Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / NE Attorney General Mike Hilgers

Transcript

NE Attorney General Mike Hilgers · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: I am your host, Jeene Stothard. Guess who's back. Peyton
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Speaker 1: high Lock, my producer is back from his honeymoon.
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Speaker 2: Great to see you, Gene.
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Speaker 1: We'll get the details later. Yes, but Scott vorhees we're
0:11
Speaker 1: sending him home to take a little nap. I swear
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Speaker 1: he's been in here since you've been gone. He deserves it,
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Speaker 1: yes he does. But Peyton is here today. But we
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Speaker 1: are glad that you are with us too, and thank
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Speaker 1: you for being with us. We want to hear from you.
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Speaker 1: We want to get your feedback. We want to hear
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Speaker 1: your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. Really anything goes city, state, national,
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Speaker 1: in the world. And we will have plenty of great
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Speaker 1: guests who we have today too, But you're gonna hear
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Speaker 1: plenty of opinions from me too. But it is your
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Speaker 1: or you can leave us a recorded message on the
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Speaker 1: talkback mike and we'll play it on the air. But
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Speaker 1: we are very very happy that you are with us
0:56
Speaker 1: today today. I'm very pleased to have our guests Mike
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Speaker 1: Hill is with us, who is the Attorney General for
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Speaker 1: the state of Nebraska. Good morning, good morning, thanks for
1:04
Speaker 1: being here.
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Speaker 3: That's great to be her marist other on Peyton's first
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Speaker 3: day of being a.
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Speaker 1: Married I don't I know. We're going to get him
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Speaker 1: at the break. We're going to find out how everything went.
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Speaker 1: But I'm so glad we were here and we've got
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Speaker 1: lots to talk about. But for those of you that
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Speaker 1: don't really know who my Killders is, you're europe. I
1:22
Speaker 1: would consider you a businessman, a politician, and an attorney.
1:27
Speaker 1: How about that.
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Speaker 4: That's pretty good.
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Speaker 1: I think that bad. First of four yeah, and a
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Speaker 1: husband and a dad. Don't you have four kids?
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Speaker 4: Four kids or girls and a boy?
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Speaker 1: I'll be darned. And who's your How old is your oldest?
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Speaker 4: My oldest is fifteen?
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Speaker 1: Oh you have young and how old is your young one?
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Speaker 4: Seven?
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Speaker 1: That keeps you busy, doesn't it?
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Speaker 4: Sure does.
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Speaker 1: And the Attorney general he was in the legislature from
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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen I believe to twenty twenty three, right, And
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Speaker 1: you were speaker for a while. The last two you
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Speaker 1: were the speaker and then you became our attorney general.
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Speaker 1: And in this state of Nebraska. Is all states are
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Speaker 1: attorney generals elected?
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Speaker 4: No, actually not.
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Speaker 1: In some states they are appointed.
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Speaker 3: Are appointed, sometimes by the Supreme Court of the state,
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Speaker 3: sometime by the governor.
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Speaker 1: That's interesting because you know, I had Don Kline, our
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Speaker 1: Douglas County Attorney, was on here last week, and I said,
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Speaker 1: what's the difference between the Douglas County Attorney, a county attorney,
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Speaker 1: and the DA And he explained the DA is usually
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Speaker 1: appointed and the county attorneys are usually elected. I didn't
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Speaker 1: know that.
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Speaker 4: I actually didn't know that.
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Speaker 1: Really, that's see, we learn something.
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Speaker 4: Both of the Don's the best in the country in
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Speaker 4: my opinion.
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Speaker 1: He's very very good. And he's running for reelection now too,
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Speaker 1: and you are too.
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Speaker 4: That's right, we're both up. Yeah, okay, so.
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Speaker 1: You'll be on the ballot in November.
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Speaker 5: There.
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Speaker 3: In fact, I think all law enforcement officials, sheriff, I
2:44
Speaker 3: think sheriffson maybe sheriffs, and county attorneys and ag are
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Speaker 3: all up. Yes, I'll be up in November.
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Speaker 1: And is there any term limits? And for attorney generals
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Speaker 1: there are not? Actually throughout the country.
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Speaker 3: Oh, I'm sorry, in Nebraska there are not. Some states
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Speaker 3: there are, oh, there is, yeah, there are.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so you could be the eternal attorney general if
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Speaker 1: people I would say that, people said that about me
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Speaker 1: being mayor once I did it for twelve years, or
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Speaker 1: like you the eternal mayor. No, that's not going to happen.
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Speaker 1: But there is no term limits for the mayor of
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Speaker 1: Omaha the city council. You know, I never did really
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Speaker 1: understand that because some people at my last election they said, oh,
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Speaker 1: my gosh, you've been doing this for twelve years, give
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Speaker 1: it a break. But they never say that about Congress. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: you know, they're in there for one hundred and fifty
3:29
Speaker 1: years and they just keep unelected. Those folks.
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Speaker 3: I never did quite understand the Attorney General of Iowa,
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Speaker 3: who just got beaten twenty two by a good friend
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Speaker 3: of mine.
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Speaker 4: He served for almost forty years.
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Speaker 1: You're kidding.
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Speaker 4: He was elected the year I was born, nineteen seventy eight.
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Speaker 1: Unbelievable. Well, they must have thought he did a good job.
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Speaker 1: But you know, a lot of people, I don't think
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Speaker 1: understand what the job of the Attorney General's office is.
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Speaker 4: So I'd like to.
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Speaker 1: Start out with that for you to explain to people
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Speaker 1: basically what your office does. First of all, how many
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Speaker 1: attorneys do you have in the Attorney General's office. So
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Speaker 1: it's not just.
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Speaker 4: You, It's not just me. It's not just me.
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Speaker 3: We have around it called around seventy seventy five lawyers
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Speaker 3: across all our different bureaus. It's an office the size
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Speaker 3: of about one hundred and ten hundred and fifteen people
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Speaker 3: all together, including non legal professionals.
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Speaker 1: Okay, your job basically is to supervise all legal proceedings
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Speaker 1: in business involving state agencies, bureaus and departments. Is that
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Speaker 1: what you would say?
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Speaker 3: So the way I describe because we have a big job.
4:32
Speaker 3: It's a big job with a lot of responsibilities. So
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Speaker 3: we are really the people or the state's lawyer. What
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Speaker 3: does that mean. We have a number of different responsibilities.
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Speaker 3: One of our responsibilities is kind of similar to what
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Speaker 3: Don Klin's responsibility is. He puts bad guys in jail,
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Speaker 3: he prosecutes crime. State of Nebraska. The attorney general for
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Speaker 3: the state does the same thing. We usually do it
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Speaker 3: in other areas other than the big three counties where
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Speaker 3: they need support on murderers.
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Speaker 4: Or child sex assaults. So we do that.
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Speaker 3: We also represent the people to protect their natural resources.
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Speaker 3: So we defend all the water rights in the states.
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Speaker 3: As you know, we are in this big lawsuit with
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Speaker 3: the State of Colorado right now fighting over the Perkins
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Speaker 3: County Canal in the agreement we entered into over one
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Speaker 3: hundred years ago. We also step in the shoes of
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Speaker 3: the people in defending consumer protection issues. So we have
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Speaker 3: right now a huge case against META that's going to
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Speaker 3: it's in trial for what we believe to be consumer harms.
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Speaker 3: We represent sort of like the City of Omaha attorney.
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Speaker 3: We represent state agency. So if there's a if there's
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Speaker 3: a slip and fall or an accident or breach of contract,
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Speaker 3: we are the people's lawyer or the state's lawyer, and
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Speaker 3: then we defend state's rights when it comes to the constitution.
