Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / What has NE Politics come to?

Transcript

What has NE Politics come to? · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today on the show, I have Mary Barrett with us. Mary,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: good morning, Good morning, And Mary has a great story
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to tell, and I'm going to ask you to do
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: it yourself. But Mary Barrett is of the famous Barrett's
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Barleycorn Pub and grill. Her and her siblings are well
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: you run it now, don't you know?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Karen does?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Karen r.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Barrett kids have it and Karen Barrett kids have it, Okay,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Karen does everything.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: And you are one of the five Barrett kids, which
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: which unquestionably has the best phillies in town. Yes, and
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: also those little onion.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Pedals pedals, Oh my god, there to die for, it
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: to die for.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: So Mary Barrett's got a very interesting story. Because Mary
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: contacted me election night and we're both like scratching our
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: heads a bit. But Mary was a lifelong Democrat, proudly
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a Democrat. Things started happening, and I think I'll have
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: you tell your story. But in twenty twenty, I know
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: that you were very unhappy about the resolution that accused
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Douglas County Attorney Don Kline of perpetuating right supremacy and
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: is handling the James Scurlot case. If we all remember
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: that when the protest and the riots were going on
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: in Omaha. Don Klin was also a Democrat at the time.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: He switched parties and became Republican. Mary, I wanted you
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: to tell your story, and you switched parties, you became
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: an independent. Yes, but I want to tell a little bit.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: You to tell a little bit of your background because
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: your dad, Frank Barrett, really got you into politics and
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: he was a big part of your family life. Kind
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: of tell people a little bit about what your dad
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: was like to well.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: He got us all into politics. He was when he
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: was in college. He worked for Frank Morrison, and then
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Frank Morrison ended up running for governor.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: My dad helped him out.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: And then my dad was appointed insurance Commissioner for the
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: state of Nebraska, the youngest still to the state at
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: twenty seven years old, right after he got.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: A law school.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's really something. Yeah, it was.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Great and so and he had a great relationship with
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: Democrats and Republicans as it used to be, and so
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: he kind of got us all involved in politics. My
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: mom wasn't a big fan of it, but she was
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: a cheerleader for all of us kids to make sure
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: that we were enjoying what we were doing. So we
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: started doing that and stayed really active at democratic politics,
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: really enjoyed it. Ran for office once and lost, ran
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: a second time in one of course. The election I
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: won was for Metro Community College Board, which was an
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: unpaid position just like school board.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Huh, one of the most important positions you can have,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: and you it's a volunteer position.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Exactly, exactly good. So did that good point? We don't
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: do these things for the money, No, we do not.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: We do it for the love of public service, right,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: And so I did that and then worked in DC
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: and worked for I did presidential Senate congressional races and
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: had thirteen states on Derey without al Gore, and then
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: moved over to the Senate side, and then came back
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: from the Senate side back over to the DNC and
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: was the women's outreach director there and had a great
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: time doing that, and worked in Iowa several times, in
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: New Hampshire and kind of all over the country. Loved
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: every bit of it, and then I kind of got
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: a little not happy with what was happening in the
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Democratic Party in our state.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Was this about the twenty twenty year before that?
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I was starting to get unhappy a little
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: before that and just kind of kept doing my thing.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: But I think that our leadership, which was Jane Cleb,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: which is Jane Cleb, I think our.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Leadership was really bad. And I still think it's not great.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: And I just think that we've been taken over by
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Jane Cleb and her group of friends or our guests,
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: our enemies, but they're friends and they've kind of decided
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: what they want to do for these elections. So no
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: matter who puts their name up on what they're doing,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: it's just ridiculous. It's a complete attack. And they went
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: on the attack with Don Klein.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Yes, they did.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: It was kind of I was at the end of
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: my rope then.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: That kind of was a straw that broke the camel's
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: back for a lot of people, don Klein, it was,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: and for you too.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Don Klein was such a great friend, and he was
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: great to a lot of my friends, and a lot
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: of my friends had worked in his office, and I
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: just felt like it was the wrong way to go
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: and there was no one to go talk to about it.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Did you ever reach out and try to talk to
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Jane Clinton? Oh?
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: You do? Yeah, And we always had some tiff going on.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: I'm never sure what it was really about. I'm sure
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: it was. She would say it was me, and I
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: would say it was her.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: I've never I've never met her, but she goes after
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: me constantly.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, isn't that amazing?
