Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / LD-18 Candidate Taylor Royal

Transcript

LD-18 Candidate Taylor Royal · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jean Stothert. Peyton Highlock, my producer, is back.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: You were gone yesterday.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Jean. It was a sad, sad state of
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: affairs around here. Well, thank you. I was disappointed to
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: not be here.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I had to deal with Scott Voorhees for a whole hour.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: But you are back today, and welcome back, and thank
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: you all for being with us today.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: We really want to hear from you. We want to
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: get your.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Feedback, hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints, and Anything goes, city, state, national,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the world. And we have plenty to talk about because
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: there's a lot going on. And we will have plenty
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of great guests. We have a great guest today. But,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: of course, you are going to hear plenty of opinions
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: from me, too. But it is your chance to speak
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: up and sound off. Please send your emails to comment
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: at kfab.com. You can call us at 402-558-1110, or you
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: can leave us a recorded message on the talkback mic,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and we'll play it on the air. And we are
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: very happy that you are with us. I am very
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: happy that Taylor Royal is in the studio with us today.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Taylor, good morning. Good morning to you. Happy Friday. Excited
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: to be here.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Well, I always look forward to Fridays. You know, Taylor,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: I look forward to Monday. I never have that Sunday
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: night dread that like a lot of people do.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I like what I do. I've always liked what I do.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: You do a very good job, certainly. Well, thank you.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: But Taylor is running for Legislative District 18 in Northwest Omaha. Yesterday,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I had his opponent on, Jess Goldoni. And right now
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: at the top of the show, I have to apologize
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: to Jess because I went back and listened to my
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: podcast last night.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I called her Jen twice. I apologize. Her name is
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Jess Goldoni. Goldoni.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. Jess Goldoni. Jess, sorry that I called
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: you Jen a few times. But this is a district
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: in northwest Omaha, including Bennington, correct? Taylor, just tell us.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: I had her tell the boundary lines, but tell us
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: again about the boundary lines.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, fantastic. It is northwest Omaha into Bennington.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: It's 168th and Maple North, 156th and Maple North, and
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: kind of scoots on down Military, down to about 78th
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: and Crown Point, and then goes all the way around Bennington. Frankly,
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: it's unique for me. We moved into the district when
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: I was 11. And so my wife and I are
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: now raising our own kids on the same streets that
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: I kind of grew up on. So I love the district,
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: excited to hopefully represent it.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: That's a great story.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: And, you know, I just have to mention to the listeners,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: you and I have a unique relationship and friendship. And
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I'll come right off the top of the show here
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: and say I have endorsed friendship. But our relationship started
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: in 2017 before those darling little kids of yours were
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: even born, Wells and Summer.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: And we were opponents.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: We ran against each other in 2017. You ran for mayor.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: You challenged me. I was mayor at the time. And
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: you know what, Taylor? I just got to tell people,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: isn't this the way it should be? I mean, you
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: were my opponent. We ran against each other. After the
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: race or the primary, you came right out and you
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: supported me. Because both of our philosophies and our feelings
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: about what should be done were very, very similar.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: They were.
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  Speaker 1: And I always tell people the story about you because
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I said usually if people say they really like their opponent,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: they're lying. Because you usually hate your opponent while you're
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: running against them.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: But I didn't you.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, as you talked and you explained what you
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: wanted to do, I liked what you said. I liked
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: your demeanor. And so I was more than eager to
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: support you in this race. And I appreciated your support
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: in the past, too. So get that right off the
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: top of the show here that I have.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Ten years ago. It's amazing how quick time goes. Here
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: we are. Time flies when you're having fun. So, Taylor,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: tell us in your words.
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  Speaker 1: This this to me has always been the hardest question
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: and it should be the easiest. But why are you
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: running for the legislature?
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  Speaker 3: Yes. Same reason that I ran 10 years ago. So
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: when I moved back to Nebraska from Texas.
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  Speaker 2: I grew up here.
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  Speaker 3: I want to wear the jersey of this great state.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: And I love Nebraska. I think we have a lot
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: going for ourselves to keep this great state good. But
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: also there's some unique challenges and opportunities that we have
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: in front of ourselves. And so if you look at
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: what we have sitting in front of us today, we
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  Speaker 3: do have affordability issues.
