Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Brinker Harding AND Sheriff Hanson

Transcript

Brinker Harding AND Sheriff Hanson · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Gene Stothert. Peyton Heilach, my producer, is
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: also here. Good morning, Peyton, on this chilly Friday morning.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Well, good morning, Gene. How are you today? I'm doing
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: pretty good. Good.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, good vibes. I love a Friday.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: I love a Friday. I love a Monday. I do.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: I've never had that Sunday night dread.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: That's weird.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Maybe I am a little weird. I've always liked the
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: jobs I had. So anyway, that's another story. But thank
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: you all for being with us today. We want to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: hear from you. We want to get your feedback. We
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: want to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. Really, anything goes.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: We will not back away from anything. City, state, national,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the world, the streetcar potholes, whatever you throw at us,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: we're going to answer. And we have had plenty of
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: of great guests this week. I have two great guests today,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: but of course you are going to hear plenty of
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: opinions from me too, but it is your chance to
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: speak up and sound off. So please send your emails
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to kfab.com. You can call us at 402-558-1110. or you
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: can leave us a recorded message on the talkback mic,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and we'll play it on the air. We are happy
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: that you are with us. Brinker Harding is with us
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: this morning in the studio. And then after Brinker, we
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: have Sheriff Aaron Hansen in the studio, too. So what
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: a way to close out the week.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Brinker.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Jane. Good morning, Peyton. Good morning.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: And Brinker has just finished three debates for Congressional District 2.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: November 3rd is right around the corner.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: In all fairness, I want to let the listeners know
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: that we have reached out to Denise Powell numerous times,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: including again in the last 24 hours, and we hear nothing.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Absolutely nothing. Not even a no thank you or I'll
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: pass message. but she just doesn't even respond to us.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: So all fairness, we ask her. So Brinker, I'm glad
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: you are on. We were together last night at a
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: roast for Don Bacon.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: First of all, you were funny just there, but you
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: were really funny last night too.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Well, I was a roaster for Don Bacon, and Don
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Bacon is so easy to roast too.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: But he is one funny guy.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: If people don't know Don Bacon personally– He has got
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: a sense of humor like nobody's business.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: And what he's done for– in his term in Congress
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: of 10 years and his 30 years in the military.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: Oh, I know it.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: What a great way to recognize him.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I know it.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I still laugh when he said, you know, this is
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: a roast and the tradition is at the Omaha Press
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Club and you get a caricature made of you and
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: then it goes on the barroom floor. And that's just
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: a tradition with a press club. Your face is on
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the barroom floor. And he said, well, I appreciate my
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: face being on the barroom floor. My face has been
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: on the barroom floor many times before, but it wasn't
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: in the press club. He's a real funny guy. But anyway,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: we are here today to talk about And I have
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: so many questions about it. And I will tell you,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I watched every one of them, Brinker, from start to finish.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: And the one thing that I have come out with,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: first of all, I got to tell the listeners not
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: to brag, but I have been in over 40 debates
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and forums in the 12 years I was mayor.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Debate is timed.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: The forums are still questions that you don't know you're getting,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: but they're not timed. You've got 60 seconds. You've got
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: 30 seconds. But they still– you don't know the questions,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: and you've got to be good on your feet. And
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I will be the first to say they're intimidating. No
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: matter how smart you are, how much you know, how
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: much knowledge you have, they're still intimidating. You do not
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: have the questions ahead of time, correct?
