Moul to challenge Fortenberry
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BY DON WALTON / Lincoln Journal Star
Former Lt. Gov. Maxine Moul strode into the 1st District congressional race Tuesday with a pledge to attack deficit spending and address Medicare prescription drug problems.
“Congress must devote its time to solve the spiraling federal debt and the failure of the new Medicare drug prescription plan to provide critical medications to our senior citizens,” she said.
Moul, 58, officially filed as a Democratic candidate for the eastern Nebraska House seat held by first-term Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry.
Other issues on her agenda, she said, will be the rising cost of health care, education policy, a sustainable Social Security benefit program, national security and “bringing our troops home safely from Iraq.”
In a telephone interview, Moul said spreading signs of corruption in Washington have created dismay — “that’s a mild word for it” —among voters concerned about dishonesty and unethical behavior in Congress.
They’re also distressed about a House that is “bogged down in partisan bickering,” she said.
What voters want now, she said, are “people with a reputation for honesty who have demonstrated they can build coalitions and work with people across party lines.”
As lieutenant governor, and later state economic development director, in the administration of Gov. Ben Nelson, Moul said, she built “a record of providing solutions and results for the 1st District and Nebraska.”
Moul led creation of the Nebraska Rural Development Commission in 1991 and helped form the Nebraska Community Foundation. She served as the foundation’s first chairperson and now holds the title of president emeritus.
Her decision to challenge an incumbent Republican congressman in a district that hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1964 was carefully reached over a two-month period, Moul said.
“I have been very, very encouraged by the feedback and expressions of support,” she said.
About 75 volunteers already are on board to help her mount a two-day campaign kickoff next week, Moul said, beginning with a news conference in the Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 25.
Moul will travel to 10 communities to launch her campaign, returning to Lincoln the following day for a rally at Firefighters Union Hall that will double as her 59th birthday party.
“I have run in this district before for lieutenant governor and I did well both in northeast and southeast Nebraska where my roots are,” she said.
Moul grew up in Oakland and was publisher of the Syracuse Journal-Democrat before settling in Lincoln in 1988.
Running on her own in the Democratic primary election 16 years ago, she won a five-candidate contest that teamed her with Nelson, who captured his party’s gubernatorial nomination. Nelson was elected to the Senate in 2000 and is expected to seek re-election this year.
Moul resigned as lieutenant governor in 1993 to take the reins as Nelson’s economic development director.
Since leaving state government, she has been engaged in small town and rural development efforts.
Long active in her party, she is a former Democratic national committeewoman.
Fortenberry is expected to seek re-election to a second term.
“We’ve traveled thousands of miles and met with thousands of Nebraskans to work on important issues such as national security, agriculture and economic opportunity and family life,” Fortenberry said in a press release after Moul’s announcement.
Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.
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