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Speaker 3: Sometimes that means we're suing the federal government. Sometimes we'll
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Speaker 3: sue other states like California, or sometimes we'll even sue cities,
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Speaker 3: but we ultimately are the primary defender of the state constitution.
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Speaker 1: So you would represent state employees. But if a Joe,
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Speaker 1: average citizen like Jean Stouth came up and say, hey,
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Speaker 1: I was in a car accident, Attorney General, will you
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Speaker 1: represent me? That's not what you do.
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Speaker 3: We don't represent you individually, but we would represent your rights,
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Speaker 3: maybe they're constitutional rights or consumer rights. But no, we
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Speaker 3: don't represent you individually.
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Speaker 1: Okay. And I look at you kind of like I
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Speaker 1: did the Omaha City Attorney's position, because the Omaha City
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Speaker 1: Attorney represented the city, represented the city council and the mayor,
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Speaker 1: which sometimes can get a little dicey there representing both
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Speaker 1: sides and offered advice. You offer legal advice, but not
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Speaker 1: represent all the citizens in Omaha individually.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's exactly right.
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Speaker 3: And every now and again we'll have a state agency
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Speaker 3: because there are a lot of them that will have
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Speaker 3: a dispute amongst themselves and we can't represent both. So
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Speaker 3: so every now and again someone else might represent and say,
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Speaker 3: you know, the Racing Commission or something like that.
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Speaker 4: But generally speaking, that's how it works.
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Speaker 1: Okay. And you mentioned consumer protection, but also medicaid fraud
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Speaker 1: is something that is.
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Speaker 3: Under your jurisdiction, very big part of what we do,
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Speaker 3: and that is where we work collaboratively with the federal government.
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Speaker 3: And as you know, fraud, medicaid fraud, just fraud generally
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Speaker 3: is a big issue all around the country. In states
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Speaker 3: like Minnesota, for instance, have not run their states very
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Speaker 3: well and.
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Speaker 4: Have had a lot of fraud.
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Speaker 3: We're better in Nebraska, but it's it takes a lot
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Speaker 3: of vigilance, and that's a big role for our office.
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Speaker 1: And what about another big area, because I know I
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Speaker 1: was involved with this when I was mayor and the
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Speaker 1: Attorney general at that time. It wasn't you but human trafficking.
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Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's such a big issue. And you know,
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Speaker 1: it really surprised me because somebody called in during the
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Speaker 1: College World Series and said, you know, there's human trafficking
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Speaker 1: going on, and they blame me. They said, I'm not
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Speaker 1: doing anything about it. But I said, oh, wait, wait, wait.
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Speaker 1: I mean, we have been involved a lot, with the
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Speaker 1: Attorney General's office, with the FBI, with the State Patrol,
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Speaker 1: with the Omaha Police, so many of us have been
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Speaker 1: involved in what we could do to stop this human trafficking.
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Speaker 3: I mean, the fact that it exists in twenty twenty
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Speaker 3: six in the United States of America or Nebraska, or
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Speaker 3: Omaha or places in other towns in Nebraska, I just
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Speaker 3: think is a devastating truth.
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Speaker 4: It is. Actually.
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Speaker 3: On the other hand, it is one of the places
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Speaker 3: where I think the best of government comes out.
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Speaker 4: Because to what you just said.
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Speaker 3: We work with all of our partners City of Omaha Police,
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Speaker 3: our federal partners, our county partners, all across the state
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Speaker 3: and Nebraska to educate. So we do a lot of
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Speaker 3: education and actual prosecute, put people away and work with
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Speaker 3: other stakeholders to actually protect the survivors. And so as
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Speaker 3: evil as it is, and it is evil, and as
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Speaker 3: much as we want to stamp it out, which we do,
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Speaker 3: it is also a reflection I think of when government
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Speaker 3: works best working with other non governmental agencies to help
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Speaker 3: protect people, and I think that's one of the most
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Speaker 3: important things that we do.
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Speaker 1: Now. In twenty twenty six, you launch a major consumer
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Speaker 1: protection child safety lawsuit against is it Roadblocks Roadblocks Roadblocks,
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Speaker 1: and that's about child exploitation on their platform. Could you
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Speaker 1: explain a little bit about that to us.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, we've been fighting against the big tech companies. Metas one,
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Speaker 3: TikTok is one, and Roadblocks is another. So for those
8:50
Speaker 3: who don't know Roadblocks, it is one of the fastest
8:53
Speaker 3: growing companies in the country. And what they provide our
8:55
Speaker 3: video games, and people can make these video games and
8:58
Speaker 3: you can get online as young as and it's actually
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Speaker 3: geared towards kids. Kids as youngest three can get online
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Speaker 3: and play these video games. Now, a lot of their
9:05
Speaker 3: video games are fine, but there are a lot of
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Speaker 3: video games that are not fine.
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Speaker 4: And let me just give you a couple of examples
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Speaker 4: that we found.
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Speaker 3: So one of them, so someone made a game where
9:14
Speaker 3: any kid could go and tour a virtual virtual Jeff
9:20
Speaker 3: three Epstein's Island. There was another game where they kid
9:24
Speaker 3: not at all. And there's another game where they could
9:26
Speaker 3: recreate a school shooting. So a real life school shooting
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Speaker 3: that took place, someone created a game that replicated that,
9:31
Speaker 3: and so someone could go and shoot up kids on
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Speaker 3: this game. There are games that have adult entertainment and
9:36
Speaker 3: more broadly, mayor this is a become a home for
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Speaker 3: child predators all around the globe, and people not just
9:43
Speaker 3: in Nebraska, but in Florida, in the United States, outside
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Speaker 3: of the United States use it as a place to
9:47
Speaker 3: go prey on kids and groom kids. And what we
9:50
Speaker 3: have done is say, look, this has no place in
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Speaker 3: any product that's being sold to kids.
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Speaker 4: Number one.
9:55
Speaker 3: But number two, what they're doing is telling parents like
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Speaker 3: me that it's safe for children, saying, look, we have
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Speaker 3: all these controls. You can have your kids on here,
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Speaker 3: and that is ultimately not true if they would say
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Speaker 3: to parents, which they don't because I want to make money, Hey,
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Speaker 3: you know what, you can actually encounter a child predator.
10:10
Speaker 3: There's some risk that your child might get groomed. A
10:12
Speaker 3: lot of people wouldn't use the product, but they don't.
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Speaker 3: They don't arm the parents with the truthful information that
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Speaker 3: they need to know to keep their kids safe. And
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Speaker 3: that is the basis of our lawsuits. We have a
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Speaker 3: big lawsuit in Hall County.
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Speaker 1: Actually, Okay, okay, And so it's mainly that you what
10:26
Speaker 1: you are looking for is for that company, and it's Roadblocks.
10:30
Speaker 1: It's r O B l UX. Is that correct? I
10:32
Speaker 1: think it's l o X or l ox Okay, all right,
10:35
Speaker 1: But they failed to implement safeguards to put in place.
10:38
Speaker 1: Is that what your the main part of your lawsuit
10:40
Speaker 1: is about, right, okay? And that is that is something
10:44
Speaker 1: that I think I've heard quite a bit of conversation
10:47
Speaker 1: about too.
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Speaker 4: Roadblocks is a big one. TikTok's another.
