Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Brinker Harding and Court Judge

Transcript

Brinker Harding and Court Judge · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jean Stothert. Peyton Heilach, my producer, is
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  Speaker 1: also here. Good morning, Peyton.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Jean.
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  Speaker 3: How are you today? I'm doing pretty good.
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  Speaker 1: That is great. And thank you all for being with
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  Speaker 1: us today. Thank you, Peyton, for being with me, too.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what the heck I'd do without you
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  Speaker 1: sitting over there. I like that. Amen to that. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: amen to that. But we want to hear from you today.
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  Speaker 1: We want to get your feedback. We want to hear
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  Speaker 1: your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. Anything goes. We'll even talk
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  Speaker 1: about the streetcar. Ha, later, maybe next week. City, state, national,
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  Speaker 1: the world, and of course, you will hear plenty of
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  Speaker 1: opinions from me too, and we will have plenty of
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  Speaker 1: great guests, but it is your chance to speak up
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  Speaker 1: and sound off. If you have something to say, we
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  Speaker 1: want to hear it. So send your emails to comment.
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  Speaker 1: at kfab.com. You can call us at 402-558-1110, or you
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: could leave us a recorded message on the talkback mic,
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  Speaker 1: and we'll play it on the air. We are so
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  Speaker 1: happy that you're with us, and I'm very happy that
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  Speaker 1: Brinker Harding is back in the studio with us again today.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Jean. Good morning, Peyton.
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  Speaker 1: And I think without saying, Brinker is a candidate for
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  Speaker 1: congressional district, too.
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  Speaker 3: I think we all know that by now, Brinker.
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  Speaker 1: But five days now until the election on November 3rd,
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  Speaker 1: we have so much that we could talk about. But
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  Speaker 1: first of all, tell us and tell the listeners how
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  Speaker 1: the campaign is going and tell us what we need
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  Speaker 1: to know right now.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the campaign is going incredibly well. We are out
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  Speaker 2: and about making sure that people know who we are,
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  Speaker 2: what we stand for. And the reaction, Gene, has just
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  Speaker 2: been absolutely incredible. The people in the second district are
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  Speaker 2: looking for someone who's going to represent them in Washington,
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  Speaker 2: regardless of their political affiliation, Republican, Democrat, or nonpartisan. And
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  Speaker 2: that's exactly what my record is, is dealing with those
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  Speaker 2: issues here on the city council in a nonpartisan way
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  Speaker 2: to bring results to affect change that is beneficial to
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  Speaker 2: the city, to the metropolitan area. And that's exactly what
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to do in Washington. Take that record of accomplishments,
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  Speaker 2: of what we've been able to do here, and represent
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  Speaker 2: the district in Washington.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. And, you know, I know from being on this
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  Speaker 1: show and from getting the feedback, that's one of the
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  Speaker 1: main questions people always ask is, are these candidates going
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  Speaker 1: to represent me? Are they going to listen to me?
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  Speaker 1: And what are they going to do to make my
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  Speaker 1: life better? And when we talk about the CD2 race,
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  Speaker 1: I always bring up you have eight years of working
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  Speaker 1: with a city council that has four Democrats, three Republicans
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  Speaker 1: on it and getting things done. You have a proven
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  Speaker 1: track record of doing that. And talk about when I hear,
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  Speaker 1: especially your opponent, Denise Powell, who, by the way, we
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  Speaker 1: have asked to be on this show numerous times, and
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  Speaker 1: she won't even respond with a, no, thank you, like
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  Speaker 1: she did in the debate. But, you know, she continues
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  Speaker 1: to say Brinker Harding is all mega. He will do
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  Speaker 1: whatever Donald Trump tells him to do. He's a rubber stamper.
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  Speaker 1: You've never been a rubber stamper, Brinker. You didn't agree
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  Speaker 1: with me a lot.
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  Speaker 2: No, you and I didn't always agree on everything.
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  Speaker 1: But that's good because we would have a very respectful conversation. And,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of times people in a higher
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  Speaker 1: position think, hey, I'm going in the right direction. And
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  Speaker 1: sometimes you need somebody to say, hey, look at this
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  Speaker 1: a different way, which you did do. So, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: just comment on this whole mega. He's only mega. He
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  Speaker 1: was at Trumpapalooza. He's just going to do what Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump says. That is not Brinker Harding that I know.
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  Speaker 2: No, and you're right. You and I had the opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to work together for eight years, and we didn't always
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  Speaker 2: agree on things. But we sat down and talked about
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  Speaker 2: what our differences were on whatever subject it was, and
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  Speaker 2: we figured out a path forward. And that's exactly what
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to do, what I've been doing really for
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  Speaker 2: the last 40 years of my life. When I worked
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  Speaker 2: for Hal Dobb, we did the same thing. We worked
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  Speaker 2: with the public and private sectors, those public-private partnerships that
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  Speaker 2: we really grew– that helped Omaha grow. I mean, you
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  Speaker 2: sit down with those people, regardless of what their political
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  Speaker 2: affiliation is, and you made sure that you got results.
