Wallace holds candidate forum

Sunday, March 27, the Lincoln County GOP held a candidate forum at the Wallace Community Hall in Wallace.
The candidates present were Middle Republican NRD representatives Dan Nelson and Dan Estermann; State Board of Education incumbent Robin Stevens, candidate Pat Moore, and candidate Elizabeth Tegtmeier; and Nebraska Senator Mike Jacobson, candidate Chris Bruns, and candidate Brenda Fourtner. The candidates were asked a question and each given two minutes to respond.
Middle Republican NRD
Nelson and Estermann are both incumbents in the Middle Republican NRD race and felt similarly on most of the issues. Nelson is a farmer from Stockville while Estermann is a rancher from Wellfleet.
Some of the topics they responded to included the priority role of the NRD, the challenges specific to the Middle Republican NRD, thoughts on NCORPE, the proposed Perkins County Canal, and the long term water policy.
Both candidates see the priority role of the NRD to be the preservation of natural resources, especially water, for future generations as well as using technology to practice agriculture efficiently.
State Board of Ed
Robin Stevens, the current vice president of the State Board of Education, along with Pat Moore, and Elizabeth Tegtmeier discussed a variety of issues including the statewide teacher shortage, the role of parents in education, the postponement of the proposed health standards, lower test scores, critical race theory, and the burden on special education services.
All of the candidates felt concerned about the teacher shortage, they all discussed how the process to become a certified teacher needs to be revised, which they believe would help with the shortage. Similarly, they agreed that parents should have a say in what students are learning in schools, each to a slightly different degree.
Tegtmeier is a former teacher, turned stay-at-home mom, turned homeschool teacher who feels strongly that parents are the primary educators of their children and should thus have a significant say in education.
Moore, a retired pastor, agrees that parents are the primary educators, but believes the most important things teachers and parents can do is work together.
All candidates agree that special education programs across the state are overburdened and think this has to do with the teacher shortage and the lack of general education teachers, special education teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals.
District 42
The last discussion was among candidates for the Nebraska State Senate seat for District 42. Mike Jacobson, who currently serves as the District 42 senator and is the founder of Nebraskaland Bank; Chris Bruns, a former marine and small scale rancher; and Brenda Fourtner, an independent care provider for adults with disabilities. All of the candidates are from North Platte.
The topics covered included the recent growth of District 42, which now includes all of Lincoln, Hooker, Thomas, McPherson, Logan, and three-fourths of Perkins County; the importance of nursing homes in small communities; Biden’s 30/30 Program; veterans and resources, balancing of conservation and agriculture; and lobbying.
The candidates all felt that it would be very important to keep involved with the communities in the district whether that was through holding town hall meetings, having conversations with citizens, or just getting to know people.
When asked about Biden’s 30/30 Plan, which is the plan to have 30 percent of America’s land in conservation by the year 2030, all the candidates were opposed to it.This opposition was partly because of the questions concerning how land would be chosen for conservation and what would happen to the land after it was put into the program.
Bruns, who serves on the Lincoln County commission, did talk about how Lincoln County was the first in the nation to push against this plan.
Another topic was how the candidates planned to support veterans and provide them with services.
Bruns, a former Marine, felt it was important for the state to provide encouragement, support, and some funding to counties for the improvement or establishment of veteran homes and veteran hospitals.
Fourtner, who has family that served, talked about a program she has been trying to work on to get veterans and college students to build a veteran’s community just outside of North Platte.
Jacobson felt that one of the first places that the government should spend money is on the veterans, especially to provide funding for resources to aid veterans dealing with PTSD and homelessness.
This forum was a great opportunity for citizens in Wallace and surrounding communities to get a chance to meet the people on the ballot and for the candidates to meet their possible constituents.