Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Republican Party and Omaha Roads

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Republican Party and Omaha Roads · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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  Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stothert. Peyton Heilach, my producer,
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  Speaker 1: is also here today.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Peyton. Good morning, Jean.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: And we are guaranteed human. Always human here. There we go.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you all for being with us today. We want
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  Speaker 1: to hear from you. We want to get your feedback.
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  Speaker 1: We want to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. Really,
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  Speaker 1: anything goes. We will not back away from anything, will we, Peyton?
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  Speaker 1: It could be the city, state, national, the world, the streetcar,
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  Speaker 1: whatever you want to talk about. And we will have
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  Speaker 1: plenty of good guests. We have a great guest today, too.
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  Speaker 1: But of course, you are going to hear plenty of
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  Speaker 1: opinions from me. But it is your chance to speak
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  Speaker 1: up and sound off. You can send your emails to
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: comment at kfab.com. You can call us at 402-558-1110, or
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: you can leave us a recorded message on the talkback mic,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: and we'll play it on the air. But we are
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  Speaker 1: really happy that you are with us. Jessica Flanagan, good morning.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: Jessica is here in the studio with us today. Jessica
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  Speaker 1: has been called a lot of names. The name I
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  Speaker 1: like the best is I was told that you are
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  Speaker 1: the best political strategist in the country.
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's very nice.
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  Speaker 1: And that came from somebody that has an elected position.
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  Speaker 1: I've also heard you say that you have a knife
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  Speaker 1: fight style. I've heard you called a henchman. Jessica, I've
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  Speaker 1: been called a lot worse than any of those things.
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  Speaker 2: And also, Jane.
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  Speaker 1: Klebb said you were a cutthroat operative, and I take
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  Speaker 1: that as a compliment from her.
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  Speaker 3: I do take it as a compliment.
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  Speaker 2: So you know what?
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  Speaker 1: Us women, when we have tough jobs and we come
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  Speaker 1: out strong– That name-calling just seems to be common, but
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  Speaker 1: I would call Jessica a great political strategist, and that's
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  Speaker 1: why you have helped so many people get elected in
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  Speaker 1: the state of Nebraska. Why don't you tell us who
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  Speaker 1: you have worked for? I know you helped Huckabee. I
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  Speaker 1: know you have worked for Ricketts. I know you've worked
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  Speaker 1: for Flood, for Fortenberry, and you've worked for Gene Stothert.
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  Speaker 3: I have worked for Gene Stother. And before we get
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  Speaker 3: into me, I just wanted to congratulate you. You've had
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  Speaker 3: quite a run the last week, having a street named
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  Speaker 3: after you, being inducted into the Omaha Business Hall of Fame.
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  Speaker 3: I wish those things would have happened during our campaign.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that would have been nice.
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  Speaker 3: That would have been great. But I think Omaha over
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  Speaker 3: the long term is going to look back at your
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  Speaker 3: term as mayor. and realize how transformational you were for
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  Speaker 3: this city. So it was a great pleasure for me
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  Speaker 3: to be able to work with you.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for bringing that up, and I hope it is.
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  Speaker 1: I might be dead and gone, but I hope one
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  Speaker 1: of these days people will look at that sign down
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  Speaker 1: on 13th Street, which is just a commemorative street name.
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  Speaker 2: Naming and not say, who the heck was Jean Stother?
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  Speaker 1: And I hope they say, oh, she's the one that
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  Speaker 1: was involved in a lot of this downtown development or whatever.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, the mark you left on this city will benefit
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  Speaker 3: generations to come. So congratulations for that.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for saying that too.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, Jessica, you really have a name, I think,
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  Speaker 1: in Nebraska politics.
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  Speaker 2: And I think people know your name well.
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  Speaker 1: But For our listeners, I'm going to let you tell
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  Speaker 1: us a little bit more about who you are and
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  Speaker 1: what exactly you do because when I say political strategist,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people will go, huh? What does a
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  Speaker 1: political strategist do? How do you and the company you
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  Speaker 1: work for, what do you do? Just explain that and
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  Speaker 1: how do you help people that are running for office?
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  Speaker 2: During the campaigns. Just explain what you do.
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  Speaker 4: Sure.
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  Speaker 3: I am a partner at Axiom Strategies. We're the largest
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  Speaker 3: Republican consulting firm in the country. And I work mostly
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  Speaker 3: in the Midwest. Obviously, the vast majority of the work
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  Speaker 3: that I've done in my career has been in Nebraska.
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  Speaker 3: I've been fortunate enough to work on campaigns. The first
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  Speaker 3: campaign I ever Worked on– was as a volunteer in
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  Speaker 3: 1996 for Chuck Hagel. We hadn't had a U.S. senator
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  Speaker 3: in decades that was a Republican. And so that was
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  Speaker 3: kind of a transformational year for the state of Nebraska
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  Speaker 3: and ended up working for the Nebraska Republican Party. went
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  Speaker 3: on to work for Don Stenberg. And the first campaign
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  Speaker 3: I ever ran was Jeff Fortenberry in 2004. And I
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  Speaker 3: then went to work for Senator Ricketts in 2006 and
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  Speaker 3: have worked for him in some capacity or another ever since.
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  Speaker 3: And I've had the pleasure along the way of working
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  Speaker 3: for a lot of other people, including Mike Flood and
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  Speaker 3: Mike Hilgers and Governor Pellin, as well as tons and
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  Speaker 3: tons of wonderful state senators and county commissioners and mayors
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  Speaker 3: and sheriffs. And here in Omaha, I work for Aaron
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  Speaker 3: Hansen and Don Klein, who are both... just absolutely exemplary
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  Speaker 3: public servants. And so as a general consultant, what that is,
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  Speaker 3: is we really help campaigns get started and get everything
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  Speaker 3: in place and then come up with a strategy and
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  Speaker 3: help them figure out how to allocate their budgets in
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  Speaker 3: the best way to communicate the right messages to voters.
