Ken Svoboda says Chris Beutler has tried to reinvent himself since he decided to run for mayor.

And he claims the new Beutler bears little resemblance to the state senator who represented Lincoln for two dozen years.

He says Beutler portrays himself as a pro-growth, pro-business candidate who will hold the line on taxes, but the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry gave his career voting record a measly 39 percent — the fourth-lowest ranking in the Legislature.

And the National Federation of Independent Business says he supported its pro-small-business agenda just 44 percent of the time in the 2005-2006 session.

Beutler has said if elected mayor, he wouldn’t increase the property tax rate, at least initially, but Svoboda says when Beutler was a senator, he regularly supported increases in the state income tax, sales tax, fuel tax, cigarette tax and vehicle registration fees.

Beutler said Svoboda is distorting his record; he has long advocated conservative budgeting — often opposing tax cuts when they didn’t leave enough money in the state’s rainy-day fund.

“I find it curious that instead of offering solutions for the future, he’s attacking me on my past,” Beutler said. “This looks a little desperate.”

Beutler has pledged not to increase the city’s property tax rate, at least during his first year in office, if elected. Svoboda has pledged not to raise property taxes to balance the budget throughout the four-year term.

Svoboda criticized Beutler’s 1998 vote against a sales tax cut, but Beutler wanted the state to keep more money in reserve to prevent tax and fee increases during economic downturns. Svoboda also criticized Beutler for being one of just three senators who voted against Gov. Mike Johanns’ $100 million property tax relief package in 1999. At the time, Beutler said it cut too deeply into the state’s cash reserve.

Svoboda’s campaign also claimed Beutler opposed a 2006 package of state income tax cuts. However, while Beutler lobbied against the bill in its earlier forms, he ultimately voted for the tax cuts.

Beutler said he also voted for what he considers the most significant economic development legislation in the past 20 years: the Nebraska Advantage Act, which helped the state attract Verizon Wireless to Lincoln. But he’s had his differences with the state chamber, for example, when he pushed for the Advantage Act to be more transparent and supported raising the state minimum wage.

And while Svoboda criticizes Beutler’s approval of a cigarette tax increase, Beutler noted that cigarette tax dollars help pay for Lincoln’s Antelope Valley Project.

Svoboda said Beutler repeatedly hammers the City Council for its inaction on things such as budget problems and street funding needs, but rarely specifically attacks Svoboda. Svoboda thinks that’s because his record stands firm: He says he has consistently voted for economic development, lower taxes, budget cuts and additional police officers.

He’s not ashamed of his record, and would continue to support those things as mayor, he said.

But Beutler said Svoboda has been just as inert as the rest of the council; he hasn’t offered long-term solutions to the city’s road funding gap or continual budget shortfalls.

“Ken has sat back and sat back and sat back and has not been a proactive actor on that City Council and has avoided coming to grips — has offered no solutions to major growth problems,” he said. Svoboda hasn’t proposed changes in the public works department or planning and permitting processes, he said.

Svoboda says he has stood up to a City Council that is dominated by an “anti-growth, anti-business” attitude.

“It is the controlling council majority — and the sitting mayor —who share Chris Beutler’s liberal philosophy,” the Svoboda campaign said. “Chris Beutler as mayor would be more of the same.”

As for Svoboda’s contention that it’s difficult to get his agenda passed when the council is dominated by Democrats, Beutler said he was in the minority during his entire legislative career but still was able to get a lot of things done.

And Beutler said anybody who spends a half hour with Mayor Coleen Seng and a half hour with him can easily see “we’re very different.”

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.