Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Big Brinker and Powell Conversation

Transcript

Big Brinker and Powell Conversation · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stothert. Peyton Heilach, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is also present and accounted for.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Peyton. Here.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: He's already over there moving buttons around this morning. But
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: thank you all for being with us today. We want
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to hear from you. We want to get your feedback.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: We want to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. Anything goes.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: We won't back away from anything.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: City, state, state.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: National and the world and we will have plenty of
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: good guests had a great guest yesterday with patrick dempsey
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: who is the president of the omaha police officers association
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: i thought he was running and hiding from me but
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: he finally agreed to come in the studio so pat
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and i get along very well and of course though
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: you're always going to hear plenty of opinions from me
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and it is your chance though on this show to
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: speak up and to sound off so please send your
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: emails to comment at kfab.com. You can call us at 402-558-1110,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: or you can leave us a recorded message on the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: talkback mic, and we will probably play it on the air,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: unless it has words in it that we can't say
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: on the radio. But we are very happy that you
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: are with us today. And we were busy all day
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: yesterday with Pat Dempsey. We didn't get a chance to
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: take too many calls. But I want to talk today
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a little bit, a lot, matter of fact, about this
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: new commercial that CD2 candidate Denise Powell just has had
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: up for just a couple days now. And what I
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: want to start out with is to play the video,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the audio, and then we're.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Going to talk about this.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Because let me tell you, this new one has rubbed
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: me the wrong way more than the one before when
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: she was a PO'd mom. And then it turned out
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the next one was, hi, I'm a mom and a
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: small business owner. So she changed her whole approach. This
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: one is an attack on Brinker. And let's just start
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: out and play the audio, Peyton, and then we're going
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to talk about it.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: The last thing we need is another career politician bidding
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: for Donald Trump's approval, desperate.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: For his attention and power.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Brinker Harding is all in on MAGA, supporting whatever Trump wants.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Cutting Medicaid, raising health insurance premiums, the tariffs, the war
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: in Iran.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Brinker Harding supports Trump on all of it.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: I'm Denise Powell, and I approve this message because I'm
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: a mom.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Who knows we can't afford more of this. Okay, there
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: it is. You heard it. I've heard it several times.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Okay, this one really got to me because, number one,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: it is all lies. I'm telling you, you've got to
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: watch what these candidates are saying, first of all. Let's
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: dissect this a little, shall we? A career politician. This
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: one got me from the very beginning. The only elected
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: office Brinker has ever had is two terms on the
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: city council, first elected in 2017. So this is his
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: ninth year. And you want to consider that a career politician?
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: I certainly do not. And then she goes on to
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: say he is supporting whatever Trump wants. No, that is
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: not true. And then she says, cutting Medicaid, tariffs, health
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: insurance and premium increase, the war in Iran. Brinker Harding
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: is supportive of all of it, all of it. Now,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: this is just not true at all. Number one, when
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: did Brinker Harding ever say that he was supportive of
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: the war in Iran? of health insurance premiums going up,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: of the tariffs, and of cutting Medicaid. When did he
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: ever say that? He never did. Number two, when you
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: talk about cutting Medicaid, all that they are talking about
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: is giving Medicaid to illegals. And I want to hear,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: do you all support giving government-paid, taxpayer-funded Medicaid benefits to
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: illegals or stopping Medicaid payments to people that make too
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: much money to qualify for it? That's what we are
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: talking about. That's what's been talked about. If we are
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: going to get control of the budget and control of
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: what these benefits we're giving out with the federal government,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: should we.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Be giving Medicaid benefits?
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Benefits to illegal aliens, should we be giving Medicaid benefits
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: to people that make too much money? That's what they're
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: talking about. They are not talking about cutting Medicaid to
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: people that qualify and need it. The tariffs, when did
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Brinker ever say a real position on what he feels
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: about tariffs?
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Denise is making that up.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Increasing health insurance premiums, Brinker has never said that he
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: wants to increase health insurance premiums. And I do believe
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: the last I read about health insurance premiums is that
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: they went up four times minimum since Obamacare. That's a
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: big reason why health insurance premiums are going up. And
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: then the war in Iran. I mean we felt like–
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: a lot of people felt like it was– it's so
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: important to make sure that Iran did not have nuclear weapons.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I think everybody now would like to see this conflict
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: end and end as soon as they can. But he
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: never said he is for war. And then she goes
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: on to say Brinker is in on all of it.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Not true at all. These are the commercials that just
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: get to me. Because if you look at Brinker's newest commercial,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: do we have that? Let's play that and let's hear
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: what Brinker says. Is he attacking Denise Powell? Is he
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: accusing her of false things? Let's hear Brinker's.
