Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Omaha Politics & RINOs

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Omaha Politics & RINOs · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: Guest today, Brett Linstrom, Good morning, good morning, thanks for
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Speaker 1: being here today. And no everybody knows who Brett is,
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Speaker 1: but Brett, you are a financial advisor. You're a former
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Speaker 1: state legislator. A legislator. You went into the legislature in
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Speaker 1: twenty fourteen. I think you were known in the legislature
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Speaker 1: for pushing bills that reduced the state income text including
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Speaker 1: social Security. Good for you. You were running. You did
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Speaker 1: run for governor in the past, came in third. And
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Speaker 1: you know, I always say, it doesn't matter if you
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Speaker 1: came in third or second. You win, you lose. My
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Speaker 1: last election, I came in second, I lost.
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Speaker 2: That's it. That's all there is.
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Speaker 3: It's how you do it.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, it's how you do it. But you know,
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Speaker 1: politics is about the art of winning. And I think
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Speaker 1: we could even talk about that. But you were running
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Speaker 1: for Congressional District two up until January of twenty six
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Speaker 1: and then you surprised us all and you backed out
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Speaker 1: of the race. And then you switched your party registration
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Speaker 1: from Republican to nonpartisan. And you did this before. I
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Speaker 1: find this curious. Hopefully we'll get to that. The filing
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Speaker 1: deadline for non incumbent candidates to run for office. So
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Speaker 1: you've been a Republican since about two thousand. What I
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Speaker 1: could find you did say when people ask you why
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Speaker 1: you switched parties, you said you no longer wanted to
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Speaker 1: deal with the divisiveness of modern politics and you didn't
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Speaker 1: fit into this political environment.
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Speaker 2: So let's talk a little bit about that.
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Speaker 1: Because this political environment, take it from somebody who knows,
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Speaker 1: is it's different than it's ever been, and it's more difficult,
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Speaker 1: and it's it's it's really really challenging right now for
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Speaker 1: anybody in politics.
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Speaker 2: So talk about it.
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Speaker 1: Let's talk about why why you were running, because you
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Speaker 1: were very committed to running, why you dropped out, and
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Speaker 1: why you switch party affiliations.
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Speaker 3: And I think you're right, it's been. It's as polarized
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Speaker 3: as I can remember on the and think of two thousand.
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Speaker 3: I think, actually it might have been nineteen ninety nine
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Speaker 3: was when I was a registered Republican and then you know,
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Speaker 3: decided back in January or February to reregister as a
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Speaker 3: nonpartisan and getting I've been around politics since about fifteen
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Speaker 3: years when I first first ran, and I didn't know
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Speaker 3: much about politics. I was pretty naive at the time,
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Speaker 3: but it wasn't as polarized as it is now. The
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Speaker 3: first couple of years in the legislature wasn't as polarized,
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Speaker 3: and then we've continued to progress towards this point that
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Speaker 3: we are currently, and I've tried to always operate working
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Speaker 3: with different people, different walks of life. We're growing up
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Speaker 3: in Omaha for the for the most part, Omaha is
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Speaker 3: unique in a lot of ways. But I have friends
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Speaker 3: that sit on the other side of the eye. We
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Speaker 3: have conversations, we have civil discourse, and we've lost a
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Speaker 3: lot of that, and I could not keep going down
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Speaker 3: that path under what may have been expected of me
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Speaker 3: with the new environment, and that ultimately led to me
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Speaker 3: suspending the campaign and just reassessing what this actually is,
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Speaker 3: what am I participating in and if I'm participating in that,
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Speaker 3: what's that outcome if you're successful? And yeah, you do
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Speaker 3: want to win if you're running an election or win
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Speaker 3: an election or while you're running, but if you do win,
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Speaker 3: then what's required to do that? And so I had
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Speaker 3: to step back and reassess what does that even mean?
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Speaker 3: And I couldn't continue down that path and ultimately switched
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Speaker 3: to the nonpartisan side, And what I found was that
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Speaker 3: a lot of individuals not only reached out after the suspension,
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Speaker 3: I received fifty plus text maybe more, and then after
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Speaker 3: I switched nonpartisan, and even to this day, yesterday, I
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Speaker 3: still am receiving texts from people. Text is about what,
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Speaker 3: just inquiring about the future politically with a lot with
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Speaker 3: the coffees that I've had over the last several months,
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Speaker 3: it's been more across the politic and across the political
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Speaker 3: spectrum with different people and talking about what is it,
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Speaker 3: what is this? What does it all look like from
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Speaker 3: a political standpoint, Because most people, I think can can
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Speaker 3: get along and talk through issues and have that healthy
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Speaker 3: dialogue and friction that just doesn't seem to exist right now.
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Speaker 3: And that's why I'm out talking a little bit more
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Speaker 3: about it, because I want to make sure people know
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Speaker 3: that they're not alone.
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Speaker 2: Are people encouraging you to run for another office.
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Speaker 3: Then yeah, I've had people encourage me to run. That
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Speaker 3: started a little while ago, about a year ago. Someone
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Speaker 3: called me and I didn't think much of it at
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Speaker 3: the time because I had heard that Congressman Bacon may
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Speaker 3: decide not to rerun, and in that race four years ago,
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Speaker 3: we had done very well in Douglas and Sarpy County,
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Speaker 3: and did fairly well in Saunders County, So mathematically it
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Speaker 3: made sense that maybe go down that path. Then started
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Speaker 3: down that path, and I had received some different calls
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Speaker 3: in different groups that had talked to me about maybe
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Speaker 3: challenging the city and governor in the primary. I was
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Speaker 3: still thinking about all these things from a philosophical standpoint
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Speaker 3: and ultimately chose not to do that. And March first
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Speaker 3: came and went, and things have started to pick up
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Speaker 3: more and more now with people reaching out saying do
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Speaker 3: you have interest in this? And there's are you procedural things?
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Speaker 2: Are you considering running for governor?
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Speaker 3: I'm still having conversations. There is a time frame around
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Speaker 3: this August. August first is the deadline for when you
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Speaker 3: have to make that choice. There is one procedural thing
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Speaker 3: that has to be done and that's through the petition process.
