December 15, 2025 • 33 mins
What does Nebraska's District 8 representative think of that comparison? I ask her that and a lot more about illegal immigration, ICE operations, the gender debates in the legislature, and more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott Vordy's. As I was getting ready for the show,
It's like, all the news is just awful. It's all
there's so much that's so bad. Shooting in Australia, people
celebrating Hanukkah, the shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
The murder of beloved Rob Reiner and his wife it
(00:23):
sounds like potentially by their son, Nebraska's volleyball team loss.
I mean, I'm looking everywhere in the world for some
glimmer of something that's trying to infuse me with some
level of positivity and optimism. And by the way, Christmas spirit.
As we're now into this season, and here's what I
found for you. I think it's more important during times
(00:47):
like this than ever before to try and enrobe yourself
in the Christmas spirit. This is a great chance, with
the news so dire, to take time out from the
all the hectic stuff that the season brings, and you
reach out to a friend and say, we grew up
loving when Harry met Sally, or Sleepless in Seattle or
(01:08):
any of the other great Rob Reiner movies, Princess Bride,
stand by Me, any of them. So we grew up
loving that movie. When can we get together this week
and drink a couple of bottles of wine or whatever
and watch that movie to get together? For others, it
might be you know, we've been friends for a long time,
and even though we're of different faiths, I'm embarrassed to
(01:30):
admit I know starting startingly little about Hanukkah. Most of
what I know about Hankkah comes from an Adam Sandler song.
When can we get together and have a beverage and
hang out and chat and spend a little time together
this week? This is a time to use the excuse
of this horrible news to make sure that you're connecting
(01:50):
with people, family, friends, co workers. It's so easy to
retreat and bury ahead in the sand. This is a
time to reach out to a polarizing senator who might
have different political views of your own and invite her
into the studio to chat for a little bit. Well,
and look who we have here from Omaha serving this
district here in midtown Omaha at State Senator Megan Hunt. Senator,
(02:14):
it's great to have you back here on eleven ten.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Kfab Scott, thank you so much for having me here.
You know, sorry to contribute to more bad news for
your listeners. I'm here. I'm actually been hired to take
over for Gary Sottelemeyer. So it's going to be me
and Scott. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
People been wandering, You're like, who's going to take over
for Gary? Well, it turns out that since you're your
term limited, it's right at the legislature, you're looking for
a little part time gig. It's just for work a
few hours in the morning. And so yeah, I'm I'm
just a placeholder until you're done inflicting whatever it is
you're going to do to us next at the legislative level,
and then you're going to be in here as our
(02:50):
morning show host. And there are so many listeners right
now that don't know we're joking, or maybe we're not.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Maybe you have information I don't. That's fine, it's all yours.
It's it's good to see you. You have actually spent
some time on our little radio station here. You're a
Dundee denizen of sorts.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
That's right. You know a lot of you, A lot
of your listeners might know or not know. I was
an intern here at KFAB and I want to say
two thousand and six vern Werka, an old radio engineer
here was one of a big, big mentor that I
had in college, and I spent some time here working
with Matt Tompkins and different folks as a drive time
(03:28):
producer for tom Beca And so yeah, I know these halls.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Well, actually, well, it's good to have you back. It's
been a very long time. When I, in our broadcast
tease a moment ago, described you as someone who some
people referred to as the AOC of Nebraska and our
blue dot here, your face wrinkled a bit. Was that
and enthusiasm was that in? I don't know if I
(03:55):
want that label or what do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, I said you after I said, nobody said that. I.
You know, I'm every every politician that any of us
could be compared to. You know, they stand on their
own they have their own legacy, they have their own agenda,
and they have their own experiences, and I don't think
that we can compare you know, AOC from the Bronx
to me from Blair, Nebraska. You know, it's not going
(04:19):
to be the same type of thing. I understand what
people mean when they say that. You know, I have
a reputation as a leftist and a progressive in Nebraska,
which is a conservative state. But I think that that
is needed in a state like Nebraska, we need opposing viewpoints. Obviously,
I'm not in the majority, and so I don't think
(04:40):
anybody needs to worry about, you know, me getting my
way all the time or anything. But it is just
kind of the dichotomy and the tension of different views
and experiences that come from our personal experience that I
think is what makes politics really great.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I'll tell you why I think some people kind of
tag you with that label is because, like Alexandria Ocasio
Cortez in New York, you are one of the few who,
when you're running for office, you say, if you vote
for me, this is what I will stand for, this
is what I will say, this is the voice I
will have, these are the votes I will make, and
(05:13):
then you actually do those things. Now, some people and
sometimes I have criticized some of the things you've said,
especially we'll get into some of your Twitter posts here
in just a moment, but at no point have I
been shocked by them, because you are the person that
say this is what you're getting, you want to vote
for it, and people are like, great, we'll have some
(05:34):
of that. And so that's why you've been in the
unicamerle for so long. What I really have a problem
with are the people who say, hey, if you vote
for me, i'll be this vote, I'll be this reliable
and then they get there and they don't do any
of that stuff. They don't stand for anything, they don't
vote for the lines with the party that they claim
to be a part of. Those are the people I
(05:54):
have a problem with, not people like you.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
No, I agree with you completely. And what you learn
quickly in politics is all you have is your word.
