Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Ricketts Campaign

Transcript

Ricketts Campaign · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stothert. Peyton Highlock, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is not here today. So guess who is sitting over
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: there at the soundboard? Who's been sitting over there since
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  Speaker 1: six in the morning? Scott Voorhees. Hi, Scott.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: I'll sit here all day if I have to. You
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: just might have to be sitting here all day. But
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  Speaker 1: we are both guaranteed human, right? Oh, never more human
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: than right now.
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  Speaker 3: All right.
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  Speaker 1: We want to thank you all for being with us today.
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  Speaker 1: We want to hear from you. We want to get
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  Speaker 1: your feedback. We want to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints.
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  Speaker 1: Anything goes, city, state, national, the world. We have a
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: lot to talk about, too. And we will also always
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  Speaker 1: have plenty of great guests. And you're going to hear
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  Speaker 1: a lot of opinions from me, too. But it is
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  Speaker 1: your chance to speak up and sound off. So send
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  Speaker 1: your emails to comment at kfeb.com. You can call us
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: at 402-558-1110, or you can leave us a recorded message
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  Speaker 1: on the talkback mic, and we'll play it on the air.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: We are very happy that you are with us today.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: And today in the studio, I just stumbled on your name,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Jessica Flanagan is here. Good morning, Jessica.
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  Speaker 4: Good morning, Jean. Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Jessica is a political strategist. She is working on the
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  Speaker 1: Pete Ricketts campaign. She has been here before, and we've
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  Speaker 1: talked about the campaign. Jessica, I still go through when
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  Speaker 1: I read about you, and Jessica and I have known
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  Speaker 1: each other for decades, right?
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  Speaker 4: Unfortunately, it dates us both. But yes, Jackie, that's right.
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  Speaker 1: For a long, long time. And I have to laugh because,
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  Speaker 1: you know, when you're a candidate and you're an elected official,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: I always say I've been called just about everything in
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  Speaker 1: the world and nothing surprises me anymore. The old mean
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  Speaker 1: gene thing, I'll take that. That's mild compared to what
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  Speaker 1: I hear myself being called. But when I look at
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: some of the things people have said about you, knife style. Wow, Jessica.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Here's another one. She dismembers her opponents.
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  Speaker 4: That was my favorite.
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  Speaker 1: I love that one, too. I've been called a lot
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  Speaker 1: worse than that. Hinchman, I like that one, too. But
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  Speaker 1: you know what? More than that, I hear people say
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  Speaker 1: that you are probably one of the best political strategists
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  Speaker 1: in the country and maybe one of the most influential
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  Speaker 1: political consultants in Nebraska. I'll take that.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, it's a nice compliment.
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  Speaker 5: I'll tell you what, early in my career— I worked
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  Speaker 5: for Chuck Hagel when he was still the U.S.
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  Speaker 3: Senator.
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  Speaker 5: And he told me once, don't ever work for someone
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  Speaker 5: that you're not proud to lose with. And during my career,
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  Speaker 5: the times where I have remembered that, I have always
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  Speaker 5: felt confident and good about my choice, whether we won
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  Speaker 5: or lost. And the times that I've forgotten that are
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  Speaker 5: the times that have really caused me.
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  Speaker 4: A lot of pain.
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  Speaker 5: So the politics is rewarding if you can if it
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  Speaker 5: can be somebody that you believe in who's doing the
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  Speaker 5: work of the people.
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  Speaker 1: And that makes a lot of sense because you're going
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  Speaker 1: to have wins. You're going to have losses. And I
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  Speaker 1: always bring up a quote that I love, and it's
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  Speaker 1: from Winston Churchill. I think I said it yesterday, but
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  Speaker 1: Winston Churchill said, success is not final and failure is
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  Speaker 1: not fatal. It's the courage to continue. that counts. And
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  Speaker 1: I really, really like that. And I think, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I've had wins and losses. I know other candidates have
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  Speaker 1: had wins and losses and went on to be president
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  Speaker 1: of the United States. And so you just, you keep
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  Speaker 1: on working, but what you are saying is you choose
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  Speaker 1: who you're going to work for carefully and with, and
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  Speaker 1: you work hard and whether you win or lose, you're
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  Speaker 1: proud that you worked with those people.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: It's about the, it's about the mission, not about some
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  Speaker 5: people make politics a game and it's not a game.
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  Speaker 5: This is people's lives and these are big decisions. And
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  Speaker 5: so you've got to be with somebody that you believe in.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: And I always say, too, politics is about the art
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  Speaker 1: of winning. Now, it's not just winning in a race,
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  Speaker 1: but it's about winning positions that you feel strongly about,
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  Speaker 1: about standing up for what you feel strongly about. It's
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  Speaker 1: about you and what you're fighting for, too. Right. And
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  Speaker 1: I think that that's really important for people to remember now.
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  Speaker 1: As Scott and I were just saying a minute ago,
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  Speaker 1: holy cow, these commercials out there right now. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I think we're getting swamped with them. We knew we would.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, this is just part of what it is. But,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, they're throwing mud right and left right now. And, Jessica,
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  Speaker 1: since you are working for Senator Ricketts' campaign, I do
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  Speaker 1: want to bring up an ad so that we could
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  Speaker 1: talk about it. And we have plenty of things to
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  Speaker 1: talk about today. But an ad that has been playing,
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  Speaker 1: and it is about a pardon. that Governor, then Governor Ricketts,
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  Speaker 1: agreed to on the pardon board. There was three people
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  Speaker 1: on that pardon board. There was the governor, the AG,
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  Speaker 1: and there was Bob Evanin, who was secretary then. And
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  Speaker 1: I think let's play that first, and then let's talk
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  Speaker 1: about it, okay?