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Speaker 3: And I did have to go read through that. I
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Speaker 3: was not aware and it really wasn't on my radar
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Speaker 3: because the conversations that people had brought up to me
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Speaker 3: was more on the Republican primary. And I had a
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Speaker 3: former colleague actually and a few others talk to me
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Speaker 3: about this game theory, for lack of a better term,
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Speaker 3: on what this looks like. And so I did my
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Speaker 3: research and looked at it. And so I'm still exploring
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Speaker 3: that but not ready to necessarily make a decision. And
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Speaker 3: even if you collect the petitions, you still can assess
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Speaker 3: what it all looks like.
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Speaker 2: And that decision, Brettlinstrom is with us today.
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Speaker 1: So you are still considering a run for governor as
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Speaker 1: an independent, but you have not made a decision yet.
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Speaker 3: I haven't made a decision. And what's been interesting about
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Speaker 3: removing myself from the party structure is given me a
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Speaker 3: lot of flexibility to really rethink what this all looks like,
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Speaker 3: even from a policy standpoint, from a philosophical standpoint.
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Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about that a little bit, because you know,
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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two when you ran.
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Speaker 2: For governor, I supported you.
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Speaker 1: I did a commercial with you, and you know, and
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Speaker 1: we talked a lot about being a Republican, and I said,
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Speaker 1: you know, I thought you and I were similar and
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Speaker 1: that we would I would consider us more moderate Republicans.
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Speaker 1: We weren't the far far right Republican. I'm the mayor,
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Speaker 1: I was the mayor of the Blue dot. I mean
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Speaker 1: I could not be a far far, far right Republican
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Speaker 1: and when in the city of Omaha. But I thought
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Speaker 1: it was so important for Omaha to have a Republican mayor,
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Speaker 1: one that cared about taxes, one that cared about law enforcement,
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Speaker 1: one that cared about a smaller government.
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Speaker 2: You know, all of those things were really important to me.
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Speaker 2: But I bet I.
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Speaker 1: Couldn't win Omaha without a lot of Democrat votes and
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Speaker 1: without a lot of independent votes. And I think, and
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Speaker 1: I think you were, you were feeling the same way
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Speaker 1: I was.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, Douglas County has more registered Democrats than real
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Speaker 3: they do several thousand.
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Speaker 1: I think it's more like twenty thousand. Now has it
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Speaker 1: might have changed Omaha.
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Speaker 3: Omaha it self. Yeah, so Douglas County is I think
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Speaker 3: few thousand. And I think that's an expectation from people
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Speaker 3: that not only live here but across the state. Is
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Speaker 3: we do have that independent streak that runs through us,
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Speaker 3: and we do have that one degree of separation no
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Speaker 3: matter where you go. And there are points in time
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Speaker 3: where politics gets to the edges, and again we're there
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Speaker 3: right now. And so even the if you want to
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Speaker 3: consider things far right far left, if you go back
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Speaker 3: twenty five, forty fifty years ago, that wasn't to the
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Speaker 3: level that it is even right now. But I will
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Speaker 3: say people have been stretched far enough where I do
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Speaker 3: think that they're ready to start thinking philosophically differently. And
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Speaker 3: those are the conversations really twofold is what does that
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Speaker 3: stability look like in our political environment? Is it being
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Speaker 3: done right now? I'd argue, no, there's nothing that I
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Speaker 3: can see that is creating stability. But how does that
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Speaker 3: lead into maybe an opportunity for all of us to
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Speaker 3: participate in creating that stability, especially elected leaders, and through
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Speaker 3: that policy, through that lens, ultimately creating purpose for people
9:33
Speaker 3: where at any given time you may have seventy to
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Speaker 3: eighty percent of people caught in the crossfire, and the
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Speaker 3: communication that they tend to stay a little bit more
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Speaker 3: quiet now you see it on TV, social media. Really
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Speaker 3: people on more of the outsides during the pot but
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Speaker 3: that's not where most people are. Nebraskans are not divided,
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Speaker 3: but there are people that are benefiting from creating more
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Speaker 3: and more divisions.
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Speaker 1: One are the things Linstrom is here in the studio today.
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Speaker 1: You said you didn't want to defend things you didn't
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Speaker 1: believe in you said that that's a quote from you
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Speaker 1: give me an example of that.
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Speaker 4: Uh.
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Speaker 3: There there were certain things I was seeing in the
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Speaker 3: campaign that were making from from not even the congressional side,
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Speaker 3: but there was parts of it there where they were
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Speaker 3: stepping outside of what the policy bounds may be. I mean,
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Speaker 3: you can have a discussion around immigration, but what that
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Speaker 3: all looks like, and there's there's back and forth, and
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Speaker 3: not everybody's going to get one hundred percent of what
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Speaker 3: they want. But they were taking people were taking a
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Speaker 3: step further. There were maybe a Facebook post where someone
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Speaker 3: was making a mockery out of a certain demographic. There
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Speaker 3: was a communication with say the Cornhusker clink and I
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Speaker 3: think making taking even that term and putting it out there.
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Speaker 1: Don't you see that in every campaign? I mean, good lord,
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Speaker 1: the things that were that about me.
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Speaker 3: Well, but it doesn't make it right, No.
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Speaker 2: It doesn't. But you know, it's it's so hard to
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Speaker 2: get away from it.
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Speaker 5: You know.
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Speaker 2: When the first time I ran for mayor, that was
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Speaker 2: in twenty thirteen, there were some horrible things being said
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Speaker 2: about me that were not true. It made national news,
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Speaker 2: I remember, and.
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Speaker 1: I unfortunately everybody did, and I even talked to an
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Speaker 1: attorney that taught defamation down at Creighton and I said,
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Speaker 1: can I sue them for this?
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Speaker 2: For slander or libel?
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Speaker 1: And he looked at me and he said, Jeane, there
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Speaker 1: is not a judge in the country that would take
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Speaker 1: a slander or a libel case in a political campaign.
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Speaker 1: You just expect it. And I thought, this is what
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Speaker 1: it's coming to. And this is in twenty thirteen.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, this is I mean, politics is a little bit
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Speaker 3: of the wild West.
