Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / GOV Candidate Brett Lindstrom

Transcript

GOV Candidate Brett Lindstrom · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Gene Stothert. Peyton Heilach, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is also here today. Good morning, Peyton.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Gene.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Peyton went fishing this weekend, and he's got fish stories.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: He caught the big one. Not really, but he tries
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to pretend he did. But thank you all for being
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: with us today. We want to hear from you. We
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  Speaker 1: want to get your feedback. We want to hear your comments. concerns, questions, complaints,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: anything goes. City, state, national, or the world. And we
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: will have plenty of great guests. We have a great
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: guest today. And of course, you are going to hear
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  Speaker 1: plenty of opinion from me too. But it is your
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: chance to speak up and sound off. You can send
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  Speaker 1: your emails to comment at kfab.com. You can call us
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: at 402-558-1110, or you can leave us a recorded message
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: on the Talkback mic, and we will probably play it
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: on the air, unless it's filled with too much profanity,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: which we don't get too many of those, do we, Peyton? No,
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  Speaker 1: not too many. Not too many. But we are very
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  Speaker 1: happy that you are with us today. And we're also
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: happy that Brent Lindstrom is in the studio today. Good
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: morning to you, too.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Did you have a good Fourth of July?
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Where am I? A good Labor Day weekend.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: We did. Yeah, we had a good weekend. And actually,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: my kids went fishing. yesterday as well.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Oh, it must have been a fishing weekend. I went
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: to the swimming pool with my two little grandsons. And
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: you know, well, it's the last day for most of
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  Speaker 1: the pools in the area. But my six-year-old, I tell you,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: it's a lot taking a six-year-old swimming. This kid can
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: swim like you can't believe. And he does flips off
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  Speaker 1: the diving board where other six-year-olds had water wings on.
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  Speaker 1: But every five seconds– Grandma, watch me. Watch me. Watch
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  Speaker 1: me dive. Watch me do a flip. Watch me do this.
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  Speaker 1: I just had to sit there and watch this kid
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  Speaker 1: the entire time. But that was Max. I talk about
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  Speaker 1: Max a lot. He's the world-famous Max. He is very comical.
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  Speaker 1: But I watched this kid do flips for about three
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  Speaker 1: hours and then decided– Enough. I got to go home
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  Speaker 1: where there's peace and quiet. But, Brent, I'm glad you
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: are here today. So much going on. The election a
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: couple months away. I'm not counting down the days. Maybe
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: you are. But let me just go over the history
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  Speaker 1: of Brett Lindstrom, if I could, just real quickly. You're
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: a former member of the Nebraska legislature. You served the
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  Speaker 1: 18th district, right? And you served for two terms, and
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  Speaker 1: then you were termed out. And first elected in 2014,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I believe.
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  Speaker 2: 2014 and then assumed office in 2015.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. And then in 2022, you ran for the governor
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  Speaker 1: and you lost that, came in second.
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  Speaker 2: Well, third.
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  Speaker 3: Third.
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  Speaker 1: But you know what, Brett, you and I know when
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: you run for something, I mean, I've had losses, you've
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: had losses. It doesn't matter who came in second. It
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: only matters who came in first. So it doesn't matter.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: You come back and go, well, I came in second
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  Speaker 1: in that race. I came in second for the mayor
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  Speaker 1: last time. Nobody cares. But anyway, and then in 2026,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: you had a short run for Congress, for Congressional District 2,
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  Speaker 1: dropped out of the race. You made a lot of
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  Speaker 1: comments when you dropped out of that race. And, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I think some of the comments that you made, we
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: talked about before on this show, so I'm not going
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  Speaker 1: to repeat them all. But you were just really frustrated
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  Speaker 1: with what was going on with the political climate at
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  Speaker 1: the time and dropped out of that race. And then
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  Speaker 1: now you have announced in 2026 that you are going
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  Speaker 1: to run for president. for governor of Nebraska for America's
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: First Party. Now let's do a little bit of review
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  Speaker 1: on that because first of all, before I talk about
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  Speaker 1: America's First Party, I want to go back to your
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  Speaker 1: petition to try to get on the ballot. And I'm
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: going to tell you that was so upsetting to me.
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  Speaker 1: You know, as soon as that happened and they announced
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  Speaker 1: you did not have enough valid signatures, you had to
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: have 4,000 valid signatures. You turned in 5,766, way over
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  Speaker 1: the amount you needed. They validated 3,358, and some were
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: flagged as fraudulent. That just annoyed the crap out of me.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm sure a lot of other people too, because
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  Speaker 1: it could happen to anybody. It could happen to any candidate.
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  Speaker 1: It could happen to any petitioner. These things just shouldn't happen.
