Lincoln Journal Star
July 1, 2006
Omaha Sen. Gwen Howard showed up at a governor’s news conference Friday, an uninvited guest at an event celebrating the end of the much-hated sales tax on home repair labor.
And the senator - who switched from Democrat to Republican to support Heineman opponent Tom Osborne in the primary and who single-handedly torpedoed Heineman’s proposed $500,000 child welfare study when she pointed out that there have been 12 studies in eight years - appeared to be an unwelcome guest.
Heineman did not invite Howard to join him in front of the cameras. He didn’t officially greet her or recognize the Omaha senator, something that generally is done as a matter of courtesy.
Howard, who has twice sponsored bills to repeal the home repair sales tax, said she showed up at the Lincoln home, used as a backdrop for the news conference, because she wanted to be part of the celebration.
“This (repeal of the sales tax) has been my focus for two years, ever since I became a senator,” Howard said.
This law is important and I wanted to be there (at the news conference),” she said.
Heineman said senators weren’t invited or acknowledged because the news conference was “simply a public awareness event so that homeowners would know that this sales tax on labor was being repealed if they were remodeling their home,” he said.
“The focus was on the issue, and the family and their home. It was not meant to focus on senators or anyone else,” he said.
A governor’s spokesman pointed out that Heineman invited Howard and other senators and credited her work during a signing ceremony of the tax cut bill this spring.