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  Speaker 3: Okay.
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  Speaker 6: Okay. Why did Pete Ricketts decide to pardon a convicted rapist?
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  Speaker 6: On April 30th, 1993, John Arias broke into my home
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  Speaker 6: and violently raped me. Pete Ricketts cast the deciding vote
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  Speaker 6: to pardon this man.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, but with that, you've got your pardon.
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  Speaker 6: Senator Ricketts chose my rapist over me. The only thing
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  Speaker 6: I can guess, Pete Ricketts is one more billionaire who
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  Speaker 6: doesn't care about people like me.
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  Speaker 3: Nebraska Values PAC is responsible for the content of this advertising.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so first of all, I want to say this,
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  Speaker 1: and then I'm going to let you speak, because I
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  Speaker 1: want to know how the campaign is responding to this, Jessica.
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  Speaker 1: But I know a lot about pardons because the mayor
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  Speaker 1: has the ability to pardon. So I pardoned many, many
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  Speaker 1: people when I was mayor. The mayor has the ability
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  Speaker 1: and the authority to pardon people on misdemeanors any part
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  Speaker 1: of the city code. So I would sometimes get 10
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  Speaker 1: applications or so a month for a pardon, and I
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  Speaker 1: had my own process. They would apply through the Douglas
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  Speaker 1: County attorney, Don Klein. He would go through their whole record.
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  Speaker 1: Then he would send a packet to me, and then
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  Speaker 1: I would have my chief of staff look it over
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  Speaker 1: first because my chief of staff used to be Marty Bielek,
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  Speaker 1: and then it was– Tom, Warren, who are both police officers,
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  Speaker 1: I had them look it over and then it came
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  Speaker 1: to me. But I really looked at what the crime was,
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  Speaker 1: what their punishment was. Did they serve their punishment? How
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  Speaker 1: long has it been since they served their punishment? What
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  Speaker 1: has been their behavior in the interim? All of those things.
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  Speaker 1: And then I looked at whether they really had remorse
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  Speaker 1: because they were required to write a letter to the
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  Speaker 1: mayor and say, this is why I think I deserve
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  Speaker 1: a pardon.
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  Speaker 3: Shoot, I.
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  Speaker 1: I pardoned Jasmine Harris, and then she turned around and
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  Speaker 1: ran against me for mayor. But keep in mind, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the President of the United States has the
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  Speaker 1: ability to pardon the governor with a pardon board. The
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  Speaker 1: mayor does. Joe Biden pardoned his own son for a
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  Speaker 1: federal pardon. But anyway, let's get to that, that issue.
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  Speaker 1: And first of all, I will say this, Scott was
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  Speaker 1: talking about it earlier this morning, and the man that
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  Speaker 1: did commit this crime, and it was a crime, was
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  Speaker 1: her husband. She doesn't mention that. It was her husband
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  Speaker 1: at the time. It was an estranged husband, but it
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  Speaker 1: was a husband at the time. Jessica, go ahead and
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  Speaker 1: just give us how the campaign is responding.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, there's a lot of information about the pardon
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  Speaker 5: and the situation that isn't in the 60 or the
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  Speaker 5: 30-second ad, and there's some time constraints and Some of
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  Speaker 5: that's by design. The first thing I think that's important
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  Speaker 5: to know is who's behind the ad. This is a
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  Speaker 5: new PAC called the Nebraska Values PAC. The donors have
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  Speaker 5: not yet been reported. So it's just another dark money
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  Speaker 5: PAC that's part of a national plan to flip the Senate,
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  Speaker 5: to take over the Senate for the Democrats. However, I
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  Speaker 5: want to say unequivocally that what this man did to
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  Speaker 5: his wife is truly awful. And there's no context that
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  Speaker 5: can excuse it or erase it. Now, the ad makes
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  Speaker 5: it sound like the man had his sentence commuted. That
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  Speaker 5: is not true. He pled guilty. He served 14 years
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  Speaker 5: in prison. It was 14 years after he was paroled
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  Speaker 5: that he applied for a pardon. And during that 14
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  Speaker 5: years since he'd been out, he didn't have any issues
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  Speaker 5: with the law. Like you said, everybody looks at that.
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  Speaker 5: And a little bit more about him. He was a
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  Speaker 5: Marine combat veteran from the.
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  Speaker 4: Gulf War who had PTSD.
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  Speaker 5: After he was paroled for his crime, he got involved
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  Speaker 5: with the American Legion. And he also got involved with
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  Speaker 5: the Central Nebraska Veterans Court and started mentoring other PTSD veterans.
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  Speaker 4: And you don't have to take my word for it.
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  Speaker 5: NTV did a story on it on May 18th of
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  Speaker 5: 2022 about how he was sworn in in Grand Island
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  Speaker 5: as a mentor for the court. And now the other
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  Speaker 5: thing to know, I think, is that the pardons board
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  Speaker 5: that day, think about what was going on in the
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  Speaker 5: room and the pardons board that day.
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  Speaker 4: The victim was not there.
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  Speaker 5: And that was a flaw in the process because she
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  Speaker 5: wasn't required to be notified.
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  Speaker 4: That has since been changed. Victims are now notified.
