Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Governor Jim Pillen in studio

Transcript

Governor Jim Pillen in studio · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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  Speaker 1: And I am your host, Gene Stothert. Peyton Heilach, my producer,
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  Speaker 1: is also here today. Good morning, Peyton. Good morning, Gene.
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  Speaker 1: How are you today?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm doing good.
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  Speaker 1: And we want to thank all you for being with
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  Speaker 1: us today. And we want to hear from you. We
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  Speaker 1: want to get your feedback, hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. Really,
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  Speaker 1: anything goes, city, state, national, or the world. And we
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  Speaker 1: will have plenty of great guests. We have a great
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  Speaker 1: guest today. And, of course, you are going to hear
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  Speaker 1: plenty of opinions from me, too. But it is your
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  Speaker 1: chance to speak up and sound off. You can send
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  Speaker 1: your emails to comment at kfab.com. You can call us.
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  Speaker 1: at 402-558-1110, or you can leave us a recorded message
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  Speaker 1: on the talkback mic, and hopefully we will play that
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  Speaker 1: on the air. But we are so happy you are
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  Speaker 1: with us today, and we are also very happy in
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  Speaker 1: the studio we have Governor of the State of Nebraska,
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  Speaker 1: Jim Pellen. Good morning.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning, Jean. Great to be with you.
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  Speaker 1: Good, good.
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  Speaker 3: Hope you're well.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. I'm very well. Thank you. Just getting older
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  Speaker 1: every day. You know how that goes.
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  Speaker 3: We're all fighting that battle.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so.
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  Speaker 3: I'm going to win it, though. I'm going to win it.
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  Speaker 1: You know what? I think my mind is fine. It's
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  Speaker 1: just my joints are the things that are giving out.
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  Speaker 1: It's my bones.
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  Speaker 3: Keep using them. If you use it, you lose it.
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  Speaker 3: Keep using them.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what I do. I lift weights twice a week. But,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Jim, I don't know if you knew this,
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  Speaker 1: but my mom died at 95, my grandma at 101,
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  Speaker 1: and my mom's sister at 101. You're just getting started.
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  Speaker 1: The genes in my family are pretty darn good.
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  Speaker 3: I'd say.
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  Speaker 1: But thank you again for being with us today. There's
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  Speaker 1: so much to talk about. Even not knowing this was
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  Speaker 1: going to come out today, you sent a press release
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  Speaker 1: out earlier today that I read already, and it's your playbook.
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  Speaker 1: You call it the Pillen Playbook 2.0, and it is
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  Speaker 1: basically your focus areas for your second term. Tell us
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  Speaker 1: about why you put it out today and what you're
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  Speaker 1: planning on doing with it, and then we could talk
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  Speaker 1: about some of these different things.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think that what's really, really important is, number one,
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  Speaker 3: it's extraordinary privilege to be the Governor of Nebraska, never
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  Speaker 3: in a million years, I'm not a politician, never had
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  Speaker 3: the dream and the calling happened. And, you know, been
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  Speaker 3: focused on kids, taxes, agriculture values. Kids, taxes, agriculture values.
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  Speaker 3: And 2.0 is just a whole lot of work progress
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  Speaker 3: in the first term, but not acceptable. We have lots
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  Speaker 3: of work to fight for Nebraskans every day, common Nebraskans. And,
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  Speaker 3: you know, that's why we put it out. That's why
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  Speaker 3: we want to make sure that everybody understands, you know,
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  Speaker 3: where we're at and what we believe is really important
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  Speaker 3: to represent Nebraskans.
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  Speaker 1: And are you going to do a tour with this
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  Speaker 1: to try to get the message out?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we sure are. We're heading out west. I think
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  Speaker 3: from here we're going to Grand Island and then to
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  Speaker 3: Hastings or then to Kearney and then to Hastings today.
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  Speaker 3: We'll be in northeast Nebraska tomorrow and more in the
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  Speaker 3: weeks ahead. I do have to be governor. I can't
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  Speaker 3: campaign every day. Working full-time, I spent four hours with
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  Speaker 3: cabinets yesterday, shrinking government, running government like a business, tightening
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  Speaker 3: our belts just like everybody does at home. And so,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I'm governor. That's a priority. And then I'm
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  Speaker 3: getting out as much as I can. Suzanne and I
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  Speaker 3: were at the state fair, I think, three different times
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  Speaker 3: over the state fair to engage with Nebraskans. If anybody
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  Speaker 3: missed the state fair, put it on the docket. You
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  Speaker 3: have to go to the state fair from the river
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  Speaker 3: to Harrison, as I love to say, because it's a
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  Speaker 3: great event and it celebrates who we are as Nebraskans.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I know what that's like. When you got a
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  Speaker 1: big job, I was mayor of Omaha.
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  Speaker 2: You understand.
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  Speaker 1: And then had to run for, you know, in campaign.
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  Speaker 1: It gets really, really quite busy, but you have a
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  Speaker 1: job to do and you are still responsible for it.