All you have is your good word. And you know,
the first time I ran for office, I've been reelected
and I'm term limited now, so I'm just going into
my eighth year. But I've knocked over twenty six thousand
doors in this district. And that of course includes a
lot of independence like myself, and a lot of Republicans,
(06:18):
And of course, you know, you hear this whole spectrum
of you know, epithets and everything at the doors. Sometimes
I had a gun pulled on me. Once you know,
all this stuff happens at the doors.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
You can look very dangerous.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
It could be wild, but I also heard from a
lot of Republicans and conservatives. You know, I disagree with
you ninety five percent of the time, but I trust you.
But I know you're not, you know, a liar. You're
not misrepresenting your views on anything, and I honestly appreciate
you recognizing that, because you know, despite political differences, anybody
(06:51):
can have integrity, and that's the way you do that.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I've even talked with some of your cohorts down there
who are very different from you from a political spectrum,
and they respect you as well. Sometimes you aggravate them,
but they generally they enjoy working with you. Do you
enjoy Do you enjoy working with any of them?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Oh? No, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
No, you would rather many of these these more conservative
members voted into the unicameral by their constituents just not well.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's not it's not that I have a problem with
their politics, even which which in many cases I do.
The people who are the colleagues who I'm working with
in the legislature, just the culture there is very different
from when I started, and eight years is not a
long time, so I feel like I was fortunate to
come in sort of just as the culture change of
(07:52):
term limits was happening, So I got to see a
little bit of the before and now some of the after.
And you know, I'm not saying it wasn't always this way.
I'm not saying this is a new development or something,
but I don't think people are running for the right reasons.
And it's really frustrating. You know, when you talk to
a colleague and they're not quote unquote working on an issue.
(08:15):
So when you ask me, do you like working with
your colleagues, you know, it's hard to swing a cat
and hit somebody who's working on anything. They're not working.
They're taking their marching orders from somebody, whether it's on
the left or the right. And you know, before we
even go in and work on a policy or fine
tune a bill or talk about amendments, everybody already knows
(08:36):
what's going to happen. And it wasn't always that way.
And so that's what has taken a lot of the
fun I suppose, or enjoyment, or you know, the kind
of thing that makes you excited to work in politics
because you get in there to solve the big problems.
To say, yes, property taxes are a big problem, Yes,
we shouldn't be closing these rural hospitals. Yes we need
(08:58):
to make sure that farmers are getting fair price for
their commodities and their outputs and everything. Yes, we need
to make sure small business owners have a future in
this state. All of these things, but the actual will
for the problem solving that that takes is not there
to the degree that it needs to be.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
All those things are incredibly important things to discuss, yet
you've been there at a time during the legislative history
that has just been one social thing after another, whether
it's related to the specter of President Trump, whether it
has to do with the gender issues in bathrooms and
surgeries and so forth. You've been outspoken on all of
(09:39):
these fronts. I'll tell you the one tweet of yours
that I wasn't entertained by, and we'll start there is
just one. Well start with this one. We'll start with
that one as our guest in the studio is State
Senator Megan Hunt of Omaha. Will talk more with her next,
Scott goes, Well, you'll know it. News Radio ELEVENFAB been
(10:00):
very entertained by your social media presence for a long time.
