There was a revolution of sorts in Grand Island on Saturday.
While there were no shots fired or gatherings in the streets, tears were shed and resignations were made.
Lisa Hannah resigned from chair of the Third District Democrats, and Brian T. Osborn resigned his associate chair position.
Hannah and Osborn have been fighting it out for a while now -- in public, in private and here on the Leavenworth Street comment boards and on other blogs. (Where did people go to argue in the old days?)
On Saturday, according to Osborn:
Basically, what the issues between Lisa Hannah and I were all about concerned whether the Nebraska Democratic Party is going to be a grassroots based organization that is run by the people, or if it is going to be an organization run by only a few people behind the proverbial curtain.In the NTV story, according to Hannah:
Osborn didn't make her feel welcome in her own party.We would state that having an argument about governing philosophy can be good for a political party. It's not as if the CD3 Dems have been successful by any means lately.
Hannah was in tears, saying later she threw in the towel due to what she called "dirty politics." While addressing her district, she said tearfully that nobody should have to put up with the behind-the-back comments she took. She said the district is supposed to be working together, but she often felt isolated.
It will be interesting to see how they go about putting things back together.
***
The talk of the Politico sites these days is all about how the National Dems are going after Congressman Lee Terry for his vote on a supplemental war funding bill.
Terry voted against the bill, in part, because it added $108 billion in new loan authority for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which the President agreed to at
April's G-20 summit.
The funding is unrelated to U.S. war efforts, and may fundamentally change the IMF's role while weakening the U.S.'s power within the institution.
The provision represents a ten-fold increase in the U.S.'s current IMF contribution to fund a massive expansion of the IMF's lending programs. Funds provided to the IMF could be passed on to state sponsors of terrorism, such as Iran, Syria, and Venezuela.
But state Senator Tom White, who is ithcin' to run against Terry next year, said:
...and yet he apparently felt he knew enough about it to criticize Terry for voting against it.
Gotcha.
Of course the crux of all this, as Don Walton saliently pointed out in the LJS, is to soften up Terry's support in the GOP stronghold of Sarpy county -- home of Offutt Air Force Base. They figure White would take Douglas County easy, what with the Obama win there in 2008, and then can compete with Terry in Sarpy.
Or as former Nebraska Democrat Party E.D. Barry Rubin put it:
Rubin and the rest of the Dems are still sore that they had to put up with Jim Esch in 2008 when they figured they had their best chance.
Well, we will see if a voting cult shows up for Tom White in 2010, like it did for Obama in 2008.
We are guessing that maybe that won't be the case.
Oh, and good luck convincing GOP voters in the CD2 that the Dems are more supportive of the military than the GOP. That always works out well.
***
Jim Vokal has stated that he is going to stay involved in Omaha politics.
Vokal, who left the Omaha City Council and lost in the Mayoral primary, is creating a watchdog group keeping an eye on the workings of MAyor Jim Suttle.
You can follow Vokal's OMAPAC via their Twitter account for now: twitter.com/OMAPAC
Interesting that Suttle mouthpiece Ron Penzkowski said,
You'd think he'd appreciate that sort of thing.
***
The talk of the Politico sites these days is all about how the National Dems are going after Congressman Lee Terry for his vote on a supplemental war funding bill.
Terry voted against the bill, in part, because it added $108 billion in new loan authority for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which the President agreed to at
April's G-20 summit.
The funding is unrelated to U.S. war efforts, and may fundamentally change the IMF's role while weakening the U.S.'s power within the institution.
The provision represents a ten-fold increase in the U.S.'s current IMF contribution to fund a massive expansion of the IMF's lending programs. Funds provided to the IMF could be passed on to state sponsors of terrorism, such as Iran, Syria, and Venezuela.
But state Senator Tom White, who is ithcin' to run against Terry next year, said:
he didn't know enough about the IMF loan provision to take a position on it...
...and yet he apparently felt he knew enough about it to criticize Terry for voting against it.
Gotcha.
Of course the crux of all this, as Don Walton saliently pointed out in the LJS, is to soften up Terry's support in the GOP stronghold of Sarpy county -- home of Offutt Air Force Base. They figure White would take Douglas County easy, what with the Obama win there in 2008, and then can compete with Terry in Sarpy.
Or as former Nebraska Democrat Party E.D. Barry Rubin put it:
“We’re going to find out whether or not [Obama’s win] was a fluke. And I don’t think it was. I think the numbers are there in black and white.”Gee Barry, interesting choice of words. (I can guarantee that if we had written something like that people would be calling this a racist blog....)
Rubin and the rest of the Dems are still sore that they had to put up with Jim Esch in 2008 when they figured they had their best chance.
“He put up a good fight, but if we had a more high-profile candidate in 2008, it would have been a slam dunk,” said Rubin.Yeah, right. And if Jim Esch had a bill and webbed feet he'd be a duck.
Well, we will see if a voting cult shows up for Tom White in 2010, like it did for Obama in 2008.
We are guessing that maybe that won't be the case.
Oh, and good luck convincing GOP voters in the CD2 that the Dems are more supportive of the military than the GOP. That always works out well.
***
Jim Vokal has stated that he is going to stay involved in Omaha politics.
Vokal, who left the Omaha City Council and lost in the Mayoral primary, is creating a watchdog group keeping an eye on the workings of MAyor Jim Suttle.
You can follow Vokal's OMAPAC via their Twitter account for now: twitter.com/OMAPAC
Interesting that Suttle mouthpiece Ron Penzkowski said,
“We need to work together to solve these problems and not be divided by tactics and maneuvers that resemble campaign rhetoric.”Hmm. This coming from the guy (Suttle) who said he was running for Mayor of Omaha from the day he was elected to the City Council. Suttle made it pretty clear that from Day One all his tactics and maneuvers were campaign rhetoric.
You'd think he'd appreciate that sort of thing.