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Speaker 3: We have a big lawsuit that's going to trial next
10:52
Speaker 3: year against them, and similar they say, hey, this is
10:55
Speaker 3: a safe place for kids if you were going to
10:57
Speaker 3: say that it should be true. In my opinion, what
10:59
Speaker 3: we we had our investigators fined. Within minutes of having
11:02
Speaker 3: a twelve year old girl account being set up on TikTok,
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Speaker 3: the algorithm would send them videos glorifying drug use, things
11:09
Speaker 3: that would drive body dysmorphia, depression, inappropriate material for kids,
11:13
Speaker 3: and without even having to search. So these places don't
11:16
Speaker 3: have the right controls and they're telling parents that they do,
11:18
Speaker 3: and that ultimately is a consumer issue. It's a deceptive
11:21
Speaker 3: trade practice, and that's why we suit.
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Speaker 1: My Kilder's Attorney General for the state of Nebraska is
11:25
Speaker 1: with us. So when you file these types of lawsuits,
11:30
Speaker 1: how long do you I mean, lawsuits can go on forever.
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Speaker 1: I mean do you anticipate years on this one?
11:37
Speaker 3: A lot of them are these consumer ones. You know,
11:39
Speaker 3: these these companies may have so much, so many resources
11:45
Speaker 3: that are billions of dollars, and they hire some of
11:46
Speaker 3: the most expensive lawyers in the country, some of these
11:48
Speaker 3: law firms that we go against who boggled Nebraska's mind.
11:51
Speaker 3: The hourly rate for some of these lawyers can be
11:53
Speaker 3: three thousand dollars or more. And they have so much
11:56
Speaker 3: money they could just send a whole army against our
11:59
Speaker 3: little office here in Nebraska that just collectively has only
12:02
Speaker 3: seventy or seventy five attorneys, and so that what they
12:04
Speaker 3: want to do is just bleed us out. They just
12:06
Speaker 3: want to wear us down. Now, Nebraska, We've built the
12:08
Speaker 3: best pound for pound law from the United States, and
12:10
Speaker 3: they can't do it. We're just going to fight and
12:11
Speaker 3: continue to fight until we win. But that's exactly what
12:14
Speaker 3: they try to do.
12:15
Speaker 4: Now.
12:15
Speaker 3: Sometimes lawsuits, like when we sued OPBD here locally, they
12:19
Speaker 3: resolve early. That one settled early, but a lot of
12:21
Speaker 3: times in these commercial disputes, they'll spend some money for
12:24
Speaker 3: a couple of years.
12:25
Speaker 4: And make us fight it out.
12:27
Speaker 1: And also, I was going to ask you about what
12:29
Speaker 1: a position that you have. I wanted you talk a
12:32
Speaker 1: little bit about. It is your opposition to medical marijuana
12:38
Speaker 1: and you challenge the Trump's Justice Department order to reclassify
12:42
Speaker 1: marijuana also from Schedule one to Schedule three. Talk a
12:46
Speaker 1: bit to us about your position on medical marijuana.
12:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's two parts of FIRS.
12:51
Speaker 3: Is actually the state law it self, So we've challenged
12:53
Speaker 3: the state law is valid law, but we've challenged it. And
12:55
Speaker 3: the reason we've challenged it is because we believe there
12:57
Speaker 3: was a lot of fraud. We actually prosecuted and convicted
13:00
Speaker 3: two different individuals as part of the medical marijuana petition process.
13:04
Speaker 4: In twenty twenty four.
13:05
Speaker 3: We believe that when properly accounted, they didn't have the
13:07
Speaker 3: signatures to get it on the ballot. Now it is
13:09
Speaker 3: the valid law. We've asked the Supreme Court to throw
13:11
Speaker 3: it out. They haven't ruled yet. While it's valid, we
13:15
Speaker 3: will enforce the law. So we worked with the Regulatory
13:18
Speaker 3: Commission to pass regulations. It's not my job to say
13:20
Speaker 3: that it's not the law. That's the Supreme Court's job.
13:22
Speaker 3: So we've done our part for that. But that's the
13:24
Speaker 3: basis of my opposition. I believe that if you get
13:27
Speaker 3: it on the ballot, you should follow the rules. I
13:28
Speaker 3: don't think that they follow the rules. So we've challenged it.
13:30
Speaker 3: Now if we lose that, we lose it, and we'll
13:32
Speaker 3: just go on and we'll enforce the laws.
13:34
Speaker 4: Just like we have.
13:35
Speaker 3: The other side of it, though, is the Schedule one
13:37
Speaker 3: versus Schedule three. And here I think if you look
13:40
Speaker 3: nationally and you're just starting to see even blue states,
13:43
Speaker 3: mayor look and say wait a minute, we may have
13:45
Speaker 3: gone too far on marijuana. And I believe the science
13:48
Speaker 3: is pretty clear on marijuana that it does a tremendous
13:52
Speaker 3: amount of harm, everything from cardiovascular issues to mental health issues.
13:55
Speaker 3: And cities and states that have implemented really expansive recreation
14:00
Speaker 3: regimes not how not only have had the quality of
14:02
Speaker 3: life issues, the smell and everything else, but they've had
14:06
Speaker 3: upticks in crime and social disorders I think are bad
14:09
Speaker 3: for our community. So I believe the science is that
14:11
Speaker 3: this should remain Schedule one. The Trump administration moved as
14:14
Speaker 3: a Schedule three. We didn't think that was the right
14:16
Speaker 3: process and we didn't think the science justified it, and
14:18
Speaker 3: so that's why we took action, which at the end
14:20
Speaker 3: of the day, it'd be easier to not challenge the president.
14:23
Speaker 3: But I've consistently said that I don't think it's the
14:26
Speaker 3: right thing a challenge President Biden, And just because we
14:28
Speaker 3: have a different president in office doesn't mean it's become
14:31
Speaker 3: now not the right thing. So I believe that's the
14:33
Speaker 3: right thing. We've challenged it, and now it's a small
14:35
Speaker 3: island that we're on. It's a lonely position. Ultimately, I
14:37
Speaker 3: think it'll be vindicated over time that this is actually
14:40
Speaker 3: not sort of the recreational sort of pantase or thing
14:44
Speaker 3: that I think people get so much benefit from that.
14:46
Speaker 4: I actually think it causes a lot of harm to community.
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Speaker 1: You know, my kill Dreams is with us the Attorney
14:51
Speaker 1: General for the state of Nebraska. I just got back
14:53
Speaker 1: from a quick quick trip this weekend. I'll talk about
14:57
Speaker 1: that later to Las Vegas with my daughter. Holy Cow.
15:01
Speaker 1: I mean, marijuana is obviously legal everywhere there. The smell
15:06
Speaker 1: was driving me crazy. And you know, we stayed in
15:10
Speaker 1: the Palazo, which is hooked to the Venetian, very nice hotels,
15:13
Speaker 1: because we went to the Sphere. That's really cool. But anyway,
15:17
Speaker 1: it's all connected. But I mean even in our beautiful hotel,
15:21
Speaker 1: I mean up on the floors, it just reached.
15:24
Speaker 3: It's everywhere, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
15:26
Speaker 3: I mean, not everyone smells it, but the real impact
15:29
Speaker 3: are the people who have who use it, and then
15:32
Speaker 3: the negative societal harms that come from that. I mean,
15:35
Speaker 3: it is now well documented the impact of marijuana, especially
15:38
Speaker 3: young people's brain development. I mean, do we want our
15:41
Speaker 3: high schoolers or our underage kids to not have full
15:44
Speaker 3: brain development? I mean as a society, we shouldn't want that,
15:47
Speaker 3: the acute impacts it makes on decision making people, you know,
15:51
Speaker 3: either having cannabis induced psychosis as an example, or or
15:55
Speaker 3: not or driving under the influence, which is a much
15:57
Speaker 3: different challenge when you're driving under the influence of can
16:00
Speaker 3: of us than you are when you're drinking. Alcohol stays
16:02
Speaker 3: in your system long, it's more difficult to detect.