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  Speaker 2: Right. And I think there was actually seven petition gathering
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  Speaker 2: initiatives that were going on at the same time. And
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  Speaker 2: so there was actually two people that did 1,563 out
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  Speaker 2: of the 5,766 you mentioned. So It dropped us to 4,200,
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  Speaker 2: and then we had a validation rate of 81% with
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  Speaker 2: the 42, and then with that percentage, you don't hit
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  Speaker 2: the 4,000. And, yeah, it was extremely disappointing. You have
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  Speaker 2: trust in the process. Referred out to that organization. We
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  Speaker 2: had two different organizations that were doing it, and then
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  Speaker 2: we had volunteers. And so, you know, I was shocked.
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  Speaker 2: That it happened, and I got a call the night
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  Speaker 2: before that we had a situation that two individuals had
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  Speaker 2: done fraudulent signatures, and one day out, we didn't hit
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  Speaker 2: that number.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, I had so many people, when that happens,
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  Speaker 1: they would call the show or do emails, and they
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  Speaker 1: would say, you know, what happened to, why did they
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  Speaker 1: have to hire people? What happened to good old volunteers?
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  Speaker 1: You had, what, three weeks?
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  Speaker 3: Two.
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  Speaker 1: Two weeks to get 4,000 signatures, and these are things
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  Speaker 1: that you just have to do. You rely on as
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  Speaker 1: many volunteers as you can, but you're not going to
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  Speaker 1: get 4,000 signatures in the amount you needed in every
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  Speaker 1: congressional district. in two weeks. You're just not going to
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  Speaker 1: do it. So you end up hiring people. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I hired door knockers at the end of my campaign.
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  Speaker 1: This is just something that you, you want to get
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  Speaker 1: out there. You want to get the message out. You
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: want to get the job done. And sometimes you have
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  Speaker 1: to do it. And immediately people were pointing fingers and
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: they were saying, Oh, it's this person's fault or it's
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  Speaker 1: that person's fault. You were not aware of any of
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  Speaker 1: this that was going on. You, you had trust in
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  Speaker 1: the system.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah. And you know, it was interesting. Um, One,
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  Speaker 2: it didn't just happen to me, right? It was multiple
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: ballot initiative type things. And yeah, it was a shock.
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  Speaker 2: And it's not a great system. I think you saw
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  Speaker 2: last week, Secretary Evenin talking about some reforms, and I
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: agree with what he was talking about. I think it
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: can be a better situation. So to know that, one,
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  Speaker 2: they're U.S. citizens, Uh, they take a, I guess a
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: CE continuing education on what a ballot initiative looks like. Um,
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  Speaker 2: and then with the amount of money that you spend
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  Speaker 2: per signature doing something different there. So those, those type
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  Speaker 2: of things are what I, what I said in the
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  Speaker 2: article was prudent. And, uh, I think secretary evidence is
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: on the right track to tighten that all up, but yeah, it's,
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  Speaker 2: it's tough. You, you think you're hiring professionals to go
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  Speaker 2: out and, and what they said they could do. Um,
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  Speaker 2: And this is an organization that operates all across the country. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they have individuals that fly in to do that.
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  Speaker 2: And we had a certain amount of time and we
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  Speaker 2: had to hit that number. But yeah, unfortunately, unbeknownst to
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  Speaker 2: me that there was two of those individuals that were,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if they were just sitting in a
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  Speaker 2: hotel room writing names down and going through a phone book.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know. But I am going to take legal
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  Speaker 2: action here.
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad you are because, you know, number one, I
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  Speaker 1: know it was very stressful to have to do that.
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  Speaker 1: It was very expensive for your campaign to have to
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  Speaker 1: do that. So on the record, are you saying that
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  Speaker 1: you would support changing the policy we have now in
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  Speaker 1: Nebraska that allows to pay per signature? The other way
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  Speaker 1: that people are talking about is just pay these people hourly,
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  Speaker 1: no matter how many signatures. Is that the direction you're leaning?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Secretary Evinen and the legislature will ultimately
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  Speaker 2: determine that, but the per signature cost is large. And
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  Speaker 2: so it gets more expensive the closer you get to
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  Speaker 2: the deadline. If you start this out a little earlier,
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  Speaker 2: it's not as expensive, but it became very, very expensive.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, I think an hourly rate would be a
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  Speaker 2: better way to go. Then they're not incentivized to just
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  Speaker 2: Write down a name because they're getting paid a certain amount.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, for people from out of state to come in
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  Speaker 1: and say, hey, I can make a quick buck here
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  Speaker 1: in Nebraska. So now the Nebraska Supreme Court granted, approved
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  Speaker 1: two new parties, and Secretary Evinin certified them. So now
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  Speaker 1: we have America First and the Nebraska Working People Party.