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  Speaker 5: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: At that time, they weren't required, and now they are.
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  Speaker 1: They're automatically notified now, but the law's been changed.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: So the Pardons Board didn't have an opportunity to hear
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  Speaker 5: from her, but who they did hear from was about
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  Speaker 5: 20 members of the American Legion, including the American Legion
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  Speaker 5: commander at the time, who wanted him to take on
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  Speaker 5: additional roles within the American Legion and said that he'd
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  Speaker 5: been a model citizen who was dedicating his life to
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  Speaker 5: serving other veterans and who are struggling with PTSD.
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  Speaker 4: So I think that context matters.
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  Speaker 5: And there's going to be people who disagree with the decision,
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  Speaker 5: who don't believe in rehabilitation, who don't believe that he
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  Speaker 5: should have qualified.
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  Speaker 4: But that context matters.
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  Speaker 6: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, it does matter. And it's important for people to
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  Speaker 1: know it does not impunge or clear one's criminal record
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  Speaker 1: at all. It does not wipe out the fact that
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  Speaker 1: they were guilty. It doesn't do that at all. I
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: just had to look at some of the comments on
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  Speaker 1: social media last night, which I swore I wouldn't do,
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  Speaker 1: but I did anyway.
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  Speaker 4: You're always a sucker for the comments on social media.
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  Speaker 1: I know, I don't look at my own anymore, but
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  Speaker 1: I look at others. So many people who are self-proclaimed
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  Speaker 1: experts on law are saying this is totally off his
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  Speaker 1: record now. It's wiped off his record. That is not
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  Speaker 1: what a pardon does at all. It can restore their
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  Speaker 1: civil rights, and that is the right to vote, and
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  Speaker 1: it can be the right to carry a gun. It
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  Speaker 1: does do that, but it does not take this or
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  Speaker 1: clear this off their record. A pardon is actually a
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  Speaker 1: formal– act of forgiveness for an offense. But it does
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  Speaker 1: not say that they were guilty or not guilty. And
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  Speaker 1: so I think that that's really important to keep that
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  Speaker 1: in mind.
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  Speaker 5: And I think it's really important that people know he
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  Speaker 5: spent 14 years in prison.
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  Speaker 4: In prison.
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  Speaker 1: And it had been 14 years since he was released
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  Speaker 1: from prison. Correct. And he had been a model citizen. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I am not saying, again, what he did at that
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  Speaker 1: time was not a horrible crime. In fact, when I
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: did pardons, any kind of domestic assault, those are things
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  Speaker 1: I would look at. A lot with a lot more,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: you know, scrutiny. I did that. I did child abuse
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  Speaker 1: and with any kind of animal abuse. I would really
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: look at those things carefully to think what was going
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  Speaker 1: on in this person's mind. So he was guilty. He
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  Speaker 1: knows he was guilty. He served a lot of time
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  Speaker 1: in prison and the crime he committed was a terrible crime.
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  Speaker 1: And I hate to hear crimes like that against women. However,
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  Speaker 1: this does not clear him from the criminal offense that
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  Speaker 1: he committed. And I think that's really important to do that.
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  Speaker 1: And normally convicted felons cannot possess a firearm, and it
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  Speaker 1: would be a felony to do so. So I guess
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  Speaker 1: I have not done any research on this in particular
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  Speaker 1: one since he was a felon. If he does now,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: his right to carry a firearm has been restored. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not sure on that one.
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  Speaker 5: You know, I think one of the things that's really
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  Speaker 5: important is to understand that Senator Ricketts' record beyond this.
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  Speaker 5: As governor, he signed the Sexual Assault Victims Bill of Rights.
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  Speaker 5: which was bipartisan and it was a unanimous decision.
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  Speaker 4: By the legislature.
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  Speaker 5: He also repeatedly fought and won the battle to not
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  Speaker 5: reduce sentences for violent crimes. And since he's been in
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  Speaker 5: the federal government, he's been working with Amber Wood, whose
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: daughter was a victim of a shooting, to make sure
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  Speaker 5: that we're harmonizing and understanding what kind of people committing
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: violent crimes across state lines. So there's a federal registry
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: so that we can have a better idea of that.
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  Speaker 5: So his record for victims is pretty significant. And he's
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  Speaker 5: just somebody who has always believed in the rehabilitation process.
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  Speaker 4: You've got people who commit crimes. They're going to get
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  Speaker 4: out of prison.
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  Speaker 5: We want them to re-assimilate into society. You want the
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  Speaker 5: criminal justice system to be focused on rehabilitation, hopefully so
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  Speaker 5: that people can find some peace in their lives. And
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  Speaker 5: also give back to communities where they may have hurt communities.
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  Speaker 5: And so you can be both someone who believes in
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  Speaker 5: the rehabilitation process, but that is also strong on victims'
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  Speaker 5: rights and strong on crime and punishment.
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  Speaker 4: And that's who Senator Ricketts is.
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  Speaker 1: Very good. Thank you. Jessica Flanagan with the Ricketts Campaign
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  Speaker 1: is with us today. Let's move on. And please, people
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  Speaker 1: that are listening here, our listeners, KFAB listeners, let us
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: know what you think about this, too. But let's move
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: on because, you know, this has become a real high-stakes
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: race here.
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  Speaker 6: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's very competitive. I think that anything you
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: read really classify this race as likely Republican, but that
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: word likely indicates vulnerability to me. And so I don't
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: take anything for granted with this race at all. Now,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: just recently, and I think maybe it's today. Today, yes.