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Correct.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: You can have a clean pad of paper and a
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: pen and a glass of water.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: That's about it.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: It's not even a white slice of bread.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: There you go.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: That's all you get. And so these questions have been
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: fired at you. And the one thing that I will
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: say is I've come out with Denise Powell, number one.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: She's a political activist. There's no doubt about that.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: And she is extremely– scripted um she has her talking
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: points she sticks to them um however i who would
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: ever pass on a rebuttal a 30 second rebuttal how
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: many times did she say no thank you or i'll
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: pass who would ever pass on 30 seconds even if
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: you didn't have anything to rebut you still have something
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: else to say in that 30 seconds you.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Could repeat what you said in the first.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Response absolutely i I did not get that with her
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: at all.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Interesting. I mean, if you're in D.C. representing the 2nd
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: District and someone's asking you a question, once you get
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: past your talking points and they ask for further information
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: and she's going to say, I'll pass? Yeah. I mean,
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: we need to have someone representing the district who's willing
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: to take the hard questions and get the answers. And
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: if they don't know the answers, get back to them
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: with it. But it's to– It's unbelievable that she would
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: pass on the opportunity to give further information.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I feel the same way, like I said, because I've
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: been in that situation so many times. When you're given
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: 60 seconds to answer a question or 60 seconds to
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: do an opening or a closing, you value every second
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: you get. So that I didn't understand at all. But Brinker,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: I'm going to just get into it here, ask you
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: a few questions and let you speak, and I'll give
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: you more than 60 seconds to answer each question. But
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the one thing that got me yesterday, that got my
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: dander up, is Denise Powell said this. She said on
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: the city council, Brinker voted for $ 1 million in taxes
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: while failing to pay his own taxes nearly 40 times.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: And Nebraskans are tired of this nonsense and hypocrisy, blah, blah, blah.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I will answer for you on the first one. You
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: never voted for a million dollars in taxes. What in
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: the world is she talking about?
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: I have no idea because I think the time I've
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: been on city council since 2017, we've voted to reduce
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: the tax levy four times.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: And then every other year, we kept it the same. Yes.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: I don't know what that was all about.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: That, folks, was made up.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Unless she is stretching it to the point to say
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: that Brinker Harding voted for a balanced city budget and
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: that budget is funded with property tax, sales tax, restaurant tax.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: But that's the way government runs. Is she saying when
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: she's in D.C. she wouldn't vote for a budget because
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: it's funded with taxpayer dollars?
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Right. I don't know. I have no idea. We delivered
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: a balanced budget every single year.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Every year.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: It was never a compromise because of that.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Absolutely not.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: So her statement that Brinker voted for a million in
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: new taxes is false. Now, Brinker, how long have you
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: lived in Omaha, Nebraska?
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Every one of my 65 years.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: You're 65. You have lived here. I'm sure you've owned property.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: You've owned property right now. She has claimed you failed
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: to pay your own taxes nearly 40 times. Have you
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: ever not paid, failed, as she said, to pay your taxes?
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: No. I've paid my personal property taxes every single year.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Every single year?
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: And she didn't say late. She just said you failed
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: to pay your taxes.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm not sure what she was talking about. I
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: think what she was really trying to do is take
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: the attention away from her.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: That she's been funded by coastal billionaires and dark money,
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: both in the primary and now again in the general.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, she had Over $ 5. 5 million of coastal billionaire's
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: money and dark money come into this race in the primary.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: And she beat John Kavanaugh because of it. And John
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: Kavanaugh still has not endorsed her. As a matter of fact,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: I don't think there may be one of her opponents
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: in the Democrat primary who came out and endorsed her.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: But they have not endorsed her. And there's a reason why.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: It's because she came in with these coastal ideals and
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: the coastal money. to buy this nominee, the nomination for
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: the party. And that's not who Nebraska is. We want
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: to make sure. And then she talks about She wants
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: to have dark money taken out of politics.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: I was just going to bring that up.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: And she's accepted. She has accepted dark money. Who tagged
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: her with the nickname Dark Money Denise? It was not you.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: It was not me. It was her Democrat opponents in
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: the primary. Yes.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: And so now she's saying, I want to do away
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: with this dark money. And I'm thinking, who's the hypocrite here?
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Well, her hypocrisy was on display for all three of
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: these debates. She also talked about the big, beautiful bill.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: And she's on record as not being for the big,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: beautiful bill. She would have voted against it. She would
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: have voted for or voted against having the ability to
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: have no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, the
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Social Security benefit. Also, the Democrats wanted to reduce the
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: child tax credit by $ 1, 000. The Republicans increased it from
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: the current level by $ 1, 000. Mm-hmm. Those are all things
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: that she said she would have voted against. Oh, and
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: by the way, that would have been the largest tax
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: increase since World War II.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, it would have been.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: All on record saying– OK. Now she's saying, oh, I
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: think we need to make those– Permanent. Permanent, yeah. The
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. You can't
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: have it both ways, Denise. And also– and that's when
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: I brought up. Are you against our farmers and ranchers?