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  Speaker 1: Now that's along with our Democrat Party, our Republican Party,
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  Speaker 1: the Libertarian Party, and the Marijuana Party. So those are
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  Speaker 1: already established. Now we have America First and the Nebraska
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  Speaker 1: Working People Party, not to be confused with the Nebraska
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  Speaker 1: Working Family Party. There is one of those, too. The
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  Speaker 1: Nebraska Working People Party appeals to Democrats, I would say.
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  Speaker 1: Robin Richards is a Democrat and is leading that. America
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  Speaker 1: First Party, it has been around for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: This is nothing new. I think America First Party was
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  Speaker 1: first established in the 1930s. 40s in World War II,
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  Speaker 1: and it really prioritized what they called at that time
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  Speaker 1: American interests, traditional values, limited governance, traditional family structures, freedom, accountability.
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  Speaker 1: That sounds like the original tenets of the Nebraska Republican Party.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, I don't think it's a surprise.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, where the two parties originally came from, Was
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  Speaker 2: dealing with the senator.
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  Speaker 3: Race, right?
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  Speaker 2: And so you have different groups, and this is the
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: game within the game within the game of politics. And
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: that's what's been so frustrating. And really, when you mentioned
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: back in February why I decided not to continue on
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  Speaker 2: the congressional race is because I'm tired of all of this.
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  Speaker 2: I'm tired of– what this all is, and it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: need to be that way. Well, you know, I gave
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: a speech at the Free Speech Society, and I felt like, well,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Free Speech Society, I can just kind of let it rip.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: So I let it all out, and I talked about it,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: and I told people exactly what all this is. And so,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: you know, when you first run for office, it's, you're
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: running for the right things. And I still feel like I'm,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: and I believe I'm running for the right, reasons and
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: to accomplish the goals that I set out in the NebraskaDoctrine.com.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: A little plug. But you get accused of being a spoiler.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: You get accused of doing something that is from both sides.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: And so what I'm attempting to do is just clear
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  Speaker 2: the path and go, okay, if you're on the extremes
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  Speaker 2: of the Republican side or the Democrat side, you're in
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  Speaker 2: the minority. There's a lot of people out there who
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: are frustrated. There's a lot of young people out there
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  Speaker 2: that are really frustrated because they don't see what they
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  Speaker 2: belong to. There's nothing out there. And what I'm attempting
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  Speaker 2: to do is just give them a home or the,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: what I call the governing for the 80% is going, Hey,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we don't have to participate in what all
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  Speaker 2: this is. Now that the two party system, it, you know,
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  Speaker 2: is a vehicle, um, or this America first party and
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  Speaker 2: the working people's party for me, it was a vehicle.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Is this your pirate ship? You said that you were
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: looking for a pirate ship.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know why that popped in my head. That
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: was at the Free Speech Society. And for whatever reason,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: that popped in my head with the pirate ship. And
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: I suppose in a weird way, you're just taking a
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: vessel out of what I talked about, the port, and
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: getting on the ballot because of the signature deal. So
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: I had both of them actually talk to me about running.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: I had The other ones you mentioned, Libertarian, I think,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: had been brought up. I don't think anybody reached out
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  Speaker 2: to me on that. But I, again, think there's a
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: lot of people that are just frustrated on both sides.
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  Speaker 2: And you have this fight. I know the Republican side
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: a lot more. There's an internal fight going on right
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: now on what they want to do. I've talked to
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: several Democrats that I know there's an internal fight there,
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  Speaker 2: especially with the CD2 race.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: So it's just– it's messy. It's very chaotic.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: It is very messy now. And I believe you are
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: so right. I always have said there are about 10
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  Speaker 1: percent on the far right, 10 on the far left.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody else falls somewhere in the middle, leaning one way
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: or another, but falls somewhere in the middle. But it
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  Speaker 1: is true that– I mean the Republican Party– I mean–
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: They turned their back on me. I mean, you know,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: I was a Republican mayor in a blue city for
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: 12 years, and they really didn't help me the last
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: time at all. But the Democrat Party... has gone so extreme.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're getting, you know, socialists and communists are
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: winning primaries now. To me, that is really scary. But
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: when you talk about America First, which now you are
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: running for governor with that party, when I read about
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: what the tenets of their party was, it just hit me.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: That's the old GOP. I mean, it's limited government, government
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  Speaker 1: Free market economy, strong national defense, traditional values, and personal responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: That's it. Is that what you feel?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And Brett Lindstrom. This is Brett Lindstrom with us today.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I have to keep on repeating who I have in
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: case they're just turning in.