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: Hi, I'm Brinker Harding.
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: Here in Omaha, we know a thing or two about
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: the stock market, some more than others. But we do
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: it without insider information. In Congress, they trade on secrets
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: you'll never know. They get rich, we barely get by.
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: Here's my pledge. I will fight to ban stock trading
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: in Congress, pass term limits, and push jail time for
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: insider trading. It's called public service, not self-service. They should
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: start acting that way. I'm Brinker Harding, and I approve
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: this message.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: OK, Brinker Harding is saying what he's going to do.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: He's not attacking Denise. He's not telling lies about her.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: He's not saying here's what I want to do. I'm
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Brinker Harding and I'm a career politician and I want
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: to cut Medicaid for those that deserve it.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: I love tariffs.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: I want to increase health insurance premiums and I like
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the war in Iran.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: No, he's not saying that at all.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: He's saying exactly what his positions are, what his priorities
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: are and what he is going to do for us.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: If he is elected for CD2 for Congress, that's what
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: he is saying. And then going back to Denise's, though,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: after she makes all these false statements about Brinker Harding
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: and all the people in the audience are holding up
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Brinker Harding MAGA. This is supposed to really get to you.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Then she says, I'm a mom. And I believe this
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: is the one where she also says, and I've been
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: on the PTA. Okay, I'm a mom. I've been on
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: the PTA. But I don't think I know. I have
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: never used it in a campaign commercial. Maybe for the
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: school board position, but for Congress to say because I'm
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: a mom and I've been on the PTA, I'm the
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: one that you should elect. And then she will go
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: on to end it by saying Brinker answers to Trump.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I will answer to you. That is a false statement too.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Brinker Harding is a very independent thinker. When I was
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: mayor of the city of Omaha and he was one
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: of three republicans on the Omaha City Council, he wasn't
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: a yes person to me at all. In fact, he
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: voted against some of the things that I recommended because
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: he felt strongly differently about it. And he would explain
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: his position in public like an elected official should. So
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: to say that Brinker is just going to fall into
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: line and be a yes man to Donald Trump for
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: everything is just it's a scare tactic. It's fear mongering.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: And it's making statements that are false. I'll say again,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: watch these. You make up your own mind, folks. You
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: let me know what you feel about these commercials. You
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: can obviously tell who I favor in this race just
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: because I know Brinker Harding very well. I've worked with
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: him for the last eight years. I know what he
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: stands for. And let me tell you what he stands for.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: He will say this over and over. He stands for
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: limited government, smaller government. He stands for free market economy,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: free enterprise. He stands for a strong national defense. He
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: prioritizes strong national defense. He believes in traditional values, pro-life,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: family values, and he believes in personal responsibility, self-reliance, Less
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: government programs. That's what Brinker Harding stands for.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: That's it. That's it.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: And that are the tenets of the GOP, the old GOP,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: the Ronald Reagan GOP. These are the things that he
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: truly stands for and that he's going to stick up for.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: But what he has said many, many times before– and
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: he says it on his commercials and his ads, is
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: that he, and I did this too, and I.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Got criticized for it, he will represent everyone.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Whether you're Democrat, Republican, or Independent, whether you're a male
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: or a female, whether, you know, no matter who you
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: are in the district that he is going to represent,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Congressional District 2, If he wins, he will represent everybody. Now,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: some of the far, far right will criticize him and say, nope, nope, nope.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: You should not represent Democrats or independents. but you have to.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: If you are a fair, a good elected official, you
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: represent everybody. You keep an open mind. You keep to
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: your principles, which I just mentioned, all of them. You
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: keep to your principles and And then you listen to
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: everybody and you explain why you are taking the position
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: that you want. A way to win a race is
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: not to go out there and lie about your opponent.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: And I've had it happen to me many times. Why
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: do people do it? Because it works.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: They think it works. It does work.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: People hear these things and they will– people that have TDS,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: people that think that anything Donald Trump is negative, that's
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: why she's pushing this so much, that he's all in
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: on MAGA, that anything Donald Trump wants, he will do.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: That is not who Brinker Harding is. I guess my
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: point here is you've heard these, I've heard these, but
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: understand that coming out with a commercial and lying about
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: your opponent is not the way to get elected. I
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: would love to have Denise Powell on this show and
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: have her explain these things. We have sent emails to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: her campaign. I even posted something on her Facebook and said,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: would you come on and I will be fair and
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: I will be respectful and let you talk about all
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: of these things.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Nothing.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: We have heard nothing back at all. But they sure
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: hide behind these commercials accusing– their opponents of doing all
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: sorts of things that are just not part of their
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: campaign at all.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: What do you think about this?
