Republicans flex muscles, give GOP majority to nearly all legislative committees

George Norris must be rolling over in his grave.

Norris, the father of the one-house Nebraska Unicameral legislature and one of the greatest U.S. senators in history, sought a political body that would not be dominated by political parties.

So state senators in Norris' Unicameral are elected on a non-partisan ballot, leaders of legislative committees are chosen by secret ballot and there's no closed-door, final crafting of legislation in conference committees. The idea is that legislators can make decisions based on what's best for their constituents, and not what's dictated by party leaders. 

But that isn't how it went down recently in the legislature.

During caucuses of senators that are held after each election year, legislative committees were reorganized so that every committee, save one less-important panel, contained a majority of Republicans.

That greases the skids for all kinds of GOP priorities to be advanced from committees to debate by the full legislature. Now, bills that deal with things like tax policy, water issues and rules of the road will have an easier path to passage in a 49-seat Unicameral where Republicans hold a filibuster-proof, 33 seats - if they all vote in lockstep.

If you believe that the Republican Party has all the answers, this is probably something you're cheering. But if you think the best solutions come from vigorous debate and consideration of several viewpoints, well, this isn't so good.

One issue that's likely to benefit from this "might makes right" power play is ditching the state's unique way of distributing its electoral votes for president. 

Since the 1990s, Nebraska has given two of its electoral votes to the overall election winner, but doles out its other three votes based on who wins in each of the state's three congressional districts - sort of a popular vote light.

The current system recognizes that Nebraskans in different parts of the state have different political views, and allows their electoral vote to reflect that. Imagine that - your vote counts.

Only three times since the state's "district system" of distributing electoral votes took effect has Omaha's 2nd Congressional District voted differently than the rest of the state. The district got the name "blue dot" because it voted Democrat blue in those instances while the rest of our state voted Republican red.

But everyone from Gov. Pillen to President Trump have been complaining about the blue dot. However, in recent years, efforts to erase the dot and go back to a winner-take-all electoral system (all five of the state's votes would go to the winner overall in the state) were blocked because the committee that dealt with that issue was evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

So the winner-take-all bill didn't have the votes to advance for debate and instead languished in the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

Republicans further greased the skids this year by removing two veteran senators from the committee who are Democrats, Danielle Conrad and Jane Raybould, and replaced them with two, just-elected lawmakers - newbies who might not be as persuasive or knowledgeable as seasoned lawmakers.

To be sure, the nonpartisan nature of the legislature has eroded in recent years.

While the political party affiliation of candidates for the legislature is not listed on the ballot, pretty much everyone recognizes who is a Republican or Democrat. And the parties play a big role in electing their candidates. More votes in the Unicameral that in the past break along party lines.

Politically, Nebraska is a reliably Republican state overall, except in the Omaha area, where voter registration is pretty evenly divided between Rs and Ds. 

In the blue dot, presidential campaigns pay attention to the Omaha area, sending candidates, holding rallies and buying ads, because the vote could go either way. Voters there get to hear directly from the campaigns; voters elsewhere in the state get nada, because it's been a sure bet that they'll vote Republican.

While it's not a sure thing that the legislature ditches the blue dot, the recent power play makes it more likely.

I'm pretty sure that folks in the Omaha area like the way it is, and the special attention the 2nd District gets. 

The question now is whether Republican state senators - especially those in the Omaha area - will vote to reflect their constituents' wishes, or vote based on what their political party desires?

Wonder what would George Norris do?

Paul Hammel has covered the Nebraska state government and the state for decades. He retired in April as senior contributor with the Nebraska Examiner. He was previously with the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and O maha Sun. A native of Ralston, he loves traveling and writing about the state.