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  Speaker 2: And that's, again, that's what I've done on Omaha City Council.
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  Speaker 2: When I first ran for city council, I had four
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  Speaker 2: mayors endorse me. You were one of them.
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  Speaker 4: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Hal Dobb was another. Mike Boyle and Mike Fahey endorsed me.
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  Speaker 3: Two Democrats.
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  Speaker 2: Two Democrats. Right. And that's who I am. And the
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  Speaker 2: whole rubber stamp thing is absolutely untrue. I think I've
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  Speaker 2: had a couple of examples recently where I've disagreed with
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  Speaker 2: the president. And that's exactly– look, we want to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that if you're my friend, 80 percent of the time,
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  Speaker 2: you're my friend. When the president announced these $ 5, 000 dividends,
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  Speaker 2: I said that's wrong. It's inflationary. If we have that
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  Speaker 2: kind of money, let's pay down the debt. We're $ 40
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  Speaker 2: trillion in debt. And if– kicking the press out of–
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: some of the press out of the White House. The
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  Speaker 2: First Amendment is foundational to the United States of who
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  Speaker 2: we are. I disagreed on that. Again, then on the
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  Speaker 2: Argentinian ground beef coming in terror-free. That's absolutely nothing. But look,
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  Speaker 2: those are– I'm an independent thinker. I use the quote,
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  Speaker 2: whoever– whoever it's attributed to, I don't know. But be yourself.
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  Speaker 2: Everyone else is already taken. And that's exactly who I am.
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  Speaker 2: It's exactly the kind of representation that I think the
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  Speaker 2: district wants. And that's exactly who I'll be in Washington.
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  Speaker 2: I'm the same person today that I was 40 years ago.
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  Speaker 3: And, you know, I had Tom Becker on yesterday. It
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  Speaker 3: was a bit lively.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the first questions he asked me is,
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  Speaker 1: why should I not vote straight Democrat? And, you know,
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  Speaker 1: my answer immediately was, well, why should you? Name one
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  Speaker 1: issue on the Democrat agenda that's good for America. You know,
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  Speaker 1: just tell me what those are, especially since the Democrats
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  Speaker 1: are going so left. So many socialists and even communists,
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  Speaker 1: Marxism is out there now. I told you that just
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  Speaker 1: the other day, maybe it's one of Tom Becker's heroes,
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  Speaker 1: but Gavin Newsom said, In California, he recently said that
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  Speaker 1: the DSA, the Democrat Socialists of America, are taking over
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  Speaker 1: the party. They are the future of the Democrats. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: when you hear things like this about the Democrat Party,
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  Speaker 1: I could tell you a lot of reasons why I
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't even be considering voting for a Democrat. Now, there's
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people that are blaming the Republicans for
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  Speaker 1: everything because they're the ones that are in office now.
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  Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit about that because I
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  Speaker 1: did listen to all your debates. I listened to the
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  Speaker 1: ones with Denise Powell. Thank goodness on the very last one,
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  Speaker 1: WWT hosted it. Eric Foreman was invited to that. I
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  Speaker 1: did invite Eric onto the show. He was going to
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  Speaker 1: be on, and then he was a little under the
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  Speaker 1: weather and didn't come on the show.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I talked to Eric the other day. I hope
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  Speaker 2: he's feeling better. But Eric and I, we find agreement
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  Speaker 2: on a number of issues. True. And we continue to
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  Speaker 2: have conversations.
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  Speaker 1: So let's just a little bit talk about the platform
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  Speaker 1: issues of the day. And you did this too on
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  Speaker 1: your debate. First of all, affordability. And, you know, the
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  Speaker 1: one thing that Denise always brings up is that the
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  Speaker 1: prices are jacked up right now and they're given the
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  Speaker 1: billionaire's tax break and all the normal everyday people just
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  Speaker 1: like her and all of us aren't getting any breaks
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  Speaker 1: at all.
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  Speaker 3: You respond to that.
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  Speaker 1: That was the first question on your WOWT debate. You
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  Speaker 1: talked about the gas prices being up, but you talked
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  Speaker 1: about what you think about that issue, about prices being
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  Speaker 1: up and affordability.
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  Speaker 3: I'll let you talk now.
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  Speaker 2: There's a lot there, but at first I need to
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  Speaker 2: take on what you started that with. Becca was on yesterday. Yes.
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  Speaker 2: So I wanted to make sure. Did you disinfect the
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  Speaker 2: microphone before?
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  Speaker 4: No.
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  Speaker 1: He knows what this studio is like, and he was
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  Speaker 1: wound up yesterday for sure.
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  Speaker 2: But seriously, so you talked a lot about the DSA,
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  Speaker 2: and that's– you know what? This is really important. Yesterday
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  Speaker 2: you had Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrat Party
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  Speaker 2: for the House in Omaha campaigning on behalf of my opponent.