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  Speaker 3: So everything from communication and debate prep, we do polling
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  Speaker 3: and targeting and analytics and We do mail. We do
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  Speaker 3: ad production and placement, basically whatever a campaign calls for.
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  Speaker 3: And every campaign is a little bit different. But we
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  Speaker 3: get in and get involved and get our hands dirty
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  Speaker 3: from door to door to– the polling.
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  Speaker 2: You certainly do.
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  Speaker 1: And campaigns are just, I mean, they are getting more
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  Speaker 1: and more expensive and more and more difficult all the time.
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  Speaker 1: I've been in nine, so I could tell people that
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  Speaker 1: I have the experience myself. And it just seems like
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  Speaker 1: that they're getting more and more difficult all the time.
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  Speaker 1: They're volatile now, it seems like. But Jessica, you and
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  Speaker 1: I have known each other for a long time. And we,
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  Speaker 1: as we said, we worked together on my re-election campaign,
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  Speaker 1: which was unsuccessful, the last one, the fourth one. It
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  Speaker 1: was a very tough race, but I think it served
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  Speaker 1: as sort of a canary in the coal mine for
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  Speaker 1: the political environment that we're in right now. And that's
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  Speaker 1: just what I was talking about. What's your takeaway from
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  Speaker 1: the race? And I want you to be honest. I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to let you say why you think my race
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  Speaker 1: was unsuccessful.
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  Speaker 3: Well, What I will say is that we came in
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  Speaker 3: at a time, and we saw this in our polling,
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  Speaker 3: when the Republican brand was really starting to suffer from
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  Speaker 3: some of the economic challenges that the country is facing,
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  Speaker 3: that we're facing in our state, and that takes a toll.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you can go back to 1992 with James Carville.
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  Speaker 3: and he was talking about the presidential race that year,
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  Speaker 3: and he famously said, it's the economy stupid. And that
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  Speaker 3: is something where when you have a lot of economic woes,
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  Speaker 3: it really starts to seep in at every level of government,
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  Speaker 3: and it tends to be bad for the incumbents. They
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  Speaker 3: fault the incumbents for the economy. And at that point
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  Speaker 3: in time, of course, the economy, you know, it was
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  Speaker 3: just a point where we were trying to deal with
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  Speaker 3: the reality of four years of Joe Biden. But regardless...
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  Speaker 3: That was difficult. You add to that the fact that
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  Speaker 3: the city of Omaha is not favorable to Republicans. You
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  Speaker 3: did something for three terms in a row that not
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  Speaker 3: very many Republicans would be able to do.
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  Speaker 2: The blue dot.
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  Speaker 3: That's right. You were able to cross the line. You
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  Speaker 3: were able to pull independents. You were able to pull
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  Speaker 3: Democrats in. Because of your visionary leadership, people trusted you
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  Speaker 3: to run the city. But the other thing that is
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  Speaker 3: just true of people, and I've seen it happen multiple times,
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  Speaker 3: is there's a bit of ballot fatigue. You know, there's
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  Speaker 3: a term limit on governors that are eight years. And
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  Speaker 3: there's people really are ready for new leadership after eight years,
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  Speaker 3: even if it's good leadership. So the fact that Omaha
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  Speaker 3: was smart enough to give you a third term was
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  Speaker 3: really important. But at some point, people just start to
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  Speaker 3: want change. And finally, I think because you were a
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  Speaker 3: visionary transformational mayor, you made a lot of changes. You
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  Speaker 3: took a lot of action. That is something, especially for
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  Speaker 3: the character of Nebraskans, They're careful. They're, you know, very mindful.
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  Speaker 3: They're prudent. And so somebody who's making a lot of change,
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  Speaker 3: sometimes it makes people uncomfortable. And they'd rather choose a
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  Speaker 3: mayor who's going to do nothing and just ghost on
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  Speaker 3: your success, which is what Omaha did.
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  Speaker 2: You know, absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: And I just want to bring that up. I felt
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  Speaker 1: the same thing, too. And, you know, Jessica and I
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  Speaker 1: know that we did a lot of polling with my race.
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  Speaker 1: We always keep my polling confidential, though. I never let
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  Speaker 1: poll numbers out. Because I wanted it for my own information.
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to see where I was doing good and
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  Speaker 1: where I wasn't. But interestingly enough, one of the questions
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  Speaker 1: you always ask on a poll, the end one, is
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  Speaker 1: the approval rate of an incumbent. And it was so strange.
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  Speaker 1: Like you said, this time in this environment now, political environment,
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  Speaker 1: it's taken such a turn. In 2021, my approval rating
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  Speaker 1: on our internal polls was about 80%. Four years later,
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  Speaker 1: I lost the race. I mean, things really can change
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  Speaker 1: in a short period of time. And you are so
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  Speaker 1: right that voter fatigue, people really do, no matter how
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  Speaker 1: good you're doing, they get tired of you. You don't
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  Speaker 1: see that in Washington, D.C.
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  Speaker 2: Too much.
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  Speaker 1: Some of these congressmen have been there for, you know,
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  Speaker 1: they're 150 years.
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  Speaker 2: Old, it seems like. But part of that is because...
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't seem that way.
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  Speaker 3: They're not making the news at home every day. You
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  Speaker 3: get as much news in the Omaha World Herald and
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  Speaker 3: across Omaha media outlets as the governor does across the state.
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  Speaker 3: You're in the paper every single day. You're making decisions
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  Speaker 3: every single day that affects real lives. And if there's
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  Speaker 3: a controversy, you never shied away from it. You got
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  Speaker 3: right in the middle. You said what your opinion was.
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  Speaker 3: And you took action. And so there's a– I mean
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  Speaker 3: that's what leadership is, but there's also a cost to it.
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  Speaker 1: And Hal Dobb right after my loss in the last one,
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  Speaker 1: he came on this– not my show, but on KFAB.