Another reason why I think you get the AOC of
Nebraska tag. Because you're both very entertaining on social media,
you have no problem firing back at people. You're not
exactly careful sometimes in your opinions, you're like, here's what
I think, and it's might include some obscenities, but here's
(10:22):
what I'm thinking. I think some of your posts here
about ICE Immigration Customs enforcement, I thought that they were
potentially dangerous because if we are telling people that they
need to resist or disrupt or anything that ICE is doing,
that could potentially get people arrested, it don't need to
(10:43):
be or worse, they could get they could get killed
in a situation like this, and I felt like you
were trying to push people down a potentially dangerous road,
and that has happened.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
You know, people have been arrested who are not guilty
of breaking any laws, you know, or people who are
not guilty of breaking any laws other than you know,
kind of what can happen in the course of a
peaceful protest. And then those things go out and get
litigated in court, and people have lost their lives as
well in these protests. And I think that that should
(11:16):
be a wake up call to people in this presidential
administration who have prioritized these quote unquote mass deportations over
public safety. And I think that some of that has
been you know, it's it's red meat for the base.
It's capitalizing and preying upon some of the darkest, you know,
(11:41):
divisive political views that we have about each other, when
what we're really talking about is our neighbors in Nebraska, no,
our newest Nebraskans. And you know I have I'll admit
to you and your listeners. You know, I have what's
probably an uncommon view on immigration in the legislature and
probably in the general public too. You know, I think
(12:02):
people should be able to live where they want to live.
I think that that's the best thing for our economies,
that's the best thing for healthy families and for public safety.
And everybody in a community, whether it's me or someone
like my colleague Senator Dan McKeon, or you or a
migrant who lives down the street and works in the
(12:22):
restaurant here in Dundee, they have to follow the same
laws as everybody. So you know, when you're guilty of
law breaking, when you have committed a crime, we have
a justice system to deal with that. We have a
court system to deal with that, and these extra judicial
arrests and incarceration, these things actually don't make anybody safer.
(12:47):
And so that's my view on that. I know that
you know that's not something that's probably popular with a
lot of people listening, But I think that, especially now,
and you know that the lead up that you did
up to this segment at the top of the hour,
what we need right now, more than anything is more
(13:08):
compassion for each other. And there is almost nobody I
respect more in this community than the people who have
risked everything to migrate here, to move here, to put
down routs and start a family, start a business, and
I think that as community members to those people, we
should be protecting them.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I could go down a couple of different side roads there.
The only one I'll take a step in is if
we allow just open borders everyone come here. I think
you might have some people take advantage of the generosity
of America, and now that welfare state gets to be
really untenable. But to step back here on the topic
at hand, I have always said that if I'm living
(13:45):
in some nation that's run by drug traffickers and gang members,
and all I have to do is get my family
to America, which is traditionally both parties have looked the
other way on immigration and border security. And now I
have a chance to protect and take care of my family.
I'm crawling through miles of broken glass to do that
for my family. I don't blame so many people for
(14:07):
taking advantage of that opportunity. The one thing I want
you to think about here when it comes to what
ICE is doing. For example, they come to this food
processing plant here in Omaha, they have a list of names.
It's not like, Hey, anyone who looks like they even
have so much as a decent tan get in the van,
will or send you to Uganda. Will figure it out later.
(14:29):
This was a targeted operation by ICE, probably because there
are people within the Hispanic community, legal immigrants, dreamers who
are trying to get paperwork right now, who have had
their identities stolen by people who came here stole their identities.
Made it difficult for people in this community to start businesses,
(14:51):
to have jobs, to be able to get loans, to
be able to function. When your identity is stolen, it's
absolutely awful to deal with. And when people come in
here and they steal an identity and they use that
to work. It makes life harder for people in their communities,
does it not. Isn't there something we should do about that?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I think that we already have processes in place to
do something about that. You know, identity theft is already
a crime, and so I think that we should pursue
justice for crimes like that through the same avenues that
you know, you or I would go through. I wouldn't
expect an ice vehicle to come to my shop in
Benson and arrest me if I stole somebody's identity. I
(15:33):
just don't think that that's a solution to the problem,
and it's exacerbating again violence, division, the worst impulses of
humanity in our country, separating families, locking people up, not
letting them have lawyers or any legal representation. It's not
the way.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Do you think that the process, the way it's been
played out here in Nebraska has been okay. We've got
the so called corn Husker in McCook, a prison that's
now used as a processing center, and we have had
attorneys be able to go meet with them. Sometimes we've
had to bring people back your to Omaha to meet
with some of their immigration attorneys, and we haven't had
(16:15):
people just rounded up and sent to El Salvador at
this point. Here is what's happening in Nebraska. Okay, I'm
sure you'd like to see it done differently, but is
I mean you've said, well, yeah, if you break the
law on some front, then you need to deal with
those consequences. Right now, we're processing this all out, So
what's the problem.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
The problem is the targeting of people that has been
so obviously racialized that we are rounding people up in
this dragnet who have not broken the law, perhaps at all,
and certainly not to the degree that they need to
be locked up in a facility like the one in McCook.
