Bernadt: Svoboda & Camp Tried to Cut Beutler's Job to Influence Mayor's Race

"The Mayor's election is over ten months away but that isn't stopping Jon Camp and Ken Svoboda from playing mayoral politics with taxpayer money. Ken Svoboda proposed and Jon Camp voted to cut Chris Beutler's job from the 2006-07 city budget to make it harder for Chris to run for Mayor. Lincoln residents should be outraged at this under the table manipulation," said Lancaster County Democratic Party Chair Kevin Bernadt.

On Wednesday during City Council budget deliberations, Council member and Mayoral candidate Ken Svoboda proposed the elimination from the Parks and Recreation Department budget of a fund development contract for $70,000. The City contracts with Chris Beutler, State Senator and potential Mayoral candidate, to raise money for Parks and Recreation projects. Svoboda and fellow Council member and Mayoral candidate Jon Camp voted in favor of the proposal. The move was ultimately unsuccessful.

Bernadt believes the move was political, "The Parks Director credited Chris Beutler with having raised several million for the City and funding the renovations at the flower gardens. The money Beutler raised has funded projects that benefit the entire community, without using tax dollars. So the question has to be asked, why would Svoboda and Camp remove a contract from the budget that pays for itself 100 to 1?

"The answer is fairly simple. Camp and Svoboda want less competition for the Mayor's chair. If Chris Beutler does not have a job, it will be harder for him to run for Mayor and easier for them."

Bernadt believes the incident demonstrates why citizens should not support Camp or Svoboda for Mayor. "If they are petty enough to undermine someone's job to satisfy their lust for power, can we really trust them to represent us in the Mayor's office?," Bernadt concluded.