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: All you listeners out there, what do you think about
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the commercials that are on now? What do you think
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: about the strategy that they are using, that Denise.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Powell is using? And, you know, again, I'm a mom.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: I was on the PTA.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Just saying you should vote for me for Congress because
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: I'm a mom and I'm on the PTA. I would
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: never say vote for me for mayor or city council
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: or anything because of that. But if that's the reason
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: to vote for her, I think that's a pretty weak reason.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: So let's hear what you have to say about these commercials.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: 402-558-1110, comment at kfab.com or the iHeartRadio talkback mic. Phone
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: lines are wide open. Your opinion is free and flowing.
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: Give us what you got. Jean, in the meantime, I
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: am going to ask you a question here until we
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: get some phone calls in. And I got this one
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: the other day and we hadn't had the chance to
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: get to it. And it's a question about window tinting
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: on cars.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: What are the rules.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: Regarding how much tinting you can have? It goes on
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: to tell a story about I've seen some cars with
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: crazy dark windows. I can't see their eyes. Maybe they
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: even have a hard time seeing out of their own car.
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: Yes, yes, yes.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: This is very interesting.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Because I've had that question asked a lot because you
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: see a lot of these cars going around with the
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: music playing and the blacked-out windows. Mayor Ewing's new big
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: SUV he got when he became mayor has pretty blacked-out
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: windows in his SUV, which I didn't in my old
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Ford that I was driving around. But anyway, you know what?
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: That is a state law. It's not just an Omaha law.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: What level of window tinting is allowed on cars in– Omaha,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Nebraska is governed by Nebraska state law. And it measures,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: it gets a little complicated because it measures the allowable tint.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: That is used.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: They call it VLT, if I recall, visible light transmission.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: And it's the percentage of light that passes through the
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: film and the glass.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: And you could look it up, you know, on the state.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I think I could even look it up real quick
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: and tell you what the statute might be 60-6.259, and
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: it does go through and it tells specifically what sedans
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: and passenger cars allow, what SUVs, vans, and trucks allow,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: what is allowed on the windshield, what is allowed on
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: the front side windows and the back side windows and
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the rear windows. And so it's a percentage of that
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: VLT or the visible light transmission. And so basically, if
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: I recall, it's the rear window is like 20%. The
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: backside window is 20%. The front side worth 35%. And
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: then the windshield has to be clear except there can
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: be a non-reflective tint that is allowed that the manufacturer
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: puts in along the top of your front windshield.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: So those are all in state statutes.
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: I've seen some things. This is a little bit more
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: street lingo about it, but people will say, oh, yeah,
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: I have 5% tint. Obviously, that would be illegal, but
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: that's the darkest that you could go to a shop
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: and get your tint done. Oh, I got 5% all around. Well, obviously,
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: that's not allowed, but thank you for the email, Joel,
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: on that one.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Very good question.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: By the way, the colors are restricted by state law too.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: So I have seen some cars with red, amber, yellow colors.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Those are explicitly prohibited on windshields. So a lot of
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: these crazy colors that you see too are prohibited. Now,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: people are saying, well, who's going to enforce this? Once again,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: if the Omaha Police Department sees a guy or a
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: gal driving around and their window tint is too dark,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: they can't stop them and they can't cite them for
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: that because it is a violation of not only Omaha
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: but a violation.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Of state law.
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: I also have heard things on an anecdote, right? There's
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: no real things I could pull up to prove this,
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: but I feel like a lot of times somebody will
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: be pulled over and a police officer or a deputy
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: will come up to the car and be like, okay,
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: this is actually some really, really dark tint as well.
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: And I'll get you on that too. But I got
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: a talk back here in regards to Denise Powell on
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: the iHeartRadio talk back mic.
• 16:01
  Speaker 7: At one point, Denise Powell had an ad where she
• 16:05
  Speaker 7: said she was on a school board. That ran for
• 16:08
  Speaker 7: maybe a week, and then it changed to being a
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: PTA member. There's a big difference there.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, there's a big difference because a school board is
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: typically the Board of Education is always an elected position,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: and she has not held an elected position. I think
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: she was using a lot of those terms very loosely, too,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: because when you listen to her first commercials, She would
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: say she has been the leader in Omaha for years,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: and I never heard of her.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: And the leader of what?