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  Speaker 2: We have a.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Property tax crisis we need to deal with. We also
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: have great opportunities of how we want to invest and
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: grow our state. And if there's ever a time to
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: elect a CPA, given my background, I think now is
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: that time to do that. So Ultimately, I didn't come
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: to this campaign, you know, knowing kind of the agenda
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: or the platform that we wanted to run on. I
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: spent the first, you know, months and continue to do
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: so knocking on doors, hearing from Nebraskans. And I know
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: my platform because I've heard it from them. I've heard
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: it from them directly. And ultimately, we do want to
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: grow this state. We want to make it one of
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  Speaker 3: the best places in the country to live, to work
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  Speaker 3: and play. And that's ultimately what we're striving for. And
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  Speaker 3: we love the opportunity to represent my district and Nebraskans
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  Speaker 3: to do that.
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  Speaker 1: And I didn't mention in the beginning of the show,
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  Speaker 1: but you're very well educated. You have a bachelor's degree.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: You have a master's degree. It's in accounting and finance.
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  Speaker 1: You've been working for Deloitte. Your specialty is international tax law.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, you've got a really great financial background and
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: a great knowledge of taxes.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Correct. And that's where the desire honestly came from to
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: actually run for politics or run for an open seat
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: in the first place. Ten years ago, I just moved
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: back from Dallas, Texas. I had spent time working at
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Deloitte in international tax. And when I was down there,
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  Speaker 3: I had firsthand experience to see how the smallest changes
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: in tax policy and regulatory policy can really drive growth.
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  Speaker 3: It can drive innovation. It can make families move and
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  Speaker 3: transition to a state. And I saw that growth firsthand.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: And when I moved back to Nebraska, I wanted that
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: same opportunity. I love our state.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: I want to see us grow. I want to see
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  Speaker 2: us excel.
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  Speaker 3: And we have some work to do, certainly on the
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: tax front, on the regulatory front, to really drive growth
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  Speaker 3: and also not to be nickel and diming our existing taxpayers.
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  Speaker 3: And so Yes, have that background and that skill set,
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  Speaker 3: and I think we can put it to work on
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  Speaker 3: behalf of Nebraskans.
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  Speaker 2: And you said three of your main goals. You have many.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I should let you just say what they are. But
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: you said create jobs, cut taxes, and making life more affordable.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: I assume that is what you hear over and over
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and over. Things are costing too much. My taxes are
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: too high. I know the number one issue in Omaha
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  Speaker 1: is property taxes, and I know the number one issue
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  Speaker 1: in the state of Nebraska to our citizens.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Is property taxes. It is.
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  Speaker 3: And so, yes, that is one of the first things
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  Speaker 3: that we hear. I also hear that Nebraska is a
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  Speaker 3: good life. We want to protect it. So there are
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: certainly things worth protecting before we move on just to
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: kind of all of our issues that we need to
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  Speaker 3: deal with. But, you know, we have great public schools.
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  Speaker 3: We have great public safety. We have incredible way of
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  Speaker 3: life here, you know, a culture of philanthropy and hard
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  Speaker 3: work that you don't find elsewhere.
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  Speaker 2: So we need to protect those things that have made
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  Speaker 2: our state great.
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  Speaker 3: But yes, a lot of work to do on the
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  Speaker 3: affordability side. That is property taxes right now. when you
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: look at where we're at, we have a nickel and
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  Speaker 3: diming tax system. We have a tax system that is
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: crushing working families and seniors, and it's certainly not inviting.
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  Speaker 3: And I felt the brunt of this with my wife
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  Speaker 3: last year. Our property taxes went up 19%, 19%, which
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: to me is one, it's unsustainable. I have no idea
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: how businesses and families even begin to budget for that.
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  Speaker 3: And two, it's my view that if the government wants
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: more of yours and my money, they should have to
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: ask for it instead of just naturally occurring. So Yes,
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  Speaker 3: affordability property taxes are key. And to go back to
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  Speaker 3: what I've heard at the door, I think one woman
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: put it most succinctly. She said, I feel like Nebraska
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  Speaker 3: doesn't have a spot for its seniors and it doesn't
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  Speaker 3: have a place for its young people. And so when
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  Speaker 3: we're having a tax code like we have that is
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  Speaker 3: pushing our seniors out of their houses and we don't
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  Speaker 3: have good opportunities for our young kids, we're going to
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  Speaker 3: continue to falter as a state. Mm-hmm.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, Taylor, I'm a senior. I'm just– watch what you
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: say about those seniors. But you're so right. But let's
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: go back. The state of Nebraska right now has a
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: government– I mean a big budget shortfall that they have
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  Speaker 1: to deal with. And depending on who you talk to
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  Speaker 1: and how they're calculating this– It's anywhere from $ 200 million
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: to a billion.