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  Speaker 4: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: And Hakeem Jeffries made a deal with the DSA– that
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  Speaker 2: they wouldn't put someone up to challenge him in the
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  Speaker 2: primary if he would work with them going forward. Now
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  Speaker 2: you have a group called the block, six or eight
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  Speaker 2: DSA candidates who will be elected to the House. They
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  Speaker 2: will be in control of who the leadership of the
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  Speaker 2: House is if the Democrats get control of the House.
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  Speaker 2: And that's, look, that's exactly who Denise Powell is going
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  Speaker 2: to be caucusing with. If you think that having Hakeem
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  Speaker 2: Jeffries come in yesterday on her behalf, I think it
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  Speaker 2: actually sends a number of messages, is that I think
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  Speaker 2: they're concerned about where this race is. But if you
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  Speaker 2: have that block who's going to be elected and Denise
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  Speaker 2: would be working with them, that's exactly not what the
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  Speaker 2: representation of this district wants. Look, you talked about the
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  Speaker 2: billionaires and the tax cuts. Well, first of all, I
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  Speaker 2: don't know many billionaires who That rely on no tax
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  Speaker 2: on tips.
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  Speaker 5: Exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Or no tax on overtime. But here's the other deal.
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  Speaker 2: You have all this dark money, all these coastal billionaires
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  Speaker 2: coming in, trying to buy a seat here in Nebraska.
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  Speaker 2: California is now the largest contributor to Denise Powell in
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  Speaker 2: this general election. 30% of her donations come from Nebraskans.
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  Speaker 2: 70% come from outside of Nebraska. Now me, on the
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  Speaker 2: other hand, 83% of my donations come from Nebraskans and
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  Speaker 2: the rest are, and I actually argue that a number
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  Speaker 2: of the other contributions are friends of mine over the
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  Speaker 2: years who don't necessarily live here now, but my number
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  Speaker 2: is probably actually well above 85%. But my point is,
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  Speaker 2: This is outside money coming into Nebraska, trying to buy
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  Speaker 2: a house seat. I think people want to have someone
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  Speaker 2: who's born here, raised here, fourth generation Nebraskan, knows the district,
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  Speaker 2: and not be beholding to New York or California or Chicago. Illinois.
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  Speaker 2: Pritzker money is now in this race. It's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that's so telling about what your opponent,
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  Speaker 1: Denise Powell, is all about. And, you know, when I
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  Speaker 1: was saying in the very beginning, you have eight years
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  Speaker 1: of proven public experience. You have a voting record. You
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  Speaker 1: have voted thousands of times. And all we get to
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  Speaker 1: compare your opponent is, is that she was on the
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  Speaker 1: PTA and And then she will say, I'm a mom. Well,
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of moms in Omaha and in District
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  Speaker 1: 2 that were on the PTA, but it doesn't mean
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  Speaker 1: we're going to be good in Congress. And then when
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  Speaker 1: you really try to beat down on answering the questions,
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  Speaker 1: it's just a very scripted response. That concerns me a lot.
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  Speaker 1: It concerns me a lot that she's not willing to
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  Speaker 1: come out to a radio station, unscripted, and talk to
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  Speaker 1: those voters in her area and take questions from them.
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  Speaker 1: She's not willing to do that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you brought up in the debates too, after she
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  Speaker 2: passed in the first debate, I think four times on
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  Speaker 2: rebuttal time.
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  Speaker 1: And let me tell you, I got to butt in here,
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  Speaker 1: but nobody passes on a rebuttal. I mean, when you're
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  Speaker 1: in a debate, you got 30 seconds. If you don't
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  Speaker 1: have anything to rebut, you just talk something else. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you don't ever pass up the chance to speak in
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  Speaker 1: a debate.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and I think that's telling because once she gets
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  Speaker 2: past her talking points- I don't know what's behind that.
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  Speaker 2: And if she's going to go to Washington, D.C., and
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  Speaker 2: gets asked a hard question, and she gets past her
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  Speaker 2: talking points, and gets asked with the follow-up, and she's
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  Speaker 2: going to say, no, thank you, or I'll pass. I mean, that's, look,
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  Speaker 2: we want leaders who are convicted, and we want leaders
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  Speaker 2: who are going to do the work for the people
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  Speaker 2: of the second district. And to go back there and
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  Speaker 2: just be talking points and have no substance behind it,
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  Speaker 2: That's not going to be who is benefiting the district. Look,
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  Speaker 2: if it's good for the district, if it's good for
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  Speaker 2: the state, if it's good for the country, I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to be all behind it. If it doesn't meet those standards,
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  Speaker 2: I will not be behind it. And I will stand
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  Speaker 2: up for the people of the second district in my
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  Speaker 2: opposition to whatever policy that that might be that's not
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  Speaker 2: good for the area.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm going to let you rebut something that's on
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  Speaker 3: her commercial.
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  Speaker 1: She said, Brinker Harding, anything Donald Trump wants, tariffs, higher
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  Speaker 1: gas prices, the war, higher property tax.
