May 13, 2025 • 16 mins
Too late? Or, was this the only way it was ever going to play out?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Hall of Fame operates as a completely different entity
than Major League Baseball does, which is awkward and it's strange.
There are other band guys that very well could be
Hall of Fame caliber players that were on that Black
Sox team that were banned back in nineteen twenty I
think actually nineteen twenty e one ish was when they
it was a nineteen nineteen World Series that they rigged
(00:22):
and lost.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Chula Show.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Jackson took money, but he actually had a really good series,
so I don't think he was like he took dollars,
but he wasn't actually throwing it. P he Rose passed
away this past year at age eighty three, and he
was constantly trying to get himself back to Hall of Fame.
But he said very I mean, he admitted to betting
(00:47):
on baseball. It's the one rule you can't break. I've
always been that way. But now that they're gone, there's
I don't know, what do you think about this? All's
well that ends well, then end well for them.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
But yeah, I can't go there. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
They broke the unbreakable rule. Now Schulis, Joe Jackson, and
Pete Rose certainly will be elected into the Hall of Fame.
At this point, does this mean like Benny Koff also
is like Benny Kauff go back nineteen fourteen. Benny Koff
was like a massive player.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I suppose if we're opening the floodgates of everybody, you
know what, I don't know. There's a lot of different
ways to think about this.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
You can't tell the story of baseball without either of
those guys.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
You sure can't. But at the same time, think about
the principal or the precedent that's being set. Okay, So
Pete Rose was gonna get in the Hall. We just
had to wait for him to pass away. You know
how that feels to me? That feels really slimy.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's a lifetime ben.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
He broke a rule he knew existed, and he admitted
to it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
He even sold books talking about what he did.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
You know what, I didn't they say they were gonna
let him in the Hall. There was something he didn't
admit to.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
No, he admitted to betting on games, but he insisted
he only bet on his team to win. Ah, which
doesn't matter. I don't care about that. It's a rule.
You cannot gamble on these games. We need legitimacy. We
need integrit Eight. Pete Rose is a great player. He's
in the Reds Hall of Fame. But the Reds can
do whatever they want, I suppose. Yeah, I guess it
(02:19):
was quite literally a lifetime ban. And now he's dead. Okay,
So here's the list all of the Black Socks, which
I think maybe Eddie Seacott is the only one besides
Joe Jackson that theoretically would be Hall of Fame caliber.
My guy Benny Kouff is on the list. Hah Yeah,
So apparently there was an auto theft charge on Benny Kauff,
(02:43):
and I knew he was banned because he actually was
a solid player in the mid teens.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I love baseball history.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
But the Kennesaw Mountain Land is same guy ban on
the Black Sox band Bennikoff for life too. Wait, he
got a ban for life because of an auto theft. Yeah,
let me just double check that. Benny Kaff is kind
of a sad story. But a lot of ball players
he got caught up in stuff like that. I mean,
and I don't think Benny Koff is necessarily a Hall
of Fame caliber player, but he was coming back to
(03:09):
baseball in nineteen twenty one, He and his brother were
implicated in a car theft. In nineteen nineteen, According to
a criminal complaint, Kauf in two employees sold a car
okay So on the offseason. He was working as a
car guy and selling cars and sold a car to
a guy after stealing it and giving it a new
paint job. But Kauf denied the charges, claiming he didn't
(03:31):
know it was stolen. He claimed that his two partners
gave him what turned out to be a false bill
of sale. He believed the car had been acquired legally,
but he got traded out of Major League Baseball. He
was slated to come back to Major League Baseball nineteen
twenty one, but Kennesaw Mountain Landis suspended him until the
case was resolved. The case went to trial, Kauf argued
(03:53):
that he was deceived by his employees and was acquitted
On May thirteenth, nineteen twenty one, exactly one hundred and
four years ago today. Benny Koff was acquitted of all charges,
but Landis refused to reinstate him, saying he would not
be his character and his reputation would not be a
good fit in clubhouses with other ballplayers.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
But he didn't do it.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
But he didn't do it. Come on, ma, Hannisau mountain
landis you go to heck? You go straight to heck? Yeah,
heavy handed, old geezer judge guy.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I don't know, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Benny Kaff was banned from playing, but it served as
a baseball scout for twenty two years and then became
a clothing salesman and then died in nineteen sixty one
at the age of seventy one. Rest in peace, BENNI Koff,
Your name has been cleared.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Dang, that sucks. Yeah, that sucks. Shuffling.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Phil Douglas guy from the New York Giants back in
the day, banned after threatening his manager and was never
allowed to play again. So some of these guys were
just banned for no reason other than what they were
banned for character issues. Rob Manfred called Donald Trump while
he was in Saudi Arabia about this ruling. Apparently this
was something Trump wanted to be notified about. That tells
(05:06):
you what kind of deal this is. I don't know, man,
that's some interesting news though, to say the least. Three
thirteen all right. Chris also mentioned this on email. He said,
I got back from a polling place out here by Elcorn.