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: And I know when you talked about your dad, just
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: going back to your dad a little bit, you said
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: earlier he didn't care if you were Democrat or Republican,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: and he and you, I know you had said he
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: was friends to whites, blacks and browns. Yep, it was.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: And that's what politics should be.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: Exactly, and we have got so far away from that.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: So I just thought I got to get out of
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: this party for a while. And a lot of women
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: who were my age had all kind of made the
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: same decision that they wouldn't be giving money to the
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: Democratic Party of Nebraska, and we kind of moved around
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: and stayed calm and kind of stood to the side,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: which they a lot of times forget that. They offer
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: a big tent, but it doesn't carry and it doesn't
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: hold most of us.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I know, I read a quote from you and you said,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I'm irish, I'm Catholic and I'm Democrat until now.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, until now, and I like that.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: And by the way, Mary was the Grand Marshal of
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: the Saint Patty's Day Parade two years ago and I
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: was there with you and it was so much fun.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, we had a blast.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, we did, absolutely so. When you announced that you
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: were leaving the Democrat Party and you became an independent, yes,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: did you get any response from the State Democrat Party?
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, I had hits and missus from people who
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: had been my friends for a long time. But otherwise
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: I think it was just Jane was just like, oh,
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: it's another one. Who can you know someone else that
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: doesn't agree with me, which was really sad because they
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: just pushed people out. And what they did to don
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Kline in secret of you know, the night and decided
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: that they would do that was just so untruthful and
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: so wrong.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: It was so ridiculous what was going on. Don Kline
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: was had health problems. I mean he was being treated
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: for cancer at that time. Protest in front of his
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: house every morning starting at six am. I had the
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: hallway on the third floor out which is the hallway
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: that leads to the Mayor's office, packed with protesters every
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: day demanding that I demand Don Klein file murder charges.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: And we had to say, look, folks, the mayor doesn't
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: tell the Douglas County Attorney what to do and what not, exactly,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: save your time and effort here, it's not gonna work.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: But what they tried to do to him, and then
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: with the state Democrat Party coming out and with the
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: resolution accusing him of perpetuating white supremacy.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: And then it was just an attack, I mean, and
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: then it was though he had disliked every brown or
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: black person ever, which was the biggest lie ever, and
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: for them to perpetrate.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: That lie was so Mary, you left the Democrat Party,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: you became an independent, but you really wanted to put
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: your money where your mouth is, and you went to
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: work for Don Bacon.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: I did go to work for Don Bacon, and Don
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: approached me one day at Barrett's.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: That was a smart move. But it came one.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: Day and we went and had lunch at Barrett's and
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: he said, we've always had a healthy respect for each other.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: I worked for Brad Ashford and Anne Ashford. I just
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: had worked with some great people. I worked with tons
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: of different Democrats, and so Don came to me and said, listen,
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: we have a healthy respect for each other. Would you
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: think about being my finance director? I said, we am
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: gonna have to go up to Resurrection Cemetery and see
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: if my dad's you know, the grass over his grave
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: turns brown. And hey, your dad passed away in twenty nineteen, correct,
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: and if it's still grain, you know, Don, you probably
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: got yourself again.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: He didn't roll over too many times.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: He was stud well, honey, go for it.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: So I started working for Don, and it was kind
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: of odd to be working for this Republican man who, truly,
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: and I can tell you he is the most generous
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: hearted man I've ever worked around, and I've.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Ever been around here.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: I mean, I am blessed every day that I got
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: to work with him and lost some friendships over it,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: and that that was okay too. That's what happens when
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: you change things. But I had a great time doing that.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: So I started working for Don. Turned into a change
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: to a Republican obviously, so I could vote for my boss,
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: and started as a Republican and then kind of got
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: into different circles and met some wonderful, wonderful people, and
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: you know, I have wonderful friends on both sides of
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: the aisle, and it's just I am so blessed every
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: day that I get to do something.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: That I love, yes, absolutely, and that you're good at.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about what happened last Tuesday with the
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: election a week ago from today, and I know you
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: had sent me a text, and I know there was
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: a lot of issues that you are just beating your
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: head with. But let's talk first about the congressional race
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: and Jane Powell. Jane Denise Palell. I've been talking about
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: bringing up about her on the radio quite often, but
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: I've always said John Cavanaugh, I mean, we played for
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: a different team. Our politics are totally different. I like
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: John Cavanaugh. He was one of those those Omaha legislators
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: that would ask me my opinion of things and would
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: ask me how would this affect Omaha and would you
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: be against this or would you be for this? So
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I really appreciated that he's a smart guy. But let's
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: talk about from your point of view from being a
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: former Democrat, what happened with Denise Powell. And first of all,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: who the heck is doing?
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Who is Denise Palell?