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  Speaker 1: for the state of Nebraska. And let me tell you, Governor,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes it's lonely at the top, isn't it? I mean, really.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I will tell you that I've been 100%
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  Speaker 3: focused on running government like a business. In business, we
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  Speaker 3: don't yell and scream at each other. If we disagree,
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  Speaker 3: we sit down and talk to each other. In business,
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  Speaker 3: we're used to getting a no. And so, honestly, I
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  Speaker 3: have historic relationships with In this business across the state,
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  Speaker 3: my phone doesn't stop ringing. You know, the only time
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  Speaker 3: I'm alone is when I go to bed and lay
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  Speaker 3: my head to sleep. And, you know, so I'm with
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  Speaker 3: people all day. I love people. The people in Nebraska,
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  Speaker 3: it's Nebraska. In Nebraska, it's the people. And so, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I have the privilege to be with a lot of
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  Speaker 3: great people. I don't live in a silo. I get
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  Speaker 3: feedback and intakes from people, red, white, and blue, as
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  Speaker 3: I like to say.
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  Speaker 1: And you're pretty ubiquitous, too. I see you everywhere. It's
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  Speaker 1: a busy job, but I know, I always tell people,
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  Speaker 1: but I love being mayor. I know you love being governor, too.
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  Speaker 3: It's an extraordinary privilege. You know, I've been a blessed guy.
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  Speaker 3: Suzanne and I, everything that's happened to us, it's because
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  Speaker 3: of the people in Nebraska from the time I was a,
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  Speaker 3: kid wanting to be a, having a dream of being
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  Speaker 3: a veterinarian and a football player, getting to play for
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  Speaker 3: Coach Osborne, getting to work for the people in Nebraska
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  Speaker 3: and build teams of people in business, starting stuff from scratch,
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  Speaker 3: having people believe in your vision. We've been so blessed.
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  Speaker 3: And now getting to be a public servant, serving the people,
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  Speaker 3: not special interest, serving the people. And so, you know,
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  Speaker 3: that just simply means you've got to say no a lot.
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  Speaker 1: And let me ask you this question because you brought
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  Speaker 1: it up and you said you want to run Nebraska
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  Speaker 1: like a business. But government isn't like a business. Businesses
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  Speaker 1: usually are there to make a profit. Government is there
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  Speaker 1: to serve the people. Just explain what you mean by that.
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  Speaker 1: And if you could clarify that for our listeners. No question.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's really simple. A public servant's job is to
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  Speaker 3: have our shoes laced up every day and do our
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  Speaker 3: best every day. And it's really, really important. We're truly
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  Speaker 3: government is in the service business. We are helping people.
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  Speaker 3: And that means we need to understand that we work hard.
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  Speaker 3: We focus on quality of our service so that if
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  Speaker 3: there's a child in need, we focus and get that
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  Speaker 3: taken care of today. We don't talk about calling them
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  Speaker 3: back tomorrow or three days later. That's the only way
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  Speaker 3: we stay in business. So we're working very hard on
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  Speaker 3: the culture of being the best we can be every day.
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  Speaker 3: And if, And believing you can be the best. And
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  Speaker 3: so that's simple. We're in the service business. It's very
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  Speaker 3: much like running a business. I've been in the service
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  Speaker 3: business besides agriculture. It's very much like running a service
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  Speaker 3: because I had a small animal practice, Jean.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, you did.
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  Speaker 3: And if I did not take care of my clients
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  Speaker 3: and give them the best quality service for the best value,
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  Speaker 3: they would not be back. And that's simply what we're
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  Speaker 3: expecting from And what kind of work we're doing for
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  Speaker 3: the culture of our public servants. Culture trumps everything else.
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  Speaker 3: And we've made extraordinary drive. We have some of the
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  Speaker 3: best leadership in our cabinets. I'll put them up against
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  Speaker 3: anybody in the United States. So it's really been fun.
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  Speaker 3: It's been awesome.
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  Speaker 1: And, you know, I think a lot of people forget
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  Speaker 1: that you were a veterinarian. you have run a very,
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  Speaker 1: very successful family business. I remember you used to tell me,
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  Speaker 1: I'm just a pig farmer. And I'd say, well, you're
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  Speaker 1: a lot more than that, much more than that. But
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  Speaker 1: let me just go back to, I said a minute ago,
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  Speaker 1: I said, although we both loved our jobs, I said
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  Speaker 1: it gets lonely at the top because number one, you
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  Speaker 1: get blamed for everything. And because you're the governor, you
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  Speaker 1: take responsibility. You're accountable to the people. So governor, the
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  Speaker 1: thing that people are asking a lot about is the
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  Speaker 1: state budget.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And there is a budget shortfall.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And I had Brett Lindstrom on yesterday, and I even said,
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  Speaker 1: is it really the governor's fault that there is a
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  Speaker 1: budget shortfall? I mean, you have your forecasters. You have
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  Speaker 1: different things that happen with your receipts of your income,
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  Speaker 1: your sales tax receipts. Talk to us about the budget
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  Speaker 1: shortfall and what you hope to do with that in
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  Speaker 1: your second term.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, I think what's really, really important for everybody
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  Speaker 3: to understand is that– We do not have a budget
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  Speaker 3: crisis in the state of Nebraska. We have had a
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  Speaker 3: spending problem. We're decreasing the spend. We passed historic income
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  Speaker 3: tax cuts in 23. Took it from 6-8, 3-9-9 in January.