I was told I was not eligible to vote in
city elections. I live in Elcorn, we get city services
in police. This seems like some form of voter suppression
(05:28):
to me, can you find answers for me?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Are you in?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I'll have to investigate further. But this is not voter suppression.
This is all about like where you live, Like I
can't vote in a district that I'm not in, Like,
It's all about where your address is. And if your
address is in Elcorn, then you may get city services
because those are contracted by the city of Elcorn. But
Elcorn has its own mayor right?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Is that not right? Or am I wrong here? Like?
Am I am I making this stuff up? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Let me let me dig into where this guy lives
and I'll see if I can let you know. But
maybe somebody can help me with that before we get
to that. Maybe I can have some phone calls help
me with that. Let's give away these tickets. I'm a
terrible person because I can't actually ever do this stuff
what I'm supposed to do, because I get caught up
in all this other stuff. But I got a pair
of tickets right now for the Big Ten Baseball Tournament.
(06:21):
This is any day during the baseball tournament, and this
is at Charles Schwab Field starting next Tuesday through next Sunday.
And let's take well, Pete Rose's number was number fourteen.
That's too low of a number. Benny cough and Shuli
Sho Jackson didn't play with the number. This was before
the numbers didn't have numbers back. Yeah, it's too early
(06:42):
for numbers. They predated numbers. Pete Rose, I don't want
to go too big because you only have a couple
of minutes in the break. Let's go thirty three, okay,
for no reason other than the fact that was the
first number I thought of. Thirty three, thirty third caller.
I couldn't sorry, I couldn't tie it together with all
this other stuff. Thirty third caller. Call us now four
(07:03):
h two five five eight eleven ten. Four h two
five five eight to eleven ten, thirty third caller, we'll
get a pair of tickets in the Big Ten Baseball Tournament,
which is coming to Omaha and Charles rob Field next week.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Join us for that.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Collus now four oh two five five eight to eleven
ten on News Radio eleven ten kfab em Ry's songer
it was Sean in Council Bluffs, Shawn and Council Bluffs,
Council Bluffs winter. We need more of those, Yeah, we do.
Council Bluffs rise up. I know that they're having a
bit of a housing issue over there, trying to attract
more people. While Almaha is growing and growing and growing,
(07:35):
Council Bluffs isn't quite growing as much.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Or heard that in the news.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Is rent cheaper?
Speaker 1 (07:40):
You're not gonna want to know why it's cheaper. I
don't know how much cheaper it is. I mean it's
cheaper than downtown.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Obviously.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite
local bands, they call themselves The Good Life. They had
a line in one of our songs that was I
moved to the Bluffs to save a couple of bucks.
So I always sing that to myself, even though you
haven't moved to the haven't, but it's in the mind.
Sometimes I'll shout out Council Bluffs.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
I mean, he may be closer than we are right now,
to Charles schwab Field. So you have some fun Sean,
all right, here you go found a thing about sid's
sanitary and improvement districts. So if you are ineligible to
vote and you're in the Elkhorn area, and apparently this
(08:25):
has been a thing because there have been a lot
of application rejection letters in that area. Basically, if you
pay for a trash service, you're not in the city
of Omaha. According to our friend Brian Cruz, who is
the election commissioner of Douglas County, you may not be
eligible to vote for the mayor or a city council person,
but you're eligible to vote for a city board. And
(08:47):
he outlined this because it's how the US Postal Service
labels address it. So there are some folks, he says,
in Bellevue in Sarpy County, but the post office this
is given an Omaha address, and that can be confusing.