I think that there's a cruelty and a nastiness behind
(17:00):
the motivation of all of this stuff. And I think
that there's also, you know, legal and constitutional questions about
how the mcook facility has been converted into a federal
detention facility. You know, you guys have probably talked about
this on your show. State senators have not been allowed
to visit the facility, even though according to our constitution
in Nebraska, you know, we do have oversight over our
(17:23):
correction facilities, and so people who disagree with that, will say, well,
it's not a state facility, it's a federal facility. And
then that's a question that's going to play out in
the courts, you know, in the coming months. But if
we had a system where public safety was really our priority,
and transparency and following rule of law was really our priority,
(17:46):
you know, on the part of our leaders, on the
part of people like the governor or the president, et cetera,
this would not be the way that this plays out
in our in our culture.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I'm going to give you my thoughts and say I
believe a lot of people feel the same way I do.
I already told you that if if I were south
of the border and knew if I got here, I'd
have a much better life for me and my family.
I don't blame anyone for doing that. I've always thought
America needs to do a better job of making sure
that we are allowing for legal immigration to be able
(18:17):
to support allow them to support their families, support our communities.
I also think that there are a lot of people
who are in the country illegally, who they got to
the border, maybe illegally, but they were told by somebody,
hey sign this, pay me that and we're going to
give you a work number. Now, these people didn't know
(18:37):
it was stealing someone's identity. They didn't know the whole
thing was fraudulent. They're just like, Okay, someone told me
if I get here and meet this guy and I'm
with these other people, they're going to give us this
paperwork and this allows me to work in America freely
and legally. I think a lot of people have felt
that way. What we're doing right now with these ICE
operations is trying to separate these people I was talking about,
(19:02):
and you're el Chapos and things like that here. So
when I say I think we need to do some
of this stuff, it might not be pretty because a
lot of law enforcement work is not. I'm not looking
at this as hey, just round up all the illegals
and get all them meskins out of that.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So I mean, expectfully, Scott, You're not supposed to look
at it that way. All of this immigration, mass deportation,
the messaging, the effort, the rollout of it has been
designed to make people like you think it's okay. You know,
you say, we got to separate the people who just
have a false social Security number from the El Chapos
(19:41):
is the place to do that, in a chain link
cage in twenty degree weather, separated from their families, taken
away from their businesses where they've been contributing positively to
the community. I you know, as I said in the
previous segment, we have legal uh processes in place, and
what this administration has done is invent a new process
(20:05):
because they manufactured a crisis, They made a lot of
people feel like their communities and cities are not safe
when they're perfectly fine, and have manufactured a political will
to say, well, we got to get the El Chapos
out of here, and if we got to throw all
the brown people in a cage to do that, then
that's what it takes. And that's what's important to me.
(20:26):
And I think we got to step back and say,
you know, people are exhausted by political fights that have
nothing to do with their actual lives. And on every issue,
I ask myself, does this reduce suffering? Does this help
somebody with their family? Does this keep people safer? And
the way that Trump administration has chosen to enforce the law,
(20:50):
especially when it comes to immigration, I have to say no,
it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I've been doing this radio show for over nineteen years.
We've talked about the illegal immigration a billion different ways. Sure,
and I've received eighty seven trillion emails about it from
KFAB listeners. Not once as any single emailer ever said
let's just round up all the brown people and figure
it out later. I've never heard anyone. I've received emails
(21:15):
that have been racist over the years, and those people
have been blocked from my inbox. I'm not interested in
having that conversation. I'm not saying there aren't racists out there,
but when I hear good people discussing this issue, I
don't hear that characterization of them that you just provided.
So do you think that Trump voters are racist or duped?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Like?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
What do you think about people who have a different
choice when they go into that ballot box?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I think that what people think if they wouldn't say
out loud, let's round up the brown people. Fine, fine,
nobody said that out loud. Fine, let's say that's true.
