By Paul Hammel / Published Sunday May 29, 2011
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — It was well past midnight. The shops along Main Street in tiny Louisville, Neb., had long since locked their doors and hung out the “closed” signs.
But inside the local bank, tense negotiations were still under way — after 11 hours — on how to fix the state’s much-criticized labor court, the Commission of Industrial Relations.
State senators, lawyers and lobbyists had hoped to hammer out, far from the State Capitol, a last-minute compromise on the touchy labor court controversy.
Discussions had been going on for eight months, but a deal appeared dead as the parties trudged out of the bank and into the deserted streets.
Eighteen hours later, though, scowls had turned to smiles: A historic deal had been struck between organized labor, the state’s largest business groups and cities that preserved collective bargaining for public employees but gave elected officials more leeway in controlling labor costs.
The exhausted man in the middle of the delicate deal was State Sen. Steve Lathrop, a prominent Omaha trial attorney.
“He did the real heavy lifting,” said State Sen. Dennis Utter of Hastings, a key participant in the talks.
“People were getting frustrated. … It would have been very easy to trash the whole process,” said Barry Kennedy, head of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a major player in the negotiations.
Passage of the bill has revived talk that Lathrop, a 54-year-old Democrat, might be headed for higher office.
One of 15 Democrats in the 49-member Legislature, Lathrop turned down several overtures to challenge Republican Gov. Dave Heineman in 2010. He said the timing wasn’t right and that, as a divorced parent, he wanted to spend more time with his four daughters.
He said he’s heard the talk that he’s the “Democrats’ best hope” but made it clear he’s a long way from even considering a run for governor or Congress.
Last year he watched a friend, former State Sen. Tom White of Omaha, pour tremendous effort into a campaign for the U.S. House, and losing.
“I wouldn’t say I don’t have an interest’’ in higher office, Lathrop said. “That’s so much sacrifice, and I want to make sure it fits for me before I do something like that.”
Mediating and negotiating a difficult issue has been a familiar role for Lathrop, who joined the Legislature five years ago. He’s been drawn like a bug to a light to help resolve some of the most difficult problems facing the Legislature.
Lathrop brokered an unlikely compromise in 2008 between abortion opponents and researchers to allow stem-cell research to continue at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
He later led a legislative committee credited with pushing needed reforms at the troubled Beatrice State Developmental Center.
And last year, in the face of initial opposition by Heineman, Lathrop found a way for the state to accept federal stimulus money that helped Nebraska businesses avoid a 10 percent hike in unemployment insurance fees.
While Lathrop and others say there is plenty of credit to spread around in resolving the CIR clash, a state Republican Party official said the senator was an obstructionist who prolonged the talks.
Mark Fahleson, state chairman of the GOP and also a lawyer, said the CIR deal would have been done quicker but for the “hindrance” of Lathrop.
“In his entire time in the Nebraska Legislature he has done the bidding of the Democratic Party and his labor bosses,” Fahleson said. “For that reason, he is not a credible statewide candidate.”
There also is no love lost between Lathrop and Heineman, who have clashed over the years.
Heineman didn’t mention Lathrop in a recent press release praising those involved in the CIR compromise. In a later interview, the governor declined to elaborate.
In the past, Lathrop has criticized Heineman for not moving fast enough in resolving the troubles at the Beatrice center. He also criticized the governor for taking millions in federal stimulus dollars but refusing to accept an additional $44 million to bolster the state’s depleted unemployment insurance fund.
Heineman joined several Republican governors in criticizing that aspect of the stimulus program, saying it would cause a tax hike on businesses.
But Lathrop didn’t drop the subject, and finally got an analysis from state officials showing that Nebraska could take the money without such a tax increase. The state chamber of commerce got on board, and then Heineman.
“That was an important thing to do,” Lathrop said.
Before the deal was struck, the governor blasted Lathrop’s “intransigence” for being unwilling to accept ideas on the CIR suggested by the state’s business community and for not sharing details of the negotiations.
Lathrop declined to comment at the time, but last week called the criticism “completely unfounded” and “political nonsense.” He said he worked on amendments with state chamber officials and spent two hours briefing the governor on the CIR.
For the record, Lathrop said, he has no relationship with Heineman. And because he’s in a different party and different branch of government, he said, he doesn’t have to “accommodate him.”
“We in the Legislature are doing almost all of the policy work in the state.”
Lathrop is the fifth of nine children who grew up in north-central Omaha’s Holy Name area. Friends say that the Catholic and abortion opponent fights for working people, and that he would be a great candidate.
But they also say that, unlike some politicians, he doesn’t need to run for higher office for fulfillment.
“I know he loves to practice law. I could see him going back home,” said former State Sen. John Lindsay of Omaha, a Democrat and lobbyist.
Negotiating settlements with insurance companies is a big part of what Lathrop does as a lawyer. Even in his family, he’s the one who works out family disputes, according to a younger brother, Matt, who also is a trial attorney.
Steve Lathrop said he decided to run for the Legislature to put his skills to work “at something other than making money” and because working people were getting “shorted.” He won election in a district that includes the Ralston and Millard areas, defeating current Omaha City Council member Jean Stothert by 14 votes.
Most observers described taking on the CIR dispute as a no-win proposition: If the bill stalled, Lathrop, as chairman of the Business and Labor Committee, would be blamed.
But Lathrop was able to keep labor officials at the table, moving them “beyond their comfort zone,” said Sen. Brad Ashford, a Republican and friend who also helped broker the CIR bill.
“He is a talent,” Ashford said. “He doesn’t need to run for higher office, but we need people like Steve in public service.”
As for the future, Lathrop said, he didn’t come to Lincoln to “just push the buttons green or red (for voting). This is a tremendous opportunity to make a difference on the direction of the state.”