So you basically, yeah, you can check and call I suppose,
(09:09):
or you can do what Chris did and go check
it out himself. But I can see how that's a
bit and I'll see Elkhorn has been annexed. It appears
since two thousand and seven. Does that sound right to you,
I mean that sounds something that you pay attention to
so it was annexed. It is still a Sanitarium Improvement District,
(09:31):
which is essentially a chance for developers to manage and
create infrastructure improvements in places like Alkhorn and other sids
in the Omaha region. But they are not in Omaha
city limits. They are not represented by a they're not
represented by a city council person. And that would be
(09:52):
probably your first clue that you can't actually vote based
on what your address is. I can understand how I
would feel like, I'm there's no representation for me in
that situation because Elkhorn doesn't have a city government anymore
because it's an side of Omaha. But it's not actually
like operating with like a mayor and its own council.
So you can vote on board positions in Omaha, so
(10:14):
like Omaha or Douglas County board positions, but you can't
actually take you can actually go in and vote for
mayor really, and you can't vote for a city council
person because you're not technically in a district.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I wonder if they you know, who feels you're paying Elcorn, Puerto.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, right they
don't get to say who the president is. I don't know, man,
it's a little it's a little odd. So I feel
for you out there if you're listening and you're trying
to figure out what the story is. So, yeah, what
do you think anything? Try not too frankly. I think
(10:50):
that's interesting. I don't know how I feel weird about it.
I don't like it if I was living in a
place like that and I couldn't vote. I don't have
my own city government. I am basically reliant on the
Omaha City government, but I don't get a chance to
vote for the people that are representing and making those decisions.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
What's the status of Elkorn and what's the difference. I
remember when the whole issue was coming up, and I
remember people at Elcorn weren't really thrilled about being annexed,
and there's reasons around that. If I remember correctly, what
what's the status? Then so you're a part of Omaha,
but Omaha you're paying you're paying for You're paying for
almost Omaha services services. It is a place where developers
(11:30):
can create and manage infrastructure improvements. So you have the
ability to have a little bit more backing from the
bigger city. If there's going to be additional developments, it's
like a hot spot for like new housing developments for instance,
you know, like some suburban style housing developments and it's
been annexed and you have that infrastructure help and uh
(11:51):
my best guess, like that's the extent of the improvement.
Like if somebody in Elcorn really wanted to make a change,
I mean, how do you do that? You can vote
on the boards that are making a lot of decisions,
But if you're not in technical Omaha city limits and
you're not represented in one of the seven districts by
a city council member, then what's the like what's the
(12:12):
end game here?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Right?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Like you basically just have to hope that the people
of Omaha who are doing the voting vote in the.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Interest of you.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I guess if you're an Elcorn you have to campaign
to other voters and say we want this, that and
the other thing.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Help us out.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Seems like they only got one foot in the door.
Would there other just just be a part of Omaha
and just get it over with.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, but how do you do that now? And I
don't have an answer for you. By the way, this
is rhetorical. I literally just do not know. You know,
is there somebody out there that could give us an
answer to this? Is that something the mayor would do?
Is that something the city council has to do? Is
that something the people of Elcorn have to do? I
don't know. I don't know. I've never heard of anything
like this. I've come from the Moines, and I hate
to keep comparing the moint to this, but all of
(12:55):
Des Moines's little suburbs, and there are a lot of them,
a lot of them.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
When or heights.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
You have Norwalk, you have West de Moine, you have Clive,
you have Walkey, you have Ancony, you have Altuna. All
of these are different cities essentially, and they have their
own mayor and city council and board and stuff and
make their own decisions. And they're smashed altogether in with
(13:22):
De Wine, but they have their own independence basically to
do whatever they want to do. It's the burbs that
are annexing extra places in the country here. It just
seems Elkhorn especially seems like it's just a bit of
a different situation. So I don't know, I've never heard
of an sid before. Does that make me a stupid idiot.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Maybe no, it just means something you can learn about
it just I'm ignorant. Well that's how we all start. Yeah,
So Chris emails back. I sent him a couple of
links of things that I found, and he said, if
we are annexed, then wouldn't Elkhorn have a vested interest
in Omaha elections. That's why it's voter suppression, since we
aren't allowed to have a voice in Omaha elections. This
feels intentional by design. I don't know if it is
(14:02):
intentional by design, but it is peculiar. I mean, it's
technically voter suppression. I suppose if you're going by the definition,
it's a rule that's in place to prevent people from voting.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
And they have no city election to vote in.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Do they have an Elcorn mayor? No, they don't know really.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
The city government no longer operational once they were annexed.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
But they don't get to vote in Omaha's mayor.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Race, and they have to pay for the trash stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
And they don't have a city council member either.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
No, at least that's how it's reading to me. Huh okay,
Rob says, I think you have some confusion the city
of Elcorn at every resident there was completely annexed by
the City of Omaha and are able to vote as
their Omahan's Areas that were never in the City of
Elcorn or since annexed by the City of Omaha or
city less no different than anyone in rural parts of
Douglas or Sarpy County, which are the only counties sid's existed.