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: And then she would go on to say of getting
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Republicans and Democrats together. I think she still has one
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: commercial running when somebody, obviously it was an actor, that said, Denise,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I like how you really work to get Democrats and
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Republicans together. I have no evidence or no incidences at
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: all that she's ever gotten Democrats and Republicans together.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: That's the trouble.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: You can say whatever you darn well please and you
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: hope somebody believes it. But why don't you come on
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: out and be– Denise, come on radio. Let us ask
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: you these questions. There will be debates. There will be
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: a debate coming up. And I hope all those questions
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: are asked during the debate in a public forum like
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: the governor and– not the governor but Senator Ricketts and
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Dan Osborne did. on Grand Island on Tuesday. But that's
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: what we need to hear. We need to hear her
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: answer these questions. How indeed have you got Republicans and
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Democrats together, worked on both sides of the aisle?
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: In what capacity? On the PTA? I mean, I just,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: I don't get it.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: And so I don't get that she has been this leader,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: this self-appointed leader in her mind, I guess, in Omaha
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: for years. I know she ran a non-profit. that the
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: goal was to get women elected to office. But I
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: always thought that was strange when somebody that has never
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: been elected to office was running a nonprofit to try
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: to teach women how to get elected to office. So
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: strange right there. But pay attention to what we are hearing.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Pay attention to these commercials and ask the questions that
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: you think you want the answers for from these candidates.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: And I think that's where the rubber meets the road.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: That's where we need to know what is really going
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: on and what these folks stand for. And when you
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: hear a negative commercial, just step back and think, I
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: wonder what portion of this is true and what is accurate.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: We want to hear what you all are going to
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: do for us if you are elected into that office.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: We want to hear you telling us why we should
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: vote for you. We do not want to hear you
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: telling us why we shouldn't vote for your opponent.
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: 10.32. Gene Stothert is the host of the show. I'm
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: Peyton Highlock. Gene, you asked to hear some comments, and
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: you're getting them today.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Good, good, good.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: So let's dish some out. I know there's some things
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: that you want to get into, but let's hit the
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: phones real quick.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: This is Bill. Bill, you are live with Gene Stothert
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: here on KFAB.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 19:07
  Speaker 8: Yes, thank you.
• 19:08
  Speaker 9: Hey, good morning. I'm so excited, actually, that you're talking
• 19:12
  Speaker 9: about this subject, particularly going back to the negative ads
• 19:15
  Speaker 9: with Powell and So I've been lucky enough to cover
• 19:20
  Speaker 9: a lot of election nights with local media. And years ago,
• 19:25
  Speaker 9: I was heartbroken. I was doing a live shot with
• 19:29
  Speaker 9: Bob Kerry. But before we went live, we had a
• 19:32
  Speaker 9: rare moment, just me and him, to talk. And I said,
• 19:36
  Speaker 9: you know, what is with all these negative ads? And
• 19:38
  Speaker 9: of course, this was, you know, a few years ago.
• 19:41
  Speaker 9: And I said, wouldn't it just hit the heart of
• 19:45
  Speaker 9: Nebraska and the people if you just were an honest, authentic...
• 19:49
  Speaker 9: candidate who said, I'm not going negative. I'm going to
• 19:53
  Speaker 9: keep positive, and my authenticity will show through.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: And he said, no.
• 19:58
  Speaker 9: He goes, negative ads work. We spend a lot of
• 20:02
  Speaker 9: money on negative ads because they work, and that would
• 20:05
  Speaker 9: be a horrible strategy. And I just thought, oh, We
• 20:08
  Speaker 9: did the live shot, and that was it. But it
• 20:10
  Speaker 9: just stuck with me, because even today, I think, if
• 20:14
  Speaker 9: you're authentic, and yes, it's going to take a lot
• 20:16
  Speaker 9: of money, but if you just project that authenticity of, no,
• 20:21
  Speaker 9: this negative stuff isn't going to work. Like what you
• 20:24
  Speaker 9: said earlier, Brinker's, this is what I'm going to do.
• 20:27
  Speaker 9: I'm not going to lie about the other candidate, but
• 20:29
  Speaker 9: it's where we are. And I just don't like it, Gene.