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  Speaker 3: That's what Brinker Harding is going to vote for. You
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: rebut that one. That's what she said.
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  Speaker 2: I'll pass.
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  Speaker 3: There you go.
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  Speaker 2: No, I'm kidding.
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  Speaker 3: No, thank you.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, no, thank you.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, really.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, this annoys me because I know you so well.
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  Speaker 1: And I tried to get to know her. But when
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: she keeps on saying, you know, about kissing the ring
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  Speaker 1: of Donald Trump, that just annoys the heck out of me.
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  Speaker 2: No, and I heard you talk a little bit about this, too.
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  Speaker 2: And Eric, actually, Foreman, talked about this.
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  Speaker 3: And I liked what he said.
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  Speaker 2: That's what I was going to bring up. Go ahead.
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  Speaker 3: He interrupted her.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he said, hey, look— Yes, he got the endorsement
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  Speaker 2: of the president. And you know what? That says a lot.
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  Speaker 3: It's a big deal, he said.
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  Speaker 2: It is a big deal. But you know what? I
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  Speaker 2: appreciate the endorsement from the president, but he also knows
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  Speaker 2: that I'm not always going to agree with him. And
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  Speaker 2: just as I've had the endorsement of the entire federal
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  Speaker 2: delegation from the state of Nebraska, the entire state leadership,
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  Speaker 2: but they know I'm not always going to agree with them. Look,
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  Speaker 2: if we all agreed on everything, then nothing's going to happen.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: That's right.
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  Speaker 2: But that's why people who give you their endorsement know
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  Speaker 2: that you're not going to be lockstep with them all
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  Speaker 2: the time. And that's why it's important to have these
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: conversations with you when you and I didn't agree on
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  Speaker 2: the city council or when I don't agree with Amy
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Melton or Danny Bagley. But you know what? We find
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: ways to get resolution and we find ways to move forward.
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  Speaker 2: For the benefit of the taxpayers of the district.
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  Speaker 3: And that's what people want.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, people want to hear that you will listen
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  Speaker 1: to them and you will respond to them. And I
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: think that there is there's no indication at all out
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: there that I see Denise Powell would be even willing
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: to speak to a lot of those who aren't Democrats.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, she won't speak to me.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: She won't talk to anybody in this studio. Well, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: and it's just it's it's really head scratching to me
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  Speaker 1: that people would even consider to say she's the one
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: that we want representing us.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know who she will talk to. And that's
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: one of the. the organizations that she's been involved with
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: called Women Who Run.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Yes, which is known, by the way, as a left-leaning organization,
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  Speaker 1: and it always got me. I was aware, Brinker, of
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: this organization in the past, but I thought, why is
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: someone running this that has never run for anything and
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: teaching people how to run for a political office when
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: they've never run for anything themselves?
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  Speaker 2: Well, on top of it, it should have been renamed
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: you know, women who run, who meet my progressive ideals,
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: because she never endorsed you, never endorsed Senator Fisher, never
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: endorsed Amy Melton. But you know who she did endorse?
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: A pro-Palestinian porn star who's now going to be on
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  Speaker 2: Douglas County's commission.
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  Speaker 4: Right.
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  Speaker 3: Isn't that something?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So, yeah, look, I think.
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  Speaker 3: And gave money to AOC?
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  Speaker 2: Twice.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Twice.
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  Speaker 2: So that goes back to what we were talking about
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  Speaker 2: with DSA. Let's face it. I mean, She is not
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  Speaker 2: representative of the district. These billionaires who are coming in
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  Speaker 2: and buying this seat or trying to buy this seat,
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: they expect something in return. They expect her to put
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: forth their agenda, support their agenda, which is incredibly progressive.
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  Speaker 2: And it talks about gender affirming surgery for kids. It
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: talks about sex education in kindergarten. It's men and girls
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: sports and men and girls bathrooms. That's not where I
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: want America to go. We've been an incredible experiment for
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: the last 250 years. And look, my wife's here in
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: the studio with me. I've got two girls who are
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: 24 and 21. I want the next 250 years to
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  Speaker 2: be great for them, for their kids, for your kids
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: and grandkids. And that's why I'm in this fight. And
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: that's exactly, this is the kind of, determination and energy
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: that I'm going to bring to Washington to represent the
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: second district.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: And again, you're talking about the Democrat agenda or the DSA,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: which is what the Democrats are becoming more and more,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: defunding the police.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, these extremes, closing prisons, rewriting the U.S.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Constitution, boys and girls sports, you know, I mean, every
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: bit of their agenda really is a head scratcher to me.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: And it's going.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Further and further left. But, you know, I want to,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: there was something I wanted to say earlier when you
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: were talking about who she is accepting donations from. And
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: we all know in the primary, there was 5 million
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: that came in that she used against a fellow Democrat,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: John Kavanaugh, so that she could win the primary too.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: But I always used to say, I will never accept
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: money or take an endorsement from anybody that I can't
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: say no to.