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: Well, first of all, she tries to go in and
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: she thinks she's gonna have this. She kind of talked
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: about it first, like was going to be these serendipitous campaigns, Yes,
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: and she was going to do all these wonderful things.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: And then the anger and the dark money and the money. Yeah,
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: and I'm a p od mom and I'm going to
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: do this. And then she's carrying her passport a right
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: south Omaha. And then when she starts attacking John Cavanaugh,
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: who their family is steeped in public service, all of
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: them and some of the boys have married women who
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: are well known, Yeah, right right, and then calling him maga, yeah.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Calling him mega, and then doing all that. Now, here's
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: the deal.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: If you don't know, independent expendences are called I e's
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: and people come in with dark money spend all this
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: money and you supposedly don't know anything about it, and
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: it's all hush hush, secret secret. But the fact is
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: you can say to a newspaper or to a reporter
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: or come in and talk to you. Listen, I think
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: this is wrong. They should not be calling him mega
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: because she knew as well as anyone that he.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Wasn't and she felt like she was benefiting from it.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Mary Barrett is with us today. I'm talking about the election.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Mary Barrett was a lifelong Democrat and left the Democrat Party,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: so I love getting her point of view on things.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: But we're talking about the congressional race. So this congressional race,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: obviously Don Bacon did not run again. It's usually won
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: by two points or less. It's always going to be tight.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Now we have six months of what is going to
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: happen in the next six months between Denise Powell and
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Brinker Harding? Is more of this dark money going to
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: be coming in? And you're right, independent expenditures, the candidate
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: and the candidates campaign cannot know about it. You don't
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: approve what is going on the air, You don't know
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: the money's coming in, where it's coming from. You eventually
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: can find out because it has to be reported, but
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: usually not in time for the election. But now, I mean,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: holy cow, is she going to have to now walk
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: back a lot of these things that she said.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Well, I don't think she's I mean I was in
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: John Kavanaugh's camp and felt very strongly about it, and
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: a lot of the people that were in his camp
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: felt very strong for the Democrat nomination. Okay, the Democratic nomination.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: I was an independent. My brother Tom Barrett ran and
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: so I was obviously made myself a Democrat to vote.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: But John Cavanaugh, their family was so steeped in history,
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Denise Powell. They talked about John being anti Semitic. They
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: talked to everyout, I mean, you name it, and we
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: want to keep the blue dot. And now, if it
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: was me, I would go down there and vote against
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: the blue dot. But that's me in anger and my
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: Irish issues. But I just thought that was absol ridiculous.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: And to hit him about that stuff and the way
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: they portrayed the mailing it, all she would have had
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: to say was listen, this is not coming from our camp,
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: and I disavow it. I think it's wrong. And I
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: wanted to stop what she should have what she should
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: have done. Never said a word, never said a word.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: Let people trash John Cavanaugh. Let people in Omaha who
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: put in millions of dollars into her campaign fifteen billionaires.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Omaha and District two is not for sale, very for sale.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And you know she keeps on what I heard
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: from all of her commercials were Number one, she's pro abortion.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Number two, it's maintaining the blue dot. And you know,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: this one is a little bit confusing to me and
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: everybody else too, because really the blue dots started out
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: with just meaning that there were more Democrat voters than Republicans, Right,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: that's what it means. I mean, when you talk about
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: red states blue states, it's the number of Democrats versus Republican. Suddenly,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: this blue dot has morphed into the winner takes all, yes,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: and it's become symbolic of what a lot of the
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Democrats are running for. Now. It's like a symbol, the
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: blue dot there. Some of my neighbors have blue dot
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: signs in their yards, and I'm thinking, what what are
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: they trying to say?
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: But if they were so worried about the blue dot,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: why would they have not been pushing Lynn Walls? I mean,
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: if she's down there, the blue dots there, you know.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: So but they didn't, they did, never said a word about.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Lynn Walls, right, you know.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: And but you know, but they were on John every day,
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: and they attacked Mikaela, you know, and the public.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Mikhaela is in the legislature, and she's John's sister.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: She's John's sister. She wasn't doing anything in it.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, Mary Barrett's with us. So, Mary, have you made
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: a decision what you're going to do now? In the general?
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Are you going to support Brinker Harding? Are you going
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: to support oh, Brinker Harten all the way?