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  Speaker 3: That means that we as taxpayers of Nebraska, Gene, we all,
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  Speaker 3: everybody listening, we all save a billion dollars. A lot
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  Speaker 3: of politicians say, I did good and it's over. I,
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  Speaker 3: as a business person, have a moral obligation to decrease
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  Speaker 3: spend because my definition, I think anybody that really understands it,
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  Speaker 3: the definition of an income tax cut is you decrease,
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  Speaker 3: whatever decrease in revenue, you decrease that equal amount of spend.
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  Speaker 3: So we're decreasing spend by a billion dollars because we
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  Speaker 3: pass historic income tax cuts. That's what you do. So,
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  Speaker 3: and again... This is more money for every Nebraskan. If
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  Speaker 3: there's more money in the kitty, we still have a
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  Speaker 3: billion three in cash and general fund reserve for the record.
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  Speaker 3: We just got triple A credit rating last month, second
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  Speaker 3: year in a row.
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  Speaker 1: And you can't do better than that.
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  Speaker 3: And never before in the history of our state. So
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  Speaker 3: we're strong as an ox. We're running it like a government,
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  Speaker 3: like a business. The other side wants to spend more money.
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  Speaker 3: That's their solution. Everything is more money. We're not even
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  Speaker 3: back to this. the ridiculous things that happened during the pandemic.
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  Speaker 3: You know what that was like.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't even recover.
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  Speaker 3: Funny money being spent in things that should have never
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  Speaker 3: been in anybody's imagination. So I believe we got way
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  Speaker 3: too much government. We'll keep really working hard on that.
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  Speaker 3: There's no question– When you say no to people, it's
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  Speaker 3: not a high-validation sport. Let me tell you what. It
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  Speaker 3: wasn't a high-validation sport when Ozzie Newsom scored a touchdown
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  Speaker 3: over me as well. So, you know, you just do
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  Speaker 3: the best you can.
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  Speaker 1: But you always remember that, don't you?
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  Speaker 3: I've been trained.
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  Speaker 1: And you know those bond ratings.
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  Speaker 3: Actually, it was Kellen Winslow, not Ozzie Newsom. I got
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  Speaker 3: Ozzie Newsom.
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  Speaker 1: There you go. Now, and talk about that. You said
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  Speaker 1: the AAA bond rating. You know, the bond raters, they
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  Speaker 1: just don't look at your debt. They look at how
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  Speaker 1: you manage your debt.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
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  Speaker 1: That's what they're looking at. And so it's not that
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  Speaker 1: you're going to have your bond rating go down because
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  Speaker 1: you have debt or you have a budget shortfall. They're
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  Speaker 1: looking at how you manage it. And if you could
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  Speaker 1: get a AAA, you can't do any better than that.
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  Speaker 3: We've been rated in our first four years as one
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  Speaker 3: of the top two or three fiscally conservative governors in
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  Speaker 3: the nation and, you know, haven't I haven't gotten number
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  Speaker 3: one yet, but eventually we will.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about property taxes. I think I've always said
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  Speaker 1: in the state of Nebraska, in the city of Omaha,
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  Speaker 1: the number one issue was always my property taxes are
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  Speaker 1: too high. And you've talked about, even on your commercial,
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  Speaker 1: you say you have reduced property taxes 20%. But I
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  Speaker 1: dealt with the same thing. So that's why I want
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  Speaker 1: to ask you this, because I lowered the levy, but
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  Speaker 1: people in the city of Omaha five times, but people
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  Speaker 1: would come back and say, wait a minute, but my
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  Speaker 1: taxes didn't go down 20%. My taxes are still going up.
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  Speaker 1: Explain yourself, Mayor. Governor, explain. When you say I lowered
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  Speaker 1: the property taxes and people are coming back and saying,
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  Speaker 1: but mine are still high.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we took extra ARPA funds and made them an investment,
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  Speaker 3: number one, a billion dollars into what is called the
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  Speaker 3: Education Future Fund. I happen to believe that the state
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  Speaker 3: of Nebraska should be funding our children's education, not running
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  Speaker 3: their education, funding their education. So we increased funding to
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  Speaker 3: K-12 education, $ 350 million. And that went into a program
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  Speaker 3: called Foundation Aid, meeting every child across the state. That
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  Speaker 3: was dollar for dollar property tax relief. The other one
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  Speaker 3: is workforce development is gigantic. Everybody agrees. We believe that
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  Speaker 3: the state should fund our community colleges. Extraordinary things happen.
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  Speaker 3: the Schnaizel's leadership at Metro Community College and everyone else
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  Speaker 3: across the state, Randy's. So we've got the funding from
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  Speaker 3: the state for community colleges. That was another $ 350 million
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  Speaker 3: of state funds investing into community colleges to strengthen all
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  Speaker 3: of our community colleges. That was dollar for dollar property
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  Speaker 3: tax relief. So there's 700 million and challenging. I, with,
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  Speaker 3: To decrease spend locally. So that's the step, but not
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  Speaker 3: at all satisfied. We have to get 33 votes. We
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  Speaker 3: have to get everybody to understand what the definition of
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  Speaker 3: a tax cut is because we've been duped by special
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  Speaker 3: interest with sales tax exemptions for the last 45 years.