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  Speaker 2: Well, if you think about when I was a kid,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: the 80s and Ronald Reagan.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: It's very much that. You know, what's interesting about the
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: America First Party, if you Google it, there's a website, AmericaFirstNE.com.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: That's a fake website. So somebody out there on the
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: other side decided that they were going to muddy up
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: more of it and they put out a fake website.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: So again, the game within the game, it's just, it doesn't,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: it's frustrating that individuals out there who want good government,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: want representation, want opportunity, they want stability, they want all
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: these things. And then there is this game that's always
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: being played politically that that doesn't serve people.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: And there definitely is.
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  Speaker 3: I know.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: And what really worries me on the long term is
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: that there are plenty of really great Americans, patriots that
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: would be great elected officials and just say, I don't
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: want any of that. I'm not going to put myself,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: my family, anybody through this. And they won't run anymore
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: when they see what goes on.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's very few. I mean, I've had those conversations
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: and a lot of candidates come and meet with me
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: and I There's three different things that happen when you're, say,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: a candidate or just within politics. And I would say
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: I've gotten a little bit more jaded over the years
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: with the filter or the lens in which I look
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: at politics. Usually it's power and money. I mean, those
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: are the two things that tend to drive things. But
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: you have the candidate, and usually they don't know, I
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: would say, a lot, right? They're running because they have
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: a passion. They want to serve people. They have an
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: issue or two. And they want to do it and
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: are willing to do it. Again, to your point, there's
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: not a lot of people willing to do it. And
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: then you have the tacticians or the politicos who, they're necessary.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, they have to run campaigns, but they're not necessarily,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: they don't care necessarily about policy and moving, say, Nebraska forward.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: They're doing what they're required to do in their job.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: And then you have the political parties. Well, this day
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: and age, you have such a polarized situation. And what
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: I've tried to describe to people, it's not, we think
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: about it in terms of a tug of war, right
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: and left, and you're going back and forth, back and forth,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: and say people sit in the middle. It's much more
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: like a horseshoe where the two fringe side parties or
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: the side of the fringe is closer aligned. I mean,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: you go through history and look at all that. And
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: so if you think about a horseshoe and draw a
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: line right through the middle, what I'm trying to do
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: is One, represent below the line and push the line up.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: So you want to break through the middle and push
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: the extremes to the outside.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: That's what it is. So what I've– and that's what's
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: going to happen. I mean the legislature is most likely
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: going to be completely split, filibuster-proof on both sides. You
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: cannot– I don't care if you subscribe to Lynn Walz's
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: agenda or Governor Pillen's agenda. Nothing is going to happen.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 2: So we have to do something different. And I think
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: if we do this differently, we can set ourselves apart
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: and be what I described in the Nebraska doctrine, a
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: lighthouse in the storm of chaos, political chaos.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Brett. Now, usually no one runs because it's hard.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Campaigning is really, really hard. It takes every bit of
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: your energy and your time and your families to But usually,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: no one runs if they don't think that they can win,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: even by a long shot. So let's talk about your
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: pathway to victory. How are you going to appeal to
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: the America First voters, the America First Party? What makes
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: you the one that they're going to say, this is
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: who I need to be voting for? So that's really
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: what I want you to tell our audience here today.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: You know, you have the doctrine. I have it right
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: in front of me here, and I have read it. But,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: you know, you talk about in the doctrine, it's pretty
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: broad strokes, I would say, but you address property taxes, valuations, housing,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: public power, economic development, AI, and a lot more. There's
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: a lot in this. But for a general election, usually
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: the voters aren't going to be this educated to read
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: your doctrine. How are you going to appeal and win
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: this race?
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's actually 50 probably pages behind that or
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: white papers behind each one of those segments. I didn't
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: want to put all of it out there because it
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: is hard to digest. It's hard to digest. But there
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: is– it's the strategic plan going back to the political
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: philosophy that we would implement and, again, to your point,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: pushing out the 10 on each side. And percentage-wise, I
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: mentioned this on a radio show a couple weeks ago
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: or maybe a month and a half ago. There are–
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: call it 49 percent. I think it's 49.7 or something
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: like that, Republicans in the state of Nebraska that are
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: registered to vote. You have 22 percent that are nonpartisan
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: and you have 26 percent that are Democrat. So again,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: if you subscribe to Lynn's agenda, she's going to have
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: to poll almost 100 percent of the Democrats, 60 percent
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: of the nonpartisan, and then she's going to have to
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: poll almost a quarter of the Republicans.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: That's pretty hard to do.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Extremely hard to do. You know, I do know we've
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: done some polls. We did polls several months ago, and
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Governor Pillen sits within the Republican Party at the mid-30s.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: There is over 50 percent that want something different.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: You know what bothers me, though, Brett, is when people
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: get frustrated, all that you said is very accurate, but
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: when they get frustrated, they don't even vote. It's not
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: that they're voting— for Lynn Walls, against Lynn Walls, for
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the governor, against the governor. They just don't vote. They
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: get frustrated and stay home. In the primary, the voter
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: turnout was 26% in Douglas County. That's terrible. And when
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: you have that low of a voter turnout, anything can happen.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: That's what really concerns me. Yeah, District 2.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: So District 2 is Saunders County, part of Sarpy County
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: and Douglas County. tends to have a lower voter turnout
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: than third district, which is rural Nebraska. And then even
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: the first district, which would be, you know, the big cities, Lincoln, Norfolk, Columbus.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: You have to give people a reason to vote. And,
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: you know, part of it is you got to raise money.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: You got to raise money to get the message out.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: And that's what I'm doing right now. And people have
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: asked me to, can you do it in 60 days?
