Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Mayor Superman on Chris Baker show

Transcript

Mayor Superman on Chris Baker show · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Gene Stothard. Peyton Hilock, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is also here today. Good morning, Good morning to you, Jeene.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This time next week, guess what One week from monday
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Peyton will be a married man and on your honeymoon.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Yes, I like that idea.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: I do too. I like it.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Are you getting excited? I I bet who you are
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: so well. We'll talk about that later, but today we
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: want to hear from you. We'd love to get your
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: feedback here, your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. We had a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: lot of good guests last week. If you had questions
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: about any of that, please let us know today. But
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: anything goes and we won't back away from anything, whether
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: it's city, state, national, the world. We're gonna have some
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: great guests this week, and of course you will hear
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: plenty of opinions from me. But it is your chance
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: to speak up in sound offs. You can send your
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: emails to comment at kfab dot com or you can
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: call us at four oh two five five eight eleven ten.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: We are very happy that you are with us today.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: And as I drove through my favorite scooters this morning,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: as I do every morning, right there on about like
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: seventy fifth in Underwood. My favorite three men were sitting
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: out front having their coffee, and they.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Do this every time they see me.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Hey, mayor, and I'll go former mayor and they'll say,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: we've got some really good ideas for the city. You
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: should come here early one morning and we'll get your show.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Ready for you. So, guys, if you're listening now, we are.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll have to do that one day because I said, well,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: you know, I have plenty of good ideas too, but
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: unfortunately nobody listens to me anymore. But anyway, it's always
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: fun to go by there. I love that scooters. But
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: guess what, Peyton, I want to talk about something that
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: happened Friday and I want I would really like to
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: solicit the audience's opinion on this, and that is the
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Chris Baker Show on Friday, and I want your opinion
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: on this. Listeners, Chris Baker had Mayor John Ewing on
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: started at around three point thirty I would say, maybe
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: a twenty minute interview, and it ended up with the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: mayor hanging up on the air because Chris Baker was
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: asking a question that he didn't like. I want to
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: refrain a little bit from giving you my opinion on that.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: I would like you all, if you didn't hear to
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: listen to the podcast. It's up, you could listen to
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the whole thing and give us your opinion on that interview.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: But you know, a couple comments I will make, and
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: then we're going to let this subject go because it
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: was on the Chris Bakers Show. But I listened to it,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and I do have experience being interviewed on radio and
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: on TV for a very long period of time. And
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: you know, when you are an elected official, whether it's
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: mayor or the governor, or the president or a city
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: council member, you are elected by the people to represent
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the people. And if if you are out in public
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: and you are being asked questions, you need to answer them.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's why I enjoyed having town halls because
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: they were very unscripted. People could ask whatever they wanted
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: and I would answer them, and if I didn't know
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the answer, I would get them the answer and the
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: same I must have been on this radio station over
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: one hundred times in twelve years, and I mean it
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: was never ever scripted. It was I was never given
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: the questions ahead of time, and whatever questions I was asked,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I would answer them. Never would I think of hanging
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: up on the host. And if people think that Chris
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Baker's questions were anything but I mean, if they were
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: rude or they were not appropriate, I would say wrong,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: you know, I would say I have listened to host
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: of presidential debates that ask more pressing questions than Chris
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Baker did the other day. And all's Chris Baker was
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: doing is asking a question about a statement that the
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: mayor made in public. I mean, this was nothing that
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: he was that he had made up or was speculating on.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: There was a statement the mayor, John Ewing made in
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: public about the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, calling them an
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: occupying army or an occupying force, occupying army, an occupying army,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: and he asked him about that, and obviously it made
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: the mayor uncomfortable and he didn't want to answer the question,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: and he kept on saying, next question, next question, and
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: then he ended up hanging up on the air. So
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: let's hear what you think about it. And if you
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: didn't hear it, like I said, the podcast is up.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: You could listen to the whole interview. It started at
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: about three point thirty, so you could pull that up
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: and let's get your opinion on that. But tough questions
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: come to elected officials' way and they need to answer it.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Look at what Mike Flood has been enduring recently with
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: his town hall meetings. You know, you put yourself out
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: there in front of everybody, not knowing the questions that
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: are going to be asked, and you answer them the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: best way you can. You don't walk away from him,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: you don't walk off the stage, you don't hang up
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the phone. So once again, I thought that was quite interesting,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure there's a lot of people that listen
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: that have a lot of comments about it. So I
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: don't know if maybe you'll talk about that a little
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: bit today, But I thought Chris Baker handled it very
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: very well.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: I got to talk back here.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: This is on the iHeartRadio app, where you can also
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: find the podcast of this entire interview with Mayor Superman.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: This is on the radio Talkback.
