The Douglas County Republican Party Convention is coming up the 9^th of June!  While this may seem far away, if you want to go and have a say, you must register as a delegate with the Douglas County Election Commissioner by March 1^st.  National and State delegations are chosen at the State and County conventions, respectively.  So, if you want to go to Tampa, you must start at the county level by March 1^st!

If you are a member of the DCRP Central Committee, you may complete and have your filing form notarized at our next meeting, Tuesday, February 28.  If not, you must go to the Election Commission office by March 1^st and register.  The office is located at:

Douglas County Election Commission
225 North 115th Street
Omaha, Nebraska 68154

Phone: (402) 444-VOTE (8683)
Fax: (402) 444-4181

For more information, you may check out the Nebraska Republican Party's website.

According to a recent report released by the non-partisan Pew Center on the States, the nation’s voter registration rolls are in disarray and are rife with inaccuracies.  One in eight active registrations is invalid or inaccurate.  That's more than 24 million!!!  The problems have the potential to affect the outcomes of local, state and federal elections.

The report found that there are about 1.8 million dead people listed as active voters. Some 2.8 million people have active registrations in more than one state. And 12 million registrations have errors serious enough to make it unlikely that mailings based on them will reach voters.  The report also found some 70,000 people are registered to vote in three or more states.

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Nebraska State Senator Charlie Janssen introduced LB 239, the Nebraska Voter ID Act, to require voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polling place before casting a ballot.

We applaud the effort of Senator Janssen in proactively addressing this issue.  We encourage you to visit Senator Janssen's website and sign his petition, along with contacting your State Senators to voice your support for LB 239.

Special interest groups are aligning across the state to oppose Janssen's common sense bill, and a filibuster is expected, so it will need 33 votes to pass.  Your support is important!

After all, what good is our sacred right to vote, if the accuracy of our election process is compromised?

Nebraska Voter ID Facts

Want to do more?  Here's how you can help:

• Contribute to the DCRP with your time or your money. Click here to get started.
• Stay informed – Click here to get on our mailing list. You can also follow the DCRP on Twitter and Facebook.
• Volunteer to help. There are many different ways you can get involved – click here to stand up and be counted.
• Register to vote and encourage your friends, family, coworkers and others to get registered. Click here to make it happen.

A new Gallup survey indicates that U.S. unemployment moved back to 9% in February. The Gallup survey has historically been an accurate indicator of what the official jobless announcements will report.

The official government unemployment rate for January had dropped to 8.3%, but these new results indicate that a very sluggish recovery is stalling. Under Barack Obama's stewardship we have seen what has been termed a jobless recovery, but now the recovery seems to be in jeopardy as well.

Obama tells us that he deserves a second term because his programs are successful but they need more time. How much more of Obama's "successes" can we stand?

Don't let history happen – be a part of making it.

The DCRP is the place to start by helping us elect a Republican U.S. Senator to replace Ben Nelson and taking steps to replace Obama with someone who understands what Americans really want.

Get involved with your time and your donations, make sure you register to vote and make your voice heard. Don't wait – start today!

Omaha School Board President Sandra Jensen, who has served for almost 30 years, will not seek reelection. She did not file by last week's deadline.

On the Republican side, Randi Scott promises "transparency, accountability and quality education for all students.” 

On Friday evening, at the 2012 Elephant Remembers dinner, the Douglas County Republican Party honored Larry and Kathy Courtnage for their years of selfless service. It was the largest turnout for this event in the last five years.

In the largest turnout for this event in five years, Governor Heineman, Congressman Terry, Lieutenant Governor Sheehy, Hal Daub and countless others paid tribute to the Courtnages. Through their combined efforts, Mr. and Mrs. Courtnage have been instrumental in helping to transform the quality and availability of mental healthcare across the state of Nebraska. In addition, they have been strong advocates for the Republican Party and the issues that the party stands for.

Congratulations, Larry and Kathy Courtnage and thank you for all your efforts and the spirit of giving that exemplifies your lives.

Others saluted at Elephant Remembers were Rob Rohrbough who was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Austin Brake who received the Ally Milder Future Leader Award.

Excerpts from Senator Johann's guest column in Politico yesterday:

Framers’ own words condemn health care reform:

"The framers’ own words, including the Constitution itself, make it clear this law falls outside the scope of congressional power as envisioned by our Founding Fathers." said Johanns.

“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce. … The powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects which … concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people.” James Madison wrote in Federalist 45

Fellow “Federalist” author Alexander Hamilton noted this succinctly in a speech at the New York Ratifying Convention. He rejected the notion of a federal government that would “penetrate the recesses of domestic life, and control, in all respects, the private conduct of individuals.”

The 10th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States … are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” Congressional authority for any law must be derived from the Constitution. If no such connection is established, the law is not constitutional.

"Suggesting that the Framers would have supported the health care law ignores their vibrant and vigorous effort to construct clear restrictions on federal power. The Constitution allows no room for the health care law by the standards of those who wrote our founding document." said Johanns.

read article here
 

Don't settle for this overreach of power.  Here's how you can help:

• Contribute to the DCRP with your time or your money. Click here to get started.
• Stay informed – Click here to get on our mailing list. You can also follow the DCRP on Twitter and Facebook.
• Volunteer to help. There are many different ways you can get involved – click here to stand up and be counted.
• Register to vote and encourage your friends, family, coworkers and others to get registered. Click here to make it happen.

Nebraska State Senator Jim Smith's Legislative Bill (LB 1161) would allow Nebraska to bypass the federal logjam over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and restart its review of a pipeline route that would bypass the groundwater-rich Sand Hills.