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: I would say normally it'd be very difficult, but Because of, say,
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: four years ago, four and a half years ago, it's
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: different this time. And there is a broad coalition out there.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: So if you go to the Republican side, there's a
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: huge MAGA side that is frustrated with Pillen. The ag
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: community is extremely frustrated with Governor Pillen with, again, you
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: saw that Argentinian beef deal last week. Commodity prices are low,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: row crop. farmers are hurting. There's a lot of people
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: hurting out there. And so what all this came to
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: be and how it came to be was, again, through
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: that doctrine was just going, okay, do we have to
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: do what we've always been doing or just even the last, say,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: 15 years? The answer is no, we don't have to
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: do that. And so this is the strategic plan that says, okay,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: we're going to, one, get our cash reserve back up
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: to a healthy level, which is 14.5% of the budget.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: We're going to create an infrastructure stability fund. Because if
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: we don't do that, and when I implement the property
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: tax reform, counties have to have public safety. They have
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: to have roads, bridges, all those things. So you have
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: to have some off-ramp. And then we go into the
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Teosa formula, which is how we fund schools. That is
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: the biggest percentage of what you pay in property tax.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: So there is a step-by-step, and it doesn't matter if
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: there's 25 Democrats. It doesn't matter if there's 30. This
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: is not about a Republican or Democrat divide. This is
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: about opportunity. It's about growth. It's about having opportunities for
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: our kids, grandkids, and that is not a partisan thing.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Okay. Brett Lindstrom is with us today. I have some
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: more questions to ask you. But if you have questions
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: for Brett Lindstrom, please email him in or call in
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: and we'll try to get those answered for you. But
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: let me just ask you this, and then we're going
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: to go on a break. Might you come back after
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: break for a few more questions? Okay. The one thing
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I want to say is you have to get your
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: message out. The message that you have in your doctrine
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: is very, you know, it's very thorough. It's very long,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: but you got to get your message out. So still
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: being funded, a well-funded campaign is very, very important. You
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: have to have your donors stuck with you. And are
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: you doing well with funding your campaign so you can
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: get your message out?
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we've been dealing with a lot of the
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: procedural type of issues right now, just getting on the ballot. Yes,
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: there's people that want to support. It's interesting in politics.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: There's people that will not buck the system, say you
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: have an incumbent. And I've had those conversations. They just
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: are not comfortable doing that, even though they see Nebraska
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: going in the wrong direction, whether it's the economic. I mean,
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I think this morning there was an Examiner article that
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: DED- had 61 people in that department leave. I mean,
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: that's the engine. The Department of Economic Development, 61 people
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: did not want to come back. That is a huge issue.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: That's significant.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: And so when I, you know, talking to the business community,
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: I hope that they recognize that if we don't do
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: something different, Nebraska is not going to, one, be like
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: anywhere near good shape in the next, say, four years.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: We have a budget shortfall that's going to be a billion,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: maybe north of a billion. And that's going to hurt business.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: And it's going to hurt people and kids and all
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: the things that come with that. And I just hope
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: that they have the courage to step up and say,
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: you know what, Governor Pillen, the last three and a
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: half years, it did not, it just isn't working.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Okay, we're going to take a break, and we're going
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: to come back. Brett agreed to come back after the break.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I've got more to ask you about the budget and
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: then some other questions, so thanks for sticking on with us, Peyton.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: And we are back. Brett Lindstrom is with us, who
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: is running for governor of the state of Nebraska with
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the America First Party. And he agreed to come back
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: after the break because I have some more questions to
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: ask you. We were just talking about it's so important
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: to have a well-funded campaign. A lot of people don't
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: realize that. I mean, I remember when I was running
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: again and somebody said, why does it make any difference
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: how much money you're raising? It's to get your message out.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: You got to get your message out. You got to
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: tell people why they should vote for you. I understand
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: your frustration because now when you turn on the TV,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: all you see are these negative ads just going after people,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: trying to confuse and mislead the voters. And they're spending