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Speaker 2: Oh, it's a crazy town.
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Speaker 3: Very few rules right in campaigns.
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Speaker 1: And let me bring this up to and I think
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Speaker 1: of so many of the in campaigns, the commercials are
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Speaker 1: just to confuse the voters.
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Speaker 2: That's what I can't stand.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, will people are busy, right, They're going about their
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Speaker 3: lives or taking care of the kids, or going to
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Speaker 3: different events and working, and so really some people just
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Speaker 3: completely check out. I would say a lot of people
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Speaker 3: are checked out right now. They don't need leaders or
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Speaker 3: politicians adding to the stress of what they already can and.
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Speaker 2: That's a concern.
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Speaker 1: I mean the mayor's race, the last one I was
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Speaker 1: in that I lost twenty eight percent voter turnout, and
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Speaker 1: you know the primary is coming up next Tuesday. And
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Speaker 1: what I hear from a lot of people is I'm
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Speaker 1: not even voting in the primary. I'll wait to see
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Speaker 1: who gets through. Well, you want to vote to make
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Speaker 1: sure the right people get through. I lost a legislative race,
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Speaker 1: if you recall, in two thousand and six against Steve
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Speaker 1: Lathrop by fourteen votes. I lost on a recount. Every
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Speaker 1: vote does count.
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Speaker 2: Oh.
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Speaker 3: I say that to the fourth graders, even when they
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Speaker 3: come over the legislature and people go, well, my vote
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Speaker 3: doesn't count. Oh, yes, several examples one of those.
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Speaker 2: Use of me I have, I have, I know.
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Speaker 3: I know, but it does matter. And I think people
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Speaker 3: just need to start talking a little bit more about
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Speaker 3: because we don't have to settle for that that doesn't
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Speaker 3: because there are no rules, and it really takes people
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Speaker 3: to start talking about what we're willing to accept and
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Speaker 3: what we're not willing to accept it. I just am not.
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Speaker 3: I don't subscribe that we have to accept the environment
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Speaker 3: that we are living in right now, and if we
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Speaker 3: choose not to do that, it will create a huge
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Speaker 3: amount of opportunity for us, for the state that separates
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Speaker 3: us apart, where maybe the rest of the country throws
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Speaker 3: their hands up and said, well, this is what we
13:37
Speaker 3: got and this is what we're just in it. We
13:40
Speaker 3: don't have to choose to do that. And that's where
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Speaker 3: I started to get to the point several months ago
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Speaker 3: where I just decided I'm not going to choose to
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Speaker 3: do that, and now just talking about that because of
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Speaker 3: those conversations I've had for a long time, and even
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Speaker 3: in the legislature, That's how I tried to operate was
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Speaker 3: sometimes different people will get mad at me because I
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Speaker 3: maybe didn't see that they're way one hundred percent of
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Speaker 3: the time or different groups. But I always tried to
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Speaker 3: articulate or do the research, so I had my reasons
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Speaker 3: for it. And I think if you can provide the reasons,
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Speaker 3: people tend to give you the benefit of the doubt, even
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Speaker 3: if they may disagree.
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Speaker 1: And it's so typical anymore though these like I watched
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Speaker 1: a little bit on the news last night about the
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Speaker 1: California debate and it was like it was like raccoons
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Speaker 1: fighting over food and a dumpster. I mean, it was crazy.
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Speaker 1: They were going after each other like clips. Goodness, let's
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Speaker 1: talk about the congressional race. So that you were in that,
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Speaker 1: you have dropped out of Brinker Harding is the Republican
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Speaker 1: that we'll get through since you dropped out this. Denise
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Speaker 1: Powell is one that I just I'm scratching my head
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Speaker 1: over because she has so many commercials. I had the
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Speaker 1: TV on the other day for thirty minutes and there
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Speaker 1: were five commercials. And you know, if you listen to
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Speaker 1: her commercials. Again, when I think people try to confuse
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Speaker 1: you in political campaigns, if you would listen to her commercials.
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Speaker 1: She has been the leader in Omaha on just about
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Speaker 1: everything over the last I don't know how long. And
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Speaker 1: in Congress, her commercials will say she will take care
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Speaker 1: of everything single handedly. I've never heard of her. I
15:19
Speaker 1: have never heard of Denise Powell until now, and as
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Speaker 1: mayor twelve years and on council four years before that.
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Speaker 1: I go to everything there is in Omaha. I've never
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Speaker 1: heard of her. And this is what is so frustrating
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Speaker 1: for me, as a former candidate, to see these things
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Speaker 1: going on that are in calling John Cavanaugh, who you know,
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Speaker 1: he's a Democrat, has that very very well known name.
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Speaker 1: I don't mind John Cavanaugh. He was very nice working
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Speaker 1: with me as a Republican.
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Speaker 3: I served him a couple of years. If somebody would
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Speaker 3: have told me that John Cavana would be labeled.
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Speaker 2: As Mega what she is on her commercial.
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Speaker 1: Why, I mean, this is just out and out trying
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Speaker 1: to confuse people and lie to people. And this is
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Speaker 1: this is an example I think of what you're talking about.
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Speaker 3: It is because well it's an Yeah, it's an example
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Speaker 3: of that. I think one of the things that you
16:16
Speaker 3: have to there's a lot of transparency that goes into
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Speaker 3: a campaign, and what you're talking about is the issues
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Speaker 3: that matter to people. The confusion is a political game.
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Speaker 3: That's why I always appreciated campaigns that just talked about, hey,
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Speaker 3: we we identify an issue. We're listening to you, the
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Speaker 3: people of the voters. Here are my solutions to accomplish
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Speaker 3: those things and what I want to do and work
16:45
Speaker 3: with different groups to do that. That's what. Yeah, it's
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Speaker 3: what frustrates me about campaigns, not not that it's it's
16:53
Speaker 3: been that way off and on over time. I mean
16:57
Speaker 3: you go back a long long time and there's been uh,
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Speaker 3: attack ads and things of that nature. I just I
17:04
Speaker 3: guess I've tried to just stick to the policies because
17:08
Speaker 3: at the end of the end of the day, that
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Speaker 3: is what matters to people. It's politicians come and go.
