LINCOLN - Signature-gathering began Monday on an initiative petition drive that organizers say was provoked by Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson's vote for the health care overhaul.
The petition aims to let Nebraskans recall any elected official, including a member of Congress.
But constitutional questions and financial considerations could put the goal out of reach.
Drive supporters said they were dismayed at Nelson's December vote and at the Medicaid provision that helped secure it.
Under what has been dubbed the “Cornhusker kickback,” Nebraska would have been exempt from additional Medicaid costs. The Senate is expected to eliminate that exemption.
Judy Hoxworth of Gering, a petition organizer, said the events demonstrated that Nebraskans needed a way to hold officials accountable.
“We realized at that point: You can elect people and, for six years, there's nothing you can do about that,” she said.
The Western Nebraska Tea Party and the Nebraska 912 Freedom Project decided to undertake an initiative petition for a state constitutional amendment.
Nelson's office declined to comment Monday on the petition drive.
If passed, the measure would add Nebraska to the list of states that allow recalls of officials beyond the local level.
Eighteen states have such provisions, although not all allow for the recall of congressional representatives. Some limit the reasons for which an official can be recalled.
Nebraska law allows for the recall of local elected officials but not state or federal ones.
Organizer Michael Krueger of Scottsbluff said the petition effort doesn't concern just Ben Nelson, although he could not cite another official who he thought should have been subject to recall.
“It's for a ... violation against the citizenry,” Krueger said.
Under the proposed amendment, Nebraskans could force a recall election by collecting 30 percent as many signatures on a recall petition as the number of votes cast for the targeted official in the last election.
Nelson, for example, received 378,388 votes when re-elected in 2006. A recall petition would require 30 percent of that total, or 113,516 signatures, to be successful.
If the official had been elected by district, the signatures would have to be from residents of that district.
When it comes to federal officials, there are legal questions, as well. The U.S. Constitution does not allow for recalls.
No federal official has ever been recalled, and the U.S. Supreme Court has never directly addressed the subject.
The court has, however, rejected term limits for Congress members, ruling that states may not unilaterally change the terms and conditions of service for federal officials.
Attempts in Nebraska to impose term limits on congressional representatives were thrown out because of the ruling.
A legal analysis performed for the U.S. Citizens Association argues that the right to recall is part of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which says states and citizens retain all powers not specifically given to the federal government.
But the analysis concedes that efforts to recall federal officials have “a questionable likelihood of success.”
Drive organizers have until July 2 to collect more than 113,000 signatures of registered Nebraska voters to get the measure on the November ballot.
Krueger and Hoxworth said volunteers will circulate the petitions. Six of the seven petition sponsors are from western Nebraska, but the organizers said they hope to find people from other parts of the state to help circulate petitions.
Money for the effort is coming from the pockets of those involved, the organizers said.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com
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