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: millions and millions of dollars on some of these commercials.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I've been a victim of it. Almost everybody that has
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: run for a big political office has been a victim
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: to it. So it does get very frustrating. But you
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: need to get your message out. Yeah.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: And, well– I guess the positive is that most people
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: stream now. So you have YouTube or Hulu or whatever,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: the streaming service. Broadcast TV is extremely expensive. There's four
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: different markets in the state of Nebraska. If I remember right,
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: it was almost $ 100, 000 a week. to run TV ads.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: It's unbelievably expensive. People don't realize this, but you do
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: these buys way ahead of time. But if you need
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: then to add buys closer and closer to the election
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: to respond to something your opponent is saying about you,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: then it gets more and more expensive. The closer it
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: is to the election... Boy, they upped those prices.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: Well, and you have to film, right? You film a
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: commercial and you have a whole production crew that comes in.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Very expensive. In a 30-second spot, you can't believe how
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: expensive they are. So, you know, I've said this many times,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: but politics is about the art of winning. And I
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: really mean that. It's not just winning an election, but
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: it's how you are going to win elections. To get
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: your colleagues to vote for you, to get the legislature
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: to vote for you so that you can achieve your
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: goals and your priority. And I think somebody that is very,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: very skilled at doing that always makes the best politician
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: because they absolutely are politicians. But you got to know
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: how to work with people. So if you were elected
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: governor with the America First Party, how are you going
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: to get those Democrats and Republicans, which is what they are? Yeah,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: it's a nonpartisan thing. body, right?
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Yes, right.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: We all count how many Democrats and how many Republicans
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: there are. How are you going to get the legislature
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: to work with you? Now, you've been down there eight years.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: You know how it goes. But it sure changes.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't think what doesn't change, though, is transparency, trust,
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: and respect. And I would argue, empathy. So, you don't
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: have to always agree with somebody. Most people don't. We
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: talked about it last time I was in. Your family
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: doesn't agree. But There's a lot more that we agree
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: upon than not. And so in the doctrine, that's what
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: all that was or what it is, was to take
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: away what I already know is going to be a
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: political hot potato. And while everyone is not going to
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: get 100% of what they want, nobody hurts. You know,
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: that's the big thing is that you have these groups
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: that want 100% of everything and they fight on behalf
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: of that. And that's that's fine. But as elected officials,
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: you have to filter through that. You negotiate. Yeah. You
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: make the best decisions. And if you're not grandstanding, if
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: you're not out there cutting people down because of whoever
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: they are and whatever political affiliation they have, you can
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: get a lot done. And I did that. I mean,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: in the legislature, eight years, I was one of maybe
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: one or two of Republicans who survived the blue wave
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: back in 2018. And passed north of 60 bills that
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: I sponsored. So it wasn't because– you just have to
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: understand people. You have to talk with people. And that's
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: what I did for the last 10 months was just
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: having coffee and trying to understand people. What do people want?
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: And, you know, even with the city council, you know,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: there's seven city council members. I didn't always get my way.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: But usually each side, you start big and you meet
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: in the middle somewhere. But, you know, when you were
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: in the legislature, you were known for pushing bills that
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: reduce the state income tax, including Social Security. So, you know,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: you have made a name for yourself.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: That vote was actually almost unanimous with the Social Security
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: and a lot of bills. And so you do a
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: lot of the work behind the scenes before it ever
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: gets onto the floor.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: A lot of people just hide. They hide. They don't
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: have those communication or talk. And even if you have, say,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: a neighbor that has a different yard sign, I bet
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: if you went over and just had a conversation, you'd
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: find that, eh, we're a lot alike.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Let's do just a few quick questions, if we could.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: How are you going to vote on the Fairness for
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Girls ballot initiative?
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: How would you vote? I would vote yes on the
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: Fairness for Girls. I have two daughters that play sports,
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: and to me, that's a pretty easy decision to make
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: and would vote yes.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Okay. What about marijuana?