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  Speaker 1: You are going to come out with a new ad
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  Speaker 1: for Senator Ricketts. Let's go ahead and play that one.
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  Speaker 1: And then let's talk about the race where we are
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  Speaker 1: right now.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Pete Ricketts, and I approve this message.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Con man Dan Osborne has a plan.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: I can go and I can be the force for
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: LGBT people and immigration and all of these issues. Then
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: I lose the election.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, I'm the one who
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: wins the election.
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  Speaker 3: And when I'll be the senator for two years, everybody
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: will say I'm an asshole.
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  Speaker 1: Osborne will lie to win, then betray our values.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Everybody will say I'm an asshole.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, that's your new ad today. Now, Dan Osborne was
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: in the studio here on Tuesday. I tried to thank
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Jessica of everything I could of issues with this campaign.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: And I said, okay, Dan, you're here. You're on the record.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: People are listening. They're going to hold you to this.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: And I went down this whole list of different things
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: and got his opinion or his position on the issues.
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  Speaker 1: He kept on saying... that he absolutely was not going
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: to side with the Democrats. He said that he is
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: an independent. He's always been an independent. But then it
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: seemed like when pushed on the issues, his positions are
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: so aligned with the Democrats. And his response to me,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: and I want you to respond to this, was how
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I am alike with the Democrats is that we both
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: want to beat Pete Ricketts.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I mean, the reality is that this is his
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  Speaker 5: second time running when he ran last time against Deb Fischer.
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: The National Democrat establishment poured $ 38 million into Nebraska to
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: help him get elected. That is a historic amount of
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: money in a political race in Nebraska. I want to
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: say that's three times more than any political race. that
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: I've ever seen or been involved with, and I have
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: been doing this literally for 30 years.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: And so I don't know why.
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  Speaker 5: Chuck Schumer and the National Democrats would be funding Dan
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: Osborne if he wasn't part of their plan to take
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: over the Senate. So he's very skilled and very adept
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: at sidestepping and lying to the public, frankly. He has
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: said on the record, I mean, his campaign has been
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: characterized and marred by leaked audio and him saying one
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: thing in private and saying another thing in public. He
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: has said that he wouldn't caucus not with the party
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: of Pete Ricketts. There's only one other party. And this
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: plan that they launched last time to have an independent
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: be like a wolf in sheep's clothing for the Democrats,
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: they're now taking to other states. You've got the same
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: thing happening in South Dakota. You've got the same thing
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: happening in Idaho. This is a plan. for the progressives
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: and the liberals to install their people into power and
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: just try, they think they can just confuse people in
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: rural Midwestern states. In 2004, he said he was going
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: to help Trump build the wall and he got his
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: tools out and put it on TV. Now he says
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: it's a symbol of racism and he mocks it. He
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: acts like he's a common sense guy worried about economic issues,
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: but privately, and it's a little bit hard to hear
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: in that particular audio clip of him, But he says
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: he wants to work on LGBT issues and he wants
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: to work on immigration issues even though he won't sign
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: the petition to keep boys out of girls' sports in Nebraska.
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: He will literally say anything to get elected. And this
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: particular clip just sums up what he thinks. He says, one,
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: he's going to do whatever it takes to get elected
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: at the end of the day. And then he's going
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: to be there for six years and everyone else can
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: F off.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: That's what Dan Osborne thinks of voters. You elect him.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: He gets there.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: He's going to do what he wants and everyone else
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: can F off.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: And I mean, that's really clear. One thing I even
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: said to him is I said, you know, when you're
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: running in a campaign or after elected, you just assume
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: you are always 100 percent of the time being recorded.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: You know, you don't say, oh, gosh, I was just
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: talking to two people. I didn't realize that. That people
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: were listening. Yes, they are. And once you say it,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: it's on the record. And he said these things. And
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: you have more audio that you're playing in this new
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: commercial that he said these things. But, you know, I
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: think that, like I said, it's a high-stake race, but
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: there is sharp political contrast here, I think. You know,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Dan Osborne is right. trying to run as the working
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: class populace. He's the everyday guy, you know, and he's
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: going to answer your questions and take care of everyday
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: households where they're trying to make Pete Ricketts look like,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: you know, he's this son of a wealthy man and
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: he doesn't understand the everyday people. And, you know, I
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: challenged him with that statement because I said, number one,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: we can't pick our parents. And number two, isn't that
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: the American dream, what Joe Ricketts did? Started out with
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: not a lot and became very successful. Let's be clear.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Pete Ricketts worked with Joe at TD Ameritrade.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: He worked for Joe.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: Yes. And he was part of that.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: I mean, Pete's first house was a very modest house.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: He went to work with his dad.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: And helped shepherd TD Ameritrade from what was a successful
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: brokerage to what became a.
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: Fortune 500 company.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: And the amazing thing to me is that they chose
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: to keep a Fortune 500 financial services company headquartered here
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: in Omaha with all of those jobs. Everybody wants to
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: make it seem like he's just got money from his dad,
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: but the truth is he was part of the success.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Yes. And he's a.
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: Very down-to-earth person. I worked with him for 20 years.
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: The first time I worked with him was in 2006.
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: And the thing is, is when you work in politics
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: with somebody, you see people at their best and you
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: see them at their worst. And you're with them for
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: their highs and you're with them for their lows. And
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: Pete Ricketts is somebody who is the same person in
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: private as he is in public.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: He believes what he believes. He says what he believes.