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  Speaker 2: It's a moving target, yes. It is a moving target.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you, everybody that I have talked
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  Speaker 1: to that is running, whether it's city, state, national, the world,
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  Speaker 1: they say, I want to lower taxes.
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  Speaker 2: But you've got a big shortfall. You do.
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  Speaker 1: And how are we going to accomplish this? Governor Pillen
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: came out, did a special session two summers ago, came out,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: didn't achieve really anything. One of the things that he
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: did do is he did do the largest income tax
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: cut in history. And by 2027, that's going to be
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: down to 3.99% for the income tax in the state
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: of Nebraska. With this budget shortfall, you know, there's a
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: lot of candidates now are saying this is one of
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: the reasons because they– The income tax is dropping. It's
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: because the income tax is dropping. Would you want to
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: raise that income tax back up again or talk about that?
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, absolutely not.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: So studying tax policy, regulatory reform, you look at the
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: elasticity of what drives capital here, what drives business investment here,
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: what makes families move here in the first place.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: And income taxes are right up there.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: And so we need to keep our commitment to businesses,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: to families that we're going to continue to be competitive,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: not only across our neighboring states, but across the country
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: where we want people to move from. And so, no,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: I would absolutely not slow roll what we're doing on
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: the income tax side. We do on the property tax side, though,
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: need to have immediate relief. And so in kind of
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: preparing for running for this, continuing to look at what
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: other neighboring states have done, what states have done that
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: are growing and they have what's called a rate rollback.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: So whenever we have a valuation increase on the property
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: tax side, that mill levy should automatically decrease so that
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: our taxes remain flat. Again, it's my view that if
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: a local jurisdiction wants more of our money to provide
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: a service, they should have to ask for it and
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: present that.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Now, let me challenge you on that one a little
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: bit because as of someone that has dealt with a
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: huge budget for 12 years with the city of Omaha here,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: what the legislature has already imposed that we are working
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: under now is that it's a property tax revenue cap. Okay,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: and it's to achieve exactly what you said. So it
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: is to– basically, it is that the revenue that comes
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: into– I'm going to use the city of Omaha for
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: example– is at 0%. You can't take any more revenue
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: than you did before or the hope is then you
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: will– if you get more revenue, you will turn around
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: and you will lower the levy. But that law says
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: it is property tax is 0% or– and they use
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: a term in the legislature, slice tax. inflation, which is
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: just a cost of living adjustment, plus real growth percentage
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: from the Douglas County assessor. And it is all, it's
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: just only on property tax.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to give you an example. So in
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: the 2027 budget that was just produced by Mayor Ewing
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: and just approved by the city council, he was getting
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: in more property tax and He was getting in about
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: $ 23 million more in sales tax. The valuations are resulting
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: in at least $ 10 million more. And he didn't lower
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: the property tax, and he has almost a 7% increase
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: in the budget. There's a way to get around this.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: There is. Exactly. And that's the thing.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: I think it's the way that the law was originally
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: written that we kind of took the roundabout approach. We
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: made it way more complicated than we should have. And
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: we need to go directly to the mill rates to
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: have them automatically drop. As property owners know, it's all
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: tied to valuation. And elected officials today say, hey, I
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: didn't raise your taxes or I didn't ask for an
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: increase in the mill levy. Well, our property taxes still
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: went up and they continue to go up in perpetuity.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: And until we take more of a direct route to
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: tackle that issue, we're going to continue to face the
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: same issues.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: And here's another issue, though, that I dealt with with
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the city of Omaha is that even though I'd lowered
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: the levy five times– The city of Omaha's portion of
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: the property tax is 22%. People that live in Omaha,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: only 22% goes to the city of Omaha. 62% goes
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: to your public schools. And so I lowered it five times.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: I never raised the levy. And yet it was lowered
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: on that 22%. People hardly saw any difference at all.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. You were managing things correctly, but again, it takes
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: all levels of entities, all levels of municipalities to really
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: make a difference in somebody's actual true property taxes.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Would you include– would your thoughts be to include, though,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: a cost-of-living adjustment? Because things do cost more every– it
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: costs more to run government every single year, the city
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: of Omaha, too. For example, I mean, concrete costs more.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Of course, yes. Steel costs more.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: But with the city of Omaha, over 80 percent of
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: our budget goes to construction. people, employees, and they're all
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: under a labor contract. So you're legally, contractually obligated to
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: fill it. So every year that budget goes up, and
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: then if you get more revenue in and you are
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: required by state law to lower the levy, that could
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: put you in a real dilemma.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: It can.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: So yes, we need to continue to fund our government,
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: make sure we have services that are going to continue
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: to provide excellency. But you know, in our specific example,
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: 19% increase in one year is just not sustainable for
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: any homeowner. And so certainly something is broken in our
