Our Children Needed Leadership
LINCOLN, Neb. –District 27 legislative candidate Kyle Michaelis welcomes recent progress by the Nebraska Legislature asserting its rightful place in the child welfare reform debate. Last week, a series of bills was advanced from 2nd round consideration and should soon proceed to a final vote. Michaelis notes that these bills have thus far advanced without opposition. This is a marked contrast from the 2011 legislative session, during which State Senator Colby Coash was the leading voice against legislative action on child welfare reform.
“Last year, my opponent – Senator Coash – pleaded with his colleagues to do nothing while our state’s child welfare system was coming apart at the seams,” states Michaelis. “When the vast majority of State Senators could see the writing on the wall that this privatization scheme wasn’t working for Nebraska families, Colby Coash was on the floor of the Legislature begging that they ‘listen to the governor’ and trust DHHS.” [1]
On March 29, 2011, Coash cast one of only seven votes against Legislative Bill 95, which would have required accreditation of lead contractors and placed a moratorium on further privatization. Since then, the need for legislative action has only grown more apparent as reports by the State Auditor and the Performance Audit Committee revealed the complete failure of an ideologically-driven push for privatization that was implemented without concrete goals or even a strategic plan.
“In 2010, Colby Coash was already hearing from families and providers that the state was headed in the wrong direction. When asked to take action, he said there was nothing he could do. But, that wasn’t true,” Michaelis retorts. [2] “Sen. Coash chose to stand in the way of progress while our most vulnerable children were thrust into a needless crisis and the state wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.”
Michaelis thanks the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee and its chair, Lincoln State Senator Kathy Campbell, for their dedication to Nebraska’s children in correcting the mistakes of the last two years.
“Hopefully, the state is back on a path of responsible reform of our child welfare system. However, it’s going to take continued leadership in the Legislature,” adds Michaelis. “District 27 voters will always be able to count on me to ask the tough questions, demand accountability, and put children ahead of politics and ideology.”