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: Mike Lifelong Republican Avid Kfab listener. I thought Chris Baker,
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: which I love Chris, but I thought he was disrespectful
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: to the mayor. I thought he badgered him. He basically
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: telegraphed his punches the whole time and his plan. What
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: I think was the game to you know, hang up.
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: And I just thought he was being disrespectful to the guy.
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: The guy you know, put out all a branch. Every
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: once in a while, you don't always have to bite
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: that hand.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate that comment, and I'm wondering if other
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: people feel that way or feel differently.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: You know it is true.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, if this is considered an olive branch or
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: baby steps, you know, the mayor has forbidden his staff
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: from being on this show, the directors from being on
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: my show. He's been mayor over a year and hasn't
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: been on this show at all. This is the first time.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: And so but keep in mind, folks that Chris Baker,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: he does address him as Mayor Superman. And if that
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: was being rude or disrespectful. The mayor calls himself mayor Superman,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: and he dresses in a Superman shirt all the time,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: well here you go, Gene, real quick.
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: And I also didn't like the fact that he constantly
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: called him mayor Superman. That's disrespectful just calling mayor ewing,
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: simple as.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: That, And I appreciate that, but keep in mind he
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: calls himself mayor Superman. In the Omaha magazine the story
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: on his first year in office, he wore a Superman's
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: shirt and he wears that shirt a lot. And there
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: was another article that actually said mayor Superman because he
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: likes to be called that. There's apparently a lot of
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: pictures in his office with a Superman clothes on. There
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: was a picture that came up recently with a group
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: of baseball players, young baseball players from Papillion that he
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: not only had a Superman shirt on, but he had
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: a cape on. So keep in mind that is not
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: anything that Chris Baker has made up. The word I
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: got is they look at when Chris Baker calls him
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Superman as a compliment because they like him to be
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: called mayor Superman. So just keep that in mind.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: The opinions about the way the interview went is a
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: subjective thing. You have your opinion about it one way
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: or another.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: And that's what I'm trying to solicit when.
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: It comes to him being called mayor Superman. I think
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: it's pretty objective. It is that that is not disrespectful.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: And Chris Baker opened it up by calling him Mayor
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: John Ewing Junior, Welcome to the show, better known as
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: mayor Superman. And if that was disrespectful at that point
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: there would have been a confrontation about calling him mayor Superman.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: No, he looks at it.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: As a compliment. That is yeah, because he calls himself
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: mayor Superman. Now would I call myself mayor superwoman or
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: super girl? I mean no, that would be terribly embarrassing.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: That is nothing I would ever do. I would never
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: wear a T shirt that said I am the coolest
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: mayor either which mayor John yuine or were you?
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: Though?
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: No, did you wear that shirt if you're not the
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: coolest mayor?
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I was very uncool when I was mayor, So no,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I guess I guess that's my problem. I wasn't a
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: very cool mayor. But but no, I mean I think
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: people look at that. The feedback that we get people
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: look at that is an ego trip as arrogance. You know,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: you don't see many people walking around wearing T shirts
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  Speaker 1: that say I'm the coolest governor or, I'm the coolest
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  Speaker 1: state senator, I'm the coolest mayor. But Mary John Ewing
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: does do that. So anyway, I'm appreciative of what your
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: comments are on that, and I think they'll come in
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: both ways. But just keep in mind what I just
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: said that this was something. First of all, the questions
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: that he was asking that the mayor didn't like were
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: questions about a statement that he made in public, and
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: calling him mayor Superman is something that Mayor Ewing likes
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: to be called, and he wears a Superman shirt quite
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: a bit in public to get people to.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Call him that. So please call in let us know.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: I think it's very very interesting.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: But like I said, I mean, I've listened to presidential
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: debates where the host hammered the candidates a lot more
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: than Chris Baker did on his show, and they are
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: expected to answer. They're not expected to walk off stage
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and say, you know you're being rude or disrespectful.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: I'm leaving.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: People can be very disrespectful, but if you are elected,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: you are elected to represent that and you need to
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: listen to all sides and you need to answer questions.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: This is a day of the talk about Jeane Nobody's
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: calling the phone lines which is four zero, two, five, five,
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: eight eleven ten, but lots in the in the radio
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: talkback Mike.
