State Senators talk School Choice, Dark money, and Election Integrity at Q&A

The Pachyderm Luncheon met for the first time since Election Day, holding a Q&A session with three state senators on Monday — Bob Andersen (LD49), Christy Armendariz (LD18), and Rick Holdcroft (LD33).

Holdcroft and Armendariz were both elected in 2022, each of them now halfway through their first four-year terms. Bob Andersen is a newcomer to the Unicameral, having flipped District 49 this year from Democrat to Republican.

“Some people ask me, why am I the one for this district?” Andersen said. “And the answer to that was, short and sweet, because I talked to Jen Day, and I realized that she’s a liberal activist. She doesn’t represent the people, and she needed to be ousted.”

Another Shot at School Choice?

School choice took a hit in Nebraska this year, as a ballot initiative repealed the relatively tiny amount of funding for opportunity scholarships offered in LB1402. Holdcroft compared the $10 million set aside for school choice to the $1.5 billion for public schools, likening it to $10 out of a bank account with $1500.

“I don’t know if you saw the article in the newspaper, but the mother who may have to take her kindergartner out of private school now because her scholarship is going away, that’s the people we’re trying to serve,” Holdcroft said. “We’re trying to serve the families who have kids who just don’t fit in our public schools. And if they can find a private school that works for them, then we should help.”

With the repeal of the opportunity scholarship program, Holdcroft suggested an Educational Savings Account as a likely next step for school choice. He was also open to the possibility of school vouchers, as they have in Iowa, where the money follows the student.

“If you didn’t like $10 million, stand by for heavy rolls, as we say in the Navy,” Holdcroft said.

Andersen and Armendariz also both voiced strong support for school vouchers.

“I want vouchers. I want parents to choose where their children go and direct the money themselves,” Armendariz said. “I don’t want a bureaucracy telling people where they have to send their children to school. That might be your neighborhood school. That might be a school one mile away. It might be a private school.”

Andersen chimed in. “I’m a big believer in parental rights. I think they are paramount. And I think, as Senator Holdcroft said, not every child fits everywhere, right? I think it’s the parent’s responsibility. We should give them the authority to have their child educated with what fits best for them.”

Dark Money and Ballot Initiatives

I asked whether something could be done about ballot initiatives, which can overturn a school choice program passed by a supermajority of legislators with a simple majority of the general public. Holdcroft seemed doubtful about such reform, and he attributed the repeal of school choice to deceptive TV commercials.

“They had a commercial where they showed, supposedly, these three men in dark suits, who were state legislators, come in and broke up all the kindergartners’ toys,” Holdcroft recalled. “I saw it every night, and there’s no funding in Nebraska to counter that. They spent millions of dollars. We have nothing.”

Hal Daub asked about reining in dark money from outside Nebraska. “My mailbox was full of mailers, where the return addresses were all non-profits,” Daub said. “There seems to be significant abuse of the use of the federal nonprofit exemption, which is how they hide under Citizens United.”

Daub asked whether some form of campaign finance could be enacted to require these non-profits to disclose their boards of directors, their treasurers, and their largest monthly contributors, as well as including their names at the end of TV commercials, as candidates are required to do.

“They never tell you where that money came from, or who the responsible person is that you could call or write to,” Daub said. “I think we really need to tighten up our disclosure and transparency rules, and it might be a really good initiative.”

Election Integrity

Holdcroft plans to bring an election reform bill before the legislature, though he admitted the demand for it will likely have dropped in the wake of Republican wins this year.

The bill would include more transparency from ES&S on their tabulating machines, a move toward hand-counting in post-election audits, and more restrictions on mail-in ballots due to lack of security in their chain of custody and in voters having to present a photo ID.

“The problem I have right now with mail-in ballots is they don’t require a photo verification of a photo ID, just a number,” Holdcroft said. “If you go and vote early at the commissioners office, you’ve got to show a photo ID. If you go to the polls on the day of voting, you’ve got to show a photo ID. When you mail the ballot, you don’t have to show a photo ID. So that’s a concern I have.”

On the question of changing the rules on Nebraska’s allocation of electoral votes, all three senators all went on the record supporting “Winner Take All.”

“My campaign and I knocked on over 11,000 doors, and this came up a couple of different times,” Andersen said. “I told them, ‘Yes, I support Winner Take All — I think we should be aligned with the other 48 states.’ And then they said, ‘Well, it dilutes the value of their vote.’ So then I asked them, ‘If it is such a great idea, why don’t we start with California and New York?’”

“If all the other states would split them up like we do, I’d leave it,” Armendariz said. “Let’s tell California and New York to split theirs up, and then we’ll keep it split.”

New Faces for 2025

Republicans were able to maintain their supermajority in the nominally non-partisan legislature, though with 16 new senators joining the Unicameral in January, it’s yet to be seen how they will vote when 33 are needed to break a filibuster. A couple tables at the Pachyderm Luncheon had a report from the Neilan Strategy Group, which contained a breakdown of the Unicameral election results this year. This report is available online here.

The next Pachyderm Luncheon will be held on December 9 and will have two more state senators for a Q&A — incumbent Rita Sanders (LD45) and newcomer Tony Sorrentino (LD39).