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: He says what he's going to do. And that's always
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: who he is.
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: He's never going to get caught on a hot mic
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: because he's not saying anything different than what he's telling
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: the public. And he kind of– I think when he
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: was leading the state through the COVID crisis, he got
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: up in front of TV, on Facebook Live, on all
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: the reporters every single day and said, hey, here's what's
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: going on in the state.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: He took all the questions.
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: I've worked for candidates where we do town halls and
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: we screen all the questions and sometimes we just– You
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: just put in the questions that you want.
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: Senator Ricketts says, don't do it. Just put the people on.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: There's nothing I won't answer.
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: And so he's like, not everybody agrees with me, but
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: I'm always going to answer the question.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: And he does. He is brutally honest. I mean, I've
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: talked to him before that he has been– I mean–
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Maybe even said things that I wish he would have
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: agreed with me more, but he's very honest all the time,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and you are right. I know him personally, I think,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: quite well. He is very humble. I mean, he is
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: not an arrogant, hoity-toity person at all, and neither is
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: his family.
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: And he loves Nebraska. He loves getting out in western Nebraska.
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: He travels constantly. Even when he was governor and he
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: wasn't running for re-election and he never planned to be
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: in the Senate, We still did parades all the time
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: because he wanted people to feel like they had access
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: to their governor. He loved the people. To this day,
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: he's in D.C. Half the week, he comes back, and
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: every single day, he's out working. He's out connecting with people,
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: and he truly loves them, which is a stark contrast
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: to Dan Osborne, who's making fun of rural voters.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: Calling them Billy Bob.
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: And Mary Jane and saying that their lives effing suck.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: That is exactly what he thinks of voters. And it's
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: a very sharp contrast, not just on positions, but on
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: who they are and what their attitude is towards voters.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's move on a little bit because I know
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: you are terribly busy and need to blow out of
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: here in a few minutes. But Donald Trump, the president
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: of the United States, is visiting Nebraska coming up soon.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: And he is going to be out in Grand Island.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: And talk about that visit. He's going to be at
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: He's going to be here on October 5th. Talk a
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: little bit about the visit of President Trump coming here.
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's very exciting.
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: Interestingly, in 2006, the first time Senator Ricketts ran for Senate,
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: President George Bush also came to Nebraska, also in Grand Island.
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: But the president is obviously getting out and stumping for
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: races across the state, doing a lot of Midwestern visits.
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: So excited to have him here.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Is he going to typically red states that have competitive races?
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Is that what the president is doing?
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: He's doing a lot of appearances all over the place.
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: To be honest with you, we're excited to have him
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: here in Nebraska. I just think the other times that
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: he's done it, we haven't had aggressive races like this.
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: The Democrats are pouring in so much money here. I
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: think he doesn't want to take it for granted. I
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: know he did a tele-rally for Deb Fischer last go-around,
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: but he's coming in. It gives everybody an opportunity to
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: talk about the things that they've done for Nebraska voters,
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: like increasing the child tax credit and eliminating taxes on
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: tips and overtime, reducing taxes on Social Security, all things
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: that Dan Osborne, while he's pretending to care about Nebraska families,
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: has said that he would have been the deciding vote against.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Yes, and he does say that. Let's do one more
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: subject while we still have a few minutes. There are
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: some initiatives that are on the ballot. Can you quickly
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: go over these? 440, 441, it is about online sports betting.
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so I think, interestingly, the online sports betting and
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: polling and things that I've seen, that one might be
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: more competitive than people think. I would have thought it
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: would have been kind of a shoo-in. But I think
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: what's happened is what they're doing is they are proposing
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: that this is going to be the answer to property taxes.
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: And Nebraska voters just aren't having it. Casinos were supposed
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: to be the answer to property taxes. The legislature comes
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: out and tells us that they've passed bills that are
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: going to lower property taxes. And I don't know about you,
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: but I do know about a lot of other voters
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: and myself around the country or around the state.
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: Our property taxes are skyrocketing.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: All of these promises that are going to lower property taxes,
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: nothing has done it. Actually, our revenue chair said that
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: the money brought in from this would be less than 1%.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: And everybody knows that the online sports betting just turns every.
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: Kid's phone into a slot machine.
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: And people really are thinking differently about how it's going
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: to impact youth, but also how it could really– really
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: be bad for Nebraska athletics.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I'm just encouraging people to study these and know what
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: they're voting for because when I heard $ 166 million in
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: property tax relief, I thought, now tell me how that's
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: going to work automatically. Also, the 442, Initiative 442, Fairness
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: for Girls, Boys and Girls Sports.
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: Fairness for Girls, that's one that would prevent men from
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: competing in women's sports and protect women's opportunities, protect women's
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: and protect women physically. This is one that I expect
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: to win probably by a margin of 60% or more.
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: It's pretty common sense. Everybody knows a girl who's really
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: put her effort into athletics and is really been fierce
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: about her competitiveness, and nobody wants to see that taken
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: away from a young girl.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: And then there's LF19CA.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, this is a term limit.
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: So right now, state senators are limited to two terms
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: in the legislature, eight years. There's been several efforts, this
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: is the most recent one, to extend that to 12
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: years and three terms. I actually think there are a
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: lot of good reasons to do that.
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: I do too.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: But I fully expect the voters to reject that by
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: about 60%. I've seen.