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: So when I was in the I voted for the
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: medicinal cannabis, um, and what we call a CA down
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: at the legislature, uh, constitutional amendment, which then went to
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: the public vote, which, which passed, I think 70%, something massive. And,
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: you know, governor Pillon has slow played that, uh, for
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: the last couple of years. Uh, what, what I found
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: was that there was two, two different things that made
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: my decision, um, One was when I was walking door
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: to door, I ran across a lot of veterans who
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: had PTSD and they told me about their situation and
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: how this helped. And then there's a group of moms
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: that had kids with epilepsy and they were trying everything
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: they could, pharmaceuticals and everything else. And they decided that
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: this was an option that they wanted to pursue. And
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: so I listened to them and I said, okay, I,
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: I can get on board with that.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: I feel the same. I mean, it's the nursing medical
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: background that I have, that I've seen it with my
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: own eyes. I've seen it, how it can be beneficial.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: And I'm supportive of it too. In 2015, you voted
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: to repeal the death penalty. Talk about the death penalty.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was one where I was for the death
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: penalty for just growing up. Eye for an eye is
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: how I looked at it. And then when you start
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: having to make decisions at the legislature. I started to
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: unpack that more. We had, or nationally, there was 154
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: individuals who were through DNA evidence exonerated. I always, I was, was,
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: we talked about it earlier, just the philosophical side of
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: the Republicans is less government. And we, I suppose you
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: think about government as not having the answers. Reagan, I'm
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: here from the government, or I'm from the government, I'm
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: here to help is the worst thing that you could say.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: So I never quite understood why they felt they got
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: it right on the death penalty. And I asked myself
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: just the fundamental question, can we protect society with having
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: individuals who committed these heinous crimes go to prison for
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: life without parole. And I came to the conclusion that, yes,
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: we could. And I compared ourselves to different countries that
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: have the highest death penalty rates as Iran, Iraq, I mean,
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of China. There was a lot of
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: different countries that I didn't want to be associated with. And,
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: you know, from a religious standpoint, I didn't feel that
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: we'd go down that path either or should go down
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: that path either. So there's a lot of different things
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: that came to came to a head and why I
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: made that decision. Okay. Okay.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Now, before we let you go here, we're probably running
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: out of time, but you have said Nebraska deserves a
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: better choice, not forced into choosing between the two candidates
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: that are just there now. You did say the governor
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: in three and a half years pushed Nebraska to the
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: brink of fiscal crisis and that the party has increasingly
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: moved away from the common sense values of the state
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: of Nebraska. So as far as you made that statement,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: as far as the budget goes, so Brett Lindstrom is
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: with us. Brett, is it the governor's fault? Can you
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: just point a finger and blame the governor for the
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: budget crisis that we're dealing with now?
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: Well, first, I would like him to debate and explain
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: exactly what his decisions have been or why he made
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: those decisions for the last three and a half years.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: He refused to do it four and a half years ago.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: He refuses to do it now. I've seen those commercials
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: where he's out there saying, I'm going to fix it
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: and say, well, the last three and a half years
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: you were there, you caused the mess. How are you
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: going to fix the mess that you caused? So that's frustrating. Um,
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: But what he's done, normally there is a separation of powers.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: When I was in the legislature, John Sner was the
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: appropriations chair. We had a really good appropriations committee and
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: we had north of $ 1. 7 billion in the cash reserve.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: What happened was the governor really overstepped that separation and
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: told a lot of people what to do. And they
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: ended up taking $ 800 million.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: In the legislature.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: In the legislature, yeah.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: Telling people and some of the legislators what he wanted done.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they just would do it. There was a
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: couple of them that just did it. And that is
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: not healthy. I mean, just from the fundamental standpoint of
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: separation of powers, that should not happen, both in the
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: state and at the national level. But that is what transpired.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: And so they took $ 800 million out of the cash reserve.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: They put it into this education future fund that is insolvent.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: And then we had, or they, now have expenditures outpacing inflows.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: That's why we're in this mess. So in about a
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: month from now, we're going to be at a billion
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: dollars budget shortfall. And it's because of the lack of
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: strategic plan that was not put in place three and
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: a half years ago. And that's why we're in this situation.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: And if you really want to go back, he never
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: had a plan, never articulated a plan, never debated, never
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: did anything. So- You look back and go like, well,
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: how did we get here? Well, it's pretty obvious how
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: we got here.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Okay. And one thing that– well, Governor Pillen has said
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: and he's going to be on the show tomorrow. So
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk to him about it too. But
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: I hear a lot of politicians, elected officials say this
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: and I'm going to run the city or I'm going
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: to run the state like a business. And, you know,
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: running government is not like a business. It's just not.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: If you're running a business, you're trying to make a profit.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: If you're running a government agency, the city or the state,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: you're not trying to make a profit. You're serving people.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: You're serving people. That's right. And so you hear that
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: a lot, that we're going to run like a business.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: But it's a little bit of a head scratcher because
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: you're not trying to make a profit.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: No.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: You're trying to serve the people.
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: And I guess what I just said with the inflows
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: and outflows, you'd be out of business if you had
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: the expenditures where we're at and the inflows. I mean,
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: the budget has grown since he's taken office. So yeah,
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: if you're running a business, you'd be out of business.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Okay. Brett Lindstrom has been with us. Thank you for
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: staying on after the break. One last really important question
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: as you, from being a former Husker backup quarterback, how
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: are the Huskers going to do this year?
