown from their vehicle in an accident and be crushed to death.
There are no do-overs with safety belts. It’s too late to buckle up when your vehicle suddenly begins careening toward a ditch. The best and only way to use safety belts is to buckle up before driving the vehicle - and make certain everyone else inside is buckled up, too.
If wearing safety belts at all times makes such good sense, it follows that personal flotation devices on boats ought to be used in the same manner. Everyone aboard should wear a life jacket, and every life jacket should be properly buckled and fastened to ensure all the passengers wearing them are safe in case of an accident.
Yes, everyone should be wearing a life jacket before the boat leaves the dock, but in many boats, only children are required by law to wear life jackets. Because they’re not legally mandated to wear a flotation device, teenagers and many adults frequently don’t wear their life jackets. They might wear flotation devices when they’re planning to jump off the boat in open water. In addition, it’s hard to imagine anyone water skiing or wakeboarding without first strapping on a personal flotation device.
It makes sense to take the extra precaution and wear life jackets outside the boat, but why not wear them at all times while on board, the same as with safety belts on land?
With the Labor Day weekend approaching, the Kansas City District of the Army Corps of Engineers is urging visitors on the waterways and lakes it manages - including Harlan County Reservoir - to understand the importance of water safety and to expect the unexpected. That means wearing life jackets. Here are two good reasons why:
- Accidents happen, even to responsible boaters. A life jacket can provide time for rescue.
- Drowning is the nation’s second leading cause of accidental death. Life jackets can keep accident victims on the surface, where they have a chance to survive.
Boaters, please consider requiring everyone on board to use their life jacket. Drowning happens quickly. The time to strap on a flotation device is before leaving the dock, not when disaster strikes.
___
McCook Daily Gazette. August 31, 2017
Use Harvey as springboard for family discussions
Explosions in a chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, are an example of unexpected complications that can arise during a natural disaster such as the flooding resulting from Hurricane Harvey.
It’s not that operators of the Arkema Inc. plant weren’t prepared. They knew that without refrigeration, the organic peroxides they manufactured would quickly become explosive, which they did early this morning.
We’re all familiar with the sting of that peroxide we use to disinfect minor wounds, but that’s typically a 3 percent solution. Higher concentrations make a dandy rocket fuel.
The chemical plant manufactured just such higher concentrations, used in a wide variety of products including pharmaceuticals and construction materials.
Once the chemical begins to warm up, it begins to break down into flammable, volatile gases, which is what happened this morning after floods knocked out the primary source of power for refrigeration, plus two backup systems.
Everyone within a 1.5-mile radius was told to evacuate Tuesday, but a deputy was taken to the hospital after being exposed to the fumes and other officers got checked out as a precaution.
Some of us may look down our noses at alarmist “preppers” investing in underground homes and stockpiling ammunition, but the truth is, individuals and families are on their own, at least for a time, when a disaster strikes.
Nebraskans are most likely to face a tornado, flooding or blizzard than any other natural disaster, but it’s important to at least think about what we would do in any given situation.
While Hurricane Harvey is still fresh in everyone’s mind, talk with your friends and family about emergencies and make a plan to be able to go it alone for at least a few days until more help arrives.
Make a plan covering things like who you would contact during an emergency and how you would reach them.
Make an emergency supply kit with things like clothes (especially shoes), TV or radio, flashlights, first aid supplies, food and especially, water.
Keep informed, monitor broadcasts and online sources, as long as they are available, to find out what’s really going on.
For much more specific information and planning ideas, visit www.ready.gov, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov or the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services here.
___
Please read our comment policy before commenting.