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: And I think that's a good rule for any elected
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: official to live by because you can't be bogged. And
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: when you hear this major amount of money coming in
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: from other areas of the country, I don't think Nebraskans
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: need people from out of our state telling us who
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: to vote for and how to vote.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: And I'm sorry to correct you. Oh, good.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: I love to be corrected.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: But it was over $ 5. 5 million.
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: $ 5.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: 5 million.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: And this was– that came in for Denise Powell in
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: the primary so that she could try to beat John Kavanaugh.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: And she called him MAGA.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And he called her Dark Money Denise.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: Dark Money Denise.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Which is– and so people accuse me of being a
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: name caller. I'm not the one who came up with
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: the name. But that's– what's interesting about that too, Jean,
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: is that John Kavanaugh still has not endorsed her. Kishla
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Askins still has not endorsed her. Crystal Rhodes still has
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: not endorsed her. After the primary, again, I think this
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: is illustrative of who I am. After their primary, I
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: called everyone, I think except one, of the Democrats in
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: that race and said, hey, I know it wasn't the
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: results that you wanted, but I appreciate what you've done.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: You put your name out on the line. I know
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: what that's like. But if there's something that we can
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: work on in the future, let me know. Call me. Mm-hmm.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: I would tell you, I think it's fair to say, well, actually,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Tom Beck has saw Kishla Askins and I out, and
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: we were having a discussion. I thought it was going
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: to last an hour. It lasted three hours. I know
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: that there are things that Kishla Askins and I can
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: work on together. But that's, again, the type of person
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: I am. They know I'm a Republican. They know my
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: conservative nature. They know my philosophies and tenets. They know
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: I'm going to sit down and talk with you.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Because you've given them the example that you've done this
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: for the last eight years.
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Now, I think we might have a caller. Yeah.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you could answer it because one
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: of the things I was going to bring up, it
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: was brought up during the debate, Brinker, was about Social
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Security and supporting raising the cap. Maximum now 184,500. I
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: think we have a call and maybe you can help
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: answer that call.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: We do.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: We go to the phone lines 402- 558-1110, or send
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: us an email, comment at kfab.com. Rick, you are now
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: live on the KFAB Comment Line with Gene Stothert and
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: Brinker Harding.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: Good morning.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: Good morning, Brinker and Gene. My question is exactly about
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: the cap on Social Security. There was a bipartisan senatorial
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: commission when we were in college, Brinker. I believe it
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: was Ellen Simpson from Wyoming and Bob Carey. that address
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: specifically the Social Security shortfalls that we are going to
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: be seeing shortly. Would you propose eliminating the cap on
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: earned income for Social Security?
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Well, Rick, thanks for the question. And you're right. It's
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: projected that Social Security will be insolvent by 2032. And
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: one of the things that we need to make sure
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: that we do is not wait until December 31st of
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: 2031 to sit down and figure out a solution to this.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: We need to sit down in a bipartisan way today
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: to figure that out. My opponent, I think her solution
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: is just raise taxes on those who are paying into
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: the system. And I don't agree with that. But the
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: other thing is we want to make sure that those
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: who have paid in still receive the benefits. There should
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: be no reduction in their benefits for those who have
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: paid in. But we need to sit down in a
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: bipartisan way today to figure out how that happens. Because
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: if we wait until 2031, we will get a bad solution.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: And important to so many. I mean, I get Social Security.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Everybody knows my age. I'm well over 65. And so
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: it does make a difference to many.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: Is there another?
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: I do have an email right here on the same
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: line you were just talking about, Brinker, about being able
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: to reach across the aisle and work with the other side.
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: Just real quickly here as we're wrapping up this segment.
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: This is an email from Tom. Ask Brinker to name
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: a few of the different things he's voted for with
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: the Democrats while his time on Omaha City Council.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh. The budget?