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: system and we need to tackle that issue head on.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: And that's what I propose.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: And I think it's important for people to know that
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: property taxes are levied locally, they're spent locally, they're collected locally,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: but it's the state that determines how this is all
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: going to get done.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So yeah, we need to do some major reform
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: in that regard. We need to expand the homestead exemption
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: so more seniors fall into it. And The flip side
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: of all of this, again, is making sure that we're
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: growing our economy, that we have a modernized tax code
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: that's not nickel and diming our people who are living here.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: We want to make sure that we have expansive growth
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: for our businesses that are here as well and that
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: we're going to invite that next business to come in.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: and kind of soften the blow of the property taxes
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: on our great state.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: The only way to really lower taxes and keep them
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: low is to broaden your tax base. And to what
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: you are saying right now, it's so important that we
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: make Nebraska a more attractive state to people and to businesses, right?
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, especially, I mean, with blowing that income tax,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: that makes so much difference. And so that is something
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I think we still need to do. I've had people say,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: I don't want Nebraska to grow. I want it to
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: stay like it is. The states are like cities. They're
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: either growing and moving forward or declining and falling behind.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: It's the same in business. We need to continue to compete.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: We need to continue to push forward. We need to
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: continue to grow and have great opportunities for Nebraskans as
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: well as the people we want to invite here.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: There is some dark money that is always being talked
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: about in different campaigns. I did ask your opponent yesterday
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: that more than $ 100, 000 from outside groups has been spent
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: on On her campaign, she declined to say who this
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: outside money is coming from. Are you getting any outside
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: money from third party or from super PACs? And tell
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: us what you think about this outside money coming in
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: to help fund campaigns.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Yes, yeah. No dark money has specifically funded my campaign.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: You can go and look at our NADC filings. I
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: have seen all the attack ads. So same way that
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: the attack ads have hit me, I've seen some of
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: the ones that have hit my opponent as well. as
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: well as just kind of all the other candidates that
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: have come out there. Um, I don't like that part
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: of this campaign. I think we have positivity to run on.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: We have a great agenda of what we want to
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: accomplish on behalf of Nebraskans. If you do it right
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: as a state Senator, the role isn't to hold a
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: title and feel important. It's to get to work on
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: behalf of Nebraskans and actually make a difference in their lives. Um,
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: I don't pay much attention to it. My wife hates it. She, she,
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: you know, will show me the different ads that come
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: through and, you know, just kind of get all up
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: in arms about it. Um, When you look at some
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: of them that have come out, I think it's rather
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: lazy because the same attack ads that I've had against
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: me are the ones that I've seen directly on 10
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: other candidates as well. They just changed the name. They
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: changed the picture. I was a little upset at one
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: I saw come through. I thought it was kind of
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: blatant and completely inappropriate, and I kind of screenshotted it
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: on my phone again because I was very displeased, very unhappy.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: But there was a mailer that came out about term limits,
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: and it says– You said voters said eight years was enough,
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: but it says that Taylor Royal is going to vote
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: to increase term limits from two to three.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they have a crystal ball. Exactly.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: So what they were referencing there was a specific article.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: So I go to that article and look at what
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: I said, what I was quoted. Taylor Royal, I do
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: not support three consecutive terms. I want all state and
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: national representatives to have term limits. Elected officials should serve
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: their constituents with excellence, follow through on their promises, and
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: move on from public service. So then I wondered, well,
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: did they get me confused with my opponent? And so
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: I look at hers and she says, I support expanding
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: legislative term limits from two to three. So if they're
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: going to have an attack ad, they should not have
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: it against me. They should have it against her. But again,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: we're going to be positive. We're going to continue to
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: knock on doors, be directly in front of the Nebraska
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: voter and earn their vote is what we're after.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Well, I've always said, I told my family, I said,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: during this last portion of the campaign, don't turn on
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: the TV, don't listen to the radio, don't read the newspaper,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: and you're going to be just fine. Because right now,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: all of these ads are meant to confuse the voter.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: That's what they're meant to do right now.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: And it drives me crazy, because I've been in your
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: same situation in the past, to listen to these things
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: that they're just throwing everything they can out right now.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: And a lot of it is these super PACs.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Money from out of state dark money that you don't
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: know who the heck is funding them eventually you can
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: find out but right now you don't know who is
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: doing this and i wish there was some way to
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: stop this i don't think there is i wish there
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: was some campaign finance.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Adjustment more accountability more.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Accountability but i i mean i i just think it's
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: awful what people are throwing around it's a part.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: Of it now and again we'll we'll move forward we'll
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: be positive we'll continue to do what we need Do
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: you need to do on the campaign to earn the votes?
