Listen Up: Exclusive…Governor talks with Nebraska Watchdog: Questions cancer center funding

By   /   September 13, 2012  /   10 Comments

Joe Jordan Interviews Governor Dave Heineman

In an exclusive interview with Nebraska Watchdog, Governor Dave Heineman questions the need for more tax dollars to fund the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s $ 370 million cancer research center.

The Omaha City Council is poised to pass a 10 year-$35 million plan that finds a pack of cigarettes taxed an additional 35-cents per pack.

Heineman tells Nebraska Watchdog he was led to believe the state’s $50 million contribution would be the end of the project’s public funding. 

Contact Joe Jordan at joe@nebraskawatchdog.org

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  • Jason3

    The Gov has more to do than worrying about a cancer center…Ann Romney is coming to NE and he needs to help her and Mitt raise more $$$ for their campaign…Heiner wants that cabinet appointment….

  • D. Mark

    What would a person expect from the Omaha City Council? Tax and spend! They should also quit putting a time on a tax, in Omaha a tax is forever.

  • Judy

    Jason3, You are so funny!!!

  • Spike

    Great idea the TAX on Cigs!! Should be $2.00/pack! After all, the retards that smoke are the ones that mainly get cancers & they should pay in advance for what they’ll cost in care. Heiney man is a typical GOPER jerk who would rather spend tax revenue on bad ideas rather than the Common Good of all Nebraskans! A cabinet position? let’s see the latest GOP BAD CHOICE for POTUS get elected first. I suppose all you clowns still think Bush was great, IDIOTS! Try using your pea sized brains already & not what you were born into being!

  • jason3

    Thanks!

  • ToucheTurtle

    “The retards that smoke are the ones that mainly get cancers & they should pay in advance for what they’ll cost in care.” SITE your FACTS!!!! Cancer is does NOT discriminate against its victims . . . people all across social classes, economic levels, and all forms of heritage get cancer . . . for no other reason than they are breathing!!!!

    Only a progressive would say we “have to support” this expenditure because it is “for the good of all!” It is people like you that have contributed to our country going right down the tubes . . . spend no matter what – pretend the accumulating debt doesn’t matter!

    Your statements are outrageous, and you need to put your FACTS out there for all to see. If you can’t, then you owe all who read this website an apology . . . . you are a insult to those who suffer from cancer and have never smoked a day in their lives. My mother was one of those people . . . never smoked a day in her life, no smoking in our home when I was growing up, no smoking in the home where she was raised!!! Further, how do you explain the thousands of children who get cancer every year? Do you think THEY were smokers or ONLY lived with smokers??? You are an IDIOT!!!

  • RiffRaff

    To Douche Turtle: There is no connection between the federal debt and the construction of a world-class cancer research center in Omaha. This center is a win-win-win for Omaha, and Omahans should be proud and pleased to have it located on the UNMC campus.
    And for the record, the country is not going down the tubes. We’ve encountered a bump in the road, but if you read the news, housing industry is recovering, the auto industry is recovering, the market has recovered, jobs have been created in the country for each of the past 30 months. It’s slow going, but we’re on the right track.
    Go America!

  • Jeff Poley

    Joe:

    Amazing, isn’t it. Here we have the Governor grousing about the taxpayer’s hard earned tax dollars being spent to fund less than 25% of the cost of building a new cancer research center that will benefit the entire state. I’d guess that once built, the center will quickly pay for itself with the economic activity that it will bring. How many times have we heard the Governor tout his tax give-a-way schemes and state subsidies for private businesses that have provided questionable benefits to the state. A little more consistency in his economic development strategy would be appreciated.

    Jeff…

  • Pat Boyle

    Only since President Obama was elected that Republicans and the GOP have cared about the debt. We had huge debt problems from Reagan, Bush and W.Bush and Republicans always treated it as a matter of doing business. Clinton is the only president I can think of in my life-time that created a surplus.
    Don’t forget that the size of gov’t exploded under W.
    Now the debt matters because the president is a Democrat.

  • Dan

    Riffraff, complete the story, FORD and foreign auto companies are doing great, gm and chrysler are circling the drain. Gm still owes usthe taxpayers the FULL 25 billion and is trading at a pitiful 23 a share, worse then facebook and needs to sell at 72 for john and jane q taxpayer to break EVEN. And no housing is still as bad as it was 4 years ago, obamas harp program is artificially cooking the numbers so it looks better for him which of course is costing the taxpayers billions, but you don’t hear any of that in the media, gee, i wonder why??