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  Speaker 3: There's sales tax exemption after exemption. So that's a decrease
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  Speaker 3: in revenue coming in. And if there's not a decrease
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  Speaker 3: in spend, that's the definition of a tax shift. So
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  Speaker 3: that's why we're third or fourth highest in the country
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  Speaker 3: on property taxes. And the majority of it is K-12 education.
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  Speaker 3: So the solution is simple. Fund K-12 education just like
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  Speaker 3: we did metro education. our community colleges, and we solve
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  Speaker 3: the property tax crisis. You and I, when we get
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  Speaker 3: older and don't work, we don't have to worry about
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  Speaker 3: being taxed out of our home because right now we
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  Speaker 3: have way too many people leave because they can't afford
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  Speaker 3: on a fixed income. The property taxes on the home
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  Speaker 3: they already paid for, it's criminal.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you brought up the sales tax exemptions. Is that
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  Speaker 1: something that you want the legislature to look at this year?
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  Speaker 1: Because it really wasn't looked at in the last session.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it was. We had some in our budget.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: In fixing the budget, we had some sources of revenue
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  Speaker 3: like pool cleaners, for crying out loud. I'm an advocate
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  Speaker 3: that we should be taking a look. You know, I
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  Speaker 3: have friends that are in the convenience store business. I said, Jim,
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  Speaker 3: It's crazy, the tax policy in the convenience stores across
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  Speaker 3: the state. If you go buy a bottle of pop,
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  Speaker 3: you pay no sales tax. It's been hot, so most
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  Speaker 3: of us have gone in and we bought a cup
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  Speaker 3: with ice and get a pop, and then we pay
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  Speaker 3: sales tax. Just think about trying to run that business,
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  Speaker 3: number one. Most of the people will say, Jim, sales tax,
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  Speaker 3: everything in my store, it doesn't matter. And then we
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  Speaker 3: can solve the property tax crisis. Services. We've become a
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  Speaker 3: service economy. We do not collect a penny in sales tax.
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  Speaker 3: I use an example. Believe it or not, Jean, I
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  Speaker 3: used to iron my own shirts.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe it.
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  Speaker 3: And now I complain when I go what I pay.
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  Speaker 1: At the dry cleaner.
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  Speaker 3: But the reality would be that I believe if I'm
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  Speaker 3: a young person, I'll iron my shirts and And decide
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  Speaker 3: where I'm going instead of being property taxed so I
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  Speaker 3: can't own a home.
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  Speaker 1: And you're talking about things like with services like haircuts
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  Speaker 1: and manicures and barbershops and things like that too.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, grooming your dog.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 3: You know, just all those simple things.
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  Speaker 1: I know you're a busy guy and we don't have
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  Speaker 1: a lot of time, but I wanted to get through
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  Speaker 1: these six things. priorities that you established. And then we
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  Speaker 1: do have some, knowing that you are going to be
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  Speaker 1: on the show today, we had some questions come in.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to answer it before we go off
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  Speaker 1: the air. So let's just briefly go through. There are
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  Speaker 1: six areas of focus that you're going to talk about
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  Speaker 1: in the Pill and Playbook 2.0. You just want to
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  Speaker 1: go through?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. You know, I think let's just kind of
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  Speaker 3: keep it wrapped up into kids' taxes, agriculture values. We
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  Speaker 3: have to. Education is a pathway to affordability. We've got
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  Speaker 3: to make sure every third grader reads. All of us
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  Speaker 3: want our children to be reading by first grade and
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  Speaker 3: for sure really well in second grade. We can't be
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  Speaker 3: advancing kids. Rule number one, obviously I just talked about
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  Speaker 3: reforming K-12 funding education and food and water. We have
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  Speaker 3: to feed our children. We have to improve the food
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  Speaker 3: in our schools and breakfasts for kids that are coming
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  Speaker 3: from tougher circumstances. And we've got– You know, we're really
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  Speaker 3: zeroed in on water quantity and water quality to preserve
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  Speaker 3: our extraordinary aquifer. When we talk about affordability and taxes,
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  Speaker 3: that's just simply simple things. We're not going to give
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  Speaker 3: the farm away like we have to the big tech
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  Speaker 3: data centers. No more tax incentives. We gave $ 350 million
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  Speaker 3: away to them, not criticizing anything, but they came here
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: because we're the cheapest electricity. Obviously, we have to address
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: our property insurance rates. a really big deal. We have
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: to challenge all of us, our friends and neighbors who
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: are in county government and school boards to make sure
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: that we're, we're being austere with our, our, and then obviously,
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: you know, we've got to make sure that we, we
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: have public power. It's an extraordinary advantage in the state,
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: but we have to protect rate payers. We can't be
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: given it up at the cost of big tech companies.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: And, And that's your number one. It says increasing affordability
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: in Nebraska and all those things you just talked about
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: goes under there. You also have stop hedge funds from
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: buying up our homes. That's something people have brought up
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: to me a lot. Is there anything we're going to do?