"I'm a firm believer that energy independence and an affordable and ample supply of energy is critical, not only for the state but for our country.  The sooner Nebraska approves a new route, the sooner the pipeline will be built." Smith said.

Robert Jones, a company vice president with TransCanada, said that the company stands ready to fulfill its part of last year's compromise, and that getting a Sand Hills bypass route approved removes one "hangup" in reapplying and winning approval for a federal permit.  In the compromise, TransCanada agreed to bypass the Sand Hills if Nebraska conducted an expedited review of the new route at state taxpayer expense.

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Meanwhile, Thursday the House approved Congressman Lee Terry's pipeline proposal that would force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.  The proposal would strip authority over the project from the State Department and President Obama and give it to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

It also requires the FERC to approve the pipeline within 30 days, while carving out an exemption for the portion that would run through Nebraska. Terry's bill was rolled into broader energy legislation that passed 237-187. All House members from Nebraska and western Iowa voted for it.

"This is a country that can stand on its own feet — by utilizing the resources under American soil and the secure resources of our trusted northern neighbor," Terry said. "We don't want to continue relying on politically oppressive and environmentally reckless nations like Venezuela for our energy needs."

A Senate proposal has been introduced that would also force approval of the pipeline, without involving FERC, but it's not clear whether it stands any chance of moving forward.

Republican leaders are putting a lot of thought into strategies for forcing a vote on Keystone XL in the Senate, Terry said, and a number of Senate Democrats support the project.

read more

Show your support in our fight for energy independence!  Here's how to help.

• Contribute to the DCRP with your time or your money. Click here to get started.
• Stay informed – Click here to get on our mailing list. You can also follow the DCRP on Twitter and Facebook.
• Volunteer to help. There are many different ways you can get involved – click here to stand up and be counted.
• Register to vote and encourage your friends, family, coworkers and others to get registered. Click here to make it happen.

In response to today's story on Leavenworthst.com titled "Hope is Not a Strategy", the DCRP would like to make clear that nowhere in our posting "Pro-Obamacare Legislation Pushed in Nebraska Legislature" does the DCRP state that the plan to deal with the Affordable Care Act should be to do nothing. The DCRP's statement on the issue is that beginning to implement part of obamacare "just in case" is NOT the answer. Other organizations such as Americans for Prosperity and The Platte Institute for Economic Research agree.

Heritage Foundation scholar Ed Haislmaier warns that, "States should refuse to create any type of ObamaCare-compliant Exchange and send back all federal ObamaCare grants."

There should be discussion on how best to go about preventing/limiting the effects of obamacare on Nebraska if the Supreme Court rules the wrong way. As far as we know, this discussion currently is NOT taking place and we simply would like to encourage it, as opposed to beginning implementation of obamacare before the Supreme Court has even ruled on the case.

Nebraska is not the only state refusing to implement these health exchanges before the Supreme Court rules on the matter.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty signed Executive Order 10-12 in August 2010 that prohibited all executive department and state agency participation in federal health reform unless required by law or directed by the governor’s office. Florida Governor Rick Scott decided to wait for a Supreme Court ruling before continuing with implementation. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell currently is planning not to comply with law after the Florida court ruling that PPACA is unconstitutional.  Add Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to the list as well!

As Peter Suderman of the blog "reason.com" points out, "States whose legislators oppose last year's health care law have a number of reasons to refuse to participate in implementing its requirements, particularly when it comes to the exchanges. Refusing to play ball with the federal government ensures that the federal government will have to take responsibility for the complex details of the law's implementation. Given that Missouri's residents voted overwhelmingly last year to reject one of ObamaCare's key features, the individual mandate to purchase health insurance, it's clear enough where the state's voters stand. Finally, there's the constitutional question: Shouldn't states currently challenging the law's constitutionality—like Missouri—steer clear of implementing it?"　

So where should the discussion start on how to go about opposing the implementation of obamacare?

Do we start with the example of Texas and affirm Nebraska's Sovereignty under the 10th Amendment, designating that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed?

We could join 16 other states that have considered measures to create an "Interstate Freedom Compact," joining forces across state lines to coordinate or enforce opposition; four states now have enacted laws. We could encourage participation in the compact from all 27 states currently challenging obamacare in court.

We could take a lesson from Catholic Bishops and refuse to enact a law that oversteps federal boundaries, challenging the President to flex his muscles and battle a majority of the Union. Several states considered bills that propose the power of "nullification," seeking to label the federal law "null and void" within the state boundaries.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, "In response to the federal health reform law, now known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and separate state reform initiatives, some members of at least 45 state legislatures have proposed legislation to limit, alter or oppose selected state or federal actions. In general many of the opposing measures, in 2010 and 2011 focus on not permitting, implementing or enforcing mandates (federal or state) that would require purchase of insurance by individuals or by employers and impose fines or penalties for those who fail to do so. The seek to keep in-state health insurance optional, and instead allow people to purchase any type of health services or coverage they may choose. They also contradict or challenge specific policy provisions contained in the 2010 federal law."

There are plenty of other options discussed here.

And that's what this is all about…to get discussion rolling rather than throwing up the white flag!!! Let's take the lead!!!

Interested in fighting the good fight?!

• Contribute to the DCRP with your time or your money. Click here to get started.
• Stay informed – Click here to get on our mailing list. You can also follow the DCRP on Twitter and Facebook.
• Volunteer to help. There are many different ways you can get involved – click here to stand up and be counted.
• Register to vote and encourage your friends, family, coworkers and others to get registered. Click here to make it happen.

This viral email sums up the current state of affairs in Washington with frightening clarity.

Obama's new "budget" would be laughable if it were not so reckless.

Isn't it time for a change from this ideologically-driven administration that has no grasp of simple economics?