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: To me, two things were obvious in that interview. The
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: first is that the mayor had scripts in front of
• 10:24
  Speaker 6: him for the questions he anticipated. I won't know or
• 10:28
  Speaker 6: say if they gave him the questions. Second of all,
• 10:32
  Speaker 6: the man can't read slow and deliberate obviously being read.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: We did not give him any questions in advance. That
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: is not the standard practice of an interviews. You do
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: not give your subject the questions.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: No, and you know, I've done plenty of TV radio interviews,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: plenty of debates, town hall meetings. I've been in debates
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: with John Ewing, you know, during the campaign, and you cannot,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, you just cannot be scripted because you don't
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: know the questions that are being thrown at you. But no,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: this station did not give him questions ahead of time.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: But I think this station did tell him that they
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: wanted to talk to him about climate and about this
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: grant that he got from the Bloomberg Foundation for teens
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: to get involved with planning what we are going to
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: do in Omaha about climate. That was made pretty clear
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: that we are going to talk about that. But it's
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: never that that is the only thing that you're going
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: to talk about if you do an interview, you might
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: And that's what I used to do. If people would
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: call and say can we interview you, I'd say, well,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: you know, just give me an idea what it's about.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: And they would say it's about property taxes. Okay, fine.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: I mean I would not say I want a list
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: of all your questions. Never do that, and media just
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: doesn't do that.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you're right.
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: And I am the one that sent the email to
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: get Mayor Superman on the show, and that was exactly
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: what I said, Gea. I said, hey, we would love
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: to get you on to talk about this youth action
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: plan for climate change.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: And then obviously there were some other things.
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: Discussed as well, but I would say that was the
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: focus of it going into it. I also have another
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: talk back here. There's plenty of them. Plenty of them.
• 12:17
  Speaker 7: There we go, Good morning, Mayor.
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: Hey.
• 12:22
  Speaker 7: My thoughts on the interview on Friday. It seemed like
• 12:26
  Speaker 7: at the end there that Mayor Ewing had a handler
• 12:30
  Speaker 7: in the background telling him what to say, telling him
• 12:34
  Speaker 7: to hang up. Did you ever have a handler as mayor?
• 12:38
  Speaker 7: I know you're a pretty smart girl.
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: And probably did not.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: No, I did not have a handler at all. In fact,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I just took questions, you know, as they came. And
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: that again I bring I keep on bringing up the
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: town halls, but I did over seventy town hall meetings,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: and those are you are standing there live in front
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: of a big audience, and I just took the questions
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: as they.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Can came at me.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: I didn't even have people write them down and have
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: people you know, look at them first and decide which
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: question they were going to ask me. We just took
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: the questions as they came. So no, my handlers were
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: I didn't.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Have any handlers. But you know, one thing.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: That I always would do if we were doing a
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: press conference, for example, is my my one of my
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: deputy chiefs the staff, Carrie Murphy. She was my basically
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: my communication director and she used to be with KMTV.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: She produced the news so she was a good reporter
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: in her early days, and before any press conference, no
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: matter what the subject was, I would always say, Carrie,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: what questions would you think a really good reporter is
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: going to ask me in this interview? And she would say, well,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: if I was a really good reporter, I would ask
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: you this, this, this, and this, and it would just
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: get my mind thinking about what I would how I
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: would answer questions, and you know, nine times out of
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: ten they would never ask me those questions. So it's
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: it's impossible to prepare for a live interview. But I
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: think you are right that Mary Ewing chose to be
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: on the telephone and not live in the studio, because
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: when you are on the telephone, you definitely can have
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: people around passing you information about what to say or
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: what not to say. Mary Ewing kept on saying next question,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: next question a meaning he did not want to answer
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Chris Baker's question, Did I ever do that?
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: No?
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And even sometimes on this show, Gene, you'll say,
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: I don't know, but I'll get back to you. And
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: I think that there's a certain level of respect that
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: comes with that, because if you don't know, you don't.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: Know, you don't know what you don't know, and you know.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: And I always used to tease Jim Rose because when
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: him and Gary were doing the morning show, they would
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: ask me to come on a lot, and you know,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: they would ask me. I mean, they wouldn't give me
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: hardly any prep time. A lot of times they wouldn't
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: even ask me the night before. They would send me
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: a text at seven in the morning and say can
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: you come on at seven thirty and talk about the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: snow or something like that, and I would say sure,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: And a lot of those I would do by phone,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: but I was doing them by phone at home at
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: seven thirty in the morning. I didn't have my handlers
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: because I didn't have handlers around. But no matter what
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the subject was, I used to kiddy, Jim Rose would
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: always bring up the street car and then argue with
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: me about it, because as you all know, Jim Rose
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: is not a fan of the street car, so he's
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: funded debate. But it seems like that always crept into
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: every one of our conversations.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: And I didn't mind.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: I mean I really didn't mind, because if I can't
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: answer the question, I shouldn't be. I shouldn't be Mayor,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: is what I thought.