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: Well, yeah.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Balancing the budget every single year.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: And having a surplus at the end of every year,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: not going into debt.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Voting to reduce tax levies. Now, here, I'll give
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: you an example of where that didn't work out, and
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: that was this year. I had a proposal to reduce
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: the property tax levy for the city of Omaha and lost.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: So that was an example of where the four Democrats
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: actually voted not to reduce the property tax levy. Right.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: And the three Republicans, Amy Melton, Don Rowe, and I did,
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: but okay. I'll try to do it quickly. Look around Omaha.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Look at the downtown riverfront parks. Look at what we
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: did at 72nd and Dodge with the, the, the library.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: Look at what we did to on, on some of
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: the street improvements and the BIDs all across Omaha and
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Benson and Underwood and Elkhorn in South Omaha. The, the,
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: The list goes on and on and on of where
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: we have been able to work together as a council
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: in a bipartisan, nonpartisan way to benefit Omaha to make
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: it the number one city to move to in America,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: according to Forbes. That's the record I have.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: And thousands and thousands of votes that you have cast.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: with the city council in the eight years that you
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: have been on. One thing I wanted to grab real
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: quick and ask you about is a statement that Denise
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Powell made in the last debate. I want you to
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: respond on the air to it. And she said, which
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: I'm still scratching my head, Brinker Harding voted for over
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: a million in new taxes while on the city council,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: since we're talking about votes. When she said that, I said,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: that is just not true. Unless she's talking about funding
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: a budget with taxes and that's how you do it.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: No, that was actually, I went back and I looked
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: at that and maybe some of the supporting material they
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: submitted to back that up. It was, I don't know
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: if they don't know how things work at City Hall
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: because part of that was, you know, the Board of Equalization.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: I know this might be kind of hard to explain
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: in 30 seconds or whatever, but she talked about the
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Board of Equalization. And the Board of Equalization is when
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: The city does work like clearing weeds or litter or if.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: You didn't– Plowing snow.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Plowing the snow that you didn't clean your sidewalk. Right.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: And so we contract with people to– either city employees
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: or contractors to go out and do that work. We
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: then have to assess that to the property owner.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: And not the taxpayer.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: And not the taxpayer.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: It's the property owner that pays for it.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: So that was part of her examples of how I
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: was taxing. Yeah. Citizens over a million dollars.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: And there are assessments for work that the city does
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: that that homeowner or property owner.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: Should have been doing themselves.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: I don't know how she came up with that.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: So it's taking the burden off of all of the
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: taxpayers and saying, okay, if you folks, the property owners,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: we had to come out and do work, then you're
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: going to pay for it. Oh, well, that's a long
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: shot on that one. Brinker Harding is with us. We're
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: running out of time, Brinker. What is your message to
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: the voters?
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate the opportunity. Look, this has been an
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: incredible experience. We started this on July 1st, 2025, said
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: it was going to be a marathon, said it to
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: my wife, Rebecca, again, who's sitting here, and Matthew Zacher.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: And by the way, Rebecca, she doesn't have a microphone
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: in her face right now, or I would make her talk,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: but you are with Brinker walking door to door constantly.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Every time I see a video, Rebecca's right there by you.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: She's the MVP of this campaign. There's no doubt about it.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: But But we've been running that marathon but sprinting every
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: single day. We have just a few days left here. Look,
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: we're out there making sure that people understand who we are,
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: what we stand for, and how we will represent the district.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: And so I would make this plea that you find
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: out more about me if you don't know already. But please,
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: on or before November 3rd, I hope to gain your trust.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: I hope to gain your respect. And I hope to
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: gain your vote. to be the next representative of the
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: 2nd District of Nebraska in Washington, D.C.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Brinker Harding, and get out there and vote. As he said,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: if you have a mail-in ballot, please get it in
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: this week. There's 13 drop-off sites all over the city.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: You can still go to the Douglas County Election Commissioner,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: and you could still vote. And just from Danielle Jensen
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: on the 27th, the votes are still not the way
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: we want to see them yet. Because the Republican turnout
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: for those returns for those mail-in ballots is less than
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the Democrats.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: We know that.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: And this is just in Douglas County. So you have
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Sarpy and you have Saunders.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Sarpy and all Saunders.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: And then somebody wrote in and corrected me on that
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: the other day.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you're voting for governor, you've got 93
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: counties that have different election results. But it's all about turnout.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: So we want to make sure that everybody gets out there.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Turn in your ballot. Go out there and vote. Your
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: voice does matter.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: They can all at least go to BrinkerHarding.com too.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Brinker Harding, thanks so much for being. Rebecca Harding, thank you.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: I wish she could say something, but she's a real trooper.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Thank you for, say something.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: Vote Brinker-Harding.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: By November 3rd. You've heard it from her right there.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Brinker, for being on.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, babe.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: And we are back.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Again, I want to thank a candidate for Congress, District 2.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Brinker-Harding was in here again today. But now we have
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: another guest, and Judge Leanne Riddlesdorf is in the studio
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: with me today. How do you like to be addressed?
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: She is a retired district court judge. Do I call
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: you Judge? Do I call you Your Honor? Or do
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I call you.
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: Leanne?
• 28:12
  Speaker 7: You can call me any one of those.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, people always.
• 28:15
  Speaker 7: Most people call me judge.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: I know. It stays with you. People ask me that
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: and I go, I've been called a lot worse. So
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: there you go. But judge is, was a judge, a
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: district court judge for the fourth district in Nebraska.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: You are retired now.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Typically judges, are they nonpartisan as far as your political
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: affiliation to show impartiality?
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: Well, you want your judges to be nonpartisan, I think.
• 28:41
  Speaker 6: I The third branch of government, you want them– the
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: other two branches are elected and you want the judges
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: to sort of ride that fence and be nonpartisan.
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: And so the three branches of government, like everybody knows,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: is executive, legislative, and judicial.
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: And they're three very, very separate.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: But what I wanted to do, judges, today, we have
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: had several with this election coming up emails, including this
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: one I'm going to read real quickly from Brian. And
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: it said, during election cycles, my wife and I do
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: our due diligence by doing our own research before voting.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: But my question is, how do voters research ruling decisions
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: and records of district judges before checking the box online?