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: And that was a good rebuttal when you said that.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: Because inside of the Working Family Tax Act, the beautiful bill,
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: was also incentives for biofuels and E15. And we want
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: to make sure– those are important. things for the state
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: of Nebraska, for the second district. And she would have
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: voted against all that. But now she says she would
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: have voted for parts of it. Right.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: And, you know, the one thing, another phrase she used
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: over and over and over again are people are drowning.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: She used that phrase over and over and she'll say,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: when I go to the doors, when I go to churches,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: when I go to town halls, people are telling me
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: they are drowning. But you know what, Brinker? The costs
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: are up now. We know they are. I mean gas prices,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: you were asked if there was one thing that you
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: think as far as affordability is really out of control now.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: And you both mentioned the gas prices. So did Eric Foreman,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: which by the way, I thought he did a pretty
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: good job.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: I was glad that Eric was able to participate. I
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: mean it's– he's on the ballot. Right. And he should
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: have a chance to air his– Yes. I was glad
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: to have him there. Actually, Eric and I probably agree
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: on a lot of things. We want less government. We
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: want to make sure that your money is going into
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: your pocket and not back to D.C. on needless programs
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: that are ripe with fraud, waste, and abuse.
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: And, you know, I want to go back to something
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Eric said, but I wanted to make my point I
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: was trying to make. She keeps on saying people are drowning.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: But if you look just in the city of Omaha
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: in the 2027 budget that you all just approved, it
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: is projected that there's going to be about 23 million
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: more in sales tax revenue in 2027. People are still
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: buying and people are still spending.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: They are. They are. I mean, Omaha's economy– It's still
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: very robust. But, you know, let's face it. There are
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: some tough issues out there. Gas is too high. That
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: is temporary. We need to find a quick resolution to
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: what's happening in Iran. But we have such an amazing community.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: And I think with the leadership that we've had, especially
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: when you were mayor, this economy has been booming. I mean,
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Forbes has named us the number one city to move
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: to in America. And that doesn't just happen. That's because
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: we have good management, we have good leadership, and we
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: have people who are committed to making sure that our
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: community grows.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: So what I got out of this is Denise really
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: weaved back and forth. She flip-flopped multiple times on the big,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: beautiful bill. We've got that pretty clear. She said she
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: would have opposed it. Now she said she wants to
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: make elements of it permanent. You really can't have it
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: both ways. And as you said, she would have supported
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: the largest tax increase since World War II by opposing
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: this bill. So I wonder if she's ever even read
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: it or she's just given her talking points because, again,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: when it's time to rebut, she'll say, no, thank you,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: or I'll pass on that. And so that one was
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: really maybe a head scratcher, I would say, to me too.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: One of the things that she attacks you on constantly is,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: is that you are endorsed by Donald Trump and that
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: you will be Donald Trump's rubber stamp man. You'll do
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: whatever he says. You are for warbreaker. You're for higher taxes.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: You are for higher tariffs. This is her big thing.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: With her attack against you. And, you know, Eric Foreman
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: came out yesterday and said, shoot, I don't care what
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: party you are. When you get endorsed by the President
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: of the United States, that means something. And it doesn't
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: mean you agree with Donald Trump with everything.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: I know you don't.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: You didn't agree with me on everything. You are not
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: a yes man. I worked with you literally every day
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: for eight years. And I know you're not a yes man.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: she's never worked with you. She's making claims that anything
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump wants. Now, do I agree with everything with
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump?