16:04
Speaker 4: These are the types of.
16:05
Speaker 3: Things that are showing up in communities like California and
16:07
Speaker 3: New York that are even causing progressive newspapers like The
16:10
Speaker 3: New York Times to say, WHOA, maybe we went a
16:13
Speaker 3: step too far, which I think they did.
16:14
Speaker 1: What do you say, though, here comes the nurse in me.
16:17
Speaker 1: What do you say to those parents though that do
16:20
Speaker 1: have children that have seizure disorders for example, That's one
16:24
Speaker 1: example that really nothing helped these kids.
16:28
Speaker 3: But so first, my heart goes out to anyone who
16:31
Speaker 3: absolutely who is looking for something to help their family,
16:33
Speaker 3: and I'm sure it does, and being able to stand
16:35
Speaker 3: in their shoes is something I think we all should
16:37
Speaker 3: try to do just as good members of the community.
16:40
Speaker 3: But the thing that I would say is that we
16:42
Speaker 3: have a process in this country. Now it's probably broken
16:44
Speaker 3: the FDA process. You knows as a nurse, the FDA
16:47
Speaker 3: moves slowly. They've acted to some degree with that, but dialects.
16:50
Speaker 3: What I would say is like, let's collectively focus our
16:53
Speaker 3: attention on fixing the system that is designed though to
16:58
Speaker 3: get us products that can can help solve those things
17:01
Speaker 3: for children without creating the societal downstream horm What I
17:04
Speaker 3: would say is, if we've identified a problem, let's solve
17:07
Speaker 3: that problem. Let's not create all sorts of other problems
17:10
Speaker 3: going outside of the system, direcreational. Really, what is a
17:13
Speaker 3: drug that is causing a lot of harm in a
17:14
Speaker 3: lot of communities.
17:15
Speaker 1: And we have a candidate for governor that's the marijuana platform.
17:19
Speaker 4: That's right.
17:19
Speaker 3: My first race of twenty two I read against legal marijuana. Now,
17:22
Speaker 3: Attorney general candidate.
17:23
Speaker 1: Isn't that interesting? Now you did mention the petition process fraudulent.
17:28
Speaker 1: Let's talk about what we have been hearing on the
17:30
Speaker 1: news in the past week with Brett Linstrom. If you
17:34
Speaker 1: could talk a little bit about that, because I know
17:37
Speaker 1: Secretary Evanen said that he has shared this information with
17:40
Speaker 1: the AG's office. Brett Linstrom needed about four thousand signatures.
17:45
Speaker 1: He submitted about fifty seven hundred signatures, but the state
17:51
Speaker 1: validated only about thirty three hundred. About fifteen hundred I'm
17:56
Speaker 1: given approximate about fifteen hundred were deemed in's valid The
18:01
Speaker 1: deadline was August third, So according to the Attorney General,
18:05
Speaker 1: he cannot petition now to be on the ballot. That's done.
18:10
Speaker 1: So what do you think should petition petitioners be allowed
18:16
Speaker 1: to collect money for these petitions in the state of
18:20
Speaker 1: Nebraska or should it be banned?
18:21
Speaker 3: It's a good question. Let me come back to that.
18:23
Speaker 3: Let me it's a big problem. Even this morning there
18:27
Speaker 3: was an article in the Plaint Centinel talking about that
18:30
Speaker 3: there's been referrals from the Lancaster County election Commissioner on
18:33
Speaker 3: the gambling petition. So you now have three different instances
18:35
Speaker 3: if something on Lincoln. Some the gambling petition out Brett
18:39
Speaker 3: Lindstrom cuts across party lines with fraudulent sake gradular signatures
18:42
Speaker 3: that have been reported, and a lot of those, we
18:44
Speaker 3: work collaboratively, by the way mayor, with our local county
18:48
Speaker 3: partners on prosecuting those. Sometimes the county attorney takes the lead,
18:52
Speaker 3: sometimes we take the lead. But we were collaboratively together,
18:54
Speaker 3: and I could just say from experience twenty twenty four,
18:57
Speaker 3: we found it with marijuana, we said it was a
18:59
Speaker 3: big problem there. It appears that it's becoming a growing
19:02
Speaker 3: problem here in the state, and so it's one that
19:04
Speaker 3: we have to focus on an address. Now to your
19:06
Speaker 3: question about the policy, I think there's no doubt I
19:09
Speaker 3: believe that the reason we're having all these problems is
19:13
Speaker 3: because the dollars really are enticing people to come to
19:16
Speaker 3: our state to be there.
19:18
Speaker 4: They can make a quick buck on these particular.
19:19
Speaker 1: Paes, and the dollars are huge. People don't realize they
19:23
Speaker 1: pay per signature, and it's an outrageous amount. And I
19:29
Speaker 1: you know, I was thinking it was in the five
19:31
Speaker 1: dollars range, and you're saying you have heard much more
19:33
Speaker 1: than that.
19:34
Speaker 3: I've heard anywhere from ten to twenty dollars or even more.
19:37
Speaker 1: Now.
19:37
Speaker 3: I'm not in signature, yes, and that's I can't say
19:41
Speaker 3: that's something I've done. I'm not in those that process. Sure,
19:43
Speaker 3: and I've heard it's a lot of money, and I've
19:45
Speaker 3: a l always changed. About ten years ago, I think
19:47
Speaker 3: former centator Mike Groney brought a bill. You used to
19:50
Speaker 3: be able to pay people by the hour, but then
19:52
Speaker 3: he brought a bill to enable people to pay by
19:55
Speaker 3: the signaturely, and I think by the signature that's where
19:57
Speaker 3: the if you look at this is where people say, hey,
20:00
Speaker 3: we don't have fraud in our elections. And I'd just say, look, look,
20:02
Speaker 3: what are the incentives. The incentives to cheat are high.
20:06
Speaker 3: If they are high, you will more likely to get cheating.
20:08
Speaker 3: And when it comes to signatures, if you're doing it
20:11
Speaker 3: at a high dollar per signature, and you can very
20:13
Speaker 3: easily just you know, fake the signatures and you get
20:17
Speaker 3: more money for each one that you fake, and if
20:18
Speaker 3: no one can so that's a pretty significant incentive.
20:20
Speaker 4: And yes it is.
20:21
Speaker 3: It is absolutely big problem, and I think it's right
20:23
Speaker 3: for the legislature to look at pairing that back or
20:25
Speaker 3: restricting entirely, maybe going back to the Pree twenty fifteen law.
20:28
Speaker 1: I think they really need to look at it because
20:29
Speaker 1: you know, I just think it could happen to any
20:31
Speaker 1: of us, any of us. I paid for door knockers
20:35
Speaker 1: at the end of my campaign, and it was an
20:37
Speaker 1: outrageous amount, but we wanted to get a new flyer
20:40
Speaker 1: out to everybody, and you know, getting volunteers. People will
20:43
Speaker 1: bring up Lenstroms issue and they'll say, well, why don't
20:47
Speaker 1: you just use volunteers. Well, to get four thousand signatures
20:50
Speaker 1: in two weeks using volunteers almost impossible. Right, You're going
20:54
Speaker 1: to have to bring other companies in. My kilders are
20:57
Speaker 1: Attorney General is here. I've got one more big question
21:00
Speaker 1: to ask you here, because this involves the City of Omaha.