(14:53):
So maybe not all of Elcorn is this, but it
seems like enough pieces of Elcorn are like this that
people think they have the right to vote. They apparently
do not. That's still enough of a problem for me.
So I don't know parts of Elkhorn, so it's not
the whole thing that's just sitting there with no mayor.
It's like just parts of it are actually part of
the city and the city government that used to be
(15:13):
before two thousand and seven is no more, and there
are people that are in SIDS in that area that
aren't necessarily in a position where they're this. Maybe we
can get Brian Cruse on later this week after things
settled down after the election, we can try to investigate
this for Chris and everybody else who's trying to figure
this out.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
And me, I just want to know what the heck
is going on? Right, this isn't weird.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
So if you think that you're in Omaha, but you're
apparently not in Omah and you can't vote, I guess,
are you seeing election signs out in about in your neighborhood?
That might be also a key takeaway. But Alas, I
guess maybe you just have to call, or you have
to ask questions or show up to what you think
is your polling place if you're Chris, and then tell
you sorry, you're not eligible to vote in this because
(15:54):
your address isn't in technically Alma's city limits.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I think a lot of the state of Nebraska has
a vested interest in what happens in Omaha, for whatever
it's worth.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
But yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Three point thirty, when we come back, I got a
great new friend and a great new company, Durable Flags,
that has been making some real impacts around this area.
I will tell you all about it coming up on
news radio eleven tin kfab em Marie Stunger
The Hall of Fame operates as a completely different entity
than Major League Baseball does, which is awkward and it's strange.
There are other band guys that very well could be
Hall of Fame caliber players that were on that Black
Sox team that were banned back in nineteen twenty I
think actually nineteen twenty e one ish was when they
it was a nineteen nineteen World Series that they rigged
(00:22):
and lost.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Chula Show.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Jackson took money, but he actually had a really good series,
so I don't think he was like he took dollars,
but he wasn't actually throwing it. P he Rose passed
away this past year at age eighty three, and he
was constantly trying to get himself back to Hall of Fame.
But he said very I mean, he admitted to betting
(00:47):
on baseball. It's the one rule you can't break. I've
always been that way. But now that they're gone, there's
I don't know, what do you think about this? All's
well that ends well, then end well for them.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
But yeah, I can't go there. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
They broke the unbreakable rule. Now Schulis, Joe Jackson, and
Pete Rose certainly will be elected into the Hall of Fame.
At this point, does this mean like Benny Koff also
is like Benny Kauff go back nineteen fourteen. Benny Koff
was like a massive player.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I suppose if we're opening the floodgates of everybody, you
know what, I don't know. There's a lot of different
ways to think about this.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
You can't tell the story of baseball without either of
those guys.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
You sure can't. But at the same time, think about
the principal or the precedent that's being set. Okay, So
Pete Rose was gonna get in the Hall. We just
had to wait for him to pass away. You know
how that feels to me? That feels really slimy.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's a lifetime ben.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
He broke a rule he knew existed, and he admitted
to it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
He even sold books talking about what he did.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
You know what, I didn't they say they were gonna
let him in the Hall. There was something he didn't
admit to.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
No, he admitted to betting on games, but he insisted
he only bet on his team to win. Ah, which
doesn't matter. I don't care about that. It's a rule.
You cannot gamble on these games. We need legitimacy. We
need integrit Eight. Pete Rose is a great player. He's
in the Reds Hall of Fame. But the Reds can
do whatever they want, I suppose. Yeah, I guess it
(02:19):
was quite literally a lifetime ban. And now he's dead. Okay,
So here's the list all of the Black Socks, which
I think maybe Eddie Seacott is the only one besides
Joe Jackson that theoretically would be Hall of Fame caliber.