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: No, either do you.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: No, and it's interesting. You're right. You and I had
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: a great working relationship, but we didn't always agree on everything.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: But you know what? We would sit down and talk
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: to see how we could find resolution. And to paint
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: me as a rubber stamp to Trump is just unfair.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: First of all, I live by the– I say mantra,
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: but it's a quote that Oscar Wilde had. It says,
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: be yourself.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: We have just lights flicker in here, but we're okay.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Okay. So the Oscar Wilde quote that I love to
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: live by is, be yourself. Everybody else is already taken. Yes.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: And that's exactly who I am. And I've had numerous examples,
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: especially of late, where I've disagreed with the president. When
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: he brought out the no tariff on the importation of
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: Argentinian ground beef, it does absolutely nothing to solve the problem.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: We have 70-year-low numbers of cattle. The other was the $ 5, 000 dividend.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: First of all, that's inflationary. And secondly, if we have
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: that money, let's pay down the debt. Another example is
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: when throwing some of the press out of the White House.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: The First Amendment is foundational to the United States of America.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: And I disagreed with that too. And when they were mentioned,
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: I didn't just say it to my friends that I
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: was against those. I came out publicly against that. Look,
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: if it's good for the district, if it's good for
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: the state, if it's good for our country, I will
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: be for whatever policy it is. But if it does
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: not meet those standards, I will not support it and
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: I will be vocal in my opposition.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: And that's how you are and have been on the
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: city council. I mean you do things because you feel
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: after you've done your research that they are good for
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: the city of Omaha.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: And if you don't believe it, you vote against it.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: And you have been in the minority how you vote
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: on the city council sometime. But this really– It really
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: annoys me that her main focus, her main attack on
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: you during this whole campaign is he will be a
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Trump yes-man, and that just is not true. She even
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: brought up that you were at what she thinks is
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: really funny, calling it Trumpapalooza. And then she said that
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: you were down in– where was it?
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: Dallas?
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Kissing the ring of Donald Trump. That offended me.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I mean am I– should I accuse her of kissing
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: the ring of Jane Kleb? I mean holy cow. I
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: mean that's just an offensive dart that she has thrown
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: at you and she's done it over and over, kissing
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the ring of Donald Trump. That's just– I mean it's
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: just– it's ridiculous, some of these statements.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: I'm the party nominee. It was a national convention. Yes.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: And I think I needed to be there.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: There was some good information. But again, that's actually where
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: he announced the $ 5, 000 dividend. And when I was in Dallas,
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: I issued a statement saying I was against that.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Brinker Harding is with us.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Another thing, when she keeps on bringing up health care,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: she has a new commercial out now with this guy
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: that goes, I'm a doctor and I know how health care,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: of course, all doctors and all nurses know health care,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: the costs are rising. But didn't they do that too
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: during Obamacare?
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: Yes, they did. That's been an abject failure. When the
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: government shut down because of the subsidies and what was
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: going to happen with the COVID-era subsidies, and the Democrats
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: wanted to continue to give those to the insurance companies.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Why do that? If you continue to do that, you
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: give no incentive for the insurance companies to reduce their prices.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: If you're going to have those subsidies... Give it back
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: to the taxpayer. Give it back to the person who's
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: making the decisions of what to spend on their healthcare.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: Put it in an HSA account. Give them that power.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: The other thing we could do is let independent contractors
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: and small business owners be able to pool and so
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: that they can go out in a competitive market, bid
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: for their healthcare coverage. And you need to be able
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: to build that competition. You need to take away the
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: blank check to the insurance companies, which are disincentive then
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: to reduce prices. We also need to talk at some
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: point– I know we're a little pressed on time– about
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: transparency of those– test and the services that they're getting
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: from their medical advisors.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: I still, I've got so many questions. I want to
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: try to get them in here. But, you know, going
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: back to the Donald Trump issue and she using that
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: on all of his, all her commercials against you. I
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: really liked, again, what Eric Foreman said yesterday. And he
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: finally said, Donald Trump is not running. Get off Donald Trump.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: And let's get back with the issues. I thought he
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: was very on point with that. And she came back
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: with saying, well, I'm fed up. Well, OK, let's talk
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: about what you want to do and get off who
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: the president is right now. I think once again yesterday,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Denise Powell came out for amnesty very clearly. she came
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: out for amnesty. Um, do you want to talk about