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: I got a phone call from Michael. Thank you, Michael
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: for holding for us. You're alive with Jean Stouthart here
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: on KFAB.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Oh oh.
• 15:45
  Speaker 8: Good morning, thank you for taking my call. I just
• 15:49
  Speaker 8: wanted to say when I listened to the interview of
• 15:52
  Speaker 8: Mayor Ewing with Chris Baker, and all through the interview,
• 15:57
  Speaker 8: as I was listening. I just still I can't. I
• 16:00
  Speaker 8: can't get it into my head how he possibly could
• 16:05
  Speaker 8: have been elected over someone like you. I can't even
• 16:09
  Speaker 8: It just seems like it's another world. How could that happen?
• 16:15
  Speaker 8: The guy, as he speaks with no specificity, he is
• 16:21
  Speaker 8: incredibly sensitive, hyper sensitive, arrogant. I mean, whereas you do.
• 16:28
  Speaker 8: Take on anything, you answer directly, specifically, respectfully. It's like
• 16:33
  Speaker 8: there's all the difference in the world, and he won
• 16:37
  Speaker 8: an election over you.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Well thanks for that, I mean, thanks
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: for your comments. But you know, as I said many times,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: elections have consequences, and I never came back and said
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: I should have won that election, or it was unfair
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: or they didn't count the ballots. Right, you win or
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: you lose, and I lost that one. I think that,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: you know, there were several reasons why I lost election,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: and I'm not going to blame any person. I mean,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: it was myself, but I will say voter fatigue was
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: a big one. And that's a real thing with mayors,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: and it's people just get tired of you, they really do.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: They're like, well, you've done a good job, or you've
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: done a pretty good job, or whatever. But you know what,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: I've heard it a lot. Let somebody else have a chance.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: You've been mayor for twelve years. Voter fatigue was real.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Low voter turnout was really really a big deal. Twenty
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: seven percent of the people and voters in Omaha came
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: out and voted in the general election. Two of the
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: city council members out in West Omaha did not have opponents,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Brinker Harding and don Roe didn't have opponents. I usually
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: get a lot of votes out West Omaha. They didn't
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: turn out to vote because I was the only one
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: on the ballot. The street car added in. People didn't
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: like the streetcar. I mean, the Douglas County Republican Party
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: did not endorse me in the primary. And when I
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: asked them why they endorsed Mike McDonald, they said, well,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: some of us don't like the streetcar. I mean, they
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: didn't even look at what I accomplished over twelve years.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: That was their response to me. And they said, and
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Mike McDonald came to a few of our meetings. Okay, So,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: I mean there was a handful of reasons why I
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: wasn't elected, But I do think the Democrat Party was very,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: very engaged, excited, they wanted this seat. They wanted the
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: mayor to be a Democrat because Omaha was the blue
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: dot for some reason, I held onto it for twelve years.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: But I mean they were activated, energized, they were rabid.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: They wanted this position. And that's what we got to
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: keep in mind for other elections too, for the congressional seat,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: for the governor's seat, etc.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: And so I think that's what happened.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: But you know, everybody digs their own hole, I mean,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: and it's either you know, it could be really really bad,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: or you can you have to keep on proving yourself
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: that you are worthy of being re elected again. I
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: found it very very strange when Mayor Ewing was mayor
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: only about a month or two and he announced he
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: was running again. Now that that is something that no
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: elected official does. I mean, you usually wait for a
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: good if you've got a four year term, you usually
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: wait for a good three years before you come out
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: and you say, hey, I've been doing a pretty good
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: job and I like my team, and I like the
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: way things are going, so i'm gonna I'm gonna think
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: about running again. And then you tell people that except
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: if you're running for Congress, which is a continuous race
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: because they only have two year terms. But to announce
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: that you're running again after the first couple of months
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: is very, very odd and very strange for somebody to
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: do that. So I do scratch my head on that one.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: But you know, I appreciate your comments because I just
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: it's it's pret baffling what is going on. It's pretty
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: baffling that they are shying away from being in public
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: as much as they can, and when they are in public,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: it's a very scripted speech that the mayor does read.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: So we still will hold our invitations open, completely open
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: for my show to say that any of those directors
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: that work for the city and work for all of
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: you as citizens should be able to talk about their
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: departments and to be on this show or to be
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: on interviewed by any media and we media. I mean,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: that's that's their job is to run their departments, and
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: they're elected by the they're not elected, they're appointed by
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the mayor. But they work for the people of Omaha.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: And if we have a snowstorm, public works director should
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: be able to come on and talk about a snowstorm.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: And we still have the what I would call a
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: gag order on my show.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: To your host of the show, Jean Stouth, my name
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: is Peyton Hilock. I got an email here comment at
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: kfab dot com. Are you sure he was interviewing Mayor
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: Ewing and not doctor Fauci.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: I plead the fifth on.