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Speaker 3: You have a certain amount of time there and you
17:15
Speaker 3: try to do the best that you can with that
17:17
Speaker 3: given time. But then people move on, different things happen.
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Speaker 3: So you need to talk about how how am I
17:24
Speaker 3: going to address this issue right now that matters to
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Speaker 3: the to the people of the state, the district.
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Speaker 2: Let me ask you this, will you endorse Will you
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Speaker 2: endorse Franker Harding.
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Speaker 3: I'm staying out of all of it.
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Speaker 2: You won't endorse the Democrat or the Republican I'm understanding.
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Speaker 3: I'm staying out. And the reason I'm staying out is
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Speaker 3: if I do decide to jump in or do the race,
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Speaker 3: I don't think I'd be sending the right message with
17:54
Speaker 3: the stability aspect or part of that philosophy if I
17:58
Speaker 3: were to do that. You know, the ideas that I'm
18:02
Speaker 3: trying to talk about are that are the stability and opportunity,
18:06
Speaker 3: and that'll take people working together. And if I undermine
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Speaker 3: that at this given time by saying I'm gonna endorse whomever,
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Speaker 3: then it doesn't accomplish that, and I want to I'm
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Speaker 3: just going to stay out of that.
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Speaker 1: Brett Linstrom is with us today in the studio. If
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Speaker 1: you don't run for governor, will you endorse Governor Pillen
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Speaker 1: or will you endorse Lynn Waltz.
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Speaker 3: No, I'm gonna stay I'll stay out of that.
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Speaker 2: You'll stay out of that.
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Speaker 1: Also, you know I said in the very beginning politics
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Speaker 1: I always I love this phrase.
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Speaker 2: Politics is about the art of winning. And it's not
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Speaker 2: just campaigns.
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Speaker 1: It's like when you're in the legislature and you want
18:42
Speaker 1: to get a bill passed. It's about how you get
18:45
Speaker 1: that done and how you get it done successfully and
18:48
Speaker 1: basically win. So you have to work with you have
18:52
Speaker 1: to work across the aisle, you have to work with
18:54
Speaker 1: with everybody that and when you look at Congress now,
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Speaker 1: when I looked at President Trump given the State of
18:59
Speaker 1: the Union in address that those that the actions of
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Speaker 1: a lot of the people in that chamber that night
19:06
Speaker 1: were beyond embarrassing.
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Speaker 3: Well compounds to the problem that we're that people are
19:12
Speaker 3: feeling right now. Right, it just adds to that. It's
19:15
Speaker 3: just fuel to the fire. And if you go back
19:17
Speaker 3: even the early eighties with President Reagan and tib O'Neil
19:21
Speaker 3: and they were friends, they got along. I mean, you're
19:24
Speaker 3: gonna have.
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Speaker 1: At certain times they got along. Yeah they did, but
19:27
Speaker 1: they but they did. They were friends. And when Tip
19:31
Speaker 1: was the speaker and Reagan was there, I mean a
19:34
Speaker 1: lot of the Democrats hated Ronald Reagan when he was president,
19:37
Speaker 1: but they got they they communicated with each other, and
19:40
Speaker 1: they did it civilly.
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Speaker 2: You don't. You don't see that anymore.
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Speaker 3: It's a healthy friction that needs to come back, and
19:48
Speaker 3: we should have that healthy friction.
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Speaker 5: Uh.
19:51
Speaker 3: Nobody agrees. I mean, you could go to any family.
19:54
Speaker 3: My wife doesn't agree with me.
19:57
Speaker 1: My husband doesn't either, But you know, and my son,
19:59
Speaker 1: like I said, my son is the most He's a
20:03
Speaker 1: thirty eight years old, he's a PhD, very very smart,
20:06
Speaker 1: obviously takes after his.
20:08
Speaker 2: Father, but he is as liberal as they come.
20:12
Speaker 1: I don't hate the kid, I mean, my gosh, no,
20:15
Speaker 1: And I'm really interested in what he has to say.
20:18
Speaker 2: It's like, why do you feel this way? Andrew? Explain
20:21
Speaker 2: it to me. I want to know, you know.
20:23
Speaker 1: And if we could just have that type of relationship.
20:26
Speaker 1: You don't have to agree with him. I think some
20:28
Speaker 1: of the things he says he's crazy, but still I
20:31
Speaker 1: respect him and I want to talk to him about it.
20:34
Speaker 2: You just don't see that anymore. One more thing.
20:36
Speaker 1: We're going to have to to close in just a
20:39
Speaker 1: few seconds. Peyton's looking at me here with the evil eye.
20:42
Speaker 1: But you you have said, I've heard you talk about
20:46
Speaker 1: that you are working on a manifesto.
20:50
Speaker 3: Manifesto sounds you use a doctrine a doctor.
20:54
Speaker 2: I thought you used that word.
20:55
Speaker 3: I try not to use the word manifest.
20:57
Speaker 2: Okay, because that kind of scared me for a minute.
20:59
Speaker 1: So tell me just quickly if you can, in a
21:02
Speaker 1: few seconds here what that what you're doing?
21:04
Speaker 3: Well, that's the I've tried to put this into and
21:08
Speaker 3: I'm still building this out, but there are there are
21:12
Speaker 3: solutions to the problems that we're facing, and those are
21:14
Speaker 3: the white papers I've been working on and I'll release
21:17
Speaker 3: a lot of those. But it all runs up through
21:20
Speaker 3: this doctrine of the opportunity and stability, and where I
21:25
Speaker 3: see it is a couple of things. And we can
21:27
Speaker 3: be Nebraska can be the lighthouse in the middle of
21:31
Speaker 3: this chaos. We are in the heart of the country.
21:35
Speaker 3: And you think about what we're able to accomplish here,
21:39
Speaker 3: that the philosophy that would be implemented through having that
21:45
Speaker 3: healthy friction, creating that stability lends itself to a huge
21:49
Speaker 3: amount of opportunity, economic development and other things. And all
21:53
Speaker 3: the policies that I am working on drive up through
21:57
Speaker 3: that doctrine, that idea ultimately to drive purpose. You purpose
22:03
Speaker 3: for people, purpose for younger individuals, And no matter where
22:07
Speaker 3: you go in the state, if we do the right
22:10
Speaker 3: things and we conduct ourselves the right way, we can
22:13
Speaker 3: set ourselves apart from every other country or every other
22:16
Speaker 3: state in the country.