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: that a little bit? Um, because really, I mean, my opinion,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: if you want to lower costs, the solution isn't to
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: flood the country with more immigrants and give them citizenship
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: to those who enter our country illegally. And, you know,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: the federal reserve shows that 30% of the increased income
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: in home prices since 2021 are directly caused by illegal immigrants.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. And healthcare and healthcare, healthcare. Um, Yeah, that's important.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: I think that's a very key difference between the two
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: of us. When the Biden administration was letting in, what
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: is it, at least 11 million and probably closer to
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: 18 or 20 million illegal immigrants into our country, we
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: needed to protect our border. And we've done that. And
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: we need to continue to do that. Look, we can
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: have a conversation of legal status, but it shouldn't be
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: a pathway to citizenship or amnesty. There are correct ways
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: to come into our country, and we want those people here.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: We want those people who want to be contributing contributing
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: to our economy and to our– Absolutely.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: We're a country of immigrants.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. But we're also a country of laws. Right. And
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: there are legal ways to do it. I mean Denise
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: even brought it up that she is the daughter of immigrants. Yes.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Her parents did it the right way. We need to
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: make sure that those who are here illegally and are
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: committing heinous crimes return to where they came from. That's
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: the bottom line.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: And not give them citizenship.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Not give them citizenship.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: I agree with that.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: Or amnesty.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: And the other thing, she has already called for defunding
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: of ICE.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: We've had an illegal alien kill someone recently in Omaha
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: and another one arrested earlier this week for trafficking. If
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: she had her way, I wish somebody would have asked
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: her directly. Would this be a sanctuary city? Would Omaha
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: be a sanctuary city? Do you want us more like
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Chicago or New York? I would like to hear her
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: answer to that because every answer to her question leans
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: towards she would support a sanctuary city.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: Well, she also contributed to AOC twice. And AOC is
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: the leader of the Progressive Party, the DSA, woke point
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: or 2.0 or whatever you want to call it. But look,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: AOC has called for defunding the Border Patrol. She's called
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: for defunding the police. That's exactly who Denise would be supporting.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: She would be answering to the AOCs of the world.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: And that's just not who we are.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: No, it isn't. And you know what?
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I think what I got out of all three debates
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: is Denise Powell's solution to everything. And Brinker Harding is
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: with us today. And I did ask, again, within the
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: last 24 hours for Denise Powell to be on.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: And we have heard Nothing. No, thank you. Not even that.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: But I think her solution to everything, the cost of living,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: social security, health care, et cetera, is more taxes, more government,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: less freedom.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: Well, and I'm exactly the opposite. Look, we need to
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: make sure that people have more money in their pocket
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: and not sending it to D.C. for programs that just
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: don't reach the people it's intended for. Look, less government,
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: less freedom. overburdensome regulations, less taxes, get government out of
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: the way. The people of Nebraska are smart. The people
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: of the second district are smart. They know how to
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: spend their money. They know how to make their investments.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: And we need to get out of the way and
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: let them live their lives. Absolutely.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: And one last statement I want to make, what your
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: response to this too, is she used to run a
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: nonprofit called Women Who Run, typically known as very left-leaning organization.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: But she has said many times she has worked with
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: many Republican women, too, with her nonprofit to help them
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: get elected. Did anybody ever press her and say, who
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: are you talking about? She didn't help me. She didn't
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: help Deb Fischer. I didn't even know who she was.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: She didn't help Amy Melton. Any elected woman that I
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: know of, they don't even know who she is.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: I brought that up. It's interesting, too, that I'll mix
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: this in, I hope, quickly with– we had a question
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: on AI and where I've used AI. I should have
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: said I used AI to find out what Republican women,
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: Denise's Women Who Run campaign organization, helped. And the answer
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: was none. And it's interesting too. Here you have– you
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: mentioned she hasn't supported you or Senator Fischer or Amy
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: Melton or Theresa Thibodeau or many of those opponents. But
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: you know who she does endorse? A pro-Palestinian porn star.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: That will be on the Douglas County board. Yeah, she'll
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: be a Douglas County commissioner. That's who she supports. Megan Hunt,
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: who famously said, hey, it's a good day to defund
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: the police. Yes.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: That's who she supports.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Keep this– I mean Brinker, there were so many things.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I wanted to get into AI. I wanted to get
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: into the political hostility, the data centers, inflation, all of
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: those things you guys covered.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: You covered so much. That's your last debate.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Any last thoughts here on the debates and how they
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: came out?