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: Okay, Brinker is some people say he's kind of mild mannered. Well,
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: I don't want some hot head. No, you know that's
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: not what you want in Congress.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: He's very steady, he's very disciplined, he listens to people,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: he's very common sense, and he's conservative.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: And Brinker has been my friend.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: And we don't agree on everything, but Brinker has been
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: my friend for years and years and he is nothing
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: but a kind, gentle soul. He's a hard working guy
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: and he knows what he's talking about. I mean, the
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: guy is forever studying the policies and what's going on.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: You can talk to him about any subject absolutely.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: And here's something else I want your opinion on, is
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: they use this term with me and some of my
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: listeners here have losed this term with me. As soon
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: as I said, when I'm the mayor of Omaha, I
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: will represent everyone, whether you're a Democrat, Republican, independent, black, white, brown,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: I will support you, I will represent you. People said, ah,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: you're a rhino, because you have to say, if you're
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: a true Republican, you hate every Democrat, you hate every independent. No,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: that's not true. Brinker came out election night said the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: same thing. He said, I will represent all of you,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: no matter what political party. Immediately I look that night
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: at his Facebook. Oh you're a rhino now because you
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: are not a real Republican. Let's get your opinion on that.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: Well, it's absolutely ridiculous. I mean, number one, we can
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: support who we want to support, and if you're in
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: a leadership role, you better be supporting everybody. I mean
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: at Don Bacon's office, at his official office, he worked
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: more on ice problems and people who didn't get a
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: passport a week out because yes, and he listened, and
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: those were a lot of Democrats and Republicans. It didn't
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: matter to him. I mean, he was His office was
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: above approach. They did everything right and just knew what.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: They were doing.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: And I helped a lot of my friends personally called
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: who needed different things and send them over to the
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: office and they always got taken care of. Is Zibido,
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: our district director, was amazing.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: This is going to be a tight race, and so
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: I think everybody's gonna watch it. What's your opinion on
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: this low voter turnout? Though my race was twenty eight percent,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: this was twenty six percent, and it is usually about
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: fifty percent. This low voter turnout is something that really
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: should concern all of us.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: Oh, it should concern everyone.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: There's a woman in DC I was talking to and
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: she said, sixty four percent of women do not vote
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: in primary.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: And I always tell people you have to vote in
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: a primary, you decide who moves forward.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: But these people, they don't think it's important.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: I mean, we were having dinner at a nice place
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: the other night and I said to someone, I hope
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: you voted, saying voted from our brother Tom, you know,
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: kind of one of those She's like, oh my gosh,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: I came all the way down here.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: I just didn't get a chance to get back out.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Well, I heard the same thing, you know, I was out.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: I go to the Hive at one hundred and seventy
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: eighth in Pacific, which is like the heart of West Omaha,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: because I like that store. I love that store. Are
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: my favorite store in Omaha. But anyway, two days after
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: my defeat, I had a guy come up to me
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: and he said, when's the election, and I go two
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: days ago?
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Oh god.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: And another guy came up to me and he said,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: you won, didn't you? And I go, no, I didn't.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: This is people just they pushed the primary aside, and
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: it is so important. Mary Barrett is with us today. Mary,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: I'm going to move to another subject. I just want
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: to ask your opinion in this. Mayor John Ewing, Yes,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: he endorsed many many Democrat candidates before the primary against
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: other candidates. He has endorsed Mark Martinez over the current
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Douglas County sheriff, are In Hanson. He endorsed Crystal Rhodes
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: for Congressional district too, she didn't get through. He endorsed
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: mcare Heyla Danner to be the Douglas County Attorney over
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Don Klein. Already, what do you I mean? I would
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: never endorse somebody before the primary. What do you think
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: about the mayor doing this?
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: No, in a leadership role, and you and I have
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: talked about this, but in a leadership role, you do
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: not start endorsing candidates.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: You just don't.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: You have to say, listen, I've got to see who
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: else is in the party.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Because you're supposed to be the leader of the party.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: And whoever wins, you're gonna work with him. Yep, exactly,
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: So don't burn bridges.
