Jim Smith - Candidate for OPPD District 3
Jim Smith has a long political history, focused largely on increasing costs for regular Nebraskans.
Jim Smith introduced and passed a gas tax increase over Governor's veto
LB610 and LB610A - Introduced by Jim Smith - raised Nebraska’s gas tax. This tax increase made the state’s gas tax the 16th highest in the nation while also surpassing the gas tax rate of every state that borders Nebraska. Governor Ricketts Vetoes Bills to Raise Gas Tax | Kat Country Hub
LB 610 Introducer, Jim Smith: Nebraska Legislature - Legislative Document
Fought to give tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest Nebraskans
Jim Smith introduced LB 337 and LB461, which would have provided a large tax cut to corporations and wealthy Nebraskans, and done little-to-nothing for the middle-class or small businesses. Policy brief — LB 337 not aimed at middle class, small business - Open Sky
Today, Jim Smith is still advocating for policies that increase our household costs
Several large data centers have located to OPPD service territory. OPPD has had to build a lot of new infrastructure to serve them, and passed those costs on to us. Jim Smith is a strong advocate for giving these companies tax breaks.
Jim Smith: Champion for unlimited data centers
Legislation passed 49-0 in the Unicameral this year, requiring greater transparency from data centers. Jim Smith spoke out against it, saying “This bill really creates undue scrutiny on the data centers.”
The Nebraska Legislature also considered prohibiting public power from passing the costs of data centers on to residential customers. As a Lobbyist, Jim Smith advocated against it, saying “Data centers already pay their fair share. Embrace the data centers.” Nebraska bill seeks to regulate data centers - KETV
Christian Mapes - Candidate for OPPD District 1
Christian Mapes is a power trader for an AI Data Center developer.
Christian Mapes' full-time job is as a power trader with Giga Energy. From Giga Energy's website: Build AI Data Centers Faster. Giga buys land near energy infrastructure to speed up development and stocks up on energy infrastructure like transformers. Mapes' job as a power trader is to help AI data centers make more money from the electric grid -- that means regular people and small businesses are paying for AI data center profit.
Christian Mapes LinkedIn; gigaenergy.com/about
Christian Mapes owns a consulting firm that gets paid by AI data centers to cut their power bills.
From his website: Helping data centers, manufacturers, and commercial clients reduce energy costs through rate analysis, demand response optimization, and market strategy.
valorenergysolutions.com
Christian Mapes has received campaign contributions totaling almost $50,000 from data center execs.
Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission
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Nebraskans for Common Sense Government wants to see more elected officials who answer to the people who actually live here — the ones balancing a household budget, running a small business, or trying to make ends meet on social security income.
Too many politicians make promises when running for office -- and then immediately abandon their constituents once elected.
We are focused on those local offices that matter most to household budgets.