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: You know, it was funny. Did you go to the game?
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: I did go to the game, yeah. So I found
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: out it was the second hottest game ever, and I
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: was down there for the hottest game ever. It was
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: San Jose State.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Somebody offered me tickets, and I said, I'm going to
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: watch it in my cool house in front of my
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: big TV.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: Well, I had two people pass out near me. Oh,
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: it was terrible. It was really hot. But I'll tell you,
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: I was really impressed with Calandria. I thought he did
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: a really nice job commanding the offense. Very accurate. Our
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: offense looked good. Defense needs a little work.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: All right. But I'm going to go, if I had
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: to give an over-under, let's go, you know, back in
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: the day we could say 9, 10. I don't know
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: if we'll get there. I'm going to say 7.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: There you go. Brett Lindstrom, thank you so much for
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: being on the show again. We really appreciate it. Really
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: appreciate all your input. And good luck.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. It's always good to be with you.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: You bet. Thanks so much.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: Here on News Radio 1110 KFAB, Gene Stott is the
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: host of the show. My name is Peyton Highlock, and Gene,
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: you've got about two minutes here to wrap up the show. Oh,
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: my goodness.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Oh, turn on my mic there, Peyton. You know, that
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: time flies when you're having fun, but I really wanted
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: to get Brent Lindstrom back on and talk about running
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: for this America First Party. And, you know, I have
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: to bring up on the front page of the Omaha
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: World-Herald today– There's an article that says Don Bacon looks
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: to support old school Republicans. And here we're going back
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: to that Ronald Reagan area. What is the true GOP?
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: What is the true Republican? Are they what they have
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: become today? Are they– I mean, which some say are–
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: So far, right, they're becoming more radical. Or are they
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: going back to that old tenets of the GOP? And
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: I said it earlier, but it's about limited government. It's
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: about free market economy. It's about a strong national defense,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: traditional values, that's being pro-life, family values, and personal responsibility,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: less government programs. That is the old GOP. And to me,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: when I read about the America First Party, they've been
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: around since the 1940s. They're not anything new. But this
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: is kind of– they seem like they're just back to
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: the values. of the America's Citizen First type of government.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: So this will be a very, very interesting race. Like
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: I said, we're going to have the governor on tomorrow.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: You know, talking about the vitriol that is out there
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: right now, I've just got to bring this up because
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: actually I just cracked up on this one. There is
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: a guy out there that has been after me all
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: over my Facebook for 12 years as mayor. In fact,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: he got so bad once. We actually had to ban
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: him because of things he was posting. He goes by
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: the name of Ken Ritter. I don't know if that's
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: a real name. It might not be a name. at all.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: But he loves name calling. He loves ridiculing people. And
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: somebody sent a screenshot of something the other day. I
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: don't know why he's on my case now because I'm
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: not in any elected position anymore. But you know how
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: they love the name Mean Gene? Because it rhymed. Because, Peyton,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: you know I'm not mean, right?
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: I might be a little sassy at times, but I'm
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: not mean. You're not mean at all, Jean. No, no. Yeah,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: he's scared of me. That's why he sat across the desk.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: But here's what Ken Ritter called me this weekend. He
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: thinks this is hilarious. He's calling me Jean the Spleen.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: What does that even mean? Well, I'm like, how ridiculous? Yeah,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: guess what? I have a spleen. Peyton, I hope you
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: have a spleen too. I do have a spleen. They're
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: kind of important as far as red cell, you know,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: kind of recycling and they're... Your spleen is important as
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: far as your immune system. And he thinks he's criticizing
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: me by calling me that. And I think, where has
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: this happened? Where are we heading to here?
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: I'd love a good name. If somebody's going to name
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: call or something, make it a good one. And I'll
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: laugh if it's good.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: That one's just not good. Well, what about if I
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: call you Peyton the lung? Or Peyton the liver? Oh,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: you got me. Peyton the liver.
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: Oh.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: My gosh.
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: Peyton the pancreas.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: Yes, Peyton. There we go. Peyton the pancreas. You could
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: be Peyton the pancreas and I'll be Gene the spleen.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: But Ken Ritter, if you are a real person, really,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: your name calling has got to the point of being
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: so totally ridiculous. Just give it up, will you please?
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Goodness sakes. But anyway, you know, we hope that people
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: will pay attention to this election. It's so important. Governor
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: Pillen will be with us tomorrow. That's it for us today.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you for spending this hour with us.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: We're hoping you will email us and call in, and
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: we would love for you to join us again tomorrow.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Thanks for spending the hour with us today. I'm Jean Stothert,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: and this is 1110 KFAB.