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: But now he's burned a tremendous amount of bridges.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Yes, and now he did.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: The treasure's race, he did the Clerk's race, Yes he did.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: And he did all of those races and endorsed before
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: people had even gotten in.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: It's wrong, wrong, wrong.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you're saying what your opinion is on that.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Mary Barrett is with us. Let's talk about another couple
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: of things that we wanted to bring up there. The
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: unions really go after people don't not realize this, go
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: after candid dates whose yard signs don't have a union
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: bug on it. It's the little union emblem that is tiny,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: but they look to see. But there's an issue with
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: this because usually the union shops charge more, a lot more,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: and and when you are putting out thousands of signs,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: people don't realize these signs are between four and seven
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: dollars for a small one.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Each, the small little signs, and.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: You're putting out thousands and thousands. The bigger ones are
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: even more and there's this big rivalry if you don't
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: have a union bug on there.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I am I am really a labor person.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: I mean I love labor and I have been you know,
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: they've been incredibly helpful to me.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: And I am two with the Arts and Trades Union.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Now the firefighters never did care for me, no, but
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the police did. But still the Arts and Trades Union though,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: the steam or is you know, all of those, the
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: electricians exactly, they have always been very, very friendly to be.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: But I always think that it's interesting that this comes
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: into play about when these big unions get behind a candidate,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: they can give them a lot of money, and they
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: do a lot of ground work, a lot of grassroots work,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: and you really want that union SiGe.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: And my brother Tom had IBW put out a lot
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: of his yard side on election warning, which is great.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: But the fact is you're putting out these signs and
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: where you know, they're seven dollars and eighty four cents
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: apiece and that includes a stake. But if you went
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: over to a non union one but still democratically owned
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: like design for they're three dollars in something you know,
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: and you get a big breaks at an earlier thing.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: So it's really you.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: Have to raise so much more money. Yes, you did,
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: just to pay for yard signs. I mean, think of
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: a thousand yard signs.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: You know, it's just and the yard sign issue drives
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: a candidate crazy. They say that they don't mean that much,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: but I mean I would go into a neighborhood walking
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: door to door and there would be like a lot
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: more signs for my opponent and it would just drive
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: you crazy.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: No, it makes you crazy.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: Bred Ashford used to call me every morning and he'd
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: give me like sign up date and he's like, Okay,
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: the signs down in eighty fourth from Pacific.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, this sign's crooked. This and people rap that.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: People rip them down. Yeah, they deface them, they rip
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: them down. I gotta tell you a funny story. There
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: used to be a we had like twelve bus benches
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: around Omaha as the mayor to call the hotline. And
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: there was a bus bench it had my picture on
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: it at ninetieth and Dodge that almost every Monday morning
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I had to send the parks department out to clean
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: it up because somebody would put fangs and horns on
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: me every weekend they would do that, and finally I
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: was like, just take it down. I'm tired of that.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm tired of the hornes.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: But but you would, I mean you would drive you crazy.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And then like if there was a storm, like what happened,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: would all blow down. You're like, oh, we got I
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: would have signed people that were just assigned to sign.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Oh we had signed people. It's every campaign. I mean,
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: it's insane.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: And I've worked in so many other places throughout the
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: country and some people are like, what is it with
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: Nebraska and your sign.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a it's a thing. Yeah. Now let's move
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: to Tony Vargas. Tony Vargas has won finally. He has
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: run for several offices.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: He's seventeen million dollars worth of donors given him money
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: seven to get a job.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Mary Barrett just said that seventeen million dollars have been
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: donated to Tony Vargas for his multiple races. Now he
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: is going to be your Douglas County treasure Yeah, and
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: you will pay your taxes, your property taxes to Tony Vargas.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: And Tony Vargas was late with this.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: He was late with his taxes.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Isn't this an interesting well number?
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: When he had moved out of the district, he was
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: living in the district, and he had moved out west before.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: And I can say this now because I'm not running
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: anybody with him or against him or anything. But he'd
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: moved to a different district way out west, yes, you know,
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: and it was under a trust. And of course he
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: thinks for some reason, I think he thought people don't
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: look things up. Well, you look up everything, yes, And
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: plus you've got people that are just that's all they.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Do all day long.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: When kid, when you are running for office, you are
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: an open book. I mean, everybody knows everything about you.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: The first time I ran for public office, my campaign
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: manager said, okay, he said, is there any dirt in
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: your past life at all? Anything at all? And I
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: said no, I am as squeaky clean as can be.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: I said, I've never even this is true, I've never
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: even had a speeding ticket in my life. And he said,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: because if you have anything, they'll find it. And I said, okay,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: but I'm telling you the truth. There's nothing. And he said, okay,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: then they'll make things up.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: They will, and then there's no question, you know, there's
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: absolutely no question right And for these people to think
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: that they can run for these offices and these are
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: going to be part time jobs for them, they're not.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: And I think we need to have an oversight on the.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: Treasure's office, the Clerk's office, you know, and watch over
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: what they're doing.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: These are full time.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Jobs, they are and if you want to be good
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: at it, you got to put everything into it. We're
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: going to have to break now for a break, but Mary,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: could you stay on just for the next session for
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: a little bit, because there's three there's three more campaigns
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I wanted you to talk about before we wrap it
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: up today. Mary Barrett is with us today. Mary Barrett
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: from whose family owns the famous Barrett's Cobb and Grail
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Barrett's Barley Karn right there on Levenworth, which my husband
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: swears is the best Philly he's ever had. So we'll
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: be back, and we are back. Mary Barrett is with us. Mary,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: me and Peyton are chair dancing right now. What good
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: music that we have on. Mary's going to stick with
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: us for just a little bit longer because we're having
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: fun talking about these races and do we have a
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: caller that we could take a call together.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: Yes, yes, we can take a call real quick. Phone
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: lines are open four Z zero, two, five, five, eight
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: eleven ten. Tom, you are live on KFAB with Gene Stouth.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: Good morning, Good morning, Gary and Gina. I sure appreciate
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: your show. I'm a resident of Lincoln, but I'm a
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: regular listener, and I sure appreciate your transparency.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: Gene.