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: The Advisive Council. I respectfully declined to answer based upon
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: He could have done that, he could have pled the fifth,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: but he just kept on saying, next question, next question,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: next question.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: YEP.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: That's that's all it was. Otherwise, I'm not going to
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: answer your question, Geene.
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: This morning, I was, you know, we have the Fox
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: News up on the studio and there's a story coming
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: out today about RFK Junior and his contention over the
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: way CNN has handled COVID nineteen coverage, and he got
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: really upset with the interview questions he was being asked
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: by a veteran journalist of CNN, Dana Bash, and CNN
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: came out and responded to RFK Junior saying, quote, asking tough,
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: substantive questions to those in power is the job of
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: every journalist, and Dana did hers incredibly well end quote.
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: I think that there is not a better news story
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: to come out today based on our topic of conversation.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: That's exactly what I'm talking about.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, And you could debate whether Chris Baker is
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: a journalist or not, but he was doing an interview.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: He is media and he was doing an interview on air.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: You have to be asked the tough questions, and that
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: is not being disrespectful and it's not being rude. It's
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: asking questions that you should be able to answer. And
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: if you don't have your script in front of you
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: to answer that question, I mean, you could always say
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: I don't know the answer, can I get back with you?
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: But again, Chris was asking about a statement that Mayor
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Ewing made himself in public, and so this was not
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: anything speculative, It was not anything you know of putting
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: him on the spot about.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: It was a question.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: It was a statement he made that he was asking,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: do you feel like the Douglas County Sheriff's Department is
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: an occupying force or an occupying army? You said that
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: in public and did not want to answer that question.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, it's very appropriate to say, even
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: on the national level, on CNN that they were asking
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: tough questions to RFK Junior and he got offended by it.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Well, don't get offended by it, buddy.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: You got a really high powerful position there, and with
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: high powerful positions, you're you're you should be out there
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: in the public answering the questions that the public wants
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to know.
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: For zero two five to five, eight eleven ten, Terry,
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: Miss Terry is live with us this morning. You are
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: live with Jean's author.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Jeane, good morning.
• 23:48
  Speaker 9: I love you, Oh, I love you, I miss you.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you.
• 23:53
  Speaker 9: I've listened to the podcast this morning because I missed
• 23:57
  Speaker 9: it on the live. And Baker asked him the question
• 24:02
  Speaker 9: about how are they going to enforce the speed because
• 24:07
  Speaker 9: a lot of our RECs and severe accidents are caused
• 24:11
  Speaker 9: by high speed and Mary Ewing responded that he wanted
• 24:17
  Speaker 9: to have transparency and that Omaha Police Department was at
• 24:22
  Speaker 9: full force and that he was hoping by archer July
• 24:28
  Speaker 9: next year to have him in full force. Well, Douglas County,
• 24:32
  Speaker 9: which is the one that he was talking about when
• 24:35
  Speaker 9: he made that stupid.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: We lost your Peyton.
• 24:41
  Speaker 9: County And if you are shorthanded, why wouldn't you want
• 24:47
  Speaker 9: your sheriff's department to come in and help in that
• 24:52
  Speaker 9: aspect rather than waiting for the community and other lives
• 24:56
  Speaker 9: to be taken due to high speed that you.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: You know, you're exactly right because the Douglas County Sheriff's
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Department in the Omaha Police Department do work together. They
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: work together all the time, and it's important that they
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: have a very good relationship. A question about enforcing speed,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: you know, the two main reasons that accidents occur are
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: speed and red light running. We know that, and so
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: the Omaha Police Department is focused on that. Just saying
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: that we aren't full force and that's the reason people
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: are speeding and accidents are having is nothing but an
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: excuse in my opinion, because look at our crime rates
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: and we are not full force. They are the lowest
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: that they have been in decades. And we are not
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: full force. I mean we're still about one hundred down, which,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: by the way, if you recall and Mary Ewing stated
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the city addressed, he said we will be full force
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: by the end of the year.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: We will not.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, we all knew that that's impossible to do.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: But just to say that people are speeding because we're
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: not at full force. Again, I would direct you to
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: our crime statistics and they're fantastic.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: So the Omah Police.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Department does a great job no matter where. I mean,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: they're just they're doing a great job. But they always
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: work with the Douglas County Sheriff's Department and they work
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: with surrounding law enforcement too, and so it's a welcome
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: that these two entities work together that well. And to
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: say they're an occupying force just our army does not
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: make sense at all. It's like you are encroaching on
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: my territory and you better stay away.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: That's not what you want.