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: But your campaign itself has not funded any negative ads
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: against your opponent.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Correct. Okay.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you again another couple things here. The NSCA,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: they came out. I know that they have been putting
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: money up to $ 40, 000. It's called Preserve the Good Life,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: which runs attack ads against people. Republican senators. They are
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: also supporting Lynn Waltz. I did ask your opponent yesterday,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: you know, would you ever vote against the union's lobbyists, NSEA?
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Because I would assume that if those caps we talked about,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: revenue caps, with the schools, they oppose them. And I
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: asked that question and I asked, you know, how can
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: you put a cap on that without harming public schools
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: when they are 63 to 70 percent across the state
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: of Nebraska that make up your property tax bill? You're
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: going to have to have caps on all taxes.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Governmental taxing entities. Do you agree?
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: I do agree, maybe with the exception of police and fire.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: We do need to make sure that we're supporting as
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: our communities are expanding, as we're growing, that we do
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: continue to have great public.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Safety from that point. And that exemption is there now.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: It is there now.
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: So we don't want to mess with that or change that.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: But we do need to make sure, just like Nebraskans
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: are tightening their belts, they're figuring out how to do
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: more with less, we do need to make sure that
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: all entities are being responsible, that they're being efficient with
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: every single dollar that comes through the door. And as
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: a CPA, like this is honestly. what excites me, making
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: sure that we are being efficient on behalf of Nebraskans
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: and in stewarding the resources well. When we go back
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: to the budget deficit that we have today, that is
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: one of the things I applaud the governor on is
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: that he is taking an approach that we need to
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: right size our expenses, But as a conservative, frankly, like
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: I don't view all expenses as the same. There are
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: definitely opportunities having my business lens that we want to
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: make sure that we are kind of protecting some of
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: these resources, that we view them as investments on behalf
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: of our state, on behalf of Nebraskans to continue to
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: grow our economy. Not every dollar we spend is the same,
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: but we need to make sure that we put it
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: in the right place.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Taylor Royal is with us.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: He's a candidate for Legislative District 18. I want to
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: ask you some rapid-fire questions.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: Do it.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: But I will say this.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Right now, the Nebraska legislature, there are 33 Republicans, 15 Democrats,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and one progressive. That could really, really change. There's 49
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: down there. Can you see yourself ever crossing the aisle
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: and working with the Democrats on an issue?
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: I could.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: Specifically related to the budget, as I had mentioned to
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: you on making sure that we don't view everything as
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: just an expense to cut out and to be efficient on,
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: we want to make sure that we figure out what
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: are investments versus expenses. Secondly is access to child care.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: I view that right up there with public safety, public education,
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: great infrastructure. When a family is looking to move somewhere,
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: hopefully out to my district of Bennington in northwest Omaha,
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: we need access to great child care, and I would
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: vote there.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Little rapid fire here. Your position, boys and girls sports
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: and spaces.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Protect women's sports. Okay. Boy, you answered that really quickly.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: That's a yes. We're ready for the rapid fire. Here
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: we go. Here we go. I'm going to ask you
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: quite a bit more here, but let me think here.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Open borders. Close borders.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we need legal immigration. We need a good system
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: to bring in good people here. They shouldn't flow through freely.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: And I am excited for least happy with the steps
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: that our president has done to make sure we do that.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And also, I mean, I would think that the immigration issue,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: do you think it's both that the Democrats and the
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Republicans have not done, have failed, in my opinion?
