Tuesday, November 4, 2008

The Party Continues

By Meagan Phenix

Ponca Hills Fire Station, Nov. 4 — Republican candidate Kurt Geschwender didn’t stop talking about the issues when it was announced that he was trailing Democrat Tanya Cook in the race for District 13 state senator.


In fact, the energized atmosphere at the legislative hopeful’s party never died down.


Geschwender had high hopes for Nebraska, and had decided to run because he felt so strongly about property taxes. When his own property was re-evaluated at triple the land value, he decided it was time to make a change.


Running for the legislature, though, turned out to be more complicated than he thought.


“You think you know the system, but it’s like taking it straight from the fire hose,” Geschwender said.


His plan for Nebraska focused on making the government more accountable and transparent, which “is how it is supposed to work,” Geschwender said.


Another key issue was education. Geschwender’s plan would include raising teachers’ salaries by 10 percent by reallocating resources instead of raising taxes. “The money’s not going where it needs to go.”


He would also support legislation to funnel more money for first responders in emergencies, in order to better reduce gang violence.


“I’m a big law enforcement guy,” Geschwender said. “We can’t put up with gangs.”


Unfortunately for Geschwender, as of 8:49 p.m., he was down 2,264 votes to Tanya Cook’s 3,132.