Former Columbus Mayor Mike Moser Running for the Legislature

COLUMBUS, Neb. - A man who led Columbus for 12 years as mayor has put his name in the running for the state legislature. Former Columbus Mayor Mike Moser filed on Wednesday for the district 22 state legislature seat that is being vacated Paul Schumacher, who is term-limited. The race for the district 22 seat, which includes all of Platte County and some of Stanton County, now has four candidates, including Moser, but he believes he stands apart from the rest of the pack in one particular manner. "I probably have more government experience at a higher level maybe than the other candidates, but in the end it's who's going to do the best job for our district in the legislature," says Moser. While he hopes to lower property taxes, straightening out the budget will be a major priority for Moser. He says the state government will have to make some tough decisions on cut-backs and that they need to prepared for revenues that have been seesawing back and forth. "If we're going to fund it with revenues that fluctuate up and down, then we need to build the budget so that's it's flexible up and down," says Moser. Governor Pete Ricketts has already endorsed a candidate in the race, Doug Oertwich of Pilger. Still, Moser says he had a cordial chat with Ricketts after he filed in Lincoln. "I called him this afternoon to talk to him a little bit, to tell him that I filed, we had good conversation, and of course I support the governor. So we'll just have to see where that lies," says Moser. Moser, a Republican who fell to Jim Bulkley in the 2016 mayoral election, previously ran for the same seat in 2010, but lost to Rep. Schumacher in a tight vote. He says now he has six more years of government experience, and in that time he says he brought people together. "That's one thing that I worked really hard on was building consensus among the council-members and the public about what projects we move forward with," says Moser. The primary election is May 15th.