• 26:41
  Speaker 6: Now.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Keep in mind when we annex areas, and I was very,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: very big on annexation, because if you want taxes to
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: be lower, the way you do it and sustain it
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: is you broaden your tax base. And when you are annexing,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: you're broadening your tax base because you take in all
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: of their assets, so you take in their sales tax
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: or property tax, et cetera. When we annex, the Omaha
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Fire Department is already covering those areas. They cover the
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: city and the county. But when we annex, the Omaha
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Police department has not been covering those areas. The Sheriff's
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: department has, and so say we annex areas, say out
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: west near Elkhorn, it's a Douglas County Sheriff's department that
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: are now covering those areas, OPD not and when we annex,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: OPD takes over. So it's so important that those two
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: entities work together because they know that area and they
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: are out there. They are there to help each other,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: and they both have the same goals and that's to
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: keep us safe. And so you know, I mean, I
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: agree with what you're saying, but to start answering the
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: question about how to enforce speed and that's resulting in
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: accidents and the answer is we're not full force. That
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: does not make sense at all. The traffic, the cops
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: that are out on traffic and on patrol, that's sure,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: they're less than they were before.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: But again, these.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Things are things that are still should be under control,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: as well as our crime rates are under control.
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: For zero two five to five, eight eleven ten comment
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: at kfab dot com. Thank you for the call, Terry.
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: Now we shift to the phone lines for Brian. Brian,
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: you are live here with Jean Stauthard on news radio
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: eleven ten KFAB.
• 28:27
  Speaker 10: I just listened to the full interview of Mayor Ewing,
• 28:31
  Speaker 10: and I think you're being dishonest in the way you're
• 28:33
  Speaker 10: presenting this. First he gave a very full answer and
• 28:38
  Speaker 10: then three more increasingly shorter answers after that about how
• 28:43
  Speaker 10: it's a matter of a lack of communication and cooperation
• 28:47
  Speaker 10: with the mayor and the police. I'm the part of
• 28:49
  Speaker 10: the Sheriff's office. And what Chris Baker was doing was
• 28:53
  Speaker 10: just haranguing, continuing to ask him over and over again, well,
• 28:57
  Speaker 10: how can you say that? How can you say that?
• 29:00
  Speaker 10: I'm sure if I were to call him to Chris
• 29:01
  Speaker 10: Baker and ask him how he could post a picture
• 29:04
  Speaker 10: of Australian aborigines doing a dance for Taurus in reaction
• 29:09
  Speaker 10: to the Derek Chauvin verdict, he might get tired if
• 29:11
  Speaker 10: I kept haranguing him about that over and over again too.
• 29:16
  Speaker 10: Don't you think.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: No? I mean I really don't, because I think that again.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: When you are an elected official, like the mayor of Omaha,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: it is your job to answer questions and not get
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: offended or not thinking that somebody is pestering you or
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: somebody is asking you questions disrespectfully. You should be answering
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: the questions, no matter how many times they are asked.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: I gave the example of Jim Rose in the streetcar earlier,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: and you know I expected it that I was able
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: to answer the questions when the mayor gave an answer
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: saying this.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: Is a reason that speeding are you saying?
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: The mayor said the the how to enforce speeding is
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: a result of the lack of communication and cooperation between
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: the Sheriff's Department and OPD. I don't think it's a
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: lack of communication and cooperation. My experience is they work
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: together well.
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, as I get the cough button for Geen and
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: and Chris Baker's show is open for comments every day
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: all day. The phone lines are wide open, so everyone
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: that has an opinion is more than welcome to give
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: a call. Speaking of phone lines for zero two, five
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: to five, eight eleven ten, Scott has been holding for
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: a while.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Scott. You are live with Jean's author.
• 30:36
  Speaker 8: Good morning, Hello, Jean.