My guy Benny Kouff is on the list. Hah Yeah,
So apparently there was an auto theft charge on Benny Kauff,
(02:43):
and I knew he was banned because he actually was
a solid player in the mid teens.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
I love baseball history.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
But the Kennesaw Mountain Land is same guy ban on
the Black Sox band Bennikoff for life too. Wait, he
got a ban for life because of an auto theft. Yeah,
let me just double check that. Benny Kaff is kind
of a sad story. But a lot of ball players
he got caught up in stuff like that. I mean,
and I don't think Benny Koff is necessarily a Hall
of Fame caliber player, but he was coming back to
(03:09):
baseball in nineteen twenty one, He and his brother were
implicated in a car theft. In nineteen nineteen, According to
a criminal complaint, Kauf in two employees sold a car
okay So on the offseason. He was working as a
car guy and selling cars and sold a car to
a guy after stealing it and giving it a new
paint job. But Kauf denied the charges, claiming he didn't
(03:31):
know it was stolen. He claimed that his two partners
gave him what turned out to be a false bill
of sale. He believed the car had been acquired legally,
but he got traded out of Major League Baseball. He
was slated to come back to Major League Baseball nineteen
twenty one, but Kennesaw Mountain Landis suspended him until the
case was resolved. The case went to trial, Kauf argued
(03:53):
that he was deceived by his employees and was acquitted
On May thirteenth, nineteen twenty one, exactly one hundred and
four years ago today. Benny Koff was acquitted of all charges,
but Landis refused to reinstate him, saying he would not
be his character and his reputation would not be a
good fit in clubhouses with other ballplayers.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
But he didn't do it.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
But he didn't do it. Come on, ma, Hannisau mountain
landis you go to heck? You go straight to heck? Yeah,
heavy handed, old geezer judge guy.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I don't know, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Benny Kaff was banned from playing, but it served as
a baseball scout for twenty two years and then became
a clothing salesman and then died in nineteen sixty one
at the age of seventy one. Rest in peace, BENNI Koff,
Your name has been cleared.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Dang, that sucks. Yeah, that sucks. Shuffling.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Phil Douglas guy from the New York Giants back in
the day, banned after threatening his manager and was never
allowed to play again. So some of these guys were
just banned for no reason other than what they were
banned for character issues. Rob Manfred called Donald Trump while
he was in Saudi Arabia about this ruling. Apparently this
was something Trump wanted to be notified about. That tells
(05:06):
you what kind of deal this is. I don't know, man,
that's some interesting news though, to say the least. Three
thirteen all right. Chris also mentioned this on email. He said,
I got back from a polling place out here by Elcorn.
I was told I was not eligible to vote in
city elections. I live in Elcorn, we get city services
in police. This seems like some form of voter suppression
(05:28):
to me, can you find answers for me?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Are you in?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
I'll have to investigate further. But this is not voter suppression.
This is all about like where you live, Like I
can't vote in a district that I'm not in, Like,
It's all about where your address is. And if your
address is in Elcorn, then you may get city services
because those are contracted by the city of Elcorn. But
Elcorn has its own mayor right?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Is that not right? Or am I wrong here? Like?
Am I am I making this stuff up? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Let me let me dig into where this guy lives
and I'll see if I can let you know. But
maybe somebody can help me with that before we get
to that. Maybe I can have some phone calls help
me with that. Let's give away these tickets. I'm a
terrible person because I can't actually ever do this stuff
what I'm supposed to do, because I get caught up
in all this other stuff. But I got a pair
of tickets right now for the Big Ten Baseball Tournament.
(06:21):
This is any day during the baseball tournament, and this
is at Charles Schwab Field starting next Tuesday through next Sunday.
And let's take well, Pete Rose's number was number fourteen.
That's too low of a number. Benny cough and Shuli
Sho Jackson didn't play with the number. This was before
the numbers didn't have numbers back. Yeah, it's too early
(06:42):
for numbers. They predated numbers. Pete Rose, I don't want
to go too big because you only have a couple
of minutes in the break. Let's go thirty three, okay,
for no reason other than the fact that was the
first number I thought of. Thirty three, thirty third caller.