21:04
Speaker 1: There was an issue in Lincoln recently that your office
21:09
Speaker 1: filed a lawsuit against the City of Lincoln for raising
21:12
Speaker 1: the minimum wage. I did not know that that had
21:16
Speaker 1: been ruled on already, but you said you want on
21:20
Speaker 1: that one. It was. It was deemed it was unconstitutional
21:24
Speaker 1: for what they did.
21:25
Speaker 3: Well, we got a temporary injunction where the court said
21:27
Speaker 3: it was more likely than not that we okay, it's
21:29
Speaker 3: not final, but the ordinance has been enjoined.
21:32
Speaker 1: Okay. And they did the same thing in the City
21:34
Speaker 1: of Omaha. Recently the legislature changed it to it was
21:40
Speaker 1: fifteen dollars an hour, and anyone under sixteen it was
21:44
Speaker 1: thirteen fifty an hour, and then they had future increases
21:48
Speaker 1: based on the consumer Price Index. Omaha then before the
21:51
Speaker 1: ruling came in with Lincoln. They went ahead and did
21:54
Speaker 1: the same thing. And I know the president of the
21:57
Speaker 1: city council that submitted that ordinance, Danny Beagley, he brought
22:00
Speaker 1: it up and said, basically, this is a hill I'm
22:02
Speaker 1: going to die on. We'll probably get sued, We're going
22:05
Speaker 1: to spend probably hundreds of thousands on a lawyer, but
22:09
Speaker 1: we're going to do it anyway. So, I mean, I
22:11
Speaker 1: didn't understand that. But is your I assume your office
22:16
Speaker 1: is looking into what Omaha did to and what the
22:19
Speaker 1: city council voted on by the way, on a four
22:21
Speaker 1: to three vote, and I hate for something this important
22:24
Speaker 1: to pass by one vote, But I mean I would
22:27
Speaker 1: assume that your office is in discussions about are you
22:30
Speaker 1: going to do the same with Omaha.
22:31
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yes, the answer to that is yes.
22:33
Speaker 3: Let me take people, let me take a step back
22:36
Speaker 3: and just like explain to your audience what has happened,
22:39
Speaker 3: because I think there's a lot of smoke on this issue.
22:40
Speaker 3: But actually the facts are pretty clear and they're unassailable.
22:43
Speaker 3: The people passed the minimum wage bills, you know, statewide
22:46
Speaker 3: petition fifteen dollars, which they're entitled to do the legislature
22:50
Speaker 3: under our Constitution is entitled. If they have a very
22:54
Speaker 3: high threshold thirty three votes, which is two thirds, it's
22:56
Speaker 3: a lot. They can make some modifications which they are
22:59
Speaker 3: entitled to do in the institution, which they did. You
23:01
Speaker 3: mentioned the youth minimum wage and they had a low
23:03
Speaker 3: CPI CPI increase of the minimum wage is less than
23:07
Speaker 3: what was in the initial petition. That's what they're entitled
23:10
Speaker 3: to do. The City of Lincoln and now the City
23:12
Speaker 3: of Omaha have said, we don't like that. So what
23:14
Speaker 3: we are going to do are past ordinances that effectively
23:18
Speaker 3: modify changed the state statue. And that is where the
23:22
Speaker 3: line has to be drawn. They are not entitled. You're
23:24
Speaker 3: in the mayor of twelve years right. You know, the
23:26
Speaker 3: City of Omaha, even as a home rule city, can
23:28
Speaker 3: control things within its borders. But what it cannot do
23:31
Speaker 3: are change statewide bills passed by the legislature and signed
23:36
Speaker 3: by the governor. If they are then it actually would
23:39
Speaker 3: put a huge hole in our constitution. So Lincoln did it.
23:41
Speaker 3: We said before Lincoln did it, we said, you can't
23:43
Speaker 3: do this. They said, We're going to do it anyway,
23:45
Speaker 3: kind of arguing, well, the people voted for it in
23:47
Speaker 3: our community. Well, that's not how the system works, right,
23:50
Speaker 3: people voted for our constitution. That's what Trump's So we
23:52
Speaker 3: sued there. We want as you mentioned, or cases still pending,
23:55
Speaker 3: but we won the major victory beginning Omaha did it.
23:58
Speaker 3: It's unfortunate if they have to spend attorney's fees on
24:00
Speaker 3: this for outside.
24:01
Speaker 1: Now you have to get it outside council, and they've
24:03
Speaker 1: already hired outside council, and that could be hundreds of
24:06
Speaker 1: thousands of dollars.
24:07
Speaker 3: It could be absolutely and we probably should expect it
24:09
Speaker 3: to be for this kind of a case. That's unfortunate.
24:11
Speaker 3: We have to enforce the constitution. If Omaha can do this,
24:16
Speaker 3: or Lincoln for that matter, there's all sorts of other
24:18
Speaker 3: things that we think that they can do. For instance,
24:19
Speaker 3: they could set a different income tax. Right, there's really
24:22
Speaker 3: no functional philosophical difference between changing the minimum wage just
24:25
Speaker 3: within the city boundaries and actually changing the edom tax
24:29
Speaker 3: as an example, So we think it's wrong. We sued Lincoln.
24:32
Speaker 3: The people should expect a similar action from us. We
24:35
Speaker 3: haven't sued yet, but we can't allow these types of
24:38
Speaker 3: action the constitution.
24:39
Speaker 4: To be violated. And let me say one last thing
24:42
Speaker 4: in Lincoln.
24:42
Speaker 3: We had this, I don't know if it's an omal
24:44
Speaker 3: but we had people who were intimidated to sue. There
24:46
Speaker 3: were people who are going to be impacted, but they
24:47
Speaker 3: thought if they sued the City of Lincoln, the City
24:49
Speaker 3: of Lincoln would retaliate against them. And that's kind of
24:52
Speaker 3: a hard thing to prove, but that's how people felt.
24:54
Speaker 3: That's unfortunate. And that's where the Attorney General can add
24:57
Speaker 3: play a really significant role, which is stand in the
24:59
Speaker 3: show shoes. We're talking about the beginning of the people
25:02
Speaker 3: and say we are going to enforce the city Lincoln
25:04
Speaker 3: or the City of omaw.
25:05
Speaker 4: They could be mad at me.
25:06
Speaker 3: There's nothing they can do to me, and I could,
25:08
Speaker 3: but I can stand in their shoes to help protect
25:10
Speaker 3: their constitutional rights against the city.
25:12
Speaker 1: And my kildrens are. Attorney General is here and I
25:14
Speaker 1: think it's fair to explain to our listeners that the
25:17
Speaker 1: issue is is the City of Omaha and the City
25:20
Speaker 1: of Lincoln. They have a city charter, a home rule charter,
25:24
Speaker 1: and it is basically basically both cities constitution and it
25:28
Speaker 1: was voted in in Omaha in nineteen fifty eight by
25:30
Speaker 1: a vote of the people. Any changes would have to
25:33
Speaker 1: go to a vote to the people. But that's what
25:36
Speaker 1: the four city council members that voted for this are
25:39
Speaker 1: banking on, saying, we are a charter city. And by
25:41
Speaker 1: the way, there's only two in the state of Nebraska.