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  Speaker 1: And he brought up– he said it's the barnacle theory.
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  Speaker 1: And when he said it, I thought, oh, that's silly.
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  Speaker 1: And then I thought about it and I thought, oh,
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  Speaker 1: he's so right. And to your point, he said, you know,
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  Speaker 1: you got a ship. And then little by little, these
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  Speaker 1: little barnacles attach. And it could be you didn't pick
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  Speaker 1: up my trash. I got a pothole in front of
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  Speaker 1: my house. My neighbor is noisy. I don't like the streetcar.
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  Speaker 1: And he said eventually there's enough barnacles that attach little
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  Speaker 1: things that sink the ship.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's right. And then I think you add
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  Speaker 3: to that what was happening at a national level on
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  Speaker 3: the economy and people just are in an anti-incumbent mood.
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  Speaker 3: And that's what happens as we're heading into this election year.
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  Speaker 3: This is a midterm election. Midterm elections are historically bad
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  Speaker 3: for the party in power. In fact, the only time
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  Speaker 3: I believe in the last 100 years where the party
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  Speaker 3: in power has not lost seats in a midterm election
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  Speaker 3: was right after 9-11, which was obviously a very unique situation.
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  Speaker 3: And so I think we're looking– for a Republican standpoint,
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  Speaker 3: we're looking at really difficult, devastating losses politically like in
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  Speaker 3: 2006 and 2018. We have to be very mindful of
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  Speaker 3: that and not take anything for granted this election year. Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: In voter turnout, we can't say enough about how important
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  Speaker 1: that is. But right now, Jessica, I think this is
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  Speaker 1: about as tough an environment for Republicans as I've ever seen.
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  Speaker 1: You are on the front lines here in Nebraska every
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  Speaker 1: single day. What are you seeing and what should voters
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  Speaker 1: expect as we head into the fall?
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  Speaker 3: Well, again— Midterm elections, the party in power always loses seats,
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  Speaker 3: and that's just a historical fact. Some of it is
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  Speaker 3: Americans tend to like divided government, and some of it
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  Speaker 3: is an anti-incumbency. If you're happy with the way things are,
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  Speaker 3: you might not feel as motivated to go out as
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  Speaker 3: if you're upset. So people who are upset with the
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  Speaker 3: president or the administration, they're definitely going to turn out.
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  Speaker 3: But then you've got people who might typically be persuadable
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  Speaker 3: voters that are really upset and concerned and nervous about
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  Speaker 3: the economy. And so they're going to turn out and
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  Speaker 3: vote against the party in power. Now, we've got 68
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  Speaker 3: days between now and the election.
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  Speaker 2: And that's not a lot of time.
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  Speaker 3: It's not a lot of time, but it's enough time
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  Speaker 3: for some things to improve in the economy and for
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  Speaker 3: people to feel better. And I know there are things
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  Speaker 3: happening that are geared towards that. But from a sheer
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  Speaker 3: voter perspective, if Republicans are going to kind of stave
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  Speaker 3: off a blue wave, then that's what's going to happen.
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  Speaker 3: We're going to have to see some economic indicators. And
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  Speaker 3: just historically, from the standpoint of a blue wave, there
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: are three of five things that have to be present
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  Speaker 3: for a blue wave. And a blue wave is when
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  Speaker 3: you lose both houses, both chambers of Congress. And that
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: doesn't happen a lot. We saw it happen in 2006,
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  Speaker 3: where we lost 31 House seats, six Senate seats, six governors,
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  Speaker 3: and 10 legislative chambers. 2018 was another midterm where we
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: had a lot of losses. The Senate map was better,
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: so we lost on similar margins in a lot of
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  Speaker 3: those things, but we actually gained two Senate seats, so
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  Speaker 3: it wasn't a true blue wave. But when you're looking
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  Speaker 3: at what has been wave years for the party, you're
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: looking at a net negative presidential approval below 45. You're
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: looking at economic anxiety and cultural fatigue. You're looking at
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: a unified message on the other side. Democrats are very
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: good about staying on message and being unified. We know
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  Speaker 3: we'll have that. You're looking for us to see negative results.
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  Speaker 3: You're looking at a suburban swing of four points because
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  Speaker 3: we're– as Republicans, not doing as well in metro and
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: suburban areas. And then you also have– it's negative for
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  Speaker 3: us if we have an internal chaos narrative in the GOP,
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  Speaker 3: which I don't think we have. unless Congress has to
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: suffer another shutdown. Obviously, those shutdowns have been at the
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: hands of the Democrats. But again, voters tend to punish
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: the party in power for something like that. But American
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: voters really do not have an appetite for a shutdown.
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  Speaker 1: Jessica Flanagan is here, political strategist, company is Axiom. And
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  Speaker 1: you know, our mayor just recently at a Democrat event,
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  Speaker 1: It was in the paper that he wants to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that the blue wave happens and that we get Democrats.
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  Speaker 1: And he said– he actually said, and it all started
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  Speaker 1: with me.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Meaning him.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. And I thought, wow, that's really gutsy saying things
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  Speaker 1: like that. But let's move to just another issue because
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: there's so much I want to cover while you're here today.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: You made headlines earlier this year because you were working
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: for Governor Jim Pillen and you were also working for
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Senator Pete Ricketts and you left the Pillen campaign. And,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: of course, all the naysayers are out there with their
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: own opinions. But you really never said why. Can you
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: give us a little insight? Sure.
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  Speaker 3: So I worked for Governor Pillen when he ran for
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: office the first time. It was a very challenging campaign
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: in the primary and really proud of that win. And
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: I really connected with Governor Pillen. One of the things
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: that's always been my main driving force in politics that
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: really gets me up in the morning is the pro-life issue.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: Because I think it impacts, it's not just a pro-life issue,
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: but a culture of life where we We value women
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: and we value children and we support and encourage them.
