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NE: Fischer says Kerrey’s blowing routine fence dispute out of proportion

By   /   October 16, 2012  /   21 Comments

By Deena Winter | Nebraska Watchdog

FISCHER: Bob Kerrey “is resorting to over-the-top attacks.”

LINCOLN — Some people will do anything to win.

That was state Sen. Deb Fischer’s response to Bob Kerrey’s new orchestrated effort to portray her as a bad neighbor who tried to use the legal system to get her elderly neighbors’ 104 acres some 15 years ago.

“I believe (Kerrey) is resorting to over-the-top attacks, because he doesn’t want to talk about the issues,” said Fischer at a news conference here Tuesday, surrounded by nearly 40 people, including the governor, lawmakers, ranchers and businessmen.

“He’s out of touch with Nebraskans,” the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate said, adding that she’s been called a welfare rancher and weathered attacks on her family in this campaign.

Kerrey’s campaign launched a website, TV ad and statewide news tour Monday to highlight a lawsuit Fischer and her husband filed in 1995. The Fischers argued that because they used the 104 acres, they should be allowed to acquire it through adverse possession, according to court documents. The judge sided with their neighbors, Les and Betty Kime, who have since died.

Fischer said the lawsuit was filed on the advice of her attorney to clarify the boundaries of the Fischers’ land before selling some property. The fence line and deeded boundary didn’t match, she said.

“It happens every day in Nebraska,” she said.

The Kerrey campaign says the Kimes had allowed the Fischers to run cattle on a pasture of theirs near the fence line for years, even though they knew the fence was not in the proper place due to rugged terrain near the Snake River.

After multiple attempts to get the Kimes to trade or sell the land in the 1980s and 1990s, the Fischers tried to get the Kimes to sign a quit claim deed in 1995 and then filed a lawsuit later that year.

Gov. Dave Heineman said Kerrey is using one of the oldest political tricks in the book, because he can’t win on issues like taxes, balanced budgets, abortion and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

“Bob Kerrey is losing this race to Deb Fischer and the polls confirm that,” Heineman said during the news conference. “Bob Kerrey’s attacks are a desperate distraction by a desperate candidate who’s losing in the polls.”

Kerrey’s campaign also has accused Fischer of using her seat in the Legislature to settle some scores, co-sponsoring a bill changing the way fence disputes are mediated, and introducing a bill, Democrats say, was designed to derail an attempt by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to buy Snake Falls Ranch from the Kimes’ heirs. The sale of their neighbors’ ranch would have affected Fischer’s property value, Democrats say, but she did not file a conflict-of-interest statement with the state.

A private hunting and fishing club couldn’t afford to buy the whole ranch, so it sought help from the Game and Parks Commission, which sought a $2.4 million grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust.

Fischer’s original bill would have required the fund to transfer $7 million annually to a water fund for 11 years. Fischer said Tuesday that her bill had nothing to do with the potential sale of her neighbors’ land, but was about providing funding for water projects.

Fischer said Tuesday that she did not oppose the sale of the Snake Falls Ranch to the Game and Fish Commission, which would have opened up to the public Nebraska’s largest waterfall and one of the nation’s best trout streams. In the end, a sportsman’s group bought the ranch, so it is privately owned.

Fischer testified against the sale at a Game and Parks informational meeting in October 2010, but said Tuesday that she did so at the request of the Cherry County Commission and disclosed the fact that she owned nearby property.

“I gave no personal opinion on it,” she said.

Another neighbor of Fischer’s Jerry Adamson said he and others were flown here to appear at the news conference, because “when they’re attacking the Fischer family, they’re attacking a lot of us in Cherry County.”

“They are good neighbors,” he said.

Kerrey, a former governor and U.S. senator, has scheduled a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Contact Deena Winter at deena@nebraskawatchdog.org.