• 20:34
  Speaker 9: But it's been that way for a long time, and
• 20:37
  Speaker 9: I don't see it changing.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: You are so right because I was going to say
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: that and I've said it before. People do negative campaigning
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: because it works, but here's my thought about it. If, say,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: you have a voting record and you want to attack
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: somebody or criticize them on your actual voting record, you
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: criticize them on the truth, I really don't have a
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: big problem with that. It's if you're going to make
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: things up and lie about your opponent and And then
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: put it out there. I'm going to give an example
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: of myself again because the last time I ran in
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: the primary, Mike McDonald was all over negative ads towards me.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I didn't do one negative ad towards him. Not one,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: but there were one after another, after another. In fact,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: it was funny the day that he came out with
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: a new one and it said, Jean Stothert has gone
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: from office so much they call her the Zoom mayor.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: And I walk in my office and my staff is
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: in there going, why did he say that?
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: You don't even know how to use Zoom. And I said,
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: that's true. I didn't.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Nobody called me the Zoom mayor. I mean, he just
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: kept on making things up and making things up. And
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: we didn't do it back to him. You know, he
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: had a voting record. I had I had a voting
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: record when I was on the city council and on
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: the school board. But they also could come after me
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: for things that I did in supported streetcar, for example.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: That's fine. That's fair game. You can do that.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: But don't be making things up and lying to people
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: and then hoping it sticks. And that's why this– with
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Denise's newest one about he is all in.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Anything Trump wants, he'll do.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: But I'm a mom and a PTA member, and so
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be an independent thinker.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: I just– I don't get it. I really don't get it.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: And frankly, Brinker came up against Trump with what he
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: wanted to do on beef. I mean just recently and
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the tariffs on beef and importing the beef in to
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the United States. And he said he did not support that.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: So no, he is not a yes man at all
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: and accusing him of that is very, very unfair.
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: A few emails real quick. We'll jump back to the
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: phone lines. Dale sent an email that says, according to
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: the Nebraska Examiner report published August 11th, 2026, just a
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: few weeks ago, Democratic nominee Denise Powell and Republican nominee
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: Brinker Harding have agreed to three debates, although specific dates,
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: locations and formats were still being finalized at the time.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: It goes on to say, I believe we're still waiting
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: for details. Have you heard anything about what's holding these up?
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: No, you know, I did talk to Brinker about that
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: just last weekend and I asked him, I said, you know,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: my recommendation would be to have as many debates and
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: forums as you possibly could have because I think that's, again,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: where the rubber meets the road. He did say that
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: there was going to be three and he did say
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: that they have come up with the date for the
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: first one. But they have not announced it yet. And
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: so I'll let the campaigns announce those. But let me
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: tell you, I'll be there because I want to hear
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: what they have to say. And hopefully they will take– now,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: most of the debates, they won't take questions from the audience.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Most of them won't. But I don't know what the
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: format for these will.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Be, too.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: You know, most of the ones that I did, well, no,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: I take it back. Some of them I did had
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: audience questions that they took, and some did not. So
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: it just depends on the format.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: The Dan Osborne-Pete Ricketts debate, I believe that was a
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: panel of questions that they brought.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, and it was from local media. It was from
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: the Examiner. It was from the World Herald. And they
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: had pre-written questions that they asked both candidates, and both
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: candidates were allowed to answer.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: And then they were allowed a rebuttal, too.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: And so it was set up at just a real
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: formal type of debate at the state fair, and that's
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: how it's usually set up.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: And I don't blame them for that. I would enjoy
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: seeing– for all political candidates in any office, I do
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: think getting– excuse me, getting questions from the audience on
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: something that you may not have a group of people
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: in your office brainstorming for the proper response– Let's get
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: a question that kind of catches you off guard and
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: let's see how you respond. I think that can be
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: very genuine.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: See how you are on your feet and see how
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: honest you can be then. But let me tell you,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: that debate though, the one thing I noticed about it
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: with the governor and with Dan Osborne last Tuesday in
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Grand Island was that there was decorum within the audience.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: There was an audience and there was decorum.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: I have been in debates– again, the last time I
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: ran before the primary– I was in one at the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Press Club and Mary Ewing was there and one of
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the other candidates.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: I'm blanking on his name right now.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: But Mike McDonald was there and Mike McDonald– I mean
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: his whole thing in the debate was to attack Gene Stothert.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Mike McDonald should have been concerned with John Ewing at
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the time. Because Gene Stother was going to get through
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the primary, but he ignored John Ewing the whole time.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: But he had people in the audience that when I
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: would answer would go, boo, and make noise and laugh
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and snicker. That was all planned. And, you know, do
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: away with that kind of crap, for gosh sakes. If
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the audience is there, sit there and listen. If you
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: are allowed to ask a question, do it respectfully and fairly.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: If you're asked to write a question, make them a
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: good question. I think the audience should participate, but, you know,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: goodness sakes, do it with respect.