22:17
Speaker 1: So when do you think you'll be done with this
22:19
Speaker 1: doctrine and be able to talk about it in public.
22:23
Speaker 3: I am about ninety five percent done with it. But
22:27
Speaker 3: I think what I'll end up doing is releasing it
22:31
Speaker 3: in a format that gets people to one they can
22:35
Speaker 3: read it, to participate and contribute to it, without having
22:39
Speaker 3: some type of place where there's a chat underneath where
22:44
Speaker 3: they can fight. I want people to feel like they're
22:47
Speaker 3: a part of something bigger, a part of the solution,
22:49
Speaker 3: versus having a place where it causes the division. And
22:54
Speaker 3: if we implement this philosophical change, I think ASCA can
23:01
Speaker 3: succeed rather quickly and boldly. And I would say sometime
23:08
Speaker 3: mid to late summer, I'll release that. But that's through again,
23:12
Speaker 3: more and more conversations, taking input from a lot of
23:14
Speaker 3: different people walks life, even the ones that disagree with me,
23:18
Speaker 3: and fine tune all those things. So if I choose
23:21
Speaker 3: to do it, we're walking into a situation that there's
23:26
Speaker 3: a long term strategy and plan put in place.
23:29
Speaker 1: Okay, Brent Linstrom is with us today. Brent Linstrom is
23:32
Speaker 1: a former state legislator, a former candidate for Congress. Graduated
23:38
Speaker 1: from Millard.
23:38
Speaker 2: West High School class ninety nine.
23:41
Speaker 1: You're a Miller die and he's a former Husker. You
23:43
Speaker 1: were a backup quarterback for a while, weren't it?
23:46
Speaker 3: Yeah? I was. I was joke. I wasn't the backup quarterback.
23:49
Speaker 3: I was a backup you were, But it was it
23:51
Speaker 3: was during It was during the good good times, the
23:54
Speaker 3: good times. Yes, boar games.
23:56
Speaker 2: Okay, one last word I'm going to leave you with.
23:58
Speaker 1: Then there's a mayor's race in twenty twenty nine.
24:03
Speaker 2: Don't push that out of your mind. There there's always
24:07
Speaker 2: other things that would be calling radio radio is hard.
24:11
Speaker 3: I just was staring at the marriage.
24:13
Speaker 1: I know he was staring at me with his mouth open,
24:15
Speaker 1: but I thought I would throw that one in.
24:17
Speaker 2: Brett Linstrom, thank you so much for being here with
24:19
Speaker 2: us today.
24:19
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Thank you for having appreciate talking
24:22
Speaker 1: to you and seeing you again.
24:23
Speaker 3: Well hopefully it's not the last time.
24:24
Speaker 2: No, absolutely see each other. Getting hopeful, all right, take care,
24:27
Speaker 2: Thanks for being with us.
24:29
Speaker 6: Craig, you are live here on news Radio eleven ten
24:32
Speaker 6: with Jean Stouth.
24:33
Speaker 4: Good morning, Good morning.
24:37
Speaker 7: My name is Craig. I'm calling about the beautiful landscaping
24:43
Speaker 7: in the medians on the streets around town. And I've
24:47
Speaker 7: noticed that there's an awful lot of Danny lyons that
24:51
Speaker 7: are kind of ruining the landscape picture there, and I'm
24:55
Speaker 7: wondering why the city doesn't put some pre emergent down
25:00
Speaker 7: so that those denilions don't just run wild.
25:04
Speaker 2: Thank you, Chrag, all right, thank you.
25:07
Speaker 1: And and you know that beautiful landscaping in some of
25:09
Speaker 1: the medians is an agreement between keep Omaha Beautiful and
25:13
Speaker 1: the City of Omaha, so they do a lot of
25:16
Speaker 1: that together. They do do that, they do spray, they
25:19
Speaker 1: do do pre emergent. It's just I think that with
25:23
Speaker 1: the rain that we had, they're just they're creeping up
25:26
Speaker 1: like crazy right now. There's an area off of Harry
25:30
Speaker 1: Anderson and Harrison Street. That the whole field is just
25:34
Speaker 1: dandelion's right now. But the city of Omaha does maintain
25:37
Speaker 1: those a lot of times, you know, because of rain
25:40
Speaker 1: or whatever the weather conditions they got. It seem like
25:42
Speaker 1: they get out of control, but it's a combination of
25:45
Speaker 1: public works and Parks department.
25:47
Speaker 6: Craig, how many dandelions do you have in your in
25:50
Speaker 6: your yard currently?
25:53
Speaker 7: I'm sorry, how many.
25:54
Speaker 6: Dandelions do you have in your yard currently?
25:57
Speaker 7: Well?
25:57
Speaker 5: I don't have any because I don't need the Craig,
26:01
Speaker 5: I have a lawn service and they keep that in check.
26:05
Speaker 5: So I just I'm glad to hear that there's a
26:07
Speaker 5: plan anyway.
26:09
Speaker 2: Definitely.
26:10
Speaker 5: Yeah, to answer to my question, I appreciate your time.
26:13
Speaker 2: Thanks for the call.
26:13
Speaker 6: I appreciate it very good, Craig, I was just giving
26:15
Speaker 6: you a hard time. Thanks for calling into the show.
26:17
Speaker 1: You know, Peyton, there was a conversation yesterday on Scott's show,
26:21
Speaker 1: and then again Chris Baker mentioned it on his show
26:24
Speaker 1: about snow removal and about certain people being charged or
26:28
Speaker 1: assessed a huge amount of money huge hue for snow removal.
26:32
Speaker 1: One was about eight hundred dollars. One was I think
26:34
Speaker 1: three thousand dollars. But let me tell you how that goes.