25:44
Speaker 1: Omaha and Lincoln are the only two charter cities. But
25:46
Speaker 1: we are a charter city, so we could do whatever
25:49
Speaker 1: we want. But there were several other city council members,
25:52
Speaker 1: Amy Mountain in particular, because she's an attorney, she was saying,
25:55
Speaker 1: you know, we can't chart our own course. You know,
25:57
Speaker 1: we are not a small state within ourselves, and we
26:01
Speaker 1: don't have the city charter is meant for certain issues,
26:05
Speaker 1: but you can't trump what the state in Nebraska does.
26:08
Speaker 1: We are basically an inferior political subdivision to the state
26:13
Speaker 1: in Nebraska. Is am I correct to saying that.
26:15
Speaker 4: No, that's exactly right.
26:16
Speaker 3: Charter This is where I think a strong understanding of
26:19
Speaker 3: civics matters, and when we lose that understanding, like things
26:21
Speaker 3: like this can happen that the cities cannot modify statewide statue.
26:26
Speaker 3: They just can't. They can do a lot of things.
26:27
Speaker 3: Home rules have more authority, and you know, you know
26:29
Speaker 3: this very well than non home rule cities. But what
26:32
Speaker 3: they can't do is modify a statute passed by a
26:36
Speaker 3: superior political subdivision, which is the legislature. Legislature set state
26:39
Speaker 3: wide policy, not the city of Omaha, not the city.
26:42
Speaker 1: Of Line, even with the city charter. That Okay, My Kilders,
26:45
Speaker 1: our Attorney General for the State of Nebraska, has been
26:48
Speaker 1: with us. I appreciate you coming in. Thank you so much.
26:50
Speaker 4: Great to be here.
26:51
Speaker 1: Thanks for I hope you had other things to do
26:52
Speaker 1: in Omaha today.
26:54
Speaker 3: This would be worth the trip just to come down
26:55
Speaker 3: your show. We'll find some other things.
26:57
Speaker 1: Hey, that's great, but I really appreciate you being here.
27:00
Speaker 1: Mike is a native of Omah. All right, I'm just
27:03
Speaker 1: going to say it because a lot of omal people.
27:06
Speaker 1: You're a Creighton Prep.
27:07
Speaker 3: Go born, borner raised. It's right, almost all off families here.
27:10
Speaker 3: Here you go, Price see my dad a little bit
27:11
Speaker 3: later today.
27:12
Speaker 1: Good for you. Yeah, thank you so much. I know
27:15
Speaker 1: you are running again. You'll be on the ballot in November.
27:17
Speaker 1: I think it's fascinating the job that the Attorney General's
27:20
Speaker 1: office does, and you've done a very good job doing it.
27:23
Speaker 1: And I think the one thing I do want to
27:25
Speaker 1: say is experience. Obviously for everything we talked about, experience
27:30
Speaker 1: really does count with all of those attorneys you're working with.
27:33
Speaker 1: With all of the issues going on now, there are
27:35
Speaker 1: very very serious you know, experience does matter a lot.
27:39
Speaker 3: So when we're talking about our water rights going against Colorado,
27:42
Speaker 3: suing the Biden administration, sue in California, these are some
27:44
Speaker 3: of the biggest fights for the Nebraskans. I ran a
27:47
Speaker 3: law office of over one hundred lawyers. I've done this
27:49
Speaker 3: for a long time. You do not want to know.
27:52
Speaker 3: You want to have a nurse that knows what they're
27:54
Speaker 3: doing right. It's not too far off that you want
27:56
Speaker 3: to make sure you've got an ag who knows what
27:58
Speaker 3: they're doing to make sure that.
27:59
Speaker 1: They're in that water right issue. We could have talked
28:00
Speaker 1: about for the next hour or two. That's really important
28:03
Speaker 1: and big in the state of Nebraska. Thank you so
28:05
Speaker 1: much for being with us today. Appreciate it. Myke Kilters,
28:08
Speaker 1: the Attorney General for the state of Nebraska, and Peyton
28:11
Speaker 1: and I are back. Wanted to thank the Attorney General
28:14
Speaker 1: Mike Kilders again. He's so interesting all that this stuff
28:17
Speaker 1: fascinates me. But we could have talked about water rights
28:20
Speaker 1: in the state of Nebraska, which is so important for
28:23
Speaker 1: a full other hour but important job. He has. Very
28:27
Speaker 1: thankful that he came up from Lincoln today to be
28:30
Speaker 1: on the show and wish him Malata Lack. He's a
28:32
Speaker 1: good guy, all right, Peyton, you are my fire the
28:39
Speaker 1: one should I sing the rest of it? I saw
28:41
Speaker 1: the Backstreet Boys this weekend.
28:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, what about that?
28:44
Speaker 5: You said that you went to the Sphere and that
28:46
Speaker 5: is so it perplexing to me, what a crazy, cool,
28:50
Speaker 5: weird thing.
28:51
Speaker 1: Was amazing, And I've got videos to show you later,
28:54
Speaker 1: but I wish I could show everybody that's listening. But
28:58
Speaker 1: it was absolutely amazing. And we stayed at the Plaza,
29:02
Speaker 1: which is hooked to the Venetian, which is hooked to
29:05
Speaker 1: the Sphere. So I went with my daughter, so we
29:08
Speaker 1: didn't even have to go out. We didn't walk the strip,
29:11
Speaker 1: we didn't go out and walk on the streets at
29:13
Speaker 1: all the whole time we were there. And we could
29:16
Speaker 1: walk from our hotel literally to the Sphere. But if
29:19
Speaker 1: anybody has ever gets a chance to go there, it
29:23
Speaker 1: is amazing. I mean you feel like you are it's
29:26
Speaker 1: surrounding you. I mean, everything's surrounding you, and of course
29:29
Speaker 1: the seats rumble at certain times and you just feel
29:32
Speaker 1: like you're immersed in this. But the Backstreet Boys were
29:35
Speaker 1: really good, and you know, there's about twenty thousand seats.
29:40
Speaker 1: My daughter and I look this up because I always
29:42
Speaker 1: like data and facts. We looked it up and they
29:45
Speaker 1: bring in about five million a night gross, and they said,
29:51
Speaker 1: how it breaks down is the Backstreet Boys. This performance
29:55
Speaker 1: is Thursday, Friday, Saturday. That's they only do three performances
29:59
Speaker 1: a week. And they said that they each Backstreet Boy
30:03
Speaker 1: averages an income of about eight hundred thousand per show. Whoa, WHOA,
30:09
Speaker 1: I know, but let me tell you they you know
30:13
Speaker 1: that tickets are not cheap at the Sphere. They also
30:16
Speaker 1: have the Wizard of Oz playing there now. And I
30:19
Speaker 1: hear that's fantastic. I hear apples drop from the ceiling.
30:22
Speaker 1: But you you're amazed at the I don't know how
30:26
Speaker 1: they do it, but I mean, you felt like you
30:29
Speaker 1: were in a rocket ship with this show, and they
30:32
Speaker 1: raised the stage up. They were flying through the air.
30:35
Speaker 1: It was pretty cool.
30:35
Speaker 2: Though.
30:36
Speaker 5: I've seen a lot of pictures both of the outside
30:38
Speaker 5: of the Sphere, which can be kind of funny. Sometimes
30:40
Speaker 5: they do some goofy things with it, but inside I'm
30:43
Speaker 5: sure that pictures do not do it any justice.
30:46
Speaker 1: No, it's really amazing. You gotta go. But they were
30:49
Speaker 1: really good, and you know that their first song was
30:53
Speaker 1: larger than life if people are familiar with them. But
30:56
Speaker 1: as they're playing this whole entry with all these you know,
30:59
Speaker 1: satellite and rocket chips and everything all around you, and
31:02
Speaker 1: then they come on stage, it was really really fun.