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: This tried before, seen polling on it, and voters just
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: aren't having it. They do not believe that– they don't
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: believe in career politicians. They don't like what happens with it,
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: and I don't believe that they're going to do anything.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: That'll be an interesting one. Jessica, thank you. This is
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Jessica Flanagan. She's a political strategist working for the Ricketts campaign.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: I know you're really, really busy. You're probably getting ready
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: for the president's visit here too today. So I really
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: appreciate you being in the studio, coming on, talking about
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the campaign and talking about the other issues that I
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: think all Nebraskans need to understand and know about. That
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: election is how many days away now? 32. 32 days away.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: So what I do on this show is tell people
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: just really be informed.
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: And vote.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: And vote.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: Everybody needs to get out and vote. That's what needs
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: to happen.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Right, right. Get out to vote. So thank you so
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: much for being here.
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: Thank you for having me.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: And we are back. Scott, I feel like I've been
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: talking a million miles an hour. It would be 11
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: o'clock at night, and Hal Dobb would say, something's got
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: to be open. Somebody's got to be somewhere. Let's go
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: to a bowling alley. I'm sure somebody's out there bowling
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: at 11 o'clock at night. I mean, he would leave
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: nothing unturned, and you begin to feel like that. But boy,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: the way campaigns are going now, people are coming out swinging.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: And it is so hard to listen, even for me,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: who's been dealing with this a long time, it's so
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: hard even for me to listen to these political commercials
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: on TV because you just cannot believe anything. I heard
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: another one by Denise Powell this morning, and anything Donald
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Trump wants, Brinker Harding is for it. He is all,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: that is not true, Denise Powell. That is just not
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: true at all. And the messages that are being sent
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: out right now, a lot of them, not all, but
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: a lot of them, are meant to confuse the voters.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: And that's what gets so frustrating.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: My favorite right now is the one that shows a
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: picture of Brinker Harding, and it says, Brinker Harding, higher taxes.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: And it's in quotes, and it cites CBS News from
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: some story a few months back here. And, you know,
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: there's some dot, dot, dot in there. So somewhere in
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: the story, there was Brinker Harding, and then later the
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: phrase higher taxes. I don't think that CBS News, like
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: a 60 Minutes piece, said if the people of Nebraska
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: in their second district vote for Prinker-Harding, everyone's paying higher taxes.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: So you ran for office a few times.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: A few times.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Is there a political ad that still... grinds your gears
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: about something that was said about you or my other
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: favorite thing in the ads, they find the worst picture imaginable.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, they do. With your mouth open.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Make it worse. Put it in some sort of dark
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: black and white tone and then send that out to
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: everyone's mailboxes. So, What is it from your campaigns that
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: still has you mad?
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: And you know what? They cannot doctor up a still picture.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: That is illegal. But what they do do is they
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: get a video of you and then they get one
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: still off that video. And the video is always when
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: your mouth is open and your eyes are closed and
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: you look horrible. That's what they do, and that's what
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: they use. The one that got me the most was
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Mike McDonald against me in the last 2025 election in
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the primary. And Mike McDonald's campaign was just– to me,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: it was a disaster because– He should have been working
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: against Jim, I mean, against John Ewing. I was going
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: to get through the primary. I wasn't going to win
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: the election, but I was going to get through the primary.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: And Mike McDonald looked at this like this was only
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: between me and him. It was like a general election.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: But he had this one commercial up that showed an
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: ugly picture of me with my mouth open. And it's,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Jean Stothert's gone so much, they call her the Zoom mayor.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: And I thought, what in the world is this guy
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: talking about? And I remember I walked in my office
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: that same day when it came out and my staff
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: was like, Why do you say that, Mary? You don't
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: even know how to use Zoom.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: And it's true.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: I didn't.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: I never used Zoom. And so they would just throw
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: everything at you right and left. And again, Mike McDonald's
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: campaign was stop the streetcar. And he changed all his
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: yard signs to stop the streetcar. And I thought– How ridiculous,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: because he couldn't stop the streetcar. Even if he was
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: a new mayor, you can't turn over all the votes
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: that the city council already approved to move it forward.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: And so it was a campaign based on misinformation and lies,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: and that just still irritates me to death, even though
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: he didn't even make it through the primary. I hate
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: when people campaign that way.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: I'm reminded of one of my favorite moments with you
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: when you sent me a text. This is when you
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: were running for reelection against R.J.
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: Neary.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: Okay, that was in 21. Yeah, the primary is going on,
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: and you sent me a text and said, is KFAB
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: going to do another mayoral debate, and do you have
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: any dates set? And I responded with, Yes, we are.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: And should you make it through the primary, we'll let
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: you know when those are.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: You did.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: And the response I got back was not laughing. It
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: was the equivalent of you. And I admit, I deserved it.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: I walked headlong into that one with a smile on
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: my face. It's sometimes fun to kind of, you know.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: tweak you a little bit here.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: That's a vintage Voorhees right there. You should play that
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: again sometime.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: We have some emails that are kind of the equivalent
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: of that here. Comment at kfab.com is the email address.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: Here's one from Luke. It says, good morning. I love
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: the panic mode that all of KFAB land is in
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: this morning due to the latest Ricketts negative campaign ad.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: Scott and Gene are doing their very best to keep
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: the Ricketts train on the tracks. I'm sure Pockets Pete
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: appreciates all the help. God knows he needs it. Why
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: not throw Big Jim Pillen into that mix as well?