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: So I'm glad that's in there. Number two, you have
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: make Nebraska healthy again.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's just simple.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: The toxins in food and water.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: We have to stay out of the middle aisles of
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: grocery stores. All these processed foods that came about in
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: the 70s when Earl Butts was secretary of USDA, they're
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: not good for us. I call it starvation in the
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: midst of plenty. It's causing us to have comorbidities and obesity.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: So we have to put more energy and obviously water
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: quality is big across and we're investing money. We were
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: just in plain view today. help with the drinking water there.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: And this is something Senator Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: really focused on, too, as well as one of the
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: candidates for governor in Iowa, Zach Lane. That's one of
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: his main focuses.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: You know, water quality is a big deal and, you know, irrigation. And,
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: you know, we can pull the nitrates out, know how
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: much it is with technology, decrease the fertilizer in our
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: crops and make more money and improve our water quality.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: And we have to help with infrastructure across the state.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: And then your third focus is strengthening Nebraska workforce.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And without a shadow of a doubt, that's what
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: we've been doing, and we have to get it better
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: with our community colleges. If you want to check the
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: record of what enrollments have done since we've been funding
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: the others, we've been working very, very hard with jobs
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: across America, headquartered with Midlands here in Omaha. We're in
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: 90 different schools to help kids from circumstances so they
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: can see careers that maybe their circumstances don't, a key
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: part of workforce development.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: And obviously community colleges. They are our pathway for workforce
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: development for all the careers that are happening across the state.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Your number fourth area is defending Nebraska values. Boys out
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: of girls' boards, protecting life, protect Second Amendment, all of
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: those things.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: This is not Republican, Democrat, Gene. It is common sense.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Nine out of ten of us can't believe we're having
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: a conversation about keeping boys out of girls' sports. Some
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: have said, Pillon, you've overreacted. Well, I can tell you
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: in 23 there was the potential already of six boys
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: that were going to compete and girls stored through the
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Nebraska High School's Activities Association. Somebody's got to stand up,
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: and obviously foreign adversaries. Off at Air Force Base, I've
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: learned so much from General Cotton and Admiral Corral. We
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: have a problem with our foreign adversaries. We can't let down.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Chinese Communist Party Party.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: In here because they want to take us over.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: And then your fifth, we've already talked somewhat about this,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: but investing in Nebraska student success and that's about ensuring
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: every third grader can reach a grade level. We've already
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: talked a bit about that. You want to expand on that?
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Education is our pathway. Education is our pathway to affordability.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: Education is our lift up and make sure. My dream
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: is My dream– I can't do it in four years.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: We need four more years. My dream is Governor Nebraska
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: has set the foundation. If there's any place in the
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: world that can end poverty, we can do it in
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: Nebraska together because when Nebraskans come together and understand a problem,
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: we can get it done and we can do it
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: in Nebraska.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll 100% back you up on this because three
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: and a half years, you're just getting started. I mean,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: you need another term because you're– I mean, it takes
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: a while to really get things going and know what
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: the legislature is like working with, et cetera. And your
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: sixth one, though, is protecting Nebraska water and ag. And
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: we talked about that quite a bit, but protecting the
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: health of our aquifer and defending farmers.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: Nebraska is 95%– Food security is gigantic. A lot of
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: people take it for granted. But it's family farm security.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: There is so much happening. I just came from BioInnovations Conference.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: It's brought 600 people from literally all over the world.
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: It's about our perfect triangle where the goal of Nebraska Agriculture, Gene,
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: is that the vision is we don't export commodities. We
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: use every kernel of corn. We process that in ethanol
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: and through livestock. fuels, and now there'll be energy being produced,
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: renewable natural gas is being produced from livestock. So we
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: defend it because there's crazies that believe in animal liberalism,
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: that we can continue to grow it. We're having warp
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: speed growth, carbon capture in no other state for ethanol,
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: and then we sell it all over the world. And
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: I've been on a lot of trade missions. I was
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: just in Japan and the Philippines five, six weeks ago. Ethanol, fuel,
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: we have the highest value. And now all the bioeconomy,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: all the things that we're making from carbon above the
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: ground instead of your soaps, surfactants, plastics. Over at Blair,
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: there's a German company that is making a type of
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: biodegradable plastic to replace plastic bottles. So we're having an
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: incredible impact. Nebraska corn, through ethanol, having an incredible impact
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: on changing the world.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: And talking about Nebraska products, I had about a week
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: ago Jacqueline Wilson, who's the owner of Wilson Flying Diamond Ranch,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: and we were talking about the beef. You did have
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: a conversation with the president about what he was planning
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: to do. And I think because of all of the
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: input from the cattlemen and from the farmers, the president
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: is willing to hold off and listen.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah. You know, I think, Gene, you would agree with this.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: I find it really fascinating in this business how so
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: many people get elected and they want their voice heard,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: so then they go negative and start attacking people in public.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's so common.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: I don't understand it.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: It drives me crazy.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: Anybody, when I'm a business person, I love people. Anybody
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: that attacks in business, they go broke. And so, you know,
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: I've not agreed with everything with the president, but I
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: certainly didn't go out and attack him like most everybody
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: else did. That gave me a front row seat. That
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: gave me the opportunity to sit down. And I told
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: him exactly how I saw it. And I said, Mr. President, Mr. President,
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: just so you know, it will not change the price