31:04
Speaker 1: So I had fun. We ate, we drank, we watched
31:08
Speaker 1: the show. It was great. We sat at the swimming pool.
31:11
Speaker 1: It was fun. How are you You just got back
31:14
Speaker 1: from your honeymoon?
31:15
Speaker 5: I did gene and as a matter of fact, I
31:17
Speaker 5: forgotten my badge to get in the building today. We
31:19
Speaker 5: almost kept you out and I forgot my headphones. Talk
31:22
Speaker 5: about a great way to get back.
31:24
Speaker 1: But you said you just got home and you were
31:26
Speaker 1: in the Caribbean. Yeah, we were in Saint Lucia and
31:29
Speaker 1: you just got home last night. We got in yesterday
31:32
Speaker 1: about midday. It was a really great show. Saint Lucia
31:35
Speaker 1: is a very very tiny island. There's one airport and
31:40
Speaker 1: we flew in. It's on the south side of the island.
31:43
Speaker 5: And then it was about a thirty mile drive to
31:45
Speaker 5: the north side of the island and it is up windy,
31:49
Speaker 5: thin roads, twisting and turning up and down, and it's
31:52
Speaker 5: about an hour and a half drive. And we took
31:55
Speaker 5: that trip a few times because to end our trip,
31:58
Speaker 5: we were supposed to fly back on Friday, and our
32:00
Speaker 5: flight got canceled.
32:02
Speaker 1: Oh great, and that's what you love to hear.
32:04
Speaker 5: There's only one flight to Atlanta, that's the connecting flight
32:09
Speaker 5: from Omaha. Only one flight a day that goes out.
32:12
Speaker 1: One of the busiest airports in the country.
32:14
Speaker 5: So hopefully Delta is gonna get us back for our
32:16
Speaker 5: one more night's stay, which.
32:18
Speaker 2: Was if there's a place to be stuck, that's not too.
32:20
Speaker 5: Bad, So big question, would you go back? I think so,
32:23
Speaker 5: but there's a lot of other places I want to
32:25
Speaker 5: go see. First, it was cool.
32:26
Speaker 2: It was really beautiful.
32:27
Speaker 5: They have those Petons Mountains, Yeah, those very beautiful mountains,
32:32
Speaker 5: and we did go and see those. We took a
32:34
Speaker 5: boat ride along the coast of the island and then
32:36
Speaker 5: we snorkeled in between they call it Sugar Beach.
32:40
Speaker 2: That's one of their most well known resorts.
32:43
Speaker 5: And then we took a sunset ride on the boat back,
32:46
Speaker 5: and that was absolutely beautiful.
32:47
Speaker 1: Was the food good, Yeah, the food was pretty good.
32:49
Speaker 1: Was the weather good?
32:50
Speaker 5: The weather was great. It rains for about five or
32:54
Speaker 5: ten minutes once or twice a day, and it just
32:57
Speaker 5: rolls in and rolls in right, right, it just starts pulling.
33:00
Speaker 1: And I know. We go down to the Dominican Republic
33:02
Speaker 1: for my husband to play in a golf tournament every year,
33:05
Speaker 1: and it seems every afternoon, it seems like all that
33:08
Speaker 1: they're out playing golf. Dude, all the rain comes down.
33:11
Speaker 1: It's like a monsoon. Then it clears up and goes away,
33:14
Speaker 1: and but the humidity is unbearable.
33:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really human.
33:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I love that. I love the ocean down
33:21
Speaker 1: there and the Caribbeans so beautiful. So we're glad you're back.
33:25
Speaker 1: Not that I didn't enjoy Scott vorhees, but I think
33:28
Speaker 1: we need to send him home for he could get
33:30
Speaker 1: some rest. He's been burning the candles at both ends.
33:32
Speaker 1: But he did a great job. So but you know what,
33:36
Speaker 1: he needs a break, good old Scott. He's definite due
33:39
Speaker 1: for a little rest. Yeah, he did good. So welcome back, Peyton,
33:42
Speaker 1: Thank you.
33:43
Speaker 2: I appreciate. It feels good to be back.
33:44
Speaker 1: Did Carly your wife, have many people said that to you?
33:48
Speaker 1: Doesn't it sound strange at first?
33:50
Speaker 4: Vice?
33:50
Speaker 2: It does.
33:51
Speaker 1: Did Carly have a great time in the same really did.
33:53
Speaker 5: And as a matter of fact, we both kind of
33:55
Speaker 5: got sick while we are down there.
33:58
Speaker 1: I was so you drink the water?
34:00
Speaker 2: No, oh, oh goodness.
34:02
Speaker 1: That's another story. That isn't it my assuma's revenge.
34:05
Speaker 2: That's an adventure in itself.
34:06
Speaker 5: Yes, the rumor has it that Americans love to drink
34:09
Speaker 5: way more water than the rest of the world. But
34:12
Speaker 5: the constant pursuit of finding a bottle of water was tough.
34:16
Speaker 5: Did not drink the water, you know, it would have
34:18
Speaker 5: been okay on the resort. Did not want to risk it.
34:20
Speaker 1: I used bottled water to brush my teeth when we're
34:22
Speaker 1: in the Dominican Republic.
34:24
Speaker 5: I mean, I didn't take it that far out. I
34:25
Speaker 5: brushed my teeth. But it wasn't It wasn't like a sickness,
34:29
Speaker 5: like a you know, a you gotta be careful water.
34:31
Speaker 2: It was just head cold, head pressure. I don't know.
34:34
Speaker 5: I think it was after all the wedding stuff and
34:36
Speaker 5: there's so much leading up to it. You got it
34:38
Speaker 5: on your honeymoon, and all of a sudden you relax
34:39
Speaker 5: a little bit and then you're like that and your
34:41
Speaker 5: body's well.
34:43
Speaker 1: I just got to say, you look pretty darn good.
34:46
Speaker 1: And a taxedo, well thank you. I think every man
34:49
Speaker 1: looks good at a tuxedo, but you looked exceptionally good.
34:51
Speaker 1: And Carly looked beautiful. She really did your your Your
34:56
Speaker 1: wife weighs about seventy pounds. Though I'm jealous she's she
35:00
Speaker 1: could be handheld now. I hope she's listening. Carly, you
35:04
Speaker 1: look great and you got a good husband. Here. I've
35:07
Speaker 1: got to cover something serious though here today, Peyton, and
35:11
Speaker 1: I'm going to clear this up on the air because
35:13
Speaker 1: guess what, I'm mad because the young here. Let me
35:18
Speaker 1: pull this up here. It's the Nebraska Young Democrats. They
35:24
Speaker 1: put a call to action out and they're gonna have
35:28
Speaker 1: a they're gonna have a press conference on Tuesday, August eighteenth,
35:33
Speaker 1: at one pm tomorrow, and they are mad about the
35:38
Speaker 1: shock gloves that the Omaha Police Department has purchased. And
35:45
Speaker 1: in their news release they say, in their news release quote,
35:52
Speaker 1: we all know, we all know that this was signed
35:56
Speaker 1: off by former mayor Stothard on the day of her
36:01
Speaker 1: election loss. Wrong, young Democrats, you know you better do
36:06
Speaker 1: your homework if you're gonna start pointing fingers and blaming
36:10
Speaker 1: something that is absolutely wrong. The election was held on
36:17
Speaker 1: May thirteen, that's the day of my election loss. Nothing
36:23
Speaker 1: was done on that day the day before, which would
36:28
Speaker 1: been May twelfth, that Tom Warren used my stamp and
36:35
Speaker 1: you could tell it was my stamp with my name
36:38
Speaker 1: because if they used my stamp, he initials underneath, which
36:41
Speaker 1: he did, and it was just to get the purchase
36:45
Speaker 1: of those gloves on the agenda for the City Council
36:48
Speaker 1: to consider. So young Democrats knew, I did not know.