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: Could Gene Stothert work any harder on helping this loser
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: win re-election this Signed, longtime independent listener, Luke.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: Oh, woo, Luke, that's a hot little email there.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: Well, you know what?
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: I want people to know the truth, period. That's what
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: I want them to know. Scott was talking about this
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: incident with this pardon this morning. I talked about it
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: today because I've done hundreds of pardons, and I know
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: what I look at. And I think pardoning somebody from
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: a robbery, a burglary, a DUI is one thing. In
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Gene Stothert's opinion, I think a rape is a different thing.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: And as I tried to say earlier with Jessica, I
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: would look with much more scrutiny at anybody wanting a
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: pardon that had some sort of an assault, a domestic assault,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: or a child abuse, or even animal abuse. I'd look
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: at these people and think, okay, what was going– I
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: don't even believe that now that you are a completely
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: changed person. So I would look at those with so
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: much scrutiny. Would I have pardoned a rapist? You know what?
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: I wasn't there. I don't know all the people that
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: testified that day during that pardon hearing, but from my experience, maybe,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: probably not. I mean, I think it's a horrible crime.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: And so I want people to know the truth, though,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: on this. That's why I wanted people to know she
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: wasn't notified because at that time, the law was they
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: had to fill out paperwork to be notified. The law
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: has since been changed, and now they automatically notify the victim.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: So a lot went into making that decision. I just
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: want people to know. You make your own decisions about it.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm in a panic mode.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: Do you?
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Do we look like we're in panic mode?
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Well, I hope not. You know, I talked about this
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: as well. The emailer brought me up. I just tried
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: to correct the record that when you hear an ad
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: that starts off like this.
• 33:17
  Speaker 6: Why did Pete Ricketts decide to pardon a convicted rapist?
• 33:20
  Speaker 6: On April 30th, 1993, John Arias broke into my home
• 33:25
  Speaker 6: and violently raped me. Pete Ricketts passed the deciding vote
• 33:29
  Speaker 6: to pardon this man.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: Okay, so that's all that's out there.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: And I would be the first to say this doesn't
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: look good for Pete Ricketts.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's terrible.
• 33:37
  Speaker 6: No.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: The context it lacks is they were married. That was
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: his home. They were estranged, but he went into his home.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: Horrible things happened. And that doesn't excuse it. He spent
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: 14 years in jail. He was out for 14 years.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: And four years ago, when politics weren't in the equation,
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: he was on the pardon board, and Governor Ricketts, along
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: with Attorney General Doug Peterson, granted him a pardon. That's right.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: This was four years ago. We didn't hear as much
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: about it four years ago. Why are we hearing about
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: it now? Because politics. That's right. And that's the only context.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: And I said, like you, Gene— If I'm on the
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: pardon board, I'm like Bob Effman. I'm probably not going
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: to grant a pardon.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: I would think I would be the same way. But
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: a pardon is a formal, official act of forgiveness for
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: an offense. It does not clear one's criminal record. That
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: criminal record is still there, and it does not wipe
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: out the fact that they were guilty. And it can
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: restore some civil rights, and some of those civil rights
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: can be the right to vote, sometimes it can be
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: to carry a weapon. But like I said before, usually, normally,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: a convicted felon cannot possess a firearm, and it's a felony,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: another felony for them to do so. So I don't
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: know about that. Look, he was out of jail for
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: 14 years. It's been four years since he had his rights.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: If he wanted to attack this woman, he's been out
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: now for 18 years with the opportunity to do it.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: Thank God he hasn't. But this idea that I feel
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: less safe now because of the actions of Pete Ricketts.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: He was out for 14 years before four years ago
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: he was granted a pardon. Thankfully, he didn't do anything
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: to you. And I hope he never does. But let's
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: not turn this into, you know, Pete Ricketts tunneled this
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: guy out of jail and said she went that way,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: which is the insinuation in the ad. Rob has called
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: 402-558-1110 this morning to be on the KFAB comment line
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: to address this.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Rob. You're on with the host of the program,
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: Gene Stothert.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: Good morning.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: Hey, thanks. You know, I've viewed, because I used to
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: go down and do legislative hearing stuff, so I viewed
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: a few pardons board hearings, both with Heinemann and Johans.
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: One thing to keep in mind, from left to right,
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: or from the perspective of the administrative assistant, it's always
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: the attorney general, the secretary of state, and the governor.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: So the governor is always the last to vote. It's
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: just the way it is. If it was opposite, then
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: they'd be saying, Doug Peterson... cast a deciding vote. That's
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: really all it is. And that's just annoying. Also, I
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: will say this. I happen to be on a pardons board.
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: This is, gosh, this was in the Heinemann-Gale-Bruning years, and
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: someone had come forward with a.
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: I also have a mayoral pardon. I'm like, what? Omaha
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: mayor can't make a pardon. I'm just screaming in my head.
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: I wanted to say, don't you understand? Yes, they can.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: We're a city of the metropolitan class. We'll do whatever
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: we want. Well, I didn't say that.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you, Rob. And I explained it earlier, but
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: I want to explain it again. A mayor has the
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: authority given by the city charter to pardon misdemeanors. And
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: since when I was mayor, it was only a certain
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: part of city code, but they expanded it to be
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: all of city code. So a mayor can pardon misdemeanors automatically.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: within the city code. But for example, say a DUI,
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: you know, a DUI, usually the first DUI is a misdemeanor,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: but it depends on the aggravating circumstances around that first DUI.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: So if it's just somebody was driving fast and they
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: were drunk and it's their first one, that is something
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: a mayor has the authority to pardon. If that was
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: the first defense and they killed somebody, that's a different
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: thing and it's a felony. And no, the mayor of
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Omaha or the mayor of any city that has that
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: authority could not pardon them.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: Can a former mayor issue any pardons for misdemeanor crimes?