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: for retaining. And that's what it's called with a judge,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: not reelected, but that you are retained. And he said,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: we find it very simple to research candidates and proposals,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: but not for judges. And we get a lot of
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: those kinds of questions. What does a judge do? And
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: then how do we know who to vote for? And
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: is there any, or to retain? And is there any
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: way we can find out more information? So I just
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: wanted you to kind of tell our listeners what that
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: process is.
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: All right. Let me tell you a little bit about
• 29:48
  Speaker 6: how a judge gets selected first.
• 29:51
  Speaker 7: There is a commission.
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: When a vacancy exists, there's a commission of.
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: Nebraska lay people that are not lawyers and lawyers that
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: are convened to talk to and vet the candidates that
• 30:08
  Speaker 6: put their names in to be a judge. That commission
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: is set up with Democrats and Republicans in equal numbers
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: and independents. So it's a nonpartisan commission set up to
• 30:18
  Speaker 6: vet judges.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: And I just let me ask, and all of these
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: that would apply are all attorneys?
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 30:24
  Speaker 7: You have to be an attorney.
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: You fill out your application and it goes to this commission.
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: That commission then interviews the judges, looks over all the
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: materials that they collect pursuant to the resume submitted and recommendations.
• 30:39
  Speaker 7: They go through all that.
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: And then they select qualified candidates from that field and
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: those are forwarded to the governor. The governor then interviews
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: those people and selects a candidate from that group that
• 30:56
  Speaker 6: he or she feels would be appropriate to be a
• 30:59
  Speaker 6: district court judge or to be a judge in Nebraska.
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: Then every six years following that, there's an initial time
• 31:09
  Speaker 6: period that's, I believe, three years. The first after you're
• 31:13
  Speaker 6: appointed within three years, and then six years after that,
• 31:16
  Speaker 6: your name is put on a ballot for retention. And basically,
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: that is you just need to receive more than 50%
• 31:27
  Speaker 6: of the.
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: Vote to be retained.
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: And that's every six years?
• 31:32
  Speaker 7: That's every six years, yes.
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: Okay. And so you are a district court judge. I
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: was a district court. You're retired.
• 31:39
  Speaker 5: That's okay.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: But the difference between a district court judge and a
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: county judge, can you explain that?
• 31:44
  Speaker 7: I sure can.
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: In Nebraska, there are four, there's specialized judges, juvenile, comp court,
• 31:51
  Speaker 6: but there's four levels that people hear the most about.
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: County court, district court, Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 31:59
  Speaker 6: County court handles primarily misdemeanors, traffic things, low-dollar civil cases,
• 32:05
  Speaker 6: small claims court. District court is a general jurisdiction court.
• 32:09
  Speaker 6: It handles higher-dollar civil cases, custody cases, divorce cases, and
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: felony criminal cases.
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: So both felony and civil matters.
• 32:19
  Speaker 6: Both felony and civil matters.
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: Okay. And so they basically serve as the general trial court.
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: And then you said the district also hears appeals?
• 32:30
  Speaker 7: District court hears appeals from county court.
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: From county court.
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 32:35
  Speaker 6: And then those can go further up to the court
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: of appeals or the Supreme Court and then district court appeals.
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: Go to court of appeals and Supreme Court.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Now, I will say this. I've heard so many people
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: say this. When they get their ballot and they do
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the research, they don't know how to research a judge.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: And unfortunately, I will hear many people say, so I
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: just vote all no or I just vote all yes
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: or I just vote for every other one of those folks.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: What do we need to tell the voters? How can
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: they find out more information about how long these people
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: have been on the bench or how many times have
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: they been retained or the committees they served on or
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: awards for their work? How can they find out information
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: about judges?
• 33:17
  Speaker 6: Supreme Court has a website, and you can go on
• 33:20
  Speaker 6: and find out the judge's resume is listed on that.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: So that's the Nebraska Supreme Court?
• 33:28
  Speaker 6: Supreme Court website has all judges listed. You can go
• 33:32
  Speaker 6: on that website and find out who that judge is,
• 33:35
  Speaker 6: what their resume is. And Google is wonderful for looking
• 33:40
  Speaker 6: at awards, accommodations, those kinds of things. Retention is a
• 33:44
  Speaker 6: difficult process to determine how to, whether or not. I
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: mean it was difficult for me when I was a lawyer.
• 33:53
  Speaker 4: Sorry.
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: That's why we do that all the time too.
• 33:56
  Speaker 6: And it's difficult to find the kinds of information. A
• 34:00
  Speaker 6: couple things I guess I would say is judges are–
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: they are not making decisions in a political manner.
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: So I think it– if you're going to.
• 34:12
  Speaker 6: Research the judge, what their politics are shouldn't really matter
• 34:16
  Speaker 6: to you. You want to know are they handling cases timely?