• 30:39
  Speaker 11: I'm gonna refer to you as mayor because I think
• 30:42
  Speaker 11: you should be. You can call me and I wish you.
• 30:45
  Speaker 11: I mean, yeah, I'm in a resident of Lincoln, and
• 30:50
  Speaker 11: I wish you were our mayor. I'll just say that,
• 30:53
  Speaker 11: but I'll keep it short. The question that I had
• 30:56
  Speaker 11: was what do you think the rise of socialist mayors
• 31:01
  Speaker 11: being elected in this country?
• 31:04
  Speaker 8: This is just dumbfounding for me.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: It's dumbfounding for me too.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: And you know we've talked about this before because there
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: are some cities in this country that had very good
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Democrat mayors for a long time that we're doing a
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: good job and they are being beat by these socialist candidates.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, it is mind boggling. And some of them
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: are not just socialists, they are true communists that talk
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: about getting rid of our US Constitution and the Declaration
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: of Independence, and that they're wiping their hands on the
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: American flag. This is a real worry to me, and
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: I can I know you can do this too as
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: well as me. But I can tell you time and
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: time and time again where socialism does not work. You
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: tell me one time where socialism doesn't work. If anybody
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: could call in and say, let me give you an
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: let me give you a good example where socialism really
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: worked and was the best way to go, Please call
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: in and let me know because I've never seen it.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: I've never heard of it. So it is a big
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: worry to me. And I think once again us US
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: voters that are that are in any of these cities
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: need to watch these elections very very closely because it's turning.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Look what happened in New York in the last in
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: the last primary. I mean, holy cow, Look look at
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: the mayor of New York City right now. Socialists they
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: want government control of everything, including your grocery stores, I mean,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: and it just doesn't work. And so these are very
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: concerning times we are in right now, you know, speaking
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: about how important these elections coming up in just a
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: few months in November are. Finally, yesterday the Sunday edition
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: of the Omaha World Herald had another story about the
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Harding Powell race for CD two, and they had Brinker
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: hearting excuse me above the fold and Denise Powell a
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: smaller picture. So finally I felt like that this was
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: a bit more fair. But it is a very good
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: article that goes through multiple issues of housing, affordability, fighting,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: I ran the war, healthcare, minimum wage. They go through
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: a lot of different topics and they have each candidates
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: comments on it. But I thought it was quite interesting
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: even about say, for instance, housing, and Denise Powell ask
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: questions about incentivizing constructions, for example, of low income, middle
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: class housing, and she said she would support similar actions
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: for on the federal level. And wouldn't it she says
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: quo quoted, wouldn't it fantastic if we had similar programs
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: at the federal level? And then Brinker Harding comes out
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: and says, well, we just had Mike Flood's twenty first
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Century Road to Housing Act, a bipartisan bill recently signed
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: into law. It seems like she's not aware of things
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: that are going on in the.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: In government right now.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: You know, when she talks about fighting Iran, basically saying
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: there's no reason to be over there.
• 34:28
  Speaker 8: Now.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: You may have a lot of opinions about Iran, but
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: excuse me. I like Harding's response to say, you know, yeah,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: prices are high, and gas prices are high.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I just keep on. My voice is going
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: out this morning.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: But then he says, but what do you think our
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: gas prices would be if Iran had a nuclear weapon?
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: And the straight of horror Moose.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, he came back with excellent answers to say
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: why he is taking the positions that he is taking,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: and he is answering the questions that we're being asked
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: of him. This is just another example of let's pay
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: attention to who we're electing in these races coming up
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: really soon.
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: Most definitely Gene. And let's get to the phone lines
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: real quick. I have Jim jim Is on the line.
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Jim for joining the cafebe comment
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: line with Jean's author.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: You are live.
• 35:20
  Speaker 12: Thank you. Good morning, Mayor. I have to respectfully disagree
• 35:24
  Speaker 12: with your comments concerning the workforce as far as the
• 35:28
  Speaker 12: police Department, the Highway Patrol, the Sheriff's office as it
• 35:33
  Speaker 12: involves traffic control speating. I understand that about a week
• 35:38
  Speaker 12: or so ago we were suppose to set up a
• 35:40
  Speaker 12: period of time in collaboration between the three and to
• 35:46
  Speaker 12: enforce this at a higher level. I don't know what
• 35:49
  Speaker 12: that's happened or whatever. I live off one hundred and
• 35:51
  Speaker 12: eightieth and Dodge. You can go back in the subdivisions
• 35:56
  Speaker 12: off of there and you can hear the racing from
• 35:59
  Speaker 12: that free way all night long afternoons. You figure it out.