36:54
Speaker 1: You all don't know that Mayor Stothard signed off on
36:57
Speaker 1: the day of her election loss. The day before the election,
37:01
Speaker 1: Tom Warren signed off using my stamp. He did, which
37:06
Speaker 1: is legal to do, just to put it on the
37:08
Speaker 1: agenda for the City council to consider. So you are wrong.
37:14
Speaker 1: And the resolution though it did go on the city
37:18
Speaker 1: council agenda and the City Council passed it seven oh
37:23
Speaker 1: and that was about a month later, that was on
37:27
Speaker 1: June third, they passed it seven to oh. When anything
37:31
Speaker 1: came back on my desk. From see, the mayor has
37:34
Speaker 1: to sign off on everything, practically everything to go on
37:38
Speaker 1: the city council agenda. Once the city Council of votes,
37:41
Speaker 1: it comes back on the mayor's desk and the mayor
37:43
Speaker 1: either signs it or vetos it, or sometimes you can
37:47
Speaker 1: just push it through without your signature if you don't agree.
37:50
Speaker 1: So I signed it on the third of June, which
37:56
Speaker 1: was about, you know, three weeks after my election, because
38:01
Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense to try to veto something on
38:03
Speaker 1: a seven oh vote.
38:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, that wouldn't make much sense.
38:06
Speaker 1: It never if something the city council agrees, If the
38:09
Speaker 1: city council agrees, and that is their job to do
38:12
Speaker 1: as legislators, if they agree seven to oh, you know,
38:16
Speaker 1: if I veto it, they'll override at seven oh.
38:19
Speaker 5: Now, Jeane, that feels like a bit of an odd
38:21
Speaker 5: accusation to make about you, considering all this is probably
38:26
Speaker 5: somewhere in public records, right.
38:28
Speaker 1: It's all in public records. They could look it up.
38:30
Speaker 1: Obviously they didn't do their homework. Obviously they didn't look
38:33
Speaker 1: it up. Obviously. It's the young Democrats want to blame
38:36
Speaker 1: the Republican mayor for this, and the young Democrats don't
38:40
Speaker 1: understand what happened. They're wrong at what they said, and
38:44
Speaker 1: they they don't seem to understand, or maybe they don't
38:47
Speaker 1: want to blame the Democrats on the City Council that
38:50
Speaker 1: voted for it too, because it did pass seven oh,
38:54
Speaker 1: which is every one of the city council members did it.
38:57
Speaker 1: So all of that wrong what they said. And then
39:02
Speaker 1: they are asking the question why was it done without
39:05
Speaker 1: a public hearing? It was a resolution. Ordinances have public hearing.
39:10
Speaker 1: Ordinances is our law. These are this was a public hearing,
39:14
Speaker 1: but it was voted on young Democrats in public, so
39:18
Speaker 1: you had every right to be there. Now they might say, well,
39:21
Speaker 1: I don't know about it. Well, the City Council agenda,
39:24
Speaker 1: by law, is published a week before the meeting, so
39:29
Speaker 1: there was a full week before the meeting that this
39:31
Speaker 1: was on the City Council agenda. The City Council voted
39:34
Speaker 1: for it in a public forum in the Legislative chamber,
39:38
Speaker 1: and so you know, they got a lot of things wrong.
39:40
Speaker 1: And on that request to purchase these items, it was
39:44
Speaker 1: sixty six thousand dollars for forty pairs of compliance shock gloves.
39:50
Speaker 1: Chief Schmutter is the one that requested it and he
39:52
Speaker 1: signed off on it. Now, I like Tod Schmuter. Everybody
39:56
Speaker 1: likes Todd Schmutter, and I guess the young Democrats didn't
39:59
Speaker 1: want to blame todje so they want to blame the
40:01
Speaker 1: Republican mayor. But Todd Schmutter is the one that proposed this.
40:05
Speaker 5: Jeene Stauthard in the KFAV comment line, my name is
40:08
Speaker 5: Peyton Hilock, wrapping up the show here on a Monday,
40:11
Speaker 5: both of us back from vacation. But you are more
40:13
Speaker 5: than welcome to reach out to us at any point
40:16
Speaker 5: four zero two, five, five, eight eleven ten or email
40:19
Speaker 5: us at comment at kfab dot com. And the great
40:22
Speaker 5: thing about the email inbox as we can get back
40:24
Speaker 5: to it at any time tomorrow moving forward any day,
40:27
Speaker 5: and just a quick check of the email here, Gene.
40:31
Speaker 5: It got a question from Fred, how can you file
40:34
Speaker 5: a lawsuit against a publicly owned utility company? Aren't you
40:39
Speaker 5: suing the public? Seems like a political stunt, and this
40:41
Speaker 5: is in reference to our Mike Hilger's interview this morning.
40:45
Speaker 1: I think anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody, really,
40:48
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it depends obviously on the circumstances.
40:53
Speaker 1: But as he explained, the job of the attorney general
40:56
Speaker 1: is to represent the state on state issues, and since
41:00
Speaker 1: it's a public power district, it's serving the public. And
41:04
Speaker 1: so if there is any you know, issues or questions
41:09
Speaker 1: from the public about it, they can listen and they
41:12
Speaker 1: can make a decision whether they're going to go forward again.
41:14
Speaker 1: You know, I think the thing that I wanted to
41:17
Speaker 1: get our listeners to join in on us is, you know,
41:20
Speaker 1: he our Attorney General, Mike Hilgers, feels very strongly he's
41:24
Speaker 1: opposed to medical marijuana. We talked about that a bit
41:27
Speaker 1: when he was on the show. It did pass by
41:30
Speaker 1: a voter to the people in the state of Nebraska.
41:32
Speaker 1: So you know, send in your comments or your calls
41:35
Speaker 1: or your concerns. We'll deal with them for sure tomorrow.
41:38
Speaker 1: But what do you feel about that? And what do
41:41
Speaker 1: you feel about this minimum wage thing in Nebraska too?
41:44
Speaker 1: Whether you know Lincoln, there was a ruling with a
41:46
Speaker 1: judge the Attorney General did win on Lincoln. Omaha did
41:51
Speaker 1: very something very very similar And I am assuming within
41:55
Speaker 1: you know, a short period of time, you're going to
41:57
Speaker 1: hear a lawsuit filed against the city of Omaha by
42:00
Speaker 1: the Attorney General. And if Lincoln lost, I mean, that
42:03
Speaker 1: sets us up for the taxpayers paying a big legal bill.
42:07
Speaker 1: So what do you think about that too? But you
42:09
Speaker 1: know what, Peyton, that is it for us today. It's
42:13
Speaker 1: always fun that you to be here, and it's always
42:16
Speaker 1: fun for you. Excuse me, I coughed for spending this
42:20
Speaker 1: hour with us today, and we'd love for you to
42:23
Speaker 1: join us again tomorrow. We have a candidate that's running
42:26
Speaker 1: for Border regents that's coming on tomorrow because I think
42:29
Speaker 1: that's important and interesting too, But we'd love for you
42:32
Speaker 1: to join us again. I am Jean Stothart and this
42:35
Speaker 1: is eleven ten kfab