After being "appalled" at the 6-1 decision of the Nebraska Supreme Court on the value of the electric chair, Heineman drove ahead to "extraordinarily disappointed" after the Judiciary Committee axed his plan to use state agencies for citizenship checks.

In between, he signed into law a statewide ban on smoking in public buildings, a move that upset smokers, bar owners and those who believe puffing away anywhere is their right. Mitigating his signature on the no-smoke rule are towns including Grand Island that have passed their own smoking bans.

But any way you divvy up the democracy, Heineman has hit a few political potholes recently.

Memo to all interested parties: We have not repealed the death penalty. We have not legalized illegal immigration. We have not banned smoking.

Memo to the governor: Please see "Memo to all interested parties."

Heineman may have suffered a couple political pokes in the eye, but all consternation and disappointment aside, he overstated his case.

For example, as an ardent proponent of the death penalty, the governor should have considered saving "appalled" for the possibility of the Legislature actually doing away with capital punishment. The court said death penalties can go forward only after the Legislature adopts a different, constitutionally valid method of execution.

Likewise, if he was "extraordinarily disappointed" that the Judiciary Committee, citing redundancy and wanting to keep in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, jettisoned his new immigration law, how would he respond, say, to the Legislature granting immunity to so-called sanctuary cities?

Sign it

While the governor steers for a smoother path he said Monday he wouldn't talk to Judiciary Committee members individually his party of choice was parked in a loading zone when it blamed the high court's death penalty vote on former Gov. Ben Nelson, a death penalty supporter.

As governor, Nelson appointed all six justices who said "Ol' Sparky" was cruel and unusual. After connecting those dots, the state GOP launched on the senator, a move generally criticized throughout the state.

Moreover, Heineman's charge of judicial activism was curious. The beef might stick if the court had done away with the death penalty.

It didn't. It upheld the state's death penalty law; it ruled against the death penalty method.

As others have said about judicial activism, you never hear people complaining about it when they agree with the ruling. And because the complaint is heard so often, the word is beginning to lose its clarity and clout.

Some separation-of-powers issues are at work here, too. The court's death penalty decision and the Legislature's history of inaction remind me of the old college football coach who, when accused by his opponents of running up the score, said, "If you don't like it, play better."

If a law (or method of capital punishment) is unconstitutional, come up with a better one. And sign it.

Key to salvation

I'm neither picking on the governor nor assessing his job. Surely, he is used to criticism and has every right and responsibility to be passionate about the issues of our times. Also, being appalled or very disappointed are very human qualities.

But a gubernatorial response to fit the facts we still have a death penalty to punish the guilty and federal laws to keep illegal immigrants from getting benefits helps give Nebraskans an accurate assessment of where we are with the big questions of the day.

Such clarity aids us in our daily duties, including watchfulness, which, as you know, is not the key to political victory but rather our salvation.

And quite helpful, too, when the ride gets bumpy.