Bruning’s 2000 Survey Says: Not Conservative Enough?
Twelve years ago, when he was just finishing his first term in the Legislature, Jon Bruning said he opposed waiting periods and parental notification before abortions, opposed posting the Ten Commandments in public schools and supported medical care for all citizens. 
And that is proof he’s not a real conservative, according to a group of grassroots activists traveling the state today to promote State Treasurer Don Stenberg as the best Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.
They pointed to Bruning’s answers on a 2000 Project Vote Smart “political courage test,” which asks candidates detailed questions about their positions on a dozen issues. Bruning apparently had the courage to answer the questions, while neither of the other top two candidates for the Senate did. According to Project Vote Smart, Stenberg refused to fill out the survey despite repeated requests in 2000, and Republican Deb Fischer also refused in 2008.
But Bruning did fill out the survey, and while most of his answers were solidly conservative, Stenberg’s supporters pointed to those that run counter to conservative ideals:
Ӣ He did not support allowing states to impose waiting periods or parental notification before abortions.
Ӣ He opposed posting the Ten Commandments in public schools.
Ӣ He opposed term limits for Nebraska lawmakers.
”¢ He supported online voting, which Stenberg’s supporters said is “a virtual guarantee of election fraud.”
”¢ He said the state should guarantee medical care to all citizens – “Today we would call that Bruningcare,” Stenberg’s supporters said.
Bruning also said on the survey that he supported a flat tax for state income taxes; opposed the use of fetal tissue from abortions for research at public institutions; opposed prosecuting crimes based on gender, sexual orientation or disability as hate crimes and opposed racial profiling by police.
On the issue of affirmative action, he said colleges and university admissions offices should be able to take race and sex into account when making employment decisions, but not the state and other public employers. But he said Nebraska should not include sexual orientation in anti-discrimination laws, nor recognize civil unions between same-sex couples.
He supported easing restrictions on guns and opposed requiring a license to have a gun or background checks of buyers at gun shows. Overall, his answers were squarely conservative: He opposed abortion and supported reducing most taxes, the death penalty and school vouchers. But he’ll have trouble winning over voters like those gathered at a Lincoln truck stop Wednesday morning – who said they have hundreds of like-minded supporters.
Bryan Van Deun, a retired college professor, said he vetted all the candidates and found Stenberg to be the true conservative throughout his career. He said Fischer is also conservative, but he doesn’t believe she has enough experience to run for Congress.
Dwight Drumble of Springfield, a Republican activist, said he helped Bruning in his first campaign for the Legislature but came to believe Bruning wasn’t in it to serve people, but to serve himself. He said Bruning rarely responded to him once he got elected.
Stephanie Reis, a community activist who moved from the East Coast to Omaha a few years ago, said she tried to contact Bruning to talk about national security and instead he took her business card and put her on his fundraising list.
“I’m not interested in someone who becomes a conservative for an election,” she said. “He does not have a consistently conservative record.”
Judy Zabel of Lincoln is bothered by Bruning’s “liberal thinking” on abortion, term limits and the Ten Commandments on the Project Vote Smart survey.
“I do not believe that Jon Bruning is a conservative, nor will I believe that,” she said.
One of the organizers of Wednesday’s press tour was Joanne Elliott, who ran Republican Tammy Buffington’s mayoral campaign last year. Elliott said she wants a genuine conservative who will pick up the phone when Nebraskans call.
Bruning’s campaign manager, Trent Fellers, attended the press conference and said afterward that it was obvious the group had been working with the Stenberg campaign. Bruning has a solid conservative record, he said, leading the fight to repeal President Obama’s health care law, suing the EPA more than 20 times and rooting out Medicare fraud.
“Jon Bruning’s focused on sharing his conservative message,” Fellers said. “This is the same tired mudslinging from them.”
The Stenberg supporters also trotted out the liberal column Bruning wrote for the Daily Nebraskan while in college in 1992 – which Fellers called the “same tired negative campaigning” that Stenberg has used before.
“They’re desperate,” Fellers said, noting the U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns was once a Democrat while serving on the County Board and Ronald Reagan was a Democrat until his 50s.
Reported by Deena Winter, deena@nebraskawatchdog.org.
Follow @Deena_Winter
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Related posts:
- Stenberg vs Bruning: It’s Getting Personal
- Stenberg accuses Bruning of being in politics to enrich himself
- Team Stenberg: Fischer “Taking Votes” From Bruning
- Bruning Downplays Vacation Home Flap, New Poll Disagrees
- Cabela’s Accuses Bruning of False Advertising
Posted by Nebraska Watchdog on February 1, 2012. Filed under Nebraska.
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