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: No, it was interesting. I was absolutely excited to participate
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: in them. I think they were very clear to the
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: voters that there are differences between the two and three
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: when you talk about Eric as well, too. But look,
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: we have 18 days left, and we are just going
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: to approach every day like we have since July 1st
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: of 2025. It's a marathon, but we sprint every single day.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: I would, you can get more information about me at brinkerharding.com,
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: but here's the bottom line with these last 18 days,
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: please make sure you go out and vote.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: And I would really love to earn your trust. I
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: would really love to earn your vote. And on November
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: 3rd or before, uh, It's something that's so important that
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: we need to do, and it's something that I am
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: so dedicated to serving this district. I know I'll be
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: a great representative for the district, for everyone. As I
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: said when I first started running, Republican, Democrat, non-independent, I
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: will represent you. And if it's good for the district,
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: good for the state, good for the country, I'll support it.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: And Brinker Harding has had a good history for eight
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: years on the Omaha City Council that he did just that.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Brinker Harding, thank you so much. I know it was
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: a late night last night. You've been prepping for a
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: lot of debates. You've got a lot of work to
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: do today. I'm sure you're going to be out there
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: doing something. I always tell people I remember the old
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Hal Dobbs story when he was running. And he would go, well,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: it's 10, 30, 11 at night. Surely somebody is still awake.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Let's go to a bowling alley. That was Hal Dobbs.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: But Brinker Harding, thank you so much and good luck.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much to Brinker Harding, who was just
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: on the show talking about the three debates he was in.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Now we have Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson here. Sheriff Hanson, welcome.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: Good morning.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: He just wandered in here, so we thought we'd bring
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: him on the air. No, we didn't.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: We asked him to be here. You know, Sheriff Hansen,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: you just– this is what I want to talk to
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: you about today. Recently, you called for stiffer penalties for
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: criminals who assault corrections officers. Your opponent, Mark Martinez, disagreed,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: and he said the sheriff's department is making too many arrests.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Too many arrests.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Now, I have a response that you gave on Channel 6,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: and I want to just briefly play that clip, if
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Peyton could play that, and then I want to talk
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: to you about it.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: Time out. Yes.
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. That
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: sounds like me.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: You are commenting on what Mark Martinez said. So let's
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: talk about why you are calling for increased penalties. for
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: assaults on officers or corrections officers?
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: Well, okay.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: First of all, I've been consistent about this for the
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: last four years as sheriff and prior to that, quite frankly,
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: in my previous career. But here's what I'm passionate about.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: Number one, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office is legally responsible
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: for investigating any crime that occurs on any county facility.
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: Douglas County Corrections is one of those. And so, Last year, 2025,
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: we had an extremely violent year. There was so many
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: violent assaults against corrections officers. I think we had 29. Now, luckily,
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: this year we're down. It's down to 11. But the
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: assaults continue to be staggering in nature. I mean, like
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: people getting strangled, urine being thrown at them. Last night
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: we just had a report. A guy tried luring a
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: corrections officer and tried throwing a– a container.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: Of poop at him. He missed.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Lovely.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: Thank gosh.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: But that's a tough job.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: And here's the deal.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: It is.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: And let me just butt in here for a second.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: And I want people to make sure they know corrections
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: officers do not carry guns.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: They do not.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: No, they work within the four corners of a correctional facility.
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: They're largely unarmed. They do have some less lethal weapons
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: that they can use, less than lethal options. But here's
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: what else I know about these corrections officers. They're the
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: unsung heroes of the criminal justice system. You don't see
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: them out there like you do troopers, deputies, and police officers.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: But many of them are struggling with post-traumatic stress injuries
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: because of the very violent, dangerous conditions that they go through.