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  Speaker 3: So anyway, that's– and Governor Pillen has not– that's not
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: just his position, but it's how he and his family
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: have lived their life. And I just have so much
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: respect for that.
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  Speaker 2: It absolutely is.
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  Speaker 3: But when I signed back up to help his campaign,
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: we really had a sense that he could potentially have
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: a self-funder challenger. And that was going to be– It
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: was our judgment that his biggest challenge was a challenge
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: from the right and it was going to be the
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: primary challenge. So I signed back on and dug in
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: and went to work for him. And after that filing
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: deadline for a primary challenger passed and he didn't have one,
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: we really realized that his biggest challenge of the election
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: cycle was over. And whenever you're– when you're a political consultant,
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: if you are a conscientious political consultant, when you set
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: up your book of business at every cycle– You have
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: to make a judgment about, okay, which races are going
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: to be really difficult in the primary, which are the
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: races that are going to be difficult in general, and
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: you kind of set things up that way. For me,
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: I always knew that Governor Pillen was a primary race,
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: Senator Ricketts' race, and some of the other races that
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: I have are really general election races. And the biggest
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: threat this year to Republican candidates and the conservative causes
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: that I care about are going to happen in November.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: And so I went to Governor Pillen and told him
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: that I needed to pull back from his campaign. And
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: make a decision to focus on the general election. But
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: to be honest with you, the timing of it– and
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: this is a little personal. I don't usually talk about
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: my personal life in public. But so my daughter graduated
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: from high school in May and she went to college
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: two weeks ago. And I was very mindful of the
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: fact that that is– kind of the end of an
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: era when you have your children at home. And it's
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: something where I really wanted to make sure that I
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: was fully present. And I think she had, you know,
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: she's stepping into something new and I want to be
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: there for her. And I have a son who's a
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: sophomore this year and he plays football. And, you know,
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: I've worked on a hundred campaigns, more than a hundred campaigns.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: But I just have two kids and those are the things,
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: like I don't get a second chance. I don't get
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: to go If you lose a campaign, you can always
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: have a comeback or whatever. You don't get that second
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: chance with kids. So for me, it was A, I
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: had done the job. I had kept my responsibility of
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: doing what I needed to do. I had other responsibilities,
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: but I really needed to prioritize a little bit more
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: on my family.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: And I really respect you for that and for saying that.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: And by the way, I just want to say Governor
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: Pillen couldn't have been more supportive. He's always supportive of
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: moms and families. Actually, he came to my daughter's graduation.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: I talked to him last week. I mean, we're still
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: staying in touch on other races. So there's nothing that
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: I've experienced that's negative at all. And he's hired a
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: great new team. They're doing a great job. They've already
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: got mailers out on land walls. And I have zero
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: question about how his race is going to turn out.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: He's running against someone with a record, with a bad record.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: She's got a bad record on taxes. She's got a
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: bad record on public safety. And she's out there with
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: an ad being like, oh, I was a teacher. That's
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: not going to cut it in this environment where people
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: are looking for someone to bring real leadership on economic issues.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: And I think there's a lot of people who really
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: appreciate Governor Pillen for the same reasons that I do.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: He has been an absolute champion for school choice, and
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: he is– it's unquestionable his– his commitment to pro-life. And
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: those are all things that in a statewide race, Lynn
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: Walls has to answer for her not being right on
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: those issues and for her record on a myriad of
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: other things in the legislature.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: And, you know, I'll just ask you a point blank here.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: The rumor was going around that Governor Pillen fired you.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: He told me directly, no, he didn't. He thinks you
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: are a great strategist. Did he fire you, Jessica?
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: No.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: There we go.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: And I went in and told him what I told
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: you this morning.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: And like I said, there's not a time where if
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: Governor Pillen called and wanted help, I wouldn't help him.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: He doesn't need my help on his race. The thing
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: that he needs from me is for me to do
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: my job the best that I can on the other
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: races that I'm working on.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Which you are working on Senator Pete Ricketts' campaign right now.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: As of yesterday, Jessica, Nebraska has two new political parties,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: the Nebraska Working People Party and the America First Party.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: What is going on with these new parties?
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: You know, this is really interesting to watch unfold. And truthfully,
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: I think the Democrat Party has a complete identity crisis.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: And it really started, I believe, in 2004 when they
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: cleared the field for Dan Osborne as an independent. I
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: think it's hard for a political party to not have...
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: their own candidate for a serious race and then try
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: to split hairs on why they're supporting someone who doesn't
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: claim their moniker or adhere to their party platform. And
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: then on top of that. You know, you've got these
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: two new parties. One of them is the Nebraska Working
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: People's Party, which Jane Klebb has accused other people of
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: setting up. But the reality is this is set up
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: by Democrat candidates who were endorsed by the Democrat Party.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: They've now recruited, I think, a treasurer who was running
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: for mayor as a Democrat and is now going to
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: be with the Working People Party. These are Democrats, kind of,
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: you know, like longstanding Democrats who are choosing another party.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: And then on top of that, you've got the America
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: First Party, which is a ruse led by John Cartier.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: who's a former Democrat who was endorsed when he ran
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: for office by the Democrats. I mean he's– I think
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: he's a Democrat who left the Democrat Party because he
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: was too liberal for the party. But now they're trying
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: to mislead Republican voters. So this is the– This is
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: why people need to pay attention. Yeah, and I will
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: tell you, all of this– You know, no party, new
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: party nonsense is going to reverberate, I think negatively, for
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: the Democrat Party in Nebraska for years, if not decades
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: to come.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: I know we're running short on time, but Jessica Flanagan
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: is with us today. She's a political strategist. Her company
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: is Axion. You have worked with Senator Ricketts for many years.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: We just said that you are working on his campaign now.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Dan Osborne, who was in the studio here with Scott
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Voorhees and Rosie right before me yesterday, He just released
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: a poll and claimed the race was tied. What can
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: you tell us about the race between Dan Osborne and
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Pete Ricketts?
