LINCOLN — He's back.
Former State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha made it official Tuesday when he filed to recapture his old seat in the Nebraska Legislature.
Chambers told The World-Herald in August he planned to run for the north Omaha district he represented for nearly four decades. In 2008, term limits forced out the combative senator with a gift for oration and a mastery of legislative rules.
Nebraska's term-limits law, passed in 2000, limits lawmakers to two consecutive, four-year terms. Chambers can run again because he sat out a term.
This time, however, he'll be the challenger, facing incumbent Sen. Brenda Council. Chambers' filing sets up one of the more interesting contests in the 2012 election.
Council, walking to a committee hearing Tuesday, shrugged a “so what” when asked about Chambers' decision.
The 58-year-old attorney and former City Council member said she stands on her record of representing the concerns of District 11 over the past four legislative sessions. Those concerns include job creation, crime, equal justice, health care and doing what's right for youth.
“My objective has always been to run for the Legislature and serve a second term,” she said.
When asked what choice the two candidates offer voters, she fired back, “There is only one choice. Me!”
Chambers, 74, currently a member of the Learning Community Council, never had to raise money or campaign to win re-election as a state legislator. He said this time around, he might have to purchase some yard signs, as he did when he was first elected to the Legislature in 1970.
His no-holds-barred style, booming speeches and trademark T-shirts were legendary in the Legislature.
The campaign figures to test whether voters want a return to the flame-throwing techniques he used to burn bridges and block what he considered bad bills.
When he announced his intentions last summer, Chambers said the Legislature does not engage in the kind of substantive debate necessary to establish why legislation is passed. And he said Gov. Dave Heineman and Attorney General Jon Bruning wield too much power over lawmakers.
“There's a job that needs to be done that's not being done, and I think I can do it better than anyone else,” he said.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9587, joe.duggan@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
