It’s not an election year in Omaha legislative District 12, but even so, partisan politics has descended on voters.

Last week it was automated phone calls; this week it’s door hangers, paid for by the Nebraska Republican Party, criticizing Sen. Steve Lathrop, a Democrat.

The calls and door hangers said Lathrop had failed to support a bill that would have banned benefits to illegal immigrants, even though he said during his campaign in 2006 he was going to be tough on illegal immigration.

The door hangers, one of which Lathrop found on his own door Tuesday morning, said: “Apparently Senator Lathrop has no problem with illegal immigrants taking advantage of the system while Nebraska taxpayers foot the bill.”

Lathrop said the content of the calls and door hangers was “completely false.”

“There’s no place for that kind of politics in the Legislature,” he said.

The partisan communications referred to a bill (LB963), on behalf of Republican Gov. Dave Heineman and Attorney General Jon Bruning, that would have required state and local agencies to verify the legal status of immigrants seeking benefits. The bill failed to get out of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee when members voted 5-1 to kill it. Lathrop, vice chairman of the committee, and Omaha Sen. Brad Ashford, the committee chairman, did not vote on the kill motion.

Ashford called a press conference Tuesday afternoon to “set the record straight.” He said he and Lathrop intended to work on a compromise that included retaining the part of the bill that dealt with public benefits, but not including rescinding resident tuition for illegal immigrants.

In the end, they could not get five votes in the committee to reconsider the kill motion.

The Republican messages do not accurately depict what went on during the committee’s discussion and vote on the immigration bill, Ashford said. The messages were an effort to embarrass Lathrop, a talented contributor to the Legislature, he said.

Ashford, who is a Republican, said Tuesday that one of the most alarming changes he has seen since returning to the Legislature is the partisan activity that goes on outside the Legislature. But it will not influence what goes on inside, he said.

“We need to put partisan politics aside when we’re running the Legislature,” he said.

The Judiciary Committee is not going to pander to political or special interest groups in dealing with issues that could be “hot button wedge issues,” he said.

State Republican Party Chairman Mark Quandahl said the messages were not necessarily motivated by partisan politics, but as education for voters.

Lathrop made illegal immigration a priority in his campaign, Quandahl said, “and we thought it would behoove us to educate voters on the differences in what the candidate would say to get elected and the way he acted when in office.”

The party did not target other Democrats or Republicans on the committee who voted to kill the bill.

“This is just the first of the educational efforts,” he said. “We’ll see what we do in the future.”

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.