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: Well, I did actually listen to him this morning, and
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: I thought that the morning show did a great job
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: of asking him some tough questions that he, in the
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: last election cycle, was able to skate by without answering.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: And what I can tell you, both about his polling
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: and about everything he said this morning, is he is
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: comfortable with lies in a way that I think would
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: be shocking to most Nebraskans. The truth is that last
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: election cycle, he comes in as an independent, but the
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: Democrat machine spent $ 38 million trying to get him elected.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: That is an astounding amount of money in Nebraska.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: It's a lot of money.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: And he is funded by Chuck Schumer. He is supported
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: by Elizabeth Warren, George Soros, and coastal elites. And he's
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: out there. Everything he said this morning, he said that
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: he opposes boys and girls sports. There are people who
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: went to his town halls and asked him to sign
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: the Fairness for Girls petition today. he declined. He said
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: it was rooted in hate. He also is on the
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: record saying that he would support the Equality Act, which
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: is both allowing trans men into women's sports and also
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: allowing them into women's spaces. On top of that, he's
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: saying that he, you know, well, I don't really want
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: to provide a path to citizenship. That's not true. He
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: said multiple times that he wants to provide a path
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: to citizenship. He said we should give them a damn
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: social security card already. And what that means is full citizenship.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: And so, I mean, actually the Ricketts campaign is up
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: with a new ad, tweeted it out this morning. And
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: it's he, he, in that he says, my positions are plastic.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: They're malleable. I can change as I go. And that
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: is not what Nebraskans want, regardless of what side of
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: the aisle you are on. So I really think that
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: the truth of this election cycle is that Dan Osborne
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: is saying different things to different groups of people, to
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: try to just skate by like he did last time,
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: all the while he's being funded by the far left,
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: by the Democrat Party. And he has said that if
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: he was there, he would caucus with the party that
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: was not Pete Ricketts' party. So he said he's going
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: to caucus with the Democrats. And this morning he's like, oh,
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: I won't caucus with them. So this is just a gate.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: He's just slipping and sliding all over the place. And
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: he's in the meantime, he's being paid by his campaign.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: He and his family and his wife have been paid
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: more than $ 500, 000, a half million dollars, from the campaign apparatus. Meanwhile,
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: he's accusing Senator Ricketts of enriching himself when the truth
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: is that Nebraskans know exactly where Senator Ricketts' success came from.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: It was his family-built business, TD Ameritrade, that created jobs
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: in Nebraska. The contrast for Nebraskans really couldn't be more clear.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: And that's the American dream. Joe Ricketts started out with
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: a very modest life and had the vision and was
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: able to build Ameritrade, and then it became TD Ameritrade. So, Jessica,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I've got to ask you one more question, and we
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: are running short on time. But just recently in the
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: World Herald, there was a story about you, and the
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: headline was State GOP Consultant, which was you, calls for
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: an end-to-end fighting. What has been going on in Nebraska
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: is they have been experiencing a lot of petition fraud
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: this year, including a project that you were involved in,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I believe, and targeting by a group of fraudulent petition gatherers,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: as well as statewide petition project.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: What can you tell us?
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Because basically what I am saying is the With Brett Lindstrom,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: when he did not get enough signatures to have his
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: name on the ballot, before that, there was a group
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: in Lincoln wanting to change, I think, their charter. And
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: they had fraudulent petition gathers. And all of a sudden,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: people are pointing the finger at you. So explain your
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: role in this. I asked Brett Lindstrom face-to-face, was Jessica
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Flanagan involved in your petition gathering? And he said, no,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: she was not.
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: No, and I don't have anything bad to say about
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: Brett Lindstrom. Here's a guy who has lots of opportunities
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: in life and has tried to serve the state of
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: Nebraska and obviously wants to continue doing that. So I
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: give him all the credit in the world, but I'm
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: not involved in his race. And he said that. I've
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: been on Jim Pillen's team and remain on Jim Pillen's team.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: But what happened, I will tell you, the Good Government
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: Lincoln Project, which is kind of where the news of
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: petition fraud started. Now, I will tell you, they have
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: since found petition fraud on every petition. And on every petition,
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: the cycle, there's respect Nebraska voters. There's the gambling, the
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: sports gambling petition. Those are all being investigated for fraud.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: I can't speak to exactly why that is or what
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: that looks like. We haven't really seen that before. There
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: was some, but it was more notary kind of institutional
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: notary fraud, I think, on the marijuana petition that. the
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Attorney General prosecuted on. But what I will say is
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: I can tell you what we, and first of all,
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: I want to give a ton of credit to Lincoln
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: Police and the prosecutor for rooting this out. But what
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: we found was that some people had been co-opted that
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: were circulating petitions in Lincoln. The Lincoln was a very
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: small project. We have lots of layers of verification in there,
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: but the manager who was in charge of the verification
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: was one of the people arrested. And so that was
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: deep enough in that project to tank the whole project.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: The other project I've been involved with is Fairness for Girls.
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: That has not yet been certified. I do expect it
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: to be because in a larger project like that, it's
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: much harder to have a single point of failure. But
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: on the Lincoln Project, what we've done is we went
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: back in and we redid the petitions. Two of the three,
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: all of them have been submitted to the city clerk.
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: Two of the three have been verified and returned to
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: the city clerk. I anticipate that all three of those
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: will be able to be on the November ballot. And
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: I know that Lincoln voters overwhelmingly support those. And the
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: Fairness for Girls petition, obviously, which prevents boys from being
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: in girls sports. I expect that news to hopefully come
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: out positive either this week or next. And I know
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: that that also will be overwhelmingly supported by voters in November.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Do you think that these fraudulent petition gatherings has a
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: lot to do with the state of Nebraska allowing petitioners
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: to be paid? buy the signature? Because to me, it
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: seems like it's just inviting people that aren't sincere or
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: aren't honest to come in and say, I'm going to
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: make a lot.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Of money doing this.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Do you think that that needs to be changed, that
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: we don't have paid petitioners?