26:37
Speaker 1: I'm going to defend the City of Omaha on this
26:39
Speaker 1: one because these are all complaint driven. The City of
26:44
Speaker 1: Omaha is responsible, you know, for plowing snow. The citizens
26:49
Speaker 1: are and property owners are responsible for clearing their sidewalks,
26:54
Speaker 1: and they have a certain amount of time it's twenty
26:56
Speaker 1: four hours after the end of the snow event to
27:00
Speaker 1: clear their sidewalks. This set the city goes ahead and
27:04
Speaker 1: clear sidewalks and assesses people. Is like I said, it's
27:08
Speaker 1: complaint driven. Somebody has called in and said these sidewalks
27:12
Speaker 1: are not clear, and the time that is according to
27:15
Speaker 1: what the city's policy.
27:16
Speaker 2: Is and law is.
27:18
Speaker 1: And it's usually around a school. It's almost always around
27:22
Speaker 1: a school where kids would be walking and they're forced
27:24
Speaker 1: to walk out in the street. So they call and complain,
27:27
Speaker 1: and then the city notifies that property owner and they
27:32
Speaker 1: give them a certain amount of time to get their
27:35
Speaker 1: sidewalks cleared, and if they don't do it then in
27:38
Speaker 1: a certain amount of time, then the city will come
27:41
Speaker 1: in and do it and assess the property owner the
27:43
Speaker 1: cost of doing the work. Now, the property owner still
27:46
Speaker 1: has an option that if they don't agree with it,
27:51
Speaker 1: say they were incapacitated, or they were ill or whatever,
27:55
Speaker 1: or they think that they were assessed incorrectly. Then they
27:59
Speaker 1: could go to the Board of Equalization and the Board
28:01
Speaker 1: of Equalization will hear their appeals. And the Board of
28:04
Speaker 1: Equalization is made up of city council members. It's held
28:07
Speaker 1: in the Legislative Chamber and it's held in public. So
28:10
Speaker 1: I was on the board of EKE when I was
28:12
Speaker 1: on the city council, and you can hear these appeals
28:15
Speaker 1: and then the city council can make a decision after
28:18
Speaker 1: they hear from the property owner whether they will go
28:20
Speaker 1: ahead and do the assessment. So there I'm defending the
28:24
Speaker 1: City of Omaha on that one.
28:26
Speaker 6: That sounds great, but what does what does it actually work?
28:29
Speaker 6: If you appeal this, does it actually go through? I mean,
28:32
Speaker 6: the city is going to do everything they can to
28:35
Speaker 6: get their money.
28:36
Speaker 1: No, it's not really, it's not a money grab. It's
28:38
Speaker 1: like I said, it's complaint driven. They are given the
28:41
Speaker 1: property owners, they notify them, they give them time to
28:44
Speaker 1: do it. It's usually around the school. They don't want
28:46
Speaker 1: these kids had to have to walk in the streets,
28:48
Speaker 1: so they're like Okay, we'll go out and do it.
28:50
Speaker 1: But because it takes a lot of time and effort
28:52
Speaker 1: and equipment in personnel to do it, they're going to
28:55
Speaker 1: charge you for it.
28:57
Speaker 6: Three or four thousand dollars. Are they using golden shell?
29:00
Speaker 1: No, No, mister smarty pants, they're not, but they are.
29:03
Speaker 1: It depends on the length of area that they are clearing.
29:07
Speaker 1: So it and like I said, I will defend the
29:10
Speaker 1: city on this. Now another thing, we had a caller
29:13
Speaker 1: a few minutes ago or an email that called both
29:15
Speaker 1: me and Brett Linstrom a rhino, and.
29:18
Speaker 2: I would say, uh, wrong on that one.
29:20
Speaker 1: You know, when they I hate that term because there
29:23
Speaker 1: are certain people that feel like if you don't feel
29:27
Speaker 1: exactly like they do in your Republican I'm a Republican.
29:31
Speaker 1: I'm a very conservative Republican. But if I don't feel
29:34
Speaker 1: exactly like they do, and I don't come out and
29:37
Speaker 1: say I hate every Democrat there is and I hate
29:40
Speaker 1: every Independent there is, then you are a rhino. And
29:44
Speaker 1: to me that's offensive. No, I'm not a rhino. I'm
29:47
Speaker 1: in Republican in every sense of the way. Brent Linstrom,
29:50
Speaker 1: for example, when he was in the legislature, he opposed
29:53
Speaker 1: the death penalty. I don't I support the death penalty.
29:57
Speaker 1: I'm a proponent of it, but it doesn't mean that
30:00
Speaker 1: you are a rhino or you are not at the
30:03
Speaker 1: level of these other Republicans. That's offensive, and I would
30:07
Speaker 1: think that Republicans need to start doing a better job
30:11
Speaker 1: of supporting each other. I said it when I lost
30:14
Speaker 1: the mayor's race, and I lost it big time. Is
30:17
Speaker 1: that Omaha It's going to be a long time before
30:20
Speaker 1: Omaha has another Republican mayor. If I can't win it
30:23
Speaker 1: after three terms, it's going to be a long time before.
30:26
Speaker 1: So let's support each other. Do you know the Douglas
30:29
Speaker 1: County Republican Party in the primary supported Mike McDonald and
30:33
Speaker 1: not me. Mike McDonald, lifetime Democrat, author of pension spiking.
30:40
Speaker 1: You know I got rid of him when basically when
30:43
Speaker 1: I became mayor because of the condition that the Omaha
30:47
Speaker 1: Fire Department's budget was, and they supported him and not me.
30:52
Speaker 2: This is what is to me.
30:55
Speaker 1: The Republicans got to get together and support each other
30:58
Speaker 1: and keep good conservative candidates, keep him getting elected for
31:04
Speaker 1: these positions. Now, I got to bring up one other
31:06
Speaker 1: thing after I went on that rant, Another thing Chris
31:10
Speaker 1: Baker brought up yesterday afternoon, Peyton, you letting go on
31:14
Speaker 1: and on like you usually do, is he accused me
31:17
Speaker 1: of being in this studio with a bottle of four
31:19
Speaker 1: o nine sprang down everything. And that is a lie.
