Today’s Omaha World-Herald was all about airplanes. More specifically, it was about perceived traveling abuses involving airplanes.

The World-Herald wrote two front page stories about jets.

Heineman gets a free ride with campaign, rival says - Omaha World-Herald
ConAgra says jets needed - Omaha World-Herald

King Air B200 - similar to the aircraft Governor Heineman travels in

This must have been the World-Herald’s yearly Aviation Edition. I’m going to briefly comment on the article about Governor Heineman because this is a political blog (although, I do encourage you to read the Conagra story because it’s very interesting).

After reading the first couple sentences of the article, I had a hunch Dave Nabity was the person raising a flag on this issue (and I was correct).

Omaha businessman Dave Nabity, who is seeking the GOP nomination in the May 2006 primary, said some of the travel constitutes political campaigning. He said the governor’s campaign should reimburse the state.

“I’m sure there is probably no end to the ribbon cuttings and the chili feeds he could go to,” Nabity said. “The question is: Is the chili feed a business of state government?”

Nabity brings up a good point, but he fails to show us how to distinguish between an official visit and campaign stop.

Nabity questioned whether it was necessary for the governor to use the state airplane to make a 10-city tour of Nebraska after the Legislature passed an economic development bill.

Nabity said if he had been governor, he would have left it up to his economic development staff to explain the new bill. He said that if elected governor, he will spend the bulk of his first year working on his agenda at the State Capitol.

“The fact that he can get on an airplane and fly to five cities a day and hand out grants, that gives him an advantage,” Nabity said.

In a perfect world, the line between a campaign stop and an official visit would be easy to identify. This is a legitimate issue to bring up, but I don’t see Nabity gaining any ground from it. Heineman can spin this issue in a variety of ways… “I’m a hands-on governor, and a hands-on governor needs to visit his constituent’s across the state to know what’s going on.” He could also explain the increase in travel by calling Mike Johanns a home-body that didn’t like to leave Lincoln very much.

In conclusion, I really don’t know what to make of this issue. Each side has a legitimate argument. The only complaint I would have is Governor Heineman is getting all the perks of an elected official and he isn’t one.

Also, I wrote about this issue so I could post a picture of an airplane on the blog for my buddy Daniel.

Omaha City Councilman Jim Suttle has announced his desire to add another City Council district to the City of Omaha.

Extra seat on council depends on the ‘ifs’ - Omaha World-Herald

Suttle said it is important that Elkhorn be placed entirely into an eighth district so Elkhorn knows Omaha is serious about bringing it “into the family.”

Personally, I support the proposal. Having more representation on the City Council is a good thing. As the city grows, each Councilman has to represent more and more people. Adding another Councilman will give the voters more of a voice down at City Hall.

Five council members - Frank Brown, Chuck Sigerson, Franklin Thompson, Jim Vokal and President Dan Welch - said they don’t like the notion of an even-numbered council. That could lead to many ties, they said.

I have no problem with someone that opposes another City Council district, but please don’t use the “even-numbered” excuse as a reason to oppose it. Here’s why…

I’ve watched more City Council meetings than I’d care to admit. Most (and I mean most) City Council meetings are uneventful. Having a 4-3 vote on an issue is very rare.

Let me illustrate my point by showing you the votes for the October 18, 2005 City Council meeting (I will admit that I didn’t triple-check these numbers so they may be off by one or two).

47 - (7-0 votes)
2 - (6-1 votes)

There were no 5-2 or 4-3 votes. At most meetings, dissenting votes generally occur on liquor license recommendations. Overall, if you took out the liquor license votes, the number of 7-0 votes would increase dramatically.

Also, having a seven member council doesn’t prevent ties. You can ask Jim Vokal about ties. Back in 2002, he abstained from a vote about closing a stretch of Woolworth Avenue. That resolution failed after ending up in a 3-3 tie. Also, at the August 30th City Council meeting, a resolution ended up in a tie after City Councilman Franklin Thompson passed on voting. Also, City Councilman frequently miss meetings. That means only six people are voting on resolutions, but I don’t hear them complaining about ties when that happens.

So, how many ties is too many? I’m going to speculate that with an even-numbered council, less than 1% of the votes would end up in a tie (in reality, it’s probably closer to 0.25%). Is that too many for Brown, Sigerson, Thompson, Vokal, and Welch?

In conclusion, when someone gets on the news and opposes adding an additional district to the city because it would make the City Council an “even-number,” you will know all the holes in that argument.

Bill Bennett, former Sectretary of Education, recently commented on his daily radio brodcast that “…You could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.” Since the comments were made there has been an outrage throughout the country. Democratic and black leaders have spoken out repeatedly demanding an appology, to which Bennett has repeatedy declined.

After reading the trascript, I don’t believe Mr. Bennett seriously wants to abort every black baby. He did, however, rather strongly suggest that the crime rate is this country is directly related to the black population. And to this I demand an apology. It is simply wrong to single out one group of people and make broad assumptions simply because of their skin color, even if it is a ‘hypothetical’ as Bennett suggests.

What is really remarkable is that there has not been a significant voice from the Republicans in this country about the comment. Why are they unwilling to speak out against a high-profile member of their party? You cannot deny that the comment was, at best inappropriate, and at worst rascist. A rational person simply cannot extrapolate data the way that Bennett did to reach the conclusion that aborting every black baby will decrease the crime rate. So in response, I will do a little extrapolating myself and conclude that indeed, all Republicans are rascist.

For an audio clip of the brodcast go to Media Matters.

Discuss whatever you want. Playoff baseball, knitting, quantum physics, or anything else you choose.

Congratulations to Layne, Meg, and Michael.