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: So I've done it both ways. That law was changed
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: in 2015, and I did a death penalty ballot initiative
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: under the old rules, so it can be done without
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: having that. I understand that there might be a First
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: Amendment issue with that, is what lawyers say. But what
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: I can tell you is in our petitions, in our
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: verification process, you can limit the... the incentive for fraud
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: with that by only paying by the verified signature. And
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: then there can be two points of verification, internal, and
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: then the final verification, which is actually how we did it.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: And so you, and you still have the fraud, which
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: to me, I, I'm wondering, and this will maybe be
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: uncovered in the law enforcement investigation, if there weren't some
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: other factors at play where maybe people were being incentivized
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: to not do their job. I don't know, but, but,
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: That is a problem to overcome as it relates to fraud,
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: but in the petitions that I've worked on, what we
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: have done is we only are paying by the certified signature.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Well, that makes a lot of sense.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: Who is, you know, compromised. And that's really where you
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: have a problem, which is what we found at Lincoln.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: And, you know, I like Brent Lindstrom, too. I've had
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: him on this show several times. You know, I told
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: him I wish he'd consider running for mayor of Omaha
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: one of these.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Days, too, because he would be a great mayor.
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he would.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: He would be a very, very good mayor.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: But, you know, to get 4,000 signatures, and what did
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: he have, three weeks?
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Because a lot of people said.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Well, what?
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, his timeline was really short. He would have for
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: sure gotten them had he started earlier.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: And they said, what happened to the good old days
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: of volunteers? Well, if you had to get 4,000 signatures
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: in two weeks or three weeks, it's not going to
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: happen with just volunteers.
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: Well, the other thing I will tell you is even
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: the paid petition gatherers, on their good days, they're getting
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: 30 to 45 a day. And that's them doing it
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: eight hours a day. So I think people underestimate how
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: difficult it is to get. petition signatures at a volunteer
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: level or at a paid level.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: And Brett Lindstrom told me, he said it was very
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: stressful and very expensive, too, for his campaign. I could
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: keep you on a full hour, but I have another
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: guest waiting to come on, Jessica Flanagan with Axiom.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: Axiom?
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: Axiom.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: Axiom.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: A political strategist involved in many, many successful campaigns across
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Nebraska is right now involved with Senator Pete Ricketts' campaign.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I love talking to you. I
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: love your insight and your knowledge of not only what
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: is going on in Nebraska. But you got the good
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: picture of what's going on Republican-wise throughout the entire country
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: because you have worked on campaigns in other states too.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: So you got your thumb on the pulse, I think,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: what's happening here. And I think we all have to
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: take– we really have to take this election, general election
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: in November so seriously.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: And we have to get out and vote. That's the key.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I will tell you, the thing we have
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: going for us this cycle is Republicans have really come together.
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: They're really united. They're very much working together. I give
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: a lot of credit to the Nebraska Republican Party. I
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: talked to their chairman just yesterday. She's planning on doing
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: door knocking starting September every single week going into the
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: November election. So I think the party apparatus and the
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: campaigns are aware that we have to take it very
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: seriously and not take it for granted. But thank you
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: for constantly reminding Republican voters, get out and vote.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Get out and vote. Absolutely.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Jessica, thank you so much for being with us today.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Thanks again to Jessica Flanagan for being on here, a
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: political strategist for the state of Nebraska. And now we
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: have another guest. Todd Fitzgerald is here.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: Good morning, Mayor.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Todd and I have known each other for 16 years
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: at least. Todd, you started out with the city of
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Omaha being the city traffic engineer there. And then in 2010,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: you became the city engineer. You became the assistant public
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: works director. And now you are the Douglas County engineer,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: which is an elected position.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: You've been busy.
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been a wonderful career opportunity. And I did
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: consulting for 15 years before that. And once I discovered
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: Working with the public entities, I really have found my
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: place and enjoy that very much.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: I was so happy when you got elected to the
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Douglas County for the Douglas County Engineer. And I'm going
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: to ask you to tell everybody, our listeners, what exactly
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: does a Douglas County Engineer do? But I will say
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: my time working with you, Todd, for decades. a good
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: 16 years with the city of Omaha.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: I liked the most about you, besides being very knowledgeable,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: you are a straight shooter. I mean, you won't beat
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: around the bush. If you thought I was wrong, you
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: would say, Mayor, I think you're wrong on this one.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: This is how we, I mean, I love that, though.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: I love a person like you that you could trust.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: And you're very honest and you lay down the facts
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: and that's what you do. But that's kind of that
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: engineer personality, isn't it? I think that's the way engineers
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: need to be. The public depends on us for safety
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: and lots of things. And I think we need to
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: be very upfront and honest. I don't think it's the
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: place for half-truths in our industry.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: To dance around an issue.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: And what you have been involved with in your career
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: with the city and then also now as Douglas Cunningham Engineer,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Name all the things that you are involved with. Traffic,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: signal controls, upgrades, roads, bridges, go on.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: Take it from there.
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: Well, I like to laugh. I get that question a lot.
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: What does the county engineer do? And I respond with
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: all of the things that make me very popular. Signal timing, construction,
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: snow plowing, pothole filling. When I was at the city,
• 33:18
  Speaker 4: we oversaw parking, street maintenance, all of those things. The
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: traffic department... So it's a pretty wide net that we oversee,
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: but essentially it's the transportation of the public with roads, bridges,
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: and bike lanes and things like that.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: And you were right when you mentioned snow and ice.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: I know we used to say there's no bigger nightmare
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: for a city and a mayor and the public works
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: department– than a snowstorm during rush hour. You just can't win,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: and you are at the mercy of Mother Nature. I
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: used to get these calls, Todd, that they would say,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Bellevue's got their roads all cleared. What's wrong with you
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: in Omaha? And I would say, Bellevue has about 500
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: lane miles. We have 5,000 lane miles. It's a much
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: bigger operation.