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: 61 days until the midterm election on November 3rd. Going
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: back to the phone lines for Don, 402-558-1110. Don, you
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: are live with Gene Sothert.
• 26:29
  Speaker 8: Thank you for.
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: Taking my call.
• 26:32
  Speaker 8: A subject that's near and dear to my heart because
• 26:34
  Speaker 8: I'm old is Social Security. And Because of negative ads,
• 26:39
  Speaker 8: every election cycle we go through, the Democrats tend to
• 26:44
  Speaker 8: attack the Republican candidate and say, well, they want to
• 26:47
  Speaker 8: take away Social Security. They want to take it away.
• 26:49
  Speaker 8: They want to cut it down and everything. And when
• 26:52
  Speaker 8: the Republicans, what they're trying to do is they're trying
• 26:54
  Speaker 8: to preserve it and make, you know, they look at
• 26:57
  Speaker 8: the numbers. They're like, hey, adjustments need to be made.
• 27:00
  Speaker 8: But because of all these negative ads for the last
• 27:02
  Speaker 8: several decades, Now we have a crisis. I'm on Social Security,
• 27:06
  Speaker 8: and within six years they're saying it's going to have
• 27:08
  Speaker 8: to be trimmed back substantially, probably sooner than that, because
• 27:12
  Speaker 8: they never have the numbers quite right. And that's due
• 27:15
  Speaker 8: in large part to the Democrats running these ads, bashing
• 27:20
  Speaker 8: Republicans every time they try to just preserve Social Security.
• 27:24
  Speaker 8: And Denise Powell is doing this with other things. Dan
• 27:27
  Speaker 8: Osborne is doing it with other things. But if they
• 27:31
  Speaker 8: are elected... They're just going to be part of the
• 27:33
  Speaker 8: problem that it's going to just we're just going to
• 27:36
  Speaker 8: hit a wall at some point. And so that's my point.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: And your point's well taken. And I'm on I'm on
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Social Security, too, Don. You know, so I know what
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: you're talking about and I watch what is going on
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: about it. But it's it's very similar to what I
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: brought up before about Medicaid. You know, the they keep
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: on accusing the Democrats of all Republicans wanting to cut
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Medicaid taxes. They are wanting to cut Medicaid to illegal aliens,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: giving taxpayer benefits to illegal aliens. And they're wanting to
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: cut and find out if we are giving Medicaid benefits
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: to people that make too much money to even qualify,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: which we are, which is what is drying up the system.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: So what they are trying to do is make sure
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Social Security is being run fairly and it's being awarded
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: and given the appropriate amount to the appropriate people that
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: qualify for it. As you know and I know that
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: when you first apply for these benefits– You know, it's
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: kind of scary because there's a lot of paperwork you
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: have to do. But we want it now that we're
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: on Social Security because I was– I've been– was 65
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: quite a few years ago, that we depend on it.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: I mean that's a lot of the annual income. My
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: husband is on Social Security. I'm on Social Security now,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: so I know exactly what you mean. But tell us
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: the truth.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: I mean tell us why.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Do you– does Brinker Harding want to cut Social Security benefits?
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: I would be really– challenged to think that he would
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: ever say, heck yeah, that's what I'm running for. No,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: they're wanting, to your point, to preserve it and make
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: sure it is there for us and for our kids
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: and for generations to come.
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: Earlier this morning on Nebraska's Morning News, Jim Rose and
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: his iconic Rosie DiGinosi was talking about the $ 40 trillion
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: of United States national debt. And in that Rosie DiGinosi,
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: he brought up Social Security. And I think that is
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: something that is worth listening to on the back of
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: this conversation. That's at kfab.com. The Rosie Did You Nosey,
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: where you can also find the KFAB Comet Line podcasts
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: for every single day.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: And that was very good. The Rosie Did You Nosey
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: was very, very good.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Saying that the United States has $ 40 trillion in debt
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: is hard for me to even fathom. You can't hardly
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: figure out that much in debt.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: What does that mean?
