Republican state legislators and conservative leaders held a press conference yesterday at the Nebraska State Capitol to call for the repeal of the death penalty. Today, the unicameral legislature will begin debating the measure. The Washington Times said,
Seven Republican senators announced their support for a bill to repeal the capital punishment law, saying Wednesday that any other program so costly and inefficient would have been eliminated by the Legislature years ago.
Nine conservative lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of a repeal measure the Nebraska Legislature will begin debating Thursday. One of their key platforms: Repealing the death penalty makes good fiscal sense.
“If capital punishment were any other program that was so inefficient and so costly to the taxpayer, we would have gotten rid of it a long time ago,” said Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln.
The Lincoln Journal Star also covered the press conference and said,
Marc Hyden, with Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, said the system is broken and inconsistent with conservative principles. Plus, it fails to deter crime and is harmful to murder victims’ families.
National support for the death penalty is near a 40-year low, he said, and conservative legislators are sponsoring repeal legislation because it does not fit within the philosophy of life, fiscal responsibility and limited government.
The Washington Times quoted me and wrote,
Marc Hyden, advocacy coordinator for Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, said eliminating capital punishment can unite political parties.
“This can bring us together for different reasons,” Hyden said. “Mine is about protecting innocent life and promoting fiscal responsibility in government and supporting programs that actually work. It’s not just a liberal issue, it’s a conservative issue.”
The press conference was covered by dozens of news outlets and comes on the heels of a press conference of conservatives in Kansas who also described their opposition to the death penalty.