31:22
Speaker 1: You know it's a lie because you know what, I
31:25
Speaker 1: just haven't gotten to it yet. I'm gonna do it.
31:27
Speaker 6: She's gonna do it.
31:27
Speaker 2: I'm gonna bring my four o nine in. I'm gonna
31:29
Speaker 2: bring my windex in.
31:31
Speaker 1: People do not realize what a man cave is that
31:34
Speaker 1: I sit in every day in this studio. Even Chris
31:37
Speaker 1: Baker said, it smells like aquavelva in here do from
31:41
Speaker 1: remnants of Gary Sadomayer. But Lucy's got it going on.
31:45
Speaker 1: She's across the hall. People don't realize Lucy's not in
31:48
Speaker 1: this same site. She's across the hall and she has
31:50
Speaker 1: a glass window that she looks in. She has her
31:53
Speaker 1: own little cell over there that she's apart from this
31:56
Speaker 1: man cave that I'm forced to sit in every day.
31:58
Speaker 1: I'm bringing my four o nine in here.
32:00
Speaker 6: And it's funny too, because after the show yesterday you
32:03
Speaker 6: complained about the phone over on your side. Now nobody
32:06
Speaker 6: uses that phone. But it's all dust. You said, it's
32:09
Speaker 6: covered with about one hundred layers of dust, and I.
32:11
Speaker 2: Said it had coodies in it.
32:13
Speaker 1: You better not culture the microphone or the telephone over here,
32:17
Speaker 1: because I'm sure it's like a Petri dish.
32:19
Speaker 2: Bet.
32:19
Speaker 1: Now, I have one more thing, because there was a
32:22
Speaker 1: caller yesterday that asked about the landlord Registrate and if
32:26
Speaker 1: it's successful, and so I looked into it and I said, yes,
32:30
Speaker 1: it is successful.
32:31
Speaker 2: It's achieving what we want to do to achieve.
32:34
Speaker 1: But for those who are listening, I want to give
32:37
Speaker 1: you some numbers, and so far I got this from
32:39
Speaker 1: the Planning Department. But so far, since it's been an effect,
32:42
Speaker 1: we have registered ninety two thousand units have been registered
32:48
Speaker 1: and over sixteen thousand have been inspected. And right now
32:53
Speaker 1: there are sixteen nine hundred, nine hundred active property registered
32:59
Speaker 1: and that we have inspected over seven thousand and seven
33:02
Speaker 1: hundred of those, and so all together add those up,
33:07
Speaker 1: the city has performed almost twenty two thousand inspections on
33:12
Speaker 1: rental property. And so you know, the City of Omaha
33:17
Speaker 1: added inspectors to the Planning Department since that program's inception
33:22
Speaker 1: so that we would have plenty of inspectors to do
33:24
Speaker 1: that job. They have worked on their standard operating procedure
33:28
Speaker 1: for performing those inspections and they are on track to
33:31
Speaker 1: perform the required amount within a ten year timeframe. That's
33:36
Speaker 1: what we gave us. So of course we will continue
33:39
Speaker 1: to inspect of property on and on and on. So
33:44
Speaker 1: I think that I would say the planning department with
33:47
Speaker 1: that landlord registry is rocketed.
33:49
Speaker 2: They're doing a really good job.
33:50
Speaker 6: I think it's one of your favorite topics. Sewer separation.
33:54
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I know more about sewers than I ever
33:57
Speaker 1: thought or wanted to know. But yes, I can talk
34:00
Speaker 1: a lot about sewers.
34:01
Speaker 6: Okay, Dave, we're going to cut to you on the
34:03
Speaker 6: phone lines right now. You are live on the kfab
34:05
Speaker 6: comment line with Jean's author.
34:07
Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning.
34:09
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, Clair, excuse me, Gene, just wanted to on
34:15
Speaker 8: a sewer separation project. Will there ever be any end
34:19
Speaker 8: to it? Or we're just going to keep paying this forever?
34:21
Speaker 8: Is there you'll do downing on this?
34:24
Speaker 2: Yes? Eight four, Absolutely there is.
34:26
Speaker 1: The permit end date is twenty thirty seven right now.
34:30
Speaker 1: It was extended two times because of the flood and
34:33
Speaker 1: because of requests from the city. But the end date
34:37
Speaker 1: is twenty thirty seven right now. And I did bring
34:39
Speaker 1: this up the other day, that the rate increases. They
34:45
Speaker 1: are originally estimated to be about nine percent a year
34:50
Speaker 1: to go up until that end date. But right now,
34:53
Speaker 1: and it is an ordinance that's approved by the city council.
34:56
Speaker 1: It's a multi year ordinance. It looks like the only
35:00
Speaker 1: have to go up about three percent a year, and
35:02
Speaker 1: hopefully with more technology it'll be less than that. But
35:06
Speaker 1: the completion date is twenty thirty seven right now.
35:09
Speaker 6: Moving on to a very similar topic, I believe this
35:12
Speaker 6: is Tony on the phone lines. You are live with
35:14
Speaker 6: Jeans author here on kfab.
35:16
Speaker 4: Good morning, Good morning, and I have a lot of
35:19
Speaker 4: the same question too. I have a few businesses in
35:23
Speaker 4: town and I noticed that at different zip codes they
35:28
Speaker 4: have different rates. You know, I'll pay X amount for water,
35:33
Speaker 4: but in the sewer is double that amount. Is there
35:38
Speaker 4: different rates for different zip codes in town?
35:40
Speaker 1: There? Well, there is, because there is there. First of all,
35:44
Speaker 1: the rates are determined by the size of the pipe,
35:47
Speaker 1: so like a residential they always have they have pretty
35:50
Speaker 1: much a standard pipe. Some of the big water users
35:53
Speaker 1: like the meat packing industry, Skinner Baking Kellogg used to
35:57
Speaker 1: be a big, big water user. They have a lot
36:00
Speaker 1: bigger pipes, so they are charged a lot more for
36:03
Speaker 1: that amount of usage of the water. But there are
36:08
Speaker 1: other communities also that that are paying, and they pay
36:13
Speaker 1: more in a bulk rate, is what I'm trying to say. So,
36:16
Speaker 1: like in Omaha they pay per household, in say Bellevue,
36:23
Speaker 1: they may be paying as more of a bulk rate
36:25
Speaker 1: for the entire community. And so that depends on that
36:29
Speaker 1: zip code area. But the old saying is true. Why
36:33
Speaker 1: does Bellevue pay or why does West Omaha pay?