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: And quite frankly, I don't think it helps that many
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: of them don't really believe that they have the support
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: that they need from the public. And that's why I'll
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: always speak on their behalf.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: In the same interview with Channel 6, Mark Martinez was
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: interviewed and it was like a 20-minute interview that he,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, I listened to the whole thing, he
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: rambled and went on and on and on. But he
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: referenced a situation where a 30-something-year-old male was chasing two
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: 12-year-old girls around a park and he criticized you for
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: being quick to arrest the man.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: What's your response to this?
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: Well, I don't know if Mark Martinez knows that we're
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: running for sheriff and not public defender or county social worker.
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: But in this case, you know, when you have, when deputies,
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: when law enforcement officers, when they encounter a call, in
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: this case, a 911 call by multiple adults where you have,
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: in this case, you had two 12-year-old girls, adult witnesses
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: saying that Zachary Vinton, was chasing these girls through that
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: park in the area of Arbor Gate, Falling Waters. It's
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: like 200th and Q area. And ultimately, when they got there,
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: they talked to Vinton, and he eventually admitted that his
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: intention was to have sex with these girls.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Now, of course, later, it turns out— Twelve-year-old girls.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: Twelve-year-old girls.
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: But I'm going to tell you right now, there's not–
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: I got four kids, right? There is not a mom
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: or a dad in that neighborhood who would second-guess that
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: decision made in real time to keep their kids safe.
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: Because oftentimes, the entry point to appropriate behavioral health care
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: and support comes through the criminal justice system, whether we
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: like that or not. But first, we have to keep
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: our community safe. From these individuals that would do them harm.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: Whether they intend to or whether they have cognitive issues.
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: And look what's happening right now as a result. Best
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: county attorney in the nation, Don Kline, once the charges
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: were dropped by a county court judge of criminal charges
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: who determined that his issue was mental in nature, he
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: immediately flipped to a civil case to ensure that the
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: court system would appropriately monitor this individual so he would
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: not hurt innocent kids. And that's the way the process works.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: And it shouldn't be that mental challenges or mental illness
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: should be an excuse for committing a crime. Ultimately, Mark
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: Martinez said that this man shouldn't have been arrested because
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: of potential mental challenges or mental illness. So I want
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: to ask you, Sheriff Hanson, should corrections then be handling
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: mental illness and balancing keeping people safe? Should corrections handle
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: mental illness and then balance that with keeping people safe?
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: You're just talking about it, but that's the question.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: It takes a team approach.
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: It takes everybody.
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: Everyone's got to do their job and be plugged in
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: when you're talking about high-risk offenders, especially ones that are
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: struggling with mental illness because the What is definitely not
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: an option is to just go, well, you know, I'm sorry,
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: parents to these 12-year-old girls that would like to play
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: in this park. Your kids are going to have to
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: put up with it because, you know, this person doesn't
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: seem like they have all their mental faculties. In this case,
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: this gentleman was already being supervised in some capacity by
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: the state and by caregivers. He was actually living with
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: a caregiver in the area, not with either of his
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: parents at that time. And clearly that mental health component
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: wasn't enough. And so, again, there's not a parent out
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: there that's going to go, well, I guess I felt
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: pretty good about my daughter being raped by a guy
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: because at least we didn't.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Impose– Let's excuse him for that.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Let's move on because I know our time is a
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: bit limited, but Martinez also criticized your handling of the
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: homelessness issue. You really focused on that in your first term.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: And I will be honest, folks, not always did Martinez.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: Sheriff Aaron Hanson and I, when I was mayor, agree
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: on the solution. But the one thing about homeless situation,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: but the one thing I always recognized about you, Sheriff Hanson,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: is that you were passionate about it and you wanted
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: to get a solution. You wanted to get something done.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Tell us what you have done on the homeless front,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: homelessness front, especially the unsheltered. Um, you know, as, as
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: we move on with the issue that is still present
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: in Omaha, we still have unsheltered homeless.
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: Being homeless is not a crime. It never will be
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: a crime. You will not find a single person that
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: has been arrested by any agency, let alone the sheriff's
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: office for simply being homeless. But what is a crime
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: is trespassing, assaulting, uh, raping women in a tent encampment,
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: using drugs, being a sex offender, not in compliance. These
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: are the situations which will cause an arrest on the
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: part of a sheriff's deputy if they encounter that out
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: in public. And I will tell you this, it's important
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: to point out that when we approach these tent encampments,
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: it is exclusively because we have received citizen complaints from
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: around the county. We don't Deputies don't roll around saying, oh,
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: there's a tent. We better go check it out. It's
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: only if we receive complaints from the public.