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: They have failed.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: And again, I think we didn't necessarily need new laws.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: We just needed new leadership. And you saw that happen
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: very quickly when President Trump became president. The border was
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: shut down rather quickly because we actually implemented the laws
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: on the books. It just takes a wherewithal to get
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: it done, and so I'm glad to see what's happened.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: It's hard to even tell how many illegals we do
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: have in the country now. I think they're estimating anywhere
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: between 14, 18 million.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: I've heard much more, yeah, unfortunately.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: But again, we need to make sure, Americans, Nebraskans, that
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: we have opportunities for good jobs here. And I am
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: for legal immigration, doing it right. I have many friends
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: that have kind of come through the door here legally,
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: and we need to continue to champion that. But we
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: need fairness and equality for the people who are here today.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Health care for all. Not for it. Do you think
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: health care is a right? Health care is a right.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: I do not. I think that it's a thing that
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: people should take care of themselves.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: And the other thing is with that, there's a lot
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: of talk about Nebraska candidates about wanting to eliminate Medicaid benefits.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: And about, I mean, Denise Powell is out there all
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: the time, you know, blaming her opponent, Brinker Harding. He
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: wants to cut all health care for all these Nebraskans.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: And what I see is they're trying to cut Medicare benefits,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Medicaid benefits from those who don't qualify.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Correct. And that's where a lot of your tax dollars
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: are going, folks. It is, again.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we need to make sure that able-bodied individuals are
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: putting forth the effort to find a job to get
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: access to health care through the employer, that the state
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: shouldn't be funding that. But again, we do need to
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: make sure that we have a safety net to make
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: sure that we are providing that security and access where needed.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: And this is, again, something I kind of harp on.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: All of us politicians, all of us people running, we
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: think we have the best and brightest ideas. Whenever we
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: implement something, it should certainly have a cap on it
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: or a time limit on it to make sure we
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: audit each of these policies for effectiveness. None of these
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: things should live in perpetuity.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Right, right. Disassemble, defund police.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: We need to fund our police to make sure that
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: we support them in the job and the protection that
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: they do for us, for all of our first responders.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: State regulating big tech. Do you think, I mean, they
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: want incentives. Big tech does. They want cheap, affordable power.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: What do you think about the state trying to regulate?
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Nebraska resources belong to Nebraskans. So land, water, energy.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: If a big tech company or any company wants to
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: come in here, they should be able to do so
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: on their own behalf. I do believe the community should
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: make their own decision whether they want to bring in
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: one of these companies, especially on the data center front.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: But we should have some regulation around making sure that
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: we protect Nebraska's land, water, electricity, and that they're going
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: to come in and be good stewards on behalf.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: Of the state. Do you think we can trust big
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: tech to regulate themselves? No. I don't either.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: We find that out over the last several years. I
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: think we have a great attorney general that's holding their
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: feet to the fire. But yes, on these new opportunities
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: of growth and bringing in the access to Nebraska. We
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: need to make sure that we are going to get
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: out of them what we want to and deserve as Nebraskans.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: I think we always need to keep humans in the mix. Absolutely.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: And I know people right now, they're tired, they're frustrated,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: they're confused with all these elections that are coming and
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: not really knowing which way to go. I think the
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: important thing that I keep on wanting to stress on
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: this show is is please get out and vote.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Your vote is so important.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: And it's usually typical in the midterm elections that voter
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: turnout is less. But in your primary in Douglas County,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: the voter turnout was 26 percent. And if you think
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: people want their voices heard, their voices weren't heard.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: They were not. Yes, we need to get people to
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: go out there and vote.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: There's many things that are challenges and opportunities that our
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: great state faces. And having the voice heard, making sure
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: that they get out and vote and push that forward
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: is mightily important. And so here we go, a couple
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: days away.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Okay, Taylor Royal, can you come back for just a
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: few more questions after the commercial?
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, happy to.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Because I know Peyton's over here giving a stink eye.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: He wants us to.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: Take a break. Happy to.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: I got a couple more questions for Taylor Royal. He's
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: candidate for District 18 in the Nebraska legislature.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: And we will be back in just a few minutes.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: And we are back with Taylor Royal, legislative candidate for
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: District 18. Thanks for staying on, Taylor, for a few
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: more minutes. Just a few more questions to ask you.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: I'll go back to my rapid fire. Pro-life, pro-choice?