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we laughed about that many times and said the
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: timing of the storm determines whether we look good or
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: look terrible. Oftentimes, the storm would be exactly the same.
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: But if it would come in right before morning rush,
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: everybody was mad at us. If it would come in
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: at 8 o'clock at night, they thought we were heroes,
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: and we did the same exact thing.
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: And, you know, we had a plan in Omaha that
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: won a national award several years ago for snow and
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: ice removal. We have a plan. We have a great plan,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: one of the best plans in the country. But then
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: you are at the mercy of Mother Nature and the timing.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: That's all there is to it.
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: And every storm is different. If you get those storms
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: that come in wet and then it gets cold quickly,
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: then you get ice underneath.
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: And the brine doesn't work. And then wind can add
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: an element. And we had five or six different factors
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: that we looked at to plan for our snow removal.
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: And every storm is different.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: And, you know, everybody, it seems like in Omaha, has
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: now become an expert on the brine. The brine is
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: not a secret formula.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: We make it. It's water and salt.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: That's all it is. And then people will say, you
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: didn't brine. I didn't see those little marks in the road.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: There's certain conditions you can brine and certain you can't.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: If the storm is going to start out wet, there
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: is no reason to brine because it's just going to
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: wash it away.
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: That's correct. If you get moisture first, it just washes
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: it all down into the storm sewer and you wasted
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: all that money for nothing. And it's not free. The trucks,
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: the drivers, everybody, it takes... 36 to 48 hours to
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: do the city. That has followed me out to the county.
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: There's people asking, why don't you brine? The city brines.
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: And we have done a master plan, and we have
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: a place for future brine tanks because there are times
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: where it's very effective.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: It's very effective.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: And really, all the brine does is it prevents the
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: snow from tacking down on the pavement.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: It makes it easier to scoop up.
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's exactly right. It doesn't adhere to the pavement.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: No, no, not at all.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, now, Todd, we have had– oh, I've got to
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: bring up one instance. I hope you remember this. I
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: think I was first elected mayor. And talking about at
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: the mercy of Mother Nature, it was Christmas Eve, and
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: they predicted all day we would get a dusting. They
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: used that word. All the TV stations, we are going
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: to get a dusting. We got eight inches of snow
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: that afternoon, and people were furious with us because we
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: were unprepared. That's not what the forecast was. And, you know,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: people were saying, I can't get to church. I can't
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: get to Grandma's house.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: It was a nightmare.
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah. And it was a heavy, wet snow.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, it was awful.
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: It was a very difficult one, and it was completely unforecasted.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Right, right.
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: Yes, I remember that.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: And it was crazy.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: And those weather forecasters, they do, God love them, they
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: do the best they can do too. So we had
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: several calls into this station and questions for me about
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: certain areas that were out of the city of Omaha
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: in Douglas County. So I thought the best way to
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: provide you all an answer is to get the Douglas
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: County engineer in here. So Todd Fitzgerald is going to
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: answer these questions for us. First of all, Q Street,
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: a caller brought up the other day and said, what
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: in the heck is going on between the 180th and 204th?
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: And then there were people that listened to WWT that said, well,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: I thought it was all because of the streetcar of
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: what is going on, why the delays out there.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to let you take the floor on
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: that one. Excellent.
• 37:22
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to lie and say the streetcar wasn't
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: part of it, but let me explain what I mean
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: when I say that. We had a couple major utilities
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: on that project that had to order things, that had
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: to move major things. And when I say our major utilities,
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: and I want to preface this with saying I'm not
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: trying to throw them under the bus here, but I'm
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: just stating the facts.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: It happens with every road project.
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: It's very challenging. The laws changed eight or 10 years ago,
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: allowing fiber companies to occupy the right-of-way, and it changed
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: the way we have to approach utilities in our right-of-way legally.
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: And so there was some delays associated with some major
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: utility relocations to the tune of about seven months. And
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: I actually had, we have a third-party consultant out there
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: that we've paid to track days and test things and
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: do all the things that we do when we build
• 38:06
  Speaker 4: roads with public tax dollars to make sure that you're
• 38:08
  Speaker 4: getting high-quality product at the end of the day. And
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: so they pulled all of this together, and that was
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: about seven months' worth of delay. Now, I'm not going
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: to stand here and say, We would have had the
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: road open seven months ago because there's times of the
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: year we can't pave in the winter and things like that.
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: Had everything gone the way it was planned and everybody
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: had shown up and done everything exactly right, the road
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: would have been open about last May. It's important to
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: note that the contractor on that project is still within
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: his working days. So they have not exceeded those working days,
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: which is a simple way of saying they couldn't work.
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: We had to wait for some utilities to be moved
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: out of the way first. And when I stated that
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: about the streetcar, it's important to note our utilities are
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: very stretched right now. Part of it's because of your success, Mayor.
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: We have an unprecedented successful city, and there's growth going
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: on everywhere. There's housing and tower cranes all over town.
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: So you take that growth, and then you take the
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: aging infrastructure that we have, and you take all of
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: the data centers that are going up around this region,
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: and then you take the streetcar, and how could they
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: not be taxed? They are working at record pace with
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: all of these things going on.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: And he said tasks, not taxed.
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: Correct.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: Not taxed.
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: But they are just– they're operating at a very high capacity.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: They're stretched thin. Yes, they are. And that is exactly
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: why the streetcar has been delayed.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: Two years.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: It should have been done originally in 2026. Now it's
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: 2028 because of all the utility work that has to
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: be done underground. And you are at the mercy of
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: the utility companies. You can't go and finish a road
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: project until that is done.
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: We oftentimes can't start a road project until it's done.