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: They're complaint-driven.
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: My question to Mark Martinez would be, what are you
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: going to do if you're sheriff? When you get a
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: call from a citizen saying, I've had enough. This person
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: is trespassing on my property. They're defecating on my property.
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: They're stealing my property. They're exposing their genitalia in front of.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: My minor daughter. Kids. What are you going to do?
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: Are you going to say, gosh, I'm sorry. This is
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: just too tough of an issue for me to handle,
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. So let's
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: just continue to hope a social worker shows up and
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: solves it. At some point when people break the law,
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: there has to be a safety net. And in Douglas County,
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: the Office of Sheriff is a good safety net working
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: right alongside the Omaha Police Department.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: And, you know, do you feel like that we are
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: striking a balance then between– A balance with keeping our
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: city safe and clean with the unsheltered situation and caring
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: about people in crisis.
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: We're closing in on that better balance. So right now
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: we've got a really good relationship with the homeless outreach community.
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: When you get called, when our deputies or law enforcement
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: or the outreach teams that get called to complaints about
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: a tent encampment, the first effort is to try to
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: provide services. Can we get you to a shelter? Can
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: we get you the mental health care you need? Can
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: we get you the services you need? But if law
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: enforcement gets there and if there's a public safety issue,
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: if a victim or a citizen is saying, I need help,
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: protect me from this situation, that is the obligation of government,
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: first and foremost, to.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: Keep innocent people safe.
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: And so it's a balanced approach. It's not one size
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: fits all. It's case by case, and I think I
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: can't remember if I mentioned this to you. We recently,
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: about a week and a half ago, had a call
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: about a single mom living in a storage garage with
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: her six-year-old daughter. That's different than a mentally ill drug
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: addict living in a tent in someone's backyard stealing their stuff.
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: We got that person into a family shelter within two
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: days with our outreach partners to get a better outcome
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: for her and her daughter.
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: It's case by case. You deal with it as the situation.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: You've got to individualize every one of them. Sheriff Hansen,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Aaron Hansen is with us today. Could you come back
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: after a commercial for one more, at least one more
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: question I have?
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: Sure. Okay.
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: All right. Gene Stothert in the KFAB comment line returning
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: after Fox News.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: And we are back with Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: One other thing that Mark Martinez said in this long,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: long video that WWT has is he kept on accusing
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: you of having no executive experience. Aaron Hanson, in my opinion,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: you are the only one in this race that has
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: executive experience. You've been the sheriff for four years.
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: I am the only one in this race with executive experience.
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: Mark Martinez has always had a boss. I am the
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: top executive. I I answer to nobody but the people.
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: And I think that's an important distinction.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: I think it is.
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: When you have to be the top executive and be
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: the one to make the final decision without asking anyone's permission,
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: that is true executive experience.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: And experience does matter. So, Sheriff Hansen, just to close here,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: people have begun voting.
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: They already are voting. They've been voting since the end
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: of September.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: But for those that are listening who haven't yet summed
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: up what you think this race is all about, what
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: do you want people to know?
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: It's about safety. And I think you talked about it earlier.
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: Safety over politics. We are both in the same political party.
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: We have disagreed on public policy issues that come down
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: to public safety. That's okay. But that shows you the
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: position of sheriff is about the safety of the people
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: of Douglas County. That's what this race comes down to.
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: That's what the position comes down to. And I think
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: over the last four years, we've proven we put the
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: safety of the people of Douglas County first over politics
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: every time.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: The number one, the number one responsibility of all government
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: is keeping the citizens safe.
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: Sheriff Aaron Hanson, thanks for being here with us today.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Thank you all for spending this hour with us. We'll
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: get to those emails and calls on Monday. Have a
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: great weekend, everybody. Go Big Red. I'm Jean Stothert, and
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: this is 1110 KFAB.