36:35
Speaker 2: Or whatever?
36:36
Speaker 1: You know that's saying all blank rolls down or runs downhill,
36:41
Speaker 1: and they all use our water treatment plants and so
36:45
Speaker 1: that and they all end up going into the Missouri River.
36:47
Speaker 1: And so that's why all these surrounding communities are paying also,
36:51
Speaker 1: but they pay more in a bulk rate.
36:53
Speaker 6: Very interesting, Gene. This goes back to our rhino conversation
36:57
Speaker 6: last segment. And for those unfamili your rhino is an
37:01
Speaker 6: acronym for Republican in name only. Yes, and so this
37:04
Speaker 6: email comes in if the former mayor is so easily
37:08
Speaker 6: offended I suggest she stay out of politics and instead
37:13
Speaker 6: start your own program about kittens and unicorns. If you
37:17
Speaker 6: dish it out, you have to be able to take it.
37:19
Speaker 1: Oh well, let me tell you. After being mayor twelve
37:22
Speaker 1: years and on the city council four years, I'm not
37:25
Speaker 1: a little shrinking violet, So let me tell you I
37:28
Speaker 1: can take it. And it's been dished out a lot.
37:31
Speaker 1: But yeah, just calling people names and not knowing really
37:36
Speaker 1: what they stand for is something that I certainly wouldn't do.
37:40
Speaker 2: So if you want to call me.
37:42
Speaker 1: Whatever, a rhino, I've said this before whatever, I've been
37:47
Speaker 1: called a lot worse. So don't think that I'm some
37:50
Speaker 1: little shrinking violet that can't take it. And no, I'm
37:53
Speaker 1: not going to have a show talking about just kittens.
37:56
Speaker 1: We have a lot more other things important to talk
37:58
Speaker 1: about on this show.
38:00
Speaker 6: Yes we do. And you told me yesterday, Jean, you
38:05
Speaker 6: always babysit your grandson Max Max.
38:08
Speaker 1: On Wednesday, I had the joy of babysitting, or not babysitting.
38:13
Speaker 1: He's not a baby, my six year old grandson Max.
38:16
Speaker 2: I call him.
38:16
Speaker 1: His name is really Maxwell, but I call him Maximus.
38:20
Speaker 1: But yesterday I do it every Wednesday, because Millard gets
38:23
Speaker 1: an early dismissal on Wednesday. But I bought him a
38:25
Speaker 1: bat in a baseball oh my goodness, because he wanted
38:28
Speaker 1: to play out in the backyard. And so first of all,
38:31
Speaker 1: I was pitching to him and he goes, Grandma, you
38:34
Speaker 1: are just not a good pitcher. Let's switch. And he said,
38:38
Speaker 1: I'll pitch to you and you swing the bat. And
38:40
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay. And so I missed the first couple
38:43
Speaker 1: of balls. I mean, he's six, and he's throwing all
38:45
Speaker 1: over the place. He's whacking the ball like crazy. He's
38:48
Speaker 1: doing really good when I throw it to him. But
38:50
Speaker 1: he finally says, Grandma, you got to practice. You practice,
38:53
Speaker 1: and no practice, you'll get better. And then I started
38:56
Speaker 1: hitting the ball. He goes, see, see you're doing better.
38:59
Speaker 1: You're doing much better. But after a little while he said, hmmm,
39:02
Speaker 1: I think you need a break. Let's go in the
39:04
Speaker 1: house and eat candy. And I said, good idea, Let's.
39:06
Speaker 3: Go eat candy.
39:07
Speaker 1: That's what grandmas do when they babysit. They don't pay
39:10
Speaker 1: any attention to what their parents tell him.
39:12
Speaker 2: We eat candy. When I'm over there.
39:14
Speaker 6: You get a boy a ball and he'll be entertained forever.
39:18
Speaker 6: I know, but you tell me, you tell us all
39:20
Speaker 6: these Max stories, and I can't tell if Max is
39:22
Speaker 6: six or forty six. The way he talks, it's.
39:25
Speaker 1: His vocabulary is a made just amazing. And the things
39:29
Speaker 1: that he says to me are amazing. And the things
39:31
Speaker 1: he remembers, like when I told him about the Artemis
39:35
Speaker 1: Too going up to the Moon. I mean, he knew
39:38
Speaker 1: all about it. And when his brother, older brother came
39:40
Speaker 1: home from school, he was repeating everything I said. He's
39:43
Speaker 1: a smart little boy. I love I love taking care
39:45
Speaker 1: of Max. He's a lot of fun to be with.
39:47
Speaker 6: We wrap up the next the week tomorrow on a Friday.
39:51
Speaker 6: Is there anything the listeners can look out for and expect.
39:54
Speaker 8: Yeah.
39:54
Speaker 1: I have another great guest tomorrow and that's Adam Straight.
39:57
Speaker 1: I want to introduce Adam Straight to the community because
40:00
Speaker 1: he is the new president and CEO of MECCA, which
40:03
Speaker 1: is the Metropolitan Entertainment Convention Authority. I'll give a little
40:06
Speaker 1: background on that, but MECCA is the group that runs
40:10
Speaker 1: our arena, Convention Center, and our ballpark and our riverfront parks.
40:15
Speaker 1: Adam is only the second CEO ever. It's always been
40:18
Speaker 1: Roger Dixon, so he is coming on. He is from
40:21
Speaker 1: New Orleans, where I just was last weekend, and we're
40:24
Speaker 1: gonna have a good conversation with him about what's going
40:27
Speaker 1: on downtown.
40:28
Speaker 2: So that's it for us today.
40:29
Speaker 1: I want to thank you all for spending this hour
40:32
Speaker 1: with us and thanks for listening. We'd love for you
40:34
Speaker 1: to join us again tomorrow. I'm Jean Stothard and this
40:38
Speaker 1: is eleven ten kfab