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Because the city government– tremendously much smaller scale. We have
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: to be balanced at the beginning of the year and
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: balanced at the end of the year. We can't go
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: into a negative. I can't imagine dealing with a $ 40
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: trillion debt. I can't imagine it. But this should be
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: a concern to every single American. And all of the
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: programs that we have out there that are government funded,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: we need to make sure that when we elect people,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: we say, what are you going to do to make
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: sure these programs are run correctly, fairly, and that these
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: programs are going to remain for us and for our
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: children and for generations to come because a lot of
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: people– there's a lot of people that are retired out
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: there that depend only on Social Security income.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: That's all they depend on.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: And the thought of that drying up and going away
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: is pretty scary for a lot of people because, I mean,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: you might be 68 years old and on Social Security,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: and you may last 20, 25 years more.
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: Yes, you're very right. The United States– pays an estimated
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: $ 125 million per hour in gross interest to the national debt.
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: That's almost $ 3 billion per day in interest. You can't
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: even– It doesn't even make sense. It doesn't even make sense.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: It doesn't make sense at all.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: But these things are the things that we should be
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: demanding get straightened out and quit talking about stuff that
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: is just not true.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: That's what gets me.
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: 402-558-1110. Don, number two, you are now live with Gene
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: Stothert here on KFAB.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 31:40
  Speaker 9: Good morning.
• 31:41
  Speaker 6: Pleasure to talk to you. I have a question just
• 31:44
  Speaker 6: out of being naive, I guess. It seems like they
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: only tax the first $ 184, 000 income for Social Security. Why
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: is that and why can't they go beyond that? I
• 31:56
  Speaker 6: don't know if that would help or be harmful. I'm
• 31:58
  Speaker 6: not sure the ramifications of that.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: And, you know, I'm not sure on that one either.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: That one is what– I would– I want to answer it,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: but I'm afraid I'm not going to answer it correctly.
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: You don't talk about this in the Omaha mayor's office?
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: Not too often, but it's a concern.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: And so, you know, the governor has talked about that also.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Let's dig into that a little further because I'm afraid
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: I'm going to say something that's not accurate on that one.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: That's not my area of expertise there.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: But again, you know, the governor has talked a lot
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: about less taxes on Social Security, too. And so let's
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: do a little research on that too and get back
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: with you on that because it means a lot to me. Many,
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: many Americans are on Social Security right now.
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: This one is an email from Tom, comment at KFAB.com,
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: in regards to Denise Powell. She worked with both sides.
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: Didn't you know there was two parties in the PTA?
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: I did not know that.
• 33:00
  Speaker 8: No.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess she did work with both sides in
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: the PTA because who knows who's a Democrat or Republican
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: in the PTA. But one thing I wanted to say
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: too since we're talking about social security a little bit here,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: Omaha Fire, Omaha Police, you've heard them say many times, well,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: I don't get social security, but they are on a
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: pension system. So you got to remember, if they don't
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: get Social Security, they're not putting money into Social Security
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: like most of us are. Most of us, we put
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: money in Social Security. A lot of times, your employer
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: will match it. They are on a pension system, so
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: they put money into the pension, and then the city
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: puts money into the pension. And their pension benefits are really,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: really very, very good. But just to give you a
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: little bit more information as far as pensions go, with
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: the city of Omaha, with the fire and police, in 2026,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: because I remember this, I did this budget that we're
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: on now, the city of Omaha, for the police alone,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: puts in $ 41 million a year into their pension.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: And for fire.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: the city puts in $ 27 million a year into their pension.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: So that's $ 68 million that the city of Omaha puts
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: in fire and police pension every year. They put in
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: dollars too, but if we go back to police, the
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: city puts in $ 41 million a year, and they put
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: in $ 20 million a year. Now, you're going to say, well,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: that's not equal. But when we were trying to do
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: pension reform to stabilize the underfunded pension system in the
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: city of Omaha, they agreed to take less pension benefits,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: and that comes out to real money. And so that
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: has a real value to it. For instance, when we
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: started really working on pension reform with the Omaha Police Department,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: they could retire after 25 years of service at age
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: 45 with full pension benefits. They, through negotiations, agreed to
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: work till they're 50 and they max out at the
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: age pension benefits after 38 years of service. The fire department,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: instead of, again, it was age 45 after 25 years
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: of experience, now they're at age 55 after 30 years.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: So basically, they're working longer and they're taking less out.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: And so that has a real value to it at
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: stabilizing the underfunded pension liability. So it seems off what
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: the city puts in and the employee puts in, but
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: because that they've agreed to work longer and will work
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: at a longer age, and after so many more years
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: of service, that has a real value to it. So
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: that's the difference between The fire and police in Omaha
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: not getting Social Security but on a pension system.