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Deena Winter

  • OmaSteak

    Cosmic Bob’s next “news conference” is to announce he’s leaving the Democrat party and becoming an “independent”. That’s the only move he has left to get away from his Senate voting record, his pal Harry Reid, his hero Obama and his progressive/liberal agenda. Bob is getting really desperate knowing full well his campaign is failing and he’s got no chance…never had one to begin with. Goodbye Cosmic Bob. I’m sure your neighbors and family will be happy to have you back home again in the East Village on 11/07/12.

  • Kevin

    Kerrey v. Fischer…. Obama v. Romney…

    Which game of Russian Roulette do you want to play?

  • BPE

    My Mom knew Kerry personally for many years before she passed away. She told me 25 years ago that his decisions had very little to do with party affiliation, but rather what he thought was in the best interest of Nebraska. At this point in his career, he has nothing personally to gain from winning a Senate seat. He has been there and done that. I believe he wants to try and change the poisonous partisan environment. Liberals AND Conservatives are killing America.

  • Jazzee

    I know Bob personally and he is a good guy the problem is he is saying one thing here (Agrees with Romney’s plan) and when he gets to DC he has voted 90% with the lefties. So…….if he were the real deal he would get the votes but he is another ben nelson…

  • Patrick

    This whole issue is a smokescreen for Kerry. Anyone who has ever lived in a Circle or Culdesac knows to always assert their Property Rights in Court when needed if their neighbor goes to extend a fence, park their motorhome between the houses or tries to put in a Driveway along the side of their home. All of which make re-sell efforts problematic. Moreover, I’d like to hear Kerry’s stance on Private Property Rights, Eminent Domain, the 2005 Supreme Court Case Kelo vs City of New London and the recent Bill to over-turn Kelo from February that passed in the House by a 376-38 vote.
    Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.), a long-time Kerry supporter, actually spoke out against the bill. Would Bob Kerry have opposed his long time friend?
    Despite House passage, the White House never put out any statement of support or opposition, as it often does just before major bills are brought up for a vote. But that figures. House approval sent the bill to the Senate, would Bob Kerry have shown leadership, opposed his Party Whip and moved for the Senate to consider it at that time?

  • James

    Like Pres. Obama, Sen. Bob Kerrey is getting desperate as election day draws near and is resorting to irrelevant, specious attacks because he has nothing of substance when it comes to policies. What are the issues?! Kerrey supports Obama’s failed, unilateral policies, he wants to raise taxes to support irresponsible gov’t spending, he’s going to become (despite his claims to the contrary) another partisan, Democrat pawn. Sen. Deb Fischer wants to lower taxes and cut extraneous gov’t spending, reduce the national debt and deficit, find solvent solutions for entitlement programs, etc. These disputes between large property owners are a-dime-a-dozen; my parents are entangled in one at the moment as well.

  • Dan

    Deena, I’m still waiting for the story of kerreys involvement in the tenet medicare fraud scandal of $92 mil, or ben nelsons insider trading scandal on the eve of tarp. I firmly believe THAT is the reason he’s not running for reelection.

  • kp

    Actually, this is nothing like opposing your neighbor’s building a fence or putting down a driveway on their land, but too close to your house. It’s more like lending your tractor to your neighbor, and them turning around and claiming possession is 9/10 of the law.

    The Kimes very generously allowed the Fischers to use 100 acres of their land for free for many years. That’s a lot of land to let someone use for free. Being able to run their cattle there benefitted them enormously. But then Fischers tried to sue to seize that land claiming adverse possession. It’s not a fence dispute unless you claim that putting a fence around your whole neighborhood makes that neighborhood yours.

  • Husker

    You know bob kerry lives off of the tax payer for being a EX senator

  • Blue Dog

    Soooo taking land from your neighbor is OK and just about being down in the polls? Polls set aside what the hell?

  • ToucheTurtle

    OR the bait that Harry Reid threw out when he ASKED Bob Kerrey to run was just too good to past up!!! If you think this is a man who does things just out of the goodness of his heart, look at his financial records and tell me EXACTLY what he has done for free. In fact, it might be interesting to know – with all the millions of dollars he has made – how much does he donate to charitable organizations. This is a true indicator of just how much he cares about people in general.