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: 100% pro-life. Okay. Okay. And let's– good. I mean, I
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: like those quick answers.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: I think they're very, very good, and it really lets
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: the listeners know where you stand on these issues. Listeners,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: if you have any questions for Taylor Royal or even
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Jess from yesterday, please send them to us. Like we said,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: you could do our talkback. You could email us. You
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: can call in, and we will try to get those answered.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: As we close here, though, Taylor, endorsements are important. I
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: asked Jess about endorsements yesterday, and I know NSEA is one.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: I know the mayor of Omaha, John Ewing, endorses Jess.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: I know she's been walking door to door with Denise Powell.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: So I think– but I asked her about endorsements and
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: she said that she did have bipartisan support. Do you
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: have bipartisan support for your candidacy?
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: We do.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: I am very honored to have the support of Omaha Police,
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: Omaha Fire, as well as Smart TD from a union perspective.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: What that means is just I'm going to step up
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: for the people and the first responders that serve our community. Yes,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: I'm supported by conservatives across the state. They do have
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: confidence in me that day one I can go into
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: the unicameral and get to work on behalf of Nebraskans
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: to actually move the needle on the things that are important.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: What kind of frustrated me before I started running is
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: that we know what the issues are ahead of us.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: It is affordability. It's great opportunity. And it's really moving
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: the state forward. But sometimes it seems like our priorities
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: and what gets accomplished down on behalf of Nebraskans in
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: the unicameral is everything but that. And so they know
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: that I can come in on day one and get
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: to work on behalf of Nebraskans. Yes, supported by Congressman Bacon. Yes,
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: supported by, frankly, all of the Omaha City Council members
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: on the Republican side as well as you.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Yes, absolutely. And a lot of
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: our state office holders as well.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Including past Governor Heinemann. I mean, you have Don Bacon.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: You have Ricketts. You have … Hal Dobb.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Hal Dobb. Don Kline. Aaron Hanson. You have a lot.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: And Local 385. I mean, that's really great because I
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: love the firemen. They don't really love me all the time.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: But I will tell you, I mean, they tend to
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: go left a lot of times with their endorsements. So
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: this is very significant. And I see even the Nebraska
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Farm Bureau and the Nebraska Cattlemen.
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: Yes. Yeah, very happy to have support from the Farm
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: Bureau and the Cattlemen as well. Which again, our district
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: is both urban and rural. It's becoming less and less
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: rural with all the commercialization and a movement out there.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: But that's great. You're growing. We are growing and it's
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: incredible to be.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: There's more houses being put up than I can knock
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: on certainly. So trying to keep up. But even so,
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: when you look at my who supported me from a
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: campaign perspective, a lot of businesses around this community, a
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: lot of business owners have as well because they know
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: my background. They know what I stand for. They know
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: I'm going to focus on tax and regulatory policy to
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: grow this state, to provide relief. for Nebraskans. And that's
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: what I'm focused on.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: And are you saying some of those businesses are Democrat-run
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: or Democrat-leaning towards businesses?
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: Yes, you can absolutely look at that.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: So there's your bipartisan support. All right, Taylor Rowe, thank
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: you so much. We're running out of time. Knocking on
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: doors is just what you do, I'm sure. I said
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: day and night is what you usually do. And sometimes
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: these legislative districts are so small, you can get around
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: not only once but twice and sometimes three times. And
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: I know that's what you're busy doing. Any last messages for...
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: to the voters in the state of Nebraska and also
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: in District 18.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, of course.
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: Thanks for the opportunity to be here. Great conversation. The
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: role of state senator, again, is not to hold the
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: title and feel important. It is to get to work
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: on behalf of Nebraskans for all the unique challenges and
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: opportunities we have. And frankly, I want to take responsibility
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: for the state that I love, that I moved back to,
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: that we're raising our kids in, as well as that
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: we're growing a business in. So I want to work
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: on behalf of Nebraskans to lower their taxes, provide affordability,
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: provided great opportunities for Nebraskans and their children, and then
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: to provide unity. We need the Unicameral to look a
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: lot less like Washington, D.C. and a lot more like
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: our neighborhood, and that's the mentality I'm going to take
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: to the Unicameral.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being with us today. I
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: really appreciate it. I know you're very, very busy, but
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: thanks for being with us today.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Candidate for District 18, Taylor Royal.