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: of beef. I'm grateful you're trying to lower the price,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: but you're going on the wrong thing. Whoever told you that,
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: and I got a rough idea, duped you, and I
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: gave him some ideas, I connected. And the you know,
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: the point that's really, really important. I just said, Mr. President,
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: you shot all of us in the livestock industry right
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: between the eyes with that. And, and, you know, with
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: all due respect and, uh, you know, I was, I
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: was grateful. He said, if it does not lower price,
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: I will rescind this, this import.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Uh, the important thing is he's listening, you know, governor.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: He listened, he listened and, uh, you know, um, had
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: a great conversation after that, uh, with him about Tom Osborne.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: And you'll love this. He said, Tom Osborne, how many
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: championships did he win? I said, well, Mr. President, he
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: won three. And he said, you know what I loved
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: about Tom Osborne? You'll love this. He said, he was
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: one of the best coaches ever And he wanted no
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: personal attention.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: That was him.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: I said, you're right, Mr.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: President.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: That was him.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: You know, there's a phrase that I use a lot,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: and it's politics is about the art of winning. And
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: I really believe that's true. It's not just winning a race,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: but it's winning the people that you're working with over
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: to convince them to work together, to achieve something.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: You know, and it's the exact same way in business.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Our family's been very blessed. I never gave an edict
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: in my life. It was the whole art of business
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: to grow a business and be successful is influencing and
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: having an impact on how people see things. And if
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: you keep selling and you keep influencing and people know
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: how much you care. It's the same way now.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: It's the same way now.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: People that have personal agendas, that one's pretty tough to
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: break through that.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: We've got a couple questions that came in knowing you
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: were going to be here. Let's do those quickly if
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: we could. Peyton, why don't you– Absolutely. Peyton's here. Governor
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Jim Pillen, thank you for joining us.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: Omaha, check. Check, check.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Omaha, Omaha.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Live in studio here on the KFAB Comment Line. This
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: comes from KFAB listeners. And a pretty simple question here.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Governor Jim Pillen– Why do you refuse to publicly debate
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: your opponents, which has been a longtime tradition in the state?
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: You know, I've said it from day one. I'm not
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: a politician. I'm about leadership. I've seen debates and none
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: of that ever comes out. It's just political theater and
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: I don't participate in it. If you think, you know,
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: I just don't participate. I don't believe in it.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: And I've done plenty of debates. The first time I
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: ran for mayor, I did 18, if you could believe it.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: And my staff was going, don't do all those debates.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: But you are right. It is theater. That's all it is.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: And you hear your opponents say things that are just–
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: And what is happening in the audiences now, what's happened
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: to Mike Flood at some of his town hall, it's ridiculous.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I'm out everywhere. I'm going to be
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: all over the state. I'll be later in the day
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: in Grand Island and Kearney and Hastings and northeast Nebraska tomorrow.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: So I'm out amongst people all the time. I've been
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: doing it almost six years.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: And answering questions.
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: Totally.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, on the campaign trail, When you have an
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: extraordinary– we have historic. We have over 7,000 supporters, historic
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: support across the state. Well, guess what? When you're in
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: front of– on the campaign trail, I had five events
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: every day, six days a week for 20 months.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Oh, it wears you out.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: And, you know, I was like a piece of iron.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: I was heated. I was chiseled on. I was melded.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: I was formed. But it helped me be much more ready.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: And you expect it. to be governor of the great
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: state of Nebraska.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: One more quick question about, somebody had a question about
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: exodus from small.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this one's a real quick one. Uh, governor Jim Pillan,
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: what do you think of the exodus of people from
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: small rural towns? This includes the lack of non-farm jobs,
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: the closure of a lot of businesses, uh, ultimately the
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: fact that young people are a majority of those leaving
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: rural Nebraska.
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, let me tell you what, uh, let me
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: tell you to go to Lee, Nebraska, go to Lee, Nebraska, uh,
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: The agrarian society created technology and not as many jobs
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: on the farm. But there's plenty of communities because of
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: the bioeconomy, because of the cattle growth. There's extraordinary communities
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: across the state that are growing. Go to Clearwater, Nebraska,
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: and their theme is come back home, and they're growing. Lee, Nebraska,
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: they joined with a neighboring town nine years ago and
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: a total of 300 between the two. They pulled back.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: This year they have 350 kids in their school. So,
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: and it takes, for those things to happen, it takes
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: leadership at each community. So there's some communities that people
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: aren't stepping up and getting at the table. That's not
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: state government's job. We can put things in place and
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: help grow and make sure we have carbon capture pipeline,
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: create more more value for corn. Our cattle industry, we grew,
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: move over Texas, we're way number one. Our cattle industry growing,
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: our ethanol industry growing. So we've put a lot of
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: policy in place to be able to make that happen.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: But every community still got to make that happen. I
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: believe this. We ain't seen. We are posed with the bioeconomy,
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: with cattle, corn, dairy growth, manufacturing growth. Every manufacturing estate,
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: that has businesses in other places, guess where their best
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: one is? Nebraska. So as the supply chain gets fixed
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: and more investments come, yeah, and it's turning. The numbers
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: have stopped, and the brain gain, you know, we've got
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: a scholarship better, and we've started that as well.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Governor, Jim Pellin, Governor, the great state of Nebraska, as
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Willie Nelson says, you're on the road again. And so
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: off you go. I know you're in a hurry, but
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: one real quick question. I've got to ask you this
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: before you leave. How about those Huskers?
