OUR VIEW: Laura Ebke For Legislature

The Times rarely does political endorsements. We don't like when

newspapers in Omaha or Lincoln tell us how to vote -- why would we want to emulate them? 

We're making an exception today since races for Nebraska Legislature don't get much attention, even though our state -- with its unique one-house legislative branch -- gives a lot of power to 49 state senators who speak for us on important issues like taxes, school aid, criminal law and economic development.

After gathering much information, we're endorsing Laura Ebke of Crete for Legislature for many reasons:

• Ebke demonstrates an overall better grasp on state issues.
• Ebke has a conservative approach to government.
• Ebke is better for our farmers, since her opponent has hinted he supports EPA efforts to stop so-called "man-made climate change."
• Ebke wants to reduce Nebraska's total tax burden, including income and property taxes -- not just one piece of the puzzle.  
• Ebke is an elected school board member and is better equipped to understand Nebraska's complex state-aid formula to schools.

Both Ms. Ebke and her opponent, Phil Hardenburger, are genuinely nice people who are running because they love Nebraska.  

But Ebke is a better study.  Her positions are more aligned with the majority of voters in our area.  

Mr. Hardenburger favors a big-government approach; he's too liberal to represent us in the Legislature -- especially considering left tilt of the Unicameral in recent years and its refusal to address Nebraska's high taxes or unwise policies like the "good time" law that allowed a killer to go free in Omaha.

According to our research, Hardenburger has supported allowing the state to go into debt to pay highway builders.  We find this very concerning, since state debt would mean higher taxes.

Also, Hardenburger is too closely tied to radical anti-energy activists who oppose the pipeline -- even though the original Keystone pipeline east of Dorchester has helped stabilize property taxes in our school district and provided new funding for schools across eastern Nebraska.  You don't have to be a politician to know a pipeline is safer for transporting oil compared to the trains currently running past our communities.

Mr. Haredenburger recently told a local gathering that humans are directly causing "global warming," according to a credible source who wrote down the comments.  Hardenburger told a crowd in Deshler that they "must be living in a vacuum" if they didn't subscribe to man-made global warming.  That talk might sit well with Al Gore, but it's extremist chatter here in Nebraska -- where those of us who aren't making six figures and who use electricity for heat are about to get punished with much higher electricity bills this winter due to the Obama administration's "war on coal."

Meanwhile, Ms. Ebke believes in limited government and wants lower taxes for all Nebraskans.  She wants more job growth in rural Nebraska.  She believes schools must do a better job educating our kids, and that parents are directly responsible for raising their own kids. This used to be called "common sense."

That's why Laura Ebke will make a good state senator.