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: Gene Stothert and the KFAB Common Line returning after a
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: short break.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: And we are back.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: I want to thank Taylor Royal once again and Jess Goldoni.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: I am sorry, Jess, if you're listening, for being on
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the show yesterday and today. You know, Taylor, I really
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: like doing this for our listeners. I wish we could
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: do it to all of the different races around is
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: to have fun. both candidates that got through the primary
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: on the show to let the listeners listen to both
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: sides of what each candidate wants to achieve and let
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: you all make up your own mind about who you
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: want to represent you.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: And I wish we could do this with all of them.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: I have to say now, though, I have called, we
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: have called, we have emailed Denise Powell numerous, numerous times
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: because I have had Brinker Harding on this show and
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: no response whatsoever. I also have contacted Mark Martinez, who
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: is running for Douglas County Sheriff. multiple times, he won't
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: even respond to me. And I just got, I'm going
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: to complain a little here. These are people that want
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: to be elected by the public to serve the public,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: and they don't even have the courtesy to respond and say, no,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: thank you. All right, you know, Mark Martinez is supported
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: by Mayor John Ewing, and I certainly hope Mayor John
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: Ewing hasn't put a gag order on Mark Martinez as
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: a candidate because like he has his other directors and
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: won't allow them on this show. But I think if
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: someone is running for a political office, no matter who
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: they are or who they work for now, they should
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: be able to talk to the public about why they
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: are running. But I have not heard anything back. at
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: all from Mark Martinez. So he's ignoring all of my contacts.
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Gene, you know, that's something that I've spent a
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: lot of time doing in the last three or four
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: months is reaching out to candidates, trying to get them
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: on the show. And there's just a few people who
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: I've been messaging and emailing for months, and I just
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: have not heard anything. It's kind of bizarre. And we
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: talked a little bit about this the other day. If
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: you're a candidate running for any elected position, you should
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: talk to the people who That you will be leading.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: That you will be representing is the thing. I mean, again,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: people get sick of me saying this, but I've been
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: in nine different races. And so counting the primary, that's
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: on the ballot 18 times. And I would never miss
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: an opportunity on any radio show, whether.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: It's NPR, KFAB, CNN. Anything. I was on with the
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: big party a lot.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: And any opportunity to get out there in public and
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: talk to the public who you are going to be
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: representing and they are going to be voting for you,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: you would never miss. That's like when I listen to
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: debates and when it's time for a rebuttal, when Denise
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: Powell said no thank you, who would ever miss an
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: opportunity for 30 seconds even to get out there and
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: say this is why I am running. And I always
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: say it should be– the most important thing should be
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: to be telling the voters why to vote for you.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Don't waste your time telling the voters why not to
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: vote for your opponent and slamming them.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: That is just crazy. aggravating people.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: I went into a store yesterday just to buy some
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: shampoo and they recognized me and they said something about,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: are you glad you're not running for something now? And
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: all the women that were working in there said, I
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: am so sick of these commercials.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: I can't even watch TV anymore.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Everybody's getting sick of it and nobody can believe what
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: is out there right now.
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: You know, Jean, I just recently got a phone call
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: and they asked, does Mark Martinez have an active law
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: enforcement license, certificate, you name it?
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Active was the keyword. And the answer is no. I
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: remember this was a problem a.
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: Few months ago because the Douglas County Election Commissioner said
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: he can't run.
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: And the Martinez campaign challenged it and said, The Nebraska
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: law that was made in 2024 said it does not
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: specify that they have to have an.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: Active law enforcement.
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: It just has– and they argued, well, hey, he's already–
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: he already has a diploma and a certificate.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: And that's right because, you know, a sheriff is in
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: state law that each county in Nebraska has to have
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: an elected sheriff. And they determine the criteria for what
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: a person can run for sheriff. And it did come
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: out that he did not have an active license. That's
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: why— Our election commissioner in Douglas County said he cannot run.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: They overturned that because they changed the criteria a bit.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: But the question to all of you voters is, would
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: you prefer the sheriff to have an active license or not?
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's really the whole question here. Mark Martinez
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: has said in an interview that was on WWT that
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: he is the only candidate with executive experience. And I
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: would say, Aaron Hansen is the only candidate with executive
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: experience because he has been the sheriff for four years.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: He reports to no one but the voters. That's an
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: executive position. And so, once again, I hope we can
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: continue with all of our guests for you to get
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the facts, understand who these candidates are. And then you
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: vote the way you think is best. And we will
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: continue Monday morning. I am going to have Pete Ricketts
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: in the studio. Senator Pete Ricketts will be in the studio.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: And actually, we're working on another guest for Monday. So
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: please join us again. I hope you all have a
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: great weekend and love the weather out here now. But
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: I am Jean Stothert, and this is 1110 KFAB. Thanks
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: for spending this day with us.