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: I'm really excited. Well, number one, we have the greatest
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: women's volleyball program of all time. Those Huskers are extraordinary.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: This is breaking news this morning as well. The number one.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: And two teams in NCAA volleyball is the Huskers' number
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: one team and number two team.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: No kidding. Holy cow.
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: They're the two best teams. But the Husker football, you know,
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: Suzanne says just be quiet. I have great hope. I
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: was really encouraged because what took place in that game, Ohio,
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: they pay their players too. And, you know, back in
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: the day with Coach, we didn't ever worry about the
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: score in the first and second quarter. Football doesn't quite
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: work that way all the time. We knew we would
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: pound the soup out of it. We didn't care who
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: we played. We knew that we would be superior in
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: the third and fourth quarter, and that was great to see.
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: That was great to see this last Saturday.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Like I said, you're just getting started. There you go.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Governor Jim Pillen, thank you so much for being here today.
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: Great to see you.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: I want to thank Governor Jim Pillen for being on
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: the show again. And he was in the studio, so
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: we're very grateful. I know he's a very busy guy.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Everybody is right now with the— The election being about
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: six and a half weeks from now, there's a lot
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: going on and a lot to pay attention to. We
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: did have some more calls and questions that we didn't
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: quite get to. Peyton, is there anything that you want
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: to read right now that people are just curious about?
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: If I can answer them, I will, but.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Jean, and maybe you have a unique perspective about this,
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: maybe not across the entire state, but certainly for a city.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: And.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: The age on the question that I'm going to bring
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: up is a little bit of a discussion. But regardless,
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: here's the question. You can reach out to us, 402-558-1110,
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: or email us, comment at kfab.com. This one comes from
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: Mark in the email inbox. On a question of property tax,
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: why can't we pass a law that for anyone, and
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: let's say over the age of 65, maybe 68, don't
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: pay property tax on their property that they've paid for
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: Their whole life. Somebody else, Ben, says, why can't we
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: create a property tax exemption for anyone who's paid property
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: taxes for 30 plus years and who's over the age
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: of 70? So the age I don't think is the
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: relevant part of the conversation.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: But what about. an exemption when you hit that certain age. Well,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: you know, when you talk about property tax reform, these
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: are items that you obviously are discussing and can discuss.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: The thing about property taxes is there's so much property
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: taxes are levied locally. You know, when the governor says,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: I want to lower the property taxes here, He understands
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: that the levy is set locally. I've said this many times.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: When you pay your property tax bill right here in Omaha,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: 62% goes to your public schools. The school board levies
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: those taxes. 22% goes to the city of Omaha. The
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: mayor recommends and the city council approves. 12.5% goes to
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Douglas County. All those levies are set locally. But what
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: the governor is talking about are things that you can
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: do by state statute. And these are the exact things
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: you are talking about right now that you could do
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: by state statute. I mean, one of the things that
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: they could do by state statute, for instance, is they
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: could more regulate about your valuations of your house, like
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: how much they go up per year or what is
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: a maximum limit they could go up per year. Or
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: another thing when you're talking about when you reach a
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: certain age or Should you not be paying property taxes
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: on a house you've been paying property taxes on your
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: whole life? Or maybe at that point, is that something
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: when you can say your valuation, once you reach a
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: certain age, won't go up anymore and you will never
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: pay any more than what you're paying now? There's numerous
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: things that they could look at and what they need
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: to look at is what other states have done too.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: But there has never been a state that has completely
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: eliminated property tax. There's been that big discussion about the
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: epic tax, which is really dependent on sales tax. And
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: their big selling point is, is if you raise sales
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: tax to a certain amount, which is outrageous. I mean,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: the newest figures are it would be about 24, 25%
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: sales tax on on even a new house. But they
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: are trying to sell it to say, then you won't
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: have to pay any property taxes. But there has never
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: been a state that has completely eliminated the property taxes.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: So that's a bit up in the air. But what
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: they need to look at is things that they can
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: control by state statute, understanding that the levy is set locally.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: That's a good point, Jean. And it kind of sounds like, too,
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: it's not a one one shoe fits all here. And
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: it's a process of doing a few different things. And
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: I think this is a big conversation we can get
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: into as the week goes on. Governor Jim Pellin talked
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: about sales tax and some new ideas with sale tax.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: And it's the exemptions. And, you know, we have billions
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: of dollars worth of sales tax exemptions in the state
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: of Nebraska. When Governor Heinemann was governor, he really was
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: looking at that really, really deeply. about things that are
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: sales tax exempt, and maybe not just eliminate those exemptions
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: but reduce some of those exemptions, would bring gazillions of
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: dollars more into the state. But then it depends on
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: whose ox you're going to go on. If agriculture, for example,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: has a lot of sales tax exemptions, but do you
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: want to make being a farmer or being in agriculture
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: more and more expensive?
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: No.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: In the state of Nebraska, when that's one of our
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: biggest exports. So again, it's whose ox you're going to gore.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: But then the governor brought up the services. You know,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: you go get your hair cut, Peyton, or you go
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: get a manicure, Peyton, which I'm sure you do all
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: the time. Frequently. Yeah, no, I do. But anyway, I mean,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: these kind of, you're dog grooming. I mean, there's certain
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: things that you don't pay sales tax on. Food, I
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: would never want to push paying sales tax on food.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: But like the governor brought up, If you go to
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: a convenience store and you buy a Coke, there's no
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: sales tax. But if you buy a cup of ice,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: there is for the Coke to go into. So that
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: really needs a lot of scrutiny. Now, the thing of
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: it is, though, is getting it past 49 legislators. which
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: immediately gets their danders up because if they look at
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: eliminating some sales tax exemption, those legislators will say, uh-uh,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: I will be accused of raising taxes. Absolutely.