• 34:20
  Speaker 6: Are there– The Supreme Court has a time frame where
• 34:27
  Speaker 6: all cases need to be decided. And that judge has
• 34:30
  Speaker 6: to report cases that they're not handling in a timely manner.
• 34:35
  Speaker 6: And I think it's important to look through. You can
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: find out cases of judges. You can go and Google.
• 34:45
  Speaker 7: Their name and you'll find their cases. It's not that hard.
• 34:50
  Speaker 7: But I would look.
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: Are they handling cases in a timely manner? Is this
• 34:54
  Speaker 6: judge being publicly disciplined or reprimanded?
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: And that information is available?
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: For the most part.
• 35:01
  Speaker 6: There are private reprimands that are done. But most of
• 35:05
  Speaker 6: this stuff, I find, it's available on Google. You can
• 35:08
  Speaker 6: do their names.
• 35:09
  Speaker 7: You can look at that.
• 35:11
  Speaker 6: What you're also going to get, though, when you Google somebody,
• 35:13
  Speaker 6: is you're going to get a lot of people who
• 35:15
  Speaker 6: are unhappy with the judge's decision. And individual decisions always
• 35:21
  Speaker 6: leave somebody unhappy.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, I was going to bring that up
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: because I used to explain to people, judges are complicated
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: because if a judge is involved in a case, a trial,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: there's one side, there's two sides and the judge is
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: in the middle. And the judge is making a decision
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: that one side or the other is not going to
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: be happy with. Would you agree with how I try
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: to explain it?
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: I think that's, Exactly right. And I would even add
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: one side is going to be the most unhappy. It
• 35:51
  Speaker 6: was my experience after 17 years of serving that both sides,
• 35:56
  Speaker 6: neither side usually got exactly what they wanted. By the
• 36:00
  Speaker 6: time a case gets into court, it's pretty contentious. And
• 36:04
  Speaker 6: people have spent a lot of money on lawyers and
• 36:08
  Speaker 6: invested a lot of emotion into something. So oftentimes it
• 36:11
  Speaker 6: was my experience that both parties left the courtroom a
• 36:14
  Speaker 6: little bit. At least somebody wins, but they might not
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: win everything they wanted.
• 36:19
  Speaker 7: And that was pretty common.
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Also, now you did represent Nebraska's fourth district. So explain
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: how Nebraska is divided up into districts. I believe there
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: are 12 districts in the state of Nebraska in 93 counties.
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: Twelve districts.
• 36:36
  Speaker 6: They divide in Nebraska. Douglas County, Sarpy County, Lancaster County
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: all have their own.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: District.
• 36:45
  Speaker 6: They are all individual districts. I think as you go
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: farther west and north and south, there are judges that
• 36:52
  Speaker 6: serve six, seven counties, eight counties sometimes, depending on the
• 36:56
  Speaker 6: population base in the county and depending on some of
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: those counties have no lawyers that.
• 37:01
  Speaker 7: Are present in there.
• 37:02
  Speaker 6: So you have judges that they're more like the old
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: fashioned circuit judge. They ride from one, they go from
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: one county to the county seat in the other county
• 37:11
  Speaker 6: and they handle seven or eight. They may not have
• 37:14
  Speaker 6: the caseload that an Omaha judge has, but they certainly
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: have a lot.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Of So for all of you that are voting, and
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: we hope all of you are voting, there is definitely
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: a way that you could get online with the Nebraska
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court, right, webpage, find out a lot of information
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: about the judges that are on the ballot. Or also,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: as Judge Rettlesdorf said, you can Google these different judges.
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: Google their name.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: And read a little bit more about them so you
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: know what they look like and you know what they've
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: done in their past. But it's just so important to
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: get out there and vote. And don't just do the eeny, meeny, miny,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: moe thing that a lot of people do because they
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: don't know who the judges are. But I would always
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: say typically that if you have a judge that has
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: been in any kind of issue that you think would
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: maybe make you not vote for them, you probably would
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: have heard it.
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: It probably would have been out there on the news.
• 38:08
  Speaker 6: And I think it's I just want to caution people
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: to remind people that when you're looking on voting on
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: a judge, don't if there's there's always somebody that is
• 38:19
  Speaker 6: going to complain about each and every case. And I
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: really caution you to not vote against a judge because
• 38:25
  Speaker 6: their decision was politically.
• 38:29
  Speaker 7: Unpopular at that moment.
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: We hear that so much right now is get rid
• 38:33
  Speaker 6: of that judge because they didn't agree with this politician
• 38:36
  Speaker 6: or that politician. And I think You want your judges
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: to be independent, and when you start making political decisions,
• 38:43
  Speaker 6: you might ruin the independence of that particular judge.
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Retired Judge Leanne Rettlesdorf of the Nebraska 4th District Court,
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: excuse me, thank you so much for being with us today.
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: I really appreciate it.
• 38:55
  Speaker 6: You bet.
• 38:56
  Speaker 7: Thanks for having me.