But that's what's happening. It's so much more important to
me what people's experiences are, how we are enforcing the law,
and also what message this is sending to the rest
(22:04):
of the world. It's shameful. I mean, people aren't coming
here for tourism. People are coming from Germany and England
and these other places expecting to have their phone searched
at the border to see if they have any memes
making fun of JD. Vance. All of these things are
embarrassing to the United States of America, and a lot
of that the root of it is the racism of
(22:24):
our immigration policies.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
What about people who are in the country legally. They
are from whether Mexico or Salad or Guatemala or whatever,
and they've got businesses, they employ people, and they've been
told by some alleged community leaders like, look, all right,
we are shutting down all the businesses here in this
area to show a solidarity for all the things that
(22:51):
those racist Republicans and Trump supporters and the Ice people
are doing. And business owners, some of them have said,
we want to be open. We take every single step
to make sure that we're not employing people who don't
have their paperwork in order. But if we open up,
we're gonna look like we're somehow not with the people
in this community. And it's hurting our businesses too. I mean,
(23:12):
this is a problem for not just why people going, hey,
I get rid of all the You know, this is
a problem in these communities too.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I haven't heard of I haven't. I mean, I'm always
open and being wrong, but I haven't heard of any
businesses closing quote unquote in solidarity with a boycott or
something like that. I've heard of workers who are here
legally or undocumented, being afraid to go to work because
they're afraid that their business will be targeted, being afraid
(23:40):
to go to school, being afraid to go to their
places of worship. Because in this country, we do have
people who are here legally, whether they're citizens, veterans, whether
they're here seeking asylum and they or they have visas,
or their students. These people have been detained by ice
sometimes for months, and the process, the legal process that
(24:03):
we're putting these people through to receive justice for any
crime they may have committed or not, is not the
right process. It's not keeping anybody safer.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Your cohort, also from Omahas Day, Senator MICHAELA. Kavanaugh was
I don't know if she was one of those or
the one who went out to observe the Cornhusker clink
in McCook, Are you planning on going out there as
well and potentially being turned away.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I know she went out there. I think Senator Margot
Warez may have gone out there as well, potentially Terrell McKinney.
You know, I'm trying to think of who else has
gone out there. Yeah, I do plan to go out there.
I think that you know, what is this platform for.
I'm not ordained. There's nothing like special or magical about
(24:52):
me that I get to be the state Senator from
District eight. I'll be gone in a minute and someone
else will be here and they will have to be
a steward of the gift of this position, just as
I have tried to be. And I think that it
would be a waste of the gift and the platform
to not use this position for the oversight that it
calls for. The Nebraska Constitution calls for state senators to
(25:14):
give oversight over our corrections processes. And that's what I'm
going to do, because that's not just what I was
elected by these people in this community to do. It's
my responsibility as a lawmaker.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Do you think Governor Pillen is racist? I presume that
you think President Trump is racist.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
I think that there's a long documented history of racist
remarks that Senator Pillen or that Governor Pillen has made
you know, what we hold in our hearts or whatever.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
People can debate, But the President Biden, President Obama rounded
up deported a lot of people in their administrations. Are
they racist?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
That's right. I was deeply critical of all of that
at the time as well.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Are they racist?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
That's a racist action for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Okay, I want to talk about a few different things
while we have you in here, State Centaer Megan Hunt
of Omaha with us here. You're term limited out in
just a moment. What do you want to do here
in this upcoming legislative term because you guys get back
after it just in a matter of days.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Now.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
What are you hoping to do? And what are you
afraid it's going to devolve into some of the antics
related to all of the stuff on who's going to
be allowed to do what surgery, what age and bathrooms
and all the rest of that stuff. It's been an
interesting few years here. What are you thinking here as
(26:36):
you guys get back after it next month?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Isn't it depressing that all of the things facing Nebraskans.
You know, when I was knocking doors for the first
time in twenty sixteen. Nobody at the doors said, you know, well,
we got to make sure that kids aren't getting surgery
on their genitalia. Nobody said that to me.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Do you think that's because they didn't have to. They
didn't think this was going to be such a big issue.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
It isn't a big you know, here we go, here
we go. But no. I what I would like to
have happen this session and what I am determined to do.
I mean, look at the bills I introduce. I think
that people know me better from the remarks I make
on the floor, many of which are offensive. And by
(27:19):
that I don't mean offensive necessarily. I mean, you know,
and in my position on the floor, I think sometimes
I take kind of a linebacker role. You know, I'm
the one that's kind of willing to throw a bomb
from time to time. And everyone has their strengths, and
I think that that's one of mine. And you know,
using the rules and using the procedures to try and
block policy that I see is harmful. And I think
(27:41):
that's something that I have become most known for because
when people watch the legislature, they're listening to us talk
on the floor and sometimes, you know, that's the most
remarkable thing that we're doing. But the actual work that
we do is in the bills that we introduce. And
I would challenge anybody to look at the bills that
I've been reduced over the past