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: And I'll tell you this. When I started my career
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: 30-plus years ago, it took us about eight to ten
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: weeks to get the steel for signal poles, for the
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: steel mast arms that you see that we hang the
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: heads from. It is now a 48-week wait. It's almost
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: a year. You're kidding. No, I'm not. And so our infrastructure,
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: this is not an Omaha problem necessarily. This is nationwide.
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: Our infrastructure and the ability to produce everything that we
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: need to keep construction going at top speed is being
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: heavily stressed.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, talk about, when will that be done then, Todd?
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Let's go back to Q Street, 180th to 204th. When
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: should that be finished?
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: It'll be completely finished in October. We are closing next
• 40:37
  Speaker 4: week the portion west of 204th Street to tie in
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: that cross section with the new cross section to the east.
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: So that when we open, everything can work together. We
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: are going to try to partially open it out to
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: 201st Street in about mid-September. We're thinking we can get
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: most of it open.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: Good.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: People will be glad to hear what you are just
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: saying here. Now, let's go to another area around 204th
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: and Fort. We've had a lot of questions about that,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: and that is in Douglas County, too, and asking about
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the paving of Fort.
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: Yes. So that's a little bit complex. That was one
• 41:10
  Speaker 4: project about a year ago. There's a dam in that
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: section on the north side of the road. We thought
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: that would be relatively easy to bring up to standards,
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: and it's not. The more that the NRD and the
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: folks that govern water resources got involved, we realized that
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: that's going to take some time. So what we did
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: is we broke the project into two pieces. The 204th
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: and Fort Street project, which we had to work with
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: the DOT because that's State Highway 31 there. So the
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: DOT is working with us. That is closed and under
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: construction right now. We wanted to get that done, and
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: that signal will be in place in early spring. So
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: that signalized intersection with turn lanes will be done in
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: early spring. Then we recognize the piece of Fort Street
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: is not going to be able to be paved to
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: the standard and deal with the dam and all the
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: regulations that go along with that. So working with the
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: city of Omaha, utilizing their asphalt contractor, and we are
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: going to asphalt pave that road this year. And then
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: in three or four years, when we get the dam
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: all worked out, we will use that asphalt and grind
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: it up and have it be a good sub base,
• 42:12
  Speaker 4: which we would have had to pay for in place anyway.
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: And then we'll get the ultimate paving done. But that way,
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: that road will not be gravel.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: I hope listeners are hearing that too. And Todd, I
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: need to have you back because there's a lot of
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: other roads in Omaha and we're running out of time today.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: Real briefly, tell what in the city of Omaha in particular,
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: there are certain roads that are state highways and that
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: is up to the DOT. We maintain them. We'll plow
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: them and fix potholes. But if they're going to be
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: resurfaced or rehabilitated, that's the state's job. Name the state
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: streets that run through the city of Omaha.
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: Primarily, the east-west roads are West Maple Road, which is
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: Highway 64. Dodge Street is Highway 6. And L Street
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: slash center, West Center Road, is Highway 92. So those
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: are the three that run east-west, 75 runs north-south. And
• 43:00
  Speaker 4: those are under the jurisdiction of the DOT. We've had
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: a huge influx of questions about Skyline Drive and West
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: Center since that fatal crash happened. I'll tell the listeners,
• 43:10
  Speaker 4: the state is in control of that intersection. They are
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: hearing you. They are going to signalize that this fall
• 43:16
  Speaker 4: with a temporary signal and do permanent geometric and signal
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: improvements in 2028.
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: That is great news for our listeners.
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: Now, in 30 seconds or less, explain the signal coordination
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: plan that we have in the city of Omaha and
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: when it's going to be done, what you want to
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: achieve with that, that these signals now are going to
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: talk to each other.
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's been an ongoing project since my time at
• 43:37
  Speaker 4: the city. It started in about 2009 or 2010. It's
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: a federally funded project. We got a ton of help
• 43:43
  Speaker 4: from our partners in the fiber optic field. And it
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: is basically so all of our signals can talk to
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: each other and communicate with a central data system at
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: City Hall that will track what's working correctly, what needs
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: to be fixed, what is out of time, things like that.
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: and it's going to improve signal progression for everybody throughout
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: the state.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: And they will talk to each other. And county, they will.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: The one I always bring up is that pedestrian crosswalk
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: at 90th and Dodge, if somebody hits that crosswalk in
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: rush hour, it throws everything off. In the future, they
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: are going to talk to each other, and you're going
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: to have smooth sailing.
• 44:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we still have to accommodate those signal calls like
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: that for the pedestrians, but they will talk, and they'll
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: give advance warning to the signals up and downstream, which
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: will affect that timing as well. So that it's not
• 44:25
  Speaker 4: as disruptive to the system.
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: And the cost of that project was?
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: Oh, it's changed and changed. It's in the tens of millions,
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: $ 40- plus million.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: And I know you would still know this. How many
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: traffic signals do we have in Omaha?
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: Omaha has about 1,000 traffic signals.
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: There you go. I knew you would know all these questions.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: Todd, I could have you back because there's a– and
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: I encourage the listeners to call in if they have
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: other questions about other areas that are within Douglas County.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: We'll have Todd Fitzgerald back on sometime soon and go
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: and spend a lot more time talking about this because
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: it means so much to everybody. But thank you for
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: being here, Todd Fitzgerald. I'm tongue-tied now, is that Douglas
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: County engineer used to be assistant public works director with
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: the city of Omaha. He knows his business, too. And
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: like I said before, you're a straight shooter, and I
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: really appreciate you being on today. Thank you.
• 45:13
  Speaker 4: My pleasure. Thank you, Mary.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much. And that is it for us today.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: Peyton is making stink eye at both of us over here.
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we do got to get out, Gene.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: And thank you for spending this hour with us. We'd
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: love for you to join us again tomorrow. I'm Gene Stothert,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: and this is 1110 KFAB.