Gubernatorial candidate Carlson visits Sidney as part of statewide tour

Tom Carlson loves the campaign trail.

After announcing his candidacy as a Republican for Nebraska's 2014 gubernatorial race, Carlson and his wife, Margo have been traveling the state, meeting people and hearing their concerns.

"That's the thing that we do best," Margo said. "We could not wait to get out here."

While touring the panhandle this week, the Carlsons visited with shoppers in the grocery store in Dalton and attended the Greek Festival in Bridgeport.

"We had so much fun and talked to so many good people up there," Margo said.

Carlson says his experience makes him stand out from other candidates on the trail, also visiting from town to town. He served in the state legislature for the past seven years and spent three decades before that in the private sector working in insurance and financial advising. Prior to that, he was a college professor and football and baseball coach. Carlson has received his salary from both tax dollars and the private sector.

"I think that experience is important, because in state government we manage tax dollars that people pay and we need to remember where they come from," Carlson said.

Carlson, a Nebraska native, lives in Holdrege, a town of about 5,500 people located around 30 miles southwest of Kearney.

Although Carlson might be considered a government insider, he's no stranger to rural life. He served as the chair of the agriculture committee in the state legislature for four years and grew up on a farm.

"I know agriculture and understand the importance of it," Carlson said.

Carlson is now the chair of the state senate's water funding and water sustainability task force. The body has held four full day meetings and has 24 more to go before December. The purpose of the task force is to develop a plan for water sustainability in Nebraska.

"Water is the life blood of agriculture," Carlson said. "So that's really important to me."

Carlson knows that the state can't use more than its supply of water. He thinks that most people don't realize how much water it takes to produce the food we eat. To feed a family of four in a metropolitan area in Nebraska it takes 650,000 gallons per year, Carlson said. He also understands that all water responsibility can't fall on the backs of food growers.

"Certainly they have a responsibility and so does everybody," Carlson said.

Carlson believes he can relate to the problems of those in the panhandle because he's from a small town.

"It would be appropriate to have a governor that's actually from rural Nebraska," Carlson said. "It's been a long time."

Politically, Carlson is a Republican and a fiscal conservative, who says he's worked well with Gov. Dave Heineman, even though he didn't agree with the governor on all issues. When he looks to the future, Carlson sees progress on roads and bridges as top government priorities. He isn't opposed to some government projects, but he sees the importance of increasing the number of private sector jobs in the state and wants to quell needless spending and waste. Although he believes that health and human services doesn't always spend its money responsibly, the assistance it provides is vital to some Nebraska residents.

"There are people in our state that are so unfortunate that they absolutely can't provide for themselves," Carlson said.

The state government has an obligation to help those people, Carlson added.

"Then there are other people that really have the ability to provide for themselves, but we don't have the right incentives in place," he said.

Carlson thinks its a shame that those receiving unemployment aren't encouraged to find work and he also insists that the way the state handles childcare subsidies should change. Parents can claim the subsidy only until a certain income threshold. Once parents pass that point they receive nothing—which gives them no incentive to look for a better paying job.

Although Carlson thinks there is some wasteful spending in this state, he is sure that Nebraska is more fiscally responsible than the rest of the country.

"

In many, many ways, Nebraska is in good shape," Carlson said. "The reason is, we balance our budget and we do not spend money we don't have. The federal government doesn't even come close to that."

He thinks Nebraska needs to use this to its advantage to attracts more businesses to the state.

"Certainly Cabela's understands that kind of thing," Carlson said. "There are some advantages to being in a place like Nebraska."

Carlson believes he's a better candidate than his competitors for one simple reason.

"I've had more experience," Carlson said.

Although he might be older than other candidates, Carlson says he's got what it takes to lead the state in a positive direction.

"The good Lord has given both Margo and me good health and good energy," he said. "I don't think there's any substitute for experience."

Often candidates will promote their outsider status.

"Some people would like that because they're not an insider," Carlson said. "But experience is valuable."

He claims to have the respect of both Democrats and Republicans in the legislature. He thinks voters should remember that the governor has to be able to work with the other parts of the state government.

"I know what it's like to have people depend on me for income," Carlson said. "I know the public and private sector, and I do understand the importance of the private sector being strong, because when it's not you've got financial problems."

Education is important to Carlson, as a former college professor.

"The state has a responsibility to provide the opportunity for every child to earn a quality education," Carlson said. "The state has no responsibility to give it to them. They need the opportunity to earn it."

Carlson thinks that education is vital, but he feels that the property taxes which fund education in this state are too high. He knows that this is a double edged sword because if property taxes are lowered, sales or income taxes will have to increase, or education dollars would have to be cut. Even though the Carlsons don't have children in school, the couple feels that contributing to schooling is important.

"I feel like I still have an obligation to pay for the education students receive," Carlson said. "Because there's a benefit to having well educated students who then provide the workforce for the state."

Carlson believes the K-12 education systems needs to do something about students who don't enjoy going to class, but would be open to learning a vocation or technical skills.

"There are very few young people that really want to end up dependant on entitlements," Carlson said. "So if they can fit into something that they like, that'd be a good thing, not a bad thing."

Like many others in his party, Carlson is not happy about the current state of healthcare reform in the United States.

"I'm not excited about Obamacare," Carlson said.

In the past, he didn't vote for a statewide expansion of Medicaid because the state didn't know how much it would cost, or how to pay for it.

"Some would say I'm a mean person," Carlson said. "I try to be responsible. It isn't that you don't want people to have coverage but state government cannot provide everything to everybody. It just can't, so we do the best job we can."

Carlson isn't unsympathetic to those who need and want services from the government.

"There's good intentions for people wanting to provide these services because people need them,” he said, “but you've got to be able to pay for them."

He thinks that safety is one of the most important things that government provides.

"We want to be safe," Carlson said. "That's law enforcement and the judicial system."

He believes that immigration reform is broken.

"For the people who are good productive people, we don't have a good system in which they can become citizens," Carlson said. "And then the people that are intentionally illegal, they just fade into the crowd and a lot of those receive benefits which is absolutely wrong."

Carlson makes no apologies for the fact that his faith will play a role in how he governs.

"Some say I wear my faith on my sleeve," Carlson said. "I'll simply say faith is really important to me. I believe in the Bible and the God who inspired it."

Carlson dismisses those who believe he shouldn't be open about his faith.

"My values system is based on what the Bible tells me," he added. "That's how I try to live. That's who I am and so people who are offended by that shouldn't vote for me because it won't change when I'm governor. We have freedom of religion, not freedom from it."

Carlson knows that Nebraska's third congressional district, which encompasses the western portion of the state, often decides elections, even though all the districts have roughly the same number of residents.

"We vote out here," Carlson said.

He also knows how vital it is for him to do well in this district. Carlson hopes that those in the panhandle realize that he will look out for its best interests because of his concern for agriculture and water.

For now, however, he must sell potential voters on his message. The Carlsons agree that campaigning and meeting the electorate is a favorite part of the campaign process. When Carlson was running for the state legislature, the couple did the same.

"We went door to door to all the Republican registered voters in all seven counties (in Carlson's district) twice," Margo said. "We made a lot of lifetime friends. That's the bad thing about doing the governor thing, because you cannot do that. It's literally impossible to do that."

Although they can't make time for everyone in the state, the Carlsons will try to meet as many of Nebraska's voters as possible.

"We are going to try to get to all 93 counties," Margo said. "And we're going to try to get to as many small towns as we can and at least get into a grocery store or somewhere and meet people where they are and where they're living."

The Carlsons plan to visit Kimball and Harrisburg before leaving the panhandle.