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: I learned so much about government from all your conversations.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: But this morning, earlier you were speaking about the dismal
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: voter turnout recently, we experienced that in Lincoln also, and
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: it set me to thinking, is is it wrong to
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: think about some how or other ethically and legitimately incentivizing
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: people to vote.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: I don't know how you can do that except for
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: to give them the time off work and paid time
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: off work.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, because the I'll just give you an example
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: with my race that the first three we did this
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: is I mean, we were even getting the voter list
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: of who has already voted, and we were calling people
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: that those who hadn't voted to say, if you haven't voted,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: you need a ride, We'll come and get you and
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: take you to the poll. And my team would do
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: that they would say, we'll come and get you and
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: take you there. I don't know unless people on election day,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: like Mary said, could truly say if you know, this
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: is election day, and if if you need time off
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: work to vote, we'll give it to you. But this
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: voter turnout of twenty six percent in the primary and
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: in Omaha here Douglas County, that is terrible because you
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: always say every vote counts, your voice counts, But is
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: this really the voice of the people when it's only
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: twenty six percent. No, you know, John Ewing continuously will say,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: you know that voter's overwhelmingly picked me over Jeans dother
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: They wanted, you know, a different mayor, and he did.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: He kicked my butt with thirteen percent. But it was
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: thirteen percent of twenty eight percent. Yeah, I mean that
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: wasn't really to representation of people letting their voices be heard. So,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: I you know, I don't know what the answer is, Mary,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: If you have anything.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: No, I think we need to I mean, we need
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: to study and not spend millions of dollars studying it.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: But I think we need to get a group of
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: concerned people who are not looking just to help themselves out.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: And go in and figure this out.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know if we need more public
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: service announcements from our election commissioners or if we need
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: people that are bipartisan that just say it's so important
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: to vote.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: And you know these groups that we have, Douglas County
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Republican Party and the state Party. You know, if they
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Douglas County Republican Party, in my opinion, if they would
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: spend more of their time and effort and volunteerism of
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: getting people out to vote. If they're going to raise money,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: use it to get people out to vote rather than
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: in endorsing candidates some candidates and not endorsing others leading
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: up to the primary.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: That's yeah, exactly.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: They need to concentrate on get out to vote.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Can they get a hundred volunteers?
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, if they had one hundred volunteers that went
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: out and did super Saturdays, and you'd go out and
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: you'd register people to vote in neighborhood you knew they
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: weren't registered for.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, I just think those things make a difference.
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: And I think public service announces from Danielle Jensen, the.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Newest Douglas's County Election Mission.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, for her to do public service announcements, to
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: say listen, it is so important.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: You know what we did with several of my campaigns
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: is on election day, you know how everybody feels like
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: you got to stand on a street corner holding your
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: signs up. Instead of standing there holding your signs up
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: because it's like, oh, there they are again holding their
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: signs up, we would hold signs up that would say
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: vote today.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: Yep, that's exact.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: And so when they drive down ninetieth and Dodge or
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: you know, one hundred and twentieth and l or some
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: of our biggest intersections, instead of just seeing candidate signs,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: they would see signs that said vote and a lot
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: of times people would say, oh, it's today. And I
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: think that's help too, That's hugely helpful. So if the
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Douglas County Republican Party would do something like that, I
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: think it would be very helpful. Now let's talk a
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: little bit about the Douglas County Republican Party though, because
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: they did endorse some candidates and not the other. They
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: have a constitution which their chair, Nancy Hicks, I guess
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: they would call her a chair. She told me that
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: they have to follow their constitution and so I ask
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: why they endorsed Scott Peterson and not Bob Evanan, who
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: are both Republicans, which I think they should either stay
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: neutral or support both of them. And the answer was, well,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Bob didn't ask. Then I asked in the congressional race
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: why they didn't endorse Brinker Herding and she said, well,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Brinker didn't follow the process. There's a survey that you
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: must sign or fill out and you have to tell
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: who you voted for for the president in the last
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: three elections on their survey before they will consider endorsing you.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: This concerns me.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: It concerns me too. A none of their business.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, you don't ask people who they voted for
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: unless they're a family member or a husband or wife
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: or something. But you know, I just don't understand where
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: they think that that's okay. And the fact is it's
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: incumbent driven. Bob Evanon should have had that endorsement. I
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: understand that Scott Peterson runs half of the DCRP stuff
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: and that's where the votes are coming from, you know,
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: and that's where his members they're going to stick up
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: for him. But the fact is Bob Evanan was the
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: was the incumbent. He's done a great job. He was
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: you know, lined with uh as much as he could do.