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: Just really quick, Jean. Is there a difference in the
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: number of individuals working too?
• 36:00
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: I would assume that there's more police officers. So that
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: could be a difference in numbers too.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: That's where the difference is.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: The difference is like with police, again, the city puts
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: in 41 million, fire 27 million. But there's a lot
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: more police than there are fire.
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: And that makes– I mean your explanation was great. But
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: then also very simply, more police officers means more money
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: to their pension because there's more people. Absolutely.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: But that fire police pension system is combined. So it
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: is a fire police pension system. So the money is
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: really combined. But you track what each basically the fire
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: or the police put in there. But that's the real difference.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: And city employees are offered pensions too. A lot of
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: city employees are. But, of course, it's at a much
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: lower rate than this is. So yesterday we had Pat
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Dempsey on. We talked a little bit, and as we
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: end out the show, I want to talk a little
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: bit more about what's going on in the old market
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: because we have a Labor Day weekend coming up now.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Monday is a holiday.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: Some people said– I think somebody called in and said,
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: what would I do differently? And I think Pat and
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: I covered it quite well yesterday. But first of all,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: we have a police captain down assigned to basically the
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: old market. It's Paul Hanson, Captain Hanson. And he already
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: announced on Monday that OPD was going to be putting
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: more officers and detectives patrolling the old market on the
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: Labor Day weekend. We have also– the city of Omaha
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: has asked assistance from the Douglas County Sheriff, that occupying
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: army that we love.
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: With Sheriff Hansen.
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: Yay.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: I'm glad they're going to be helping out as they
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: always do. And also the Nebraska State Patrol troopers. The
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: police are also using mobile security cameras. They call it ROC, R-O-C,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: Real Time Operation Center, where they are monitoring videos so
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: that they can capture incidents on videos. These are all
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: things that Captain Hansen has already talked about. They're going
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: to talk about increasing the lighting down there too. But
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: the other thing is that I think the business owners
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: down there, especially those serving alcohol, really need to look
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: in and question any type of aggressive behavior down there,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: whether if they have any idea that people are bringing
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: weapons in there.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: If they are.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: Following the proper liquor laws in the state of Nebraska,
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: those would result in tavern reports or citations. They need
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: to be working with the city law committee on that.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: And so, you know, there's a lot that they need
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: to do. I did ask, again, Billy Colburn is the
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: president of the Old Market Business Association. He declined to
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: be on the show. He did tell me that he
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: will continue to work with Mayor Ewing. So I don't
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: know whether he thought I was trying to step on
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: somebody's toes or not, but we want him to be
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: on the radio so he could talk to a lot
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: of people about his feeling about the old market. We're
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: not trying to step on Mayor Ewing's toes at all.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: But we're trying to find out from their point of view,
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: from the businesses down there, how they feel about it. Plus,
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: there's also the residents. We can't forget that there's more
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: and more people that are living down there. And, you know,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: they expect maintenance. They expect cleanliness. They expect visibility. They expect,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: you know, that this neighborhood should really– be safe to
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: those who come and visit it and for those who
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: live down there. So there's a lot that is going
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: on to make that area safer.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: But keep in mind.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: this is a particular area where people are loitering. It's
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: after the business is closed.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: 2 a.m. is when the bars close.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: It's at 13th and Howard, and they are going to
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: really focus on that area in there, and hopefully they
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: won't spread to a different area. We talked about it yesterday, though,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: also with Patrick Dempsey with OPOA, that a curfew is
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: not the idea. It would get challenged in court. Typically,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: to not get challenged in court, it would have to
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: be a citywide curfew.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: You don't want to do that.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: To do a curfew just on juveniles, very hard to do,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: and you need more police to monitor that and check IDs.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: A curfew is.
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: Not the answer. No curfews, whether it's adults or a minor.
• 40:10
  Speaker 4: That's the message I'm getting.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: That's exactly my feeling about it. And I think any
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: other type of curfew would be challenged in court and
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: we would lose it too. And so it should only
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: be used within a state of emergency. I used it
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: once during the riots. I think it had been decades
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: since we had had a curfew before that one with
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: the riots in 2020. So that is it for us today.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: We will be back again tomorrow. Thank you for spending
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: this hour with us today. Lots of questions coming in.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: We'll take up on this conversation tomorrow, too. And we're
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: going to have some great guests next week. So we
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: hope that you are with us again next week. I'm
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: Jean Stothert, and this is 1110 KFAB.