McLeay learns from Sidney residents on eve of Republican debate

Before heading to Gering for Wednesday night's debate between Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate seat, Bart McLeay did something unusual.

Yes, he brought a team to help him prepare for the showcase event. But he also walked around downtown Sidney, poking his head into shops, listening to opinions from the Nebraska panhandle.

"I like to believe I'm a good listener," he said. "As a lawyer you have to listen to your client to represent them, to do your job."

The comment just may represent McLeay's careful way of treading between the public perception of a politician who bends from an original position and the reality that governance often benefits from many voices. When the Omaha native and successful practitioner of business law took a case defending a landowner along the Niobrara River in a property rights case, he learned of the concerns realized daily by Nebraska ranchers. When he worked on the early stages of a battle over water between Nebraska and Kansas, he picked up on the critical importance of irrigation to state farmers.

Panhandle farmers and ranchers are notoriously pragmatic. Talking to people in downtown Sidney on Tuesday afternoon, the candidate said, introduced him to "smart positions that I get to take away with me."

McLeay understands that Tuesday night's state of the union address may affect the tone of questioning at Wednesday's debate. The president's speech to the nation touched upon a number of issues, including the nation's economic outlook But he said Nebraskans are more concerned with fundamental issues.

He is somewhat upbeat on the possibility that Congress will pass a Farm Bill.

"My expectation is we will have one in the next few weeks," McLeay said. "It will not be a perfect solution for Nebraska."

He outlined the nuances of crop insurance and the livestock indemnity program. Those representing other districts in other states demanded reductions in direct payments to farmers, commodities pricing and cuts to-or support for-the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps.

"Something is better than nothing," he said.

McLeay claims he is not a fan of gridlock. In a previous visit with the Sun-Telegraph, he implied that courtroom training leads to an appreciation of the art of listening, as well as persuasion.

"You don't get to just talk to the Republicans in the jury box," he said at the time. "You have to reach the Democrats, and those people who are high school educated and those who have a Ph.D, as well as the people who are rich and poor. They all have to be equally persuaded."

One issue the says Nebraskans are not yet persuaded on is the Affordable Care Act. Like many Republicans, he prefers a market solution to what he admits is an overly expensive healthcare system. While McLeay applauds the fact that Republicans in Washington this week offered a counter proposal to the ACA, he refused to offer more than guarded praise until he read through the plan. Still, he believes a more efficient solution to healthcare costs is possible.

"My bottom line is to get government out of healthcare," McLeay said. "My preference is for private brokers to establish healthcare exchanges-that would drive down costs."

Yet in discussing the controversial measure, he returns to the concerns expressed by Nebraskans as he crisscrossed the state over the past few months.

"If I were going to select one word to describe the reaction, it is 'scared,' McLeay observed. "They are frightened by this behemoth government program. The reaction is a reasonable one."

Instead of picking apart details of the act, McLeay criticizes the changes introduced before and after the rollout. In addition, he questions unforeseen ripples.

"What is going to be the effect of the withdrawal of the employee mandate for a year?" asked. "There are so many unknowns."

Although, like many Republicans, he values the idea of a smaller federal role-lambasting suggestions, for example, that the Environmental Protection Agency would employ drones to keep tabs upon watersheds-McLeay recognizes that Washington must oversee infrastructure and other aspects of the national economy.

The burgeoning administration interferes with Washington's fundamental role.

"The first thing we need the government to do is its job," McLeay said. "We need action, we need the Heartland Expressway done"-a reference to the still unfinished route between Mexico and Canada through the panhandle-"but government should get out of the way in certain areas."

New rules defining farming or environmental impacts of ranching activity put unnecessary stress on independent producers, he insisted.

"Small farmers and ranchers do not need the invasion of the federal government," McLeay said. "They have enough to do."

The candidate hopes to repeat these sentiments and others on Wednesday, while setting himself apart from a large and challenging field of Senatorial hopefuls.

"Philosophically the candidates are not far apart," McLeay admitted. "The question for voters is to evaluate experience."

Western Nebraskans are somewhat distrustful of those from the eastern part of the state. The feeling is not a mark against their choice of residence, but their ability to understand the needs-and often the plight-of ranches and farms in Nebraska's windswept, drought-ridden, sparsely populated region.

McLeay returned to the panhandle to listen, once more, before the debate. He believes his background, which includes 30 years in law and a high position with one of the state's largest firms, as well as his family's century of life in the state provides him with a foundation.

Three decades of victory and defeat in front of courts, along with his campaign travels, he hopes will set him apart on Wednesday.

"I understand how to represent others," he pointed out.