• 36:05
  Speaker 12: I mean to me, I don't think it's a staffing issue.
• 36:08
  Speaker 12: I think it's more of a priority issue. So that's
• 36:11
  Speaker 12: just my comment.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: Good comment really is.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: But I will say on the interstate, on the freeway,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: that's a state patrol, that's not OPD. But keep in
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: mind once again that they are down. They are down
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: on their staff about one hundred. And my point that
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: I was trying to make is I am sorry I
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: keep on coffin this morning, is that if our crime
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: rate was up, really really high, and the murders were up,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: and the assaults were up, and the robberies were up,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: would we would you be okay with us using the
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: same excuse to say.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: Well, we're down one hundred. You know, no, you wouldn't.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, And the Omaha Police Department is doing an
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: excellent job of keeping our crime rate down. Yes, they
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: don't have as many out on traffic patrol as they
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: did before because they are down, and they are you
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: know they are, they are. They are burning the candle
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: at both ends, those guys and men and women both are.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: But let me tell you something that I would suggest
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: you do too. If you had speeding in your neighborhood,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: not just out on the interstate, but in your neighborhood.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: In your particular neighborhood, you let your city council member
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: know about that. Let them know about that, and they
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: have the ability to have what they call them hotspots,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: and they will have OPD to put extra presence and
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: maybe even a cruiser out there for a period of
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: several weeks or a month to watch that particular area.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: So I would suggest, in certain specific areas, rather than
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: call the mayor's hotline, call your council member and they
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: can do this. I'm going to tell you a quick
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: funny story because when I was council member, I had
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: an attorney that I worked with a lot that lived
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: in arm Burst Acres, which is about hundred and sixty
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: eighth and Center Street, and he called me about people
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: racing through his neighborhood. So I made that my hot
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: spot because that was my area, and put a cruiser
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: out there for a full month. Guess who got the
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: first ticket. The lawyer that called me and complained about
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: this speeding in his neighborhood. He called me and he goes, well,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: you're doing a good job because I just got a ticket.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: So anyway that you can, the council members can do that.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: So I'm saying, yes, they are short staffed, but at
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: the same time, that's why you need the good relationship
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: with the Douglas County Sheriff's Department because they have deputies
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: out on patrol and they can watch these areas too.
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: Jean, do we know exactly how many officers they're down,
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: because I remember he Mayor Ewing in his article said
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: it was like sixty one.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: No, they're down there, and then it.
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: Was one hundred, and then I've also heard as high
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: as two hundred officers down.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: No, they're in the specific numbers. I just got those
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: from tadjmater the other day. But they are down around
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: ninety They will right now. They do have a class
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: that is that will be out soon and that's and
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: that's counting the class.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: Okay, that's counting the class.
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: They're about ninety down, but there will be maybe five
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: or six retirements that will happen between now and the
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: end of the year. But they are still they're they're
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: not really much more down or up than they were
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: when I was still mayor. So they the positive thing
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: is that they are getting more and more applicants in
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: the to go to the academy and so they're getting.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: You know, for a while, we just weren't getting the
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: applicants we wanted and so and people were retiring early too.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: So now the number of applicants is up, which is
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: really really positive. And so you know, they will not
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: be full strength by the end of the year, and
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: the mayor should not have promised that because they're not.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: Hopefully by mid next year they will be, but it's
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: going to take that long for them to get back
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: up to full strength. But it's positive because you know,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: we made a lot of changes. We given them higher salaries,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: We took out that training level. They started a much
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: higher salary than they did before. We've got that five
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: percent now in place, the policy that Omaha Police Department
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: will make five percent more than any other law enforcement
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: agency in the country in that not country, not the country,
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: in the state of Nebraska. So all of those are
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: helping the recruitment of Omaha Police Department.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: And anybody listen, it's a great job. It's a great job.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: It's good salary, and you have good benefits, and you
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: got a great chief for the Omaha Police Department. And so,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: but their communication that they have with the Douglas County
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's Department and their collaboration is positive and it needs
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: to continue. And Peyton is playing that music for me again,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: so I guess that means it's it for us today.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: Peyton.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you all for being with us
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: today and hopefully you will join us tomorrow too. I've
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: got some guests lined up for the rest of the week,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: but good conversation today. We love hearing from you, and
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: keep your calls and your emails coming in.
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: Again, that's it for us today.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: I'm Jean Stothart and this is eleven ten kfab