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: A former mayor?
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Jim Rose wanted me to ask you.
• 37:36
  Speaker 6: Oh, God.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: That's why he was hanging around this morning.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: No, no, no. I cannot pardon Jim.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: Rose for anything.
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: Sorry, Rosie.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: Go see Mayor Ewing.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: All right, we've got to wrap up the KFAB Comment
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Line next.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: And we are back with Gene Stothert on the KFAB
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Comment Line. And Scott Voorhees is just trying to figure
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: out how to produce this show today. I know he
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: struggles with it. He's not familiar with that soundboard over there.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: Who said that?
• 38:04
  Speaker 6: I did. Oh.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: No, he's going to have a long one today, I
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: do believe. We don't know what's wrong with Peyton. Peyton's
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: probably out playing soccer somewhere.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: No, Peyton had something suddenly come up, and he sends
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: his regrets that he could not join the comment line today.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: That's okay. He will be a part of the Chris
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: Baker show today, but we don't have Chris Baker as
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: part of the Chris Baker show today. Chris had something
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: come up. He's feeling a little under the weather. I'm confused.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: I know, so we're... We're trying to hold it together here.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: It's okay.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: Don't cry.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm still making fun of Peyton because Wednesday night,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: Peyton is a soccer player. Everybody knows this. He was
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: out playing soccer at 10 o'clock when that horrible storm hit.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: And I said, we have to check your mental status.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: Then I wanted to know if his new wife, Carly,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: was like Taylor Swift. Was she standing out there pointing
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: to her wedding ring going, that's my husband. That's my husband.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: That's my husband out there.
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: That's my man.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Knowing Carly, she's probably saying, I don't know him out
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: there playing in the.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: Rain in the storm. He's sick. I would have golfed
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: in it, but soccer, no.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: No, not at all.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: Peyton's a good guy. I told you we had some
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: blowback from KFAB Nation on your guest earlier. Jessica Flanagan,
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: who works with the Pete Ricketts campaign, was in here
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: just a few days after Dan Osborne, the candidate, was
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: in here. And here's a sampling. This one in the
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: talkback mic part of the Zonkers Custom Woods inbox. It
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: says a lot about the candidates that one of them
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: showed up in person and the other one sent a surrogate.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: You're not changing any minds at this point. First of all,
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: put your seatbelt on. I hear the beeping in the background.
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: Yeah, buddy. Bing, bing, bing.
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: You don't have your seatbelt on? Drive with your seatbelt on.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: So why have we allowed one candidate and then the candidates...
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: surrogate who works on the campaign to come in here.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: You know, I mean, that's what they chose to do.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: You know, I got criticized for having Dan Osborne on, but,
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: you know, I feel like my job, I had a
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: friend say, are you a Democrat now?
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: Oh, come on.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: I feel like, I think it's great to have both
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: sides on, to have both candidates on. You know, I
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: have had Pete Ricketts on this show I wanted to
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: have Dan Osborne and Dan Osborne did agree to come
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: to the studio and be interviewed in the studio good
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: for him and actually I found him to be I
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: thought he was going to come in and be a
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: bit of an a-hole and he was not he was
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: a very nice man and I enjoyed talking to him
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Same thing with the governor's race, folks. Pillen has been
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: in here in the studio himself. Brett Lindstrom, multiple times,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: Brett Lindstrom has been in here. I've been after Lynn Waltz.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: I want to interview her too. I think it's good
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: for you to be able to listen and compare. And
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: she has agreed. She's going to be on the show
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: next week. And so, you know, I think that's great.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: I have had Brinker Harding on this show numerous times.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: I have been after Denise Powell and she, it's crickets.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: She won't even respond to me.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: She has not responded to Nebraska's morning news either.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: No.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Which is surprising because her ad says that she's for
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: years worked with Republicans and Democrats here in Omaha.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Bringing them together.
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: Lots of bipartisan deal. You were the Republican mayor of
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: Omaha for a million years. Surely you worked with her
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: multiple times. She was influential in getting a lot of
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: stuff done. That's what she says, but I have never
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: heard of her. And, you know, I was down at
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: City Hall 16 years and I've never heard of her.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: And now, although she says she will work with Democrats
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: and Republicans, she won't answer me.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: She won't be on this show. She won't be on
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: your show. I know Chris Baker has reached out. So
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: there you go. So if these candidates want to come
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: on this show, I'll have them on. I've had Don
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: Bacon on several times, too. So I think that's what's
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: good about elections. You all need to hear both sides
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: and you all need to hear the questions that are
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: asked for all the candidates. So good for them for
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: agreeing to come out here. I would never turn down
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: free media.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: You know that.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, during a campaign, if they would offer you
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: free media to get out there on TV or the radio,
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: I'd take it every time. Then why did I pay
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: you every time you were on here? Do you really
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: pay me? All right, that's it for us today. Thank
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: you for spending this hour with us. We'd love for
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: you to join us again on Monday. Go Big Red.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go to the game tomorrow. Enjoy your
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: sunny weekend. I am Jean Stothert, and this is 1110 KFAB.