I couldn't sorry, I couldn't tie it together with all
this other stuff. Thirty third caller. Call us now four
(07:03):
h two five five eight eleven ten. Four h two
five five eight to eleven ten, thirty third caller, we'll
get a pair of tickets in the Big Ten Baseball Tournament,
which is coming to Omaha and Charles rob Field next week.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Join us for that.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Collus now four oh two five five eight to eleven
ten on News Radio eleven ten kfab em Ry's songer
it was Sean in Council Bluffs, Shawn and Council Bluffs,
Council Bluffs winter. We need more of those, Yeah, we do.
Council Bluffs rise up. I know that they're having a
bit of a housing issue over there, trying to attract
more people. While Almaha is growing and growing and growing,
(07:35):
Council Bluffs isn't quite growing as much.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Or heard that in the news.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Is rent cheaper?
Speaker 1 (07:40):
You're not gonna want to know why it's cheaper. I
don't know how much cheaper it is. I mean it's
cheaper than downtown.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Obviously.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite
local bands, they call themselves The Good Life. They had
a line in one of our songs that was I
moved to the Bluffs to save a couple of bucks.
So I always sing that to myself, even though you
haven't moved to the haven't, but it's in the mind.
Sometimes I'll shout out Council Bluffs.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
I mean, he may be closer than we are right now,
to Charles schwab Field. So you have some fun Sean,
all right, here you go found a thing about sid's
sanitary and improvement districts. So if you are ineligible to
vote and you're in the Elkhorn area, and apparently this
(08:25):
has been a thing because there have been a lot
of application rejection letters in that area. Basically, if you
pay for a trash service, you're not in the city
of Omaha. According to our friend Brian Cruz, who is
the election commissioner of Douglas County, you may not be
eligible to vote for the mayor or a city council person,
but you're eligible to vote for a city board. And
(08:47):
he outlined this because it's how the US Postal Service
labels address it. So there are some folks, he says,
in Bellevue in Sarpy County, but the post office this
is given an Omaha address, and that can be confusing.
So you basically, yeah, you can check and call I suppose,
(09:09):
or you can do what Chris did and go check
it out himself. But I can see how that's a
bit and I'll see Elkhorn has been annexed. It appears
since two thousand and seven. Does that sound right to you,
I mean that sounds something that you pay attention to
so it was annexed. It is still a Sanitarium Improvement District,
(09:31):
which is essentially a chance for developers to manage and
create infrastructure improvements in places like Alkhorn and other sids
in the Omaha region. But they are not in Omaha
city limits. They are not represented by a they're not
represented by a city council person. And that would be
(09:52):
probably your first clue that you can't actually vote based
on what your address is. I can understand how I
would feel like, I'm there's no representation for me in
that situation because Elkhorn doesn't have a city government anymore
because it's an side of Omaha. But it's not actually
like operating with like a mayor and its own council.
So you can vote on board positions in Omaha, so
(10:14):
like Omaha or Douglas County board positions, but you can't
actually take you can actually go in and vote for
mayor really, and you can't vote for a city council
person because you're not technically in a district.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I wonder if they you know, who feels you're paying Elcorn, Puerto.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, right they
don't get to say who the president is. I don't know, man,
it's a little it's a little odd. So I feel
for you out there if you're listening and you're trying
to figure out what the story is. So, yeah, what
do you think anything? Try not too frankly. I think
(10:50):
that's interesting. I don't know how I feel weird about it.
I don't like it if I was living in a
place like that and I couldn't vote. I don't have
my own city government. I am basically reliant on the
Omaha City government, but I don't get a chance to
vote for the people that are representing and making those decisions.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
What's the status of Elkorn and what's the difference. I
remember when the whole issue was coming up, and I
remember people at Elcorn weren't really thrilled about being annexed,
and there's reasons around that. If I remember correctly, what
what's the status? Then so you're a part of Omaha,
but Omaha you're paying you're paying for You're paying for
almost Omaha services services. It is a place where developers
(11:30):
can create and manage infrastructure improvements. So you have the
ability to have a little bit more backing from the
bigger city. If there's going to be additional developments, it's
like a hot spot for like new housing developments for instance,
you know, like some suburban style housing developments and it's
been annexed and you have that infrastructure help and uh
(11:51):
my best guess, like that's the extent of the improvement.