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: But at one point his opponent just was raking him
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: over the coals. Yes, and I don't know, and I
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: can't say it's Scott Peterson he exactly did it. But
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: the fact is it happened, and the fact is there
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: were other people's names involved in it. But what they
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: said about Bob Evanon was untrue. He is not anti Semitic.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: For God's sakes, He's Jewish, true, you know. And I
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: just think that that's the wrong way to go. So
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: I think when you it'll take ten years to straighten
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: out that party.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: I really think, you know, for the state party, for
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: the local parties and going into the primary, they should
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: stay either neutral or they should endorse both are all Republicans.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: In my last race, the Douglas Kunty Republican Party supported
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Mike McDonald, who was a and not me, the incumbent,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: and he was a lifetime Democrat, just switched parties and
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: they endorsed him. And when I ask why, they said, well,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: he came to a lot of our meetings and made
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: a lot of friends.
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: Okay, so it's friend driven I guess, so so I
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: guess if you go out and drink with your buddies,
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: and you know, for gosh sakes, Well, Mary Barrett's with
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: us today and she has plenty to say. But let's
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: talk about one other race before we wrap it up,
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: and let's just talk about Justin Wayne.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Justin Wayne is the clerk of the district Court.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: Now, well he's got a new full time job.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Will be Justin Wayne was as an attorney. He was
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: down in a legislature, in the legislature as a state senator.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about that race.
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: Well, he ran against my brother Tom Barrett, who is
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: the greatest guy. He's bright as hell, he's raised a
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: great family. He is just amazing. And you know, Justin
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: when he was in the legislature, tried to do away
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: with this office. I mean, he put up a bill,
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: I believe it was LB four hundred, but he put
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: up a bill that said, let's get rid of this
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: and let's have the governor appoint him. Well, he wanted
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: to be appointed by a Republican governor who was his friend, who.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: He was going to be appointed by.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: Yes, And then it didn't pass, and people said no,
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: you know, it's going to be voted on. So how
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: do you run for something you don't believe in, you
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: don't believe should be something that the county should be
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: able to do this and we should be able to
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: vote here, but you want it to be a favoritism thing.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: And people don't remember these things a lot of times.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: Sometimes we just have to remember this.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: I know, I know. So Anyway, as we have said
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: many times, elections have consequences. And you know, if I
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: always say, if you're not going to vote, please don't
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: sit there complaining, because you got to get out there
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: and vote. You got to work for these candidates. And
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: my I guess my last words would be, can we
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: get back to the old campaigning methods of saying this
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: is what I'm running for, this is why I'm running,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: and this is what I want to accomplish. Here are
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: my priorities, and then you all decide vote intelligently. Let's,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: oh my goodness, do away with this this bashing and
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: this hatred.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: It just is getting bashing hatred. I am so done with.
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's got of stuff. But I mean I've
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: said things today, well I said truthful things, but the
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: things I said today, you know, you've you've got to help,
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: and within parties you have to help, like with the
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: dcrp's got to do this, and then with the State Party.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: I mean they were helping everyone else that.
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: Were the old their old guard and the guys that
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: they really liked enough. You know, we've just got to
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: we've got to do it differently. And I am so
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: blessed to have friends, great friends on both sides. And
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: you know, I just I.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: Think and that's rare. I mean, it really is rare.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: I have friends on both sides too. I always bring
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: up my son, something happened to him that he used
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: to be a republic kid and now now, I mean,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Andrew is a very smart young man. He's thirty eight
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: years old now, but he has taken a turn to
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: the left. I don't hate him. I mean, my god,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: he's my son, and I really like to ask him,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: you know, why do you feel this way? Why do
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: you feel that way? Why do you dislike this person
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: so much? I kind of really like listening to his
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: point of view because he is a very right young man.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: It's just there. Our politics are totally different, I'm telling you.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: And when he starts talking politics, I changed the subject
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: because it's like, we're not going there right now.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: Well, it's so nice to have people that you can
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: talk to about anything. I mean, yes, you know, we
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: used to have people come in the office and then
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: they would say start crabbing about something, and I'd.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: Say, oh, were you a registered voter? You know, in
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: our political office.