    I think perhaps I would consider my mother’s opinion, but I might just be into doing some research on my own so I can make my own decision based on facts and not feelings! It is entirely possible to “like” someone but not respect their professional life decisions . . . . .

  • ToucheTurtle

    Before one makes a judgement like that, perhaps it might be usedful to understand ALL the facts and not just the ones that GOB decided to share with you!!! He might just not be the most objective person to rely upon since he “has a dog in this hunt!”

  • ToucheTurtle

    Your example is ridiculous! There is NO law that says if you loan a tractor to your neighbor and then leave it there for 10+ years, that tractor belongs to your neighbor!!! It is still your tractor, and if your neighbors were smart, they would give you the choice of going to get it OR charge you rent!!!

    Perhaps a better example would be the common practice of paying taxes on a piece of property because the owner would not pay them. As a citizen you can go to your local courthouse and pay delinquent taxes on a piece of property. If the owner decides to repay you, the law stipulates an interest rate that is to be charged; if the owner choses NOT to pay you, then after a specified period of time you can file the legal papers and end up owning the piece of property due to back taxes!

    So knowing that the fence line was a problem, WHY didn’t the Kimes move the fence? Perhaps it is because it was difficult to do so rather than incurring the expense and do the right thing, THEY chose to leave it where it was!!! And in this state, not correcting a fence line puts your ownership in jeopardy due to “adverse possession.” Anyone who owns farm land or ranch land is smart to understand what this means if they don’t want to end up in court! I own land, and I can tell you that I KNOW where my fence lines are because I had the land surveyed . . . this is the option that all landowners have, and if they suspect there may be a problem down the line, it is better to be safe than sorry. You seem to indicate that out of the goodness of their heart the Kimes “very generously ALLOWED the Fischers to use 100 acres” for free . . . . just maybe that is NOT the whole story!!!

    So before pass judgement, perhaps you should look at all the facts and not just the ones that GOB wants you to see!!! Information and the WHOLE truth are the keys to this puzzle, my friend!

  • ToucheTurtle

    When it is all said and done, perhaps the question SHOULD be, “Can our country survive four more years of the same failed policies of the past four years?” The election of the progressives may well be the final nail in the coffin . . . ultimately our children and grandchildren will reap the consequences of our actions!

  • ToucheTurtle

    So apparently he does not mean what he says . . . so can you trust him? Maybe your idea of what a “good guy” and mine are two different things!

  • Snakeoil Republicans

    Judgement has been passed, survey says-You are a certified idiot.

  • Snakeoil Republicans

    Your idea of a good guy is one that will let you have sex with him-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

  • Watching_From_Lincoln

    The truth is that the reason the judge sided with the Kimes is because they HAD been paying taxes on their property that they allowed the Fischers to graze rent-free, thus the Fischer’s spurious claim that they had right to the land under adverse possession because the Kimes had abandoned any claim to it was fraudulent – the Fischers were trying to use a legal loophole to STEAL the land that they coveted of the Kimes’ after FAILING to gain that coveted land by swap or sale.

    This issue had NOTHING to do with the location of a fence line, and EVERYTHING to do with the greed of Deb Fischer. A fence line dispute is settled with the hiring of an independent surveyor to determine the property lines, NOT by suing your neighbor to seize land of theirs they were allowing you to use!

    So before you show us that you are merely a Koch sucking Fischer apologist, perhaps YOU should familiarize yourself with not only the facts of the case, but with the severe character flaws of Deb Fischer’s that make her unworthy of representing Nebraska values and ideals in D.C.

  • Watching_From_Lincoln

    And is also eligible for free VA Medical benefits as a Combat wounded disabled Veteran, so your point is what????

  • Watching_From_Lincoln

    And you have your head up your ass, and as such will never see the light of truth on this matter.

  • Watching_From_Lincoln

    Heed your own advice, Douchey Turtle, when it comes to FACTS, not Party pablum regurgitated by Fischer and all the GOPERS whose skirts she hides behind.