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: We're going to get one phone call in here. This
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: is Randy. You are now live with Gene Stothert here
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: on KFAB.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Hello. Good morning.
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: Good morning, Gene. Thank you for being such a wonderful
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: mayor all those years. You were the Cadillac of all mayors.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Why, thank you.
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: And Yes, and I truly mean it. And here it is.
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: I can't even vote for you, but living in Carter Lake,
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: we can see firsthand who you are and your heart
• 37:49
  Speaker 4: for Omaha. Thank you for your interview with Governor Pillen today.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: Excellent.
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: So good.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: And he is the real deal. You can tell his
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: heart as well. And hoping for Breaker Harding to get
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: in there as well.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Both great men, both of them, Brinker Harding and the governor. And,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: you know, like I said to the governor, too, he's
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: been governor three and a half years. You could tell
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: by what he was saying today, his mind is so
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: full of what he thinks is good for the state
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: of Nebraska. It's true. You're just getting started, three and
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: a half years. Two terms sometimes I don't think is enough.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: I got to tell you a quick story about me.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: After the end of my first term, I had a
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: big supporter, and I'll tell you who it was. May
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: he rest in peace, Mike Yanny. He was a big
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: supporter of mine. He lived on the top of the
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: Woodman building. And at the end of my first term,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: I was going to run for a second term. And
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: I went up there and he goes, you know, Gene,
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to support you this time because let
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: me take you over to the window and let me
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: look out over downtown Omaha. And I walked over there
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: and he said, there should be cranes everywhere. There should
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: be business and building and construction everywhere. And there's nothing.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: And I remember I said, Mike, I'm just getting started.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I need another term. At the end of my second term,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: when I was running for my third, I went back
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: to Mike Yanny's apartment and we went up to that
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: window again. I go, Mike, come over here. And I go,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: now look. I go, now there's cranes everywhere. Really, really,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, eight years, you can get a lot done.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: Three and a half years, you're just getting rolling.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: Gene Stothert, the host of the KFAB Comment Line. My
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: name is Peyton Highlock. More to come wrapping up the
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: show next. Gene Stothert in the KFAB Comment Line. My
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: name is Peyton Highlock. Interview with Governor Jim Pillen in
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: the first half an hour of this show. That will
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: be podcasted on KFAB.com, Gene Stothert and the KFAB comment
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: line alongside every single episode of this show. So go
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: take a listen to that if you missed it or
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: you would like to listen to it again.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: And Peyton, when do you usually get those up? By
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: around noon?
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: By around noon. This one with Pillen today is going
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: to be a quick turnaround. Got to get that one
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: out quick. And I have one question for you, Gene,
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: as we're wrapping up the show. This was common at KFAB.com,
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: and this came from Tom. Jean, the other day you
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: criticized Denise Powell for drawing comparisons between Brinker Harding and MAGA. Well,
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: guess who's paying $ 25, 000 to go to the midterm Republican
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: convention in Dallas to kiss Trump's feet?
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: One guess. and it's not Denise Powell. Okay, Tom, really?
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Number one, this is what the governor and I were
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: just talking about, about when you talk about politics now,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: people are throwing out false accusations and saying things that
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: they don't know really the truth in what they're saying.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Number one, how do you know? I know you're talking
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: about Brinker Harding, but how do you know he's spending $ 25, 000?
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: I've been down to Dallas many times, and it didn't
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: cost me $ 25, 000. And for you to say he's going
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: down to kiss Trump's feet, you made that up in
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: your own mind. Brinker Harding, if he– I didn't even
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: know he was going down there. But if he's going
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: down there, this is the midterm Republican convention, and the
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: whole intent was to energize the Republicans. get them engaged,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: get them excited, and to go out and support Republican
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: candidates all over the country. That's the purpose of this.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: The purpose is not to go down there and kiss
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump's feet, for heaven's sake. I don't think I'd
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: want to kiss Donald Trump's feet. Well, heaven's sakes, no.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: This is not the reason that they are having this convention.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: The governor and I talked about this. The voter turnout
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: is unbelievably low all over the country. And what we
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: are seeing is Republicans staying home because they're frustrated and
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: socialists and communists getting elected. And that is the last
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: thing the old. Standard GOP wants to see. So there's
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: a lot more people going down to Dallas and are
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: down to Dallas than Brinker Harding. And to say that
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: they're just going down there to kiss Donald Trump's feet
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: is just a false statement. And that is it for
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: us today. I'm going on a rant about this right now.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: But thank you again to Governor Jim Pillen for being
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: in the studio with us. Thank you all for spending
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: this hour with us. We'll talk a lot more about
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: this issues and these issues and many issues, whatever you
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: want to talk about tomorrow. So we'd love for you
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: to join us again tomorrow. I'm Jean Stothert and this
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: is 1110 KFAB.