Like if somebody in Elcorn really wanted to make a change,
I mean, how do you do that? You can vote
on the boards that are making a lot of decisions,
But if you're not in technical Omaha city limits and
you're not represented in one of the seven districts by
a city council member, then what's the like what's the
(12:12):
end game here?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Right?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Like you basically just have to hope that the people
of Omaha who are doing the voting vote in the.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Interest of you.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I guess if you're an Elcorn you have to campaign
to other voters and say we want this, that and
the other thing.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Help us out.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Seems like they only got one foot in the door.
Would there other just just be a part of Omaha
and just get it over with.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, but how do you do that now? And I
don't have an answer for you. By the way, this
is rhetorical. I literally just do not know. You know,
is there somebody out there that could give us an
answer to this? Is that something the mayor would do?
Is that something the city council has to do? Is
that something the people of Elcorn have to do? I
don't know. I don't know. I've never heard of anything
like this. I've come from the Moines, and I hate
to keep comparing the moint to this, but all of
(12:55):
Des Moines's little suburbs, and there are a lot of them,
a lot of them.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
When or heights.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
You have Norwalk, you have West de Moine, you have Clive,
you have Walkey, you have Ancony, you have Altuna. All
of these are different cities essentially, and they have their
own mayor and city council and board and stuff and
make their own decisions. And they're smashed altogether in with
(13:22):
De Wine, but they have their own independence basically to
do whatever they want to do. It's the burbs that
are annexing extra places in the country here. It just
seems Elkhorn especially seems like it's just a bit of
a different situation. So I don't know, I've never heard
of an sid before. Does that make me a stupid idiot.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Maybe no, it just means something you can learn about
it just I'm ignorant. Well that's how we all start. Yeah,
So Chris emails back. I sent him a couple of
links of things that I found, and he said, if
we are annexed, then wouldn't Elkhorn have a vested interest
in Omaha elections. That's why it's voter suppression, since we
aren't allowed to have a voice in Omaha elections. This
feels intentional by design. I don't know if it is
(14:02):
intentional by design, but it is peculiar. I mean, it's
technically voter suppression. I suppose if you're going by the definition,
it's a rule that's in place to prevent people from voting.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
And they have no city election to vote in.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Do they have an Elcorn mayor? No, they don't know really.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
The city government no longer operational once they were annexed.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
But they don't get to vote in Omaha's mayor.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Race, and they have to pay for the trash stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
And they don't have a city council member either.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
No, at least that's how it's reading to me. Huh okay,
Rob says, I think you have some confusion the city
of Elcorn at every resident there was completely annexed by
the City of Omaha and are able to vote as
their Omahan's Areas that were never in the City of
Elcorn or since annexed by the City of Omaha or
city less no different than anyone in rural parts of
Douglas or Sarpy County, which are the only counties sid's existed.
(14:53):
So maybe not all of Elcorn is this, but it
seems like enough pieces of Elcorn are like this that
people think they have the right to vote. They apparently
do not. That's still enough of a problem for me.
So I don't know parts of Elkhorn, so it's not
the whole thing that's just sitting there with no mayor.
It's like just parts of it are actually part of
the city and the city government that used to be
(15:13):
before two thousand and seven is no more, and there
are people that are in SIDS in that area that
aren't necessarily in a position where they're this. Maybe we
can get Brian Cruse on later this week after things
settled down after the election, we can try to investigate
this for Chris and everybody else who's trying to figure
this out.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
And me, I just want to know what the heck
is going on? Right, this isn't weird.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
So if you think that you're in Omaha, but you're
apparently not in Omah and you can't vote, I guess,
are you seeing election signs out in about in your neighborhood?
That might be also a key takeaway. But Alas, I
guess maybe you just have to call, or you have
to ask questions or show up to what you think
is your polling place if you're Chris, and then tell
you sorry, you're not eligible to vote in this because
(15:54):
your address isn't in technically Alma's city limits.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I think a lot of the state of Nebraska has
a vested interest in what happens in Omaha, for whatever
it's worth.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
But yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Three point thirty, when we come back, I got a
great new friend and a great new company, Durable Flags,
that has been making some real impacts around this area.
I will tell you all about it coming up on
news radio eleven tin kfab em Marie Stunger
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