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: Were you a registered voter? And they'd say, well, let's
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: know your business. And I said, oh, sugar, yeah, here's
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: the deal.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: When you registered to vote, you come right on back.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go, there you go. Mary Barrett, thank
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: you so much for being with us. What we really
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: appreciate it or appreciate your point of view. And I
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: think it's so interesting from somebody that was a lifelong
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: Republican I read a Democrat, lifelong Democrat, the reasons why
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: you left the party and what you're doing now and
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: what you feel about the conflict within both parties right now,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: and hopefully we could come up with some ideas of
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: how to make it better and get the right people
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: elected in the future.
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: And I think sometimes you know, you the party, you
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: don't leave the party as much as the party leaves you.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Huh's that's true, That's absolutely true. So Thank you so
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: much for being with us today. Barrett's Barley Corn Pub
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: and Grill on Leavenworth, the best phillies in town.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: Karen Barrett and Jack Jeffrey go guaranteed.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: I love going in there. Can I tell you one
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: other quick story. I'll be really really quick. My husband
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: was in the hospital in just a short period of
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: time in December. No big problem, but he was in
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: the hospital and I remember the second day I went
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: in there and he goes, this food is terrible. Go
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: down to Barrett's, get me something to eat right now.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: So had I left the hospital, of course, it's right there.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: The med Center is just grown around Barrett's. But it's
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: still there, and it's gonna stay. Oh yeah, it's gonna
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: They wouldn't dare try to take over that building. Mary Barrett,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: thanks so much for being with us today.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you too. I appreciate you all right.
• 36:57
  Speaker 5: Thank you Mary Barrett for joining us this morning with
• 37:00
  Speaker 5: a spirited interview.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: She's a who isn't she?
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: Oh my goodness, so nice, so incredible.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: But what an interesting story. I mean, like I said,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: lifelong Democrat switch parties in twenty twenty, couldn't stand what
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: was going on anymore, went to work for Don Bacon
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: and she's still very very involved in the in the
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Barrett family is very very involved. Like I said, she's
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: a she's an Irish Catholic, and she was very proud
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: to be a Democrat. And then she said until now, yeah,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: and she's really good. And you know, we were getting
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: we are looking at We brought up the Nebraska Taxpayers
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: for Freedom. I brought this up yesterday with Doug Kagan,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: who I guess is considered their leader, and we were
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: looking at their their bulletin that was being out that
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: was out this morning, and Doug Kagan asked, somebody, what
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: lies is basically Gene stothardt saying about me and Nebraska
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: Taxpayer for Freedom. Absolutely none, Doug Kagan, Absolutely none, Because
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: you did send an email which I have in front
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: of me, with your name signed onto it to Chris Chapelier,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: who ran for Douglas County Board against PJ. Morgan, and
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: you did say, and you signed your name on it.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Apparently the voters in District four had more confidence in
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: our reputation and that a PJ. Morgan than in your
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: pathetic campaign loser in all capital exclamation points, that was
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: from Doug Kagan, So no lies there. And I did
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: say Doug Kagan called me streetcar Gene and he also
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: accused me of being the pariah of the Republican Party,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: which I have in his riding to So no lies
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: about that either. And the conversation between Doug and some
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: other person, this person said, if I were you, Doug,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: I'd literally go down to the Kfab studio and personally
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: go on her program to defend my position. You're not invited, Doug,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: and so no, you're not going to be in here
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: trying to defend a position from calling out and saying
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: unbelievable things to other fellow Republicans. That is what Mary
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Barrett and I were talking about. You know, if we
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: want to come out and get more Conservatives elected, we
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: need to rally behind each other and not be sending
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: these these emails and text messages like Doug Kagan is doing.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: And another thing that isn't a lie that I brought
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: up is their group did support me in the past
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: and then they totally turned against me. And I tried
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: several times and offered to talk and meet with Doug.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: I tried to meet with Nebraska taxpayers for freedom through
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Doug and I was denied the opportunity to do that.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: So that is all very much the truth.
• 39:39
  Speaker 5: On it's bullet point number five on this bulletin, Gene,
• 39:43
  Speaker 5: and it says the proposed downtown Omaha soccer stadium financed similarly, Oh,
• 39:51
  Speaker 5: for goodness like the a board streetcart system, I will
• 39:57
  Speaker 5: say soon, soak taxpayers will soon soak Omaha taxpayers.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, Nebraska taxpayers for freedom the okay,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: get informed for goodness sake, the proposed downtown soccer stadium
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: is being financed completely differently than how the streetcar is
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: being financed, not even close. And know the Omaha taxpayers
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: are not going to be soaked for the streetcar and
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: they're not going to be soaked for the soccer stadium either,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: And so they are being encouraged to take action and
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: they don't have the facts, So please educate yourself. This
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: is Gene Stothard and I am so happy that you
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: have spent this hour with us today. We'd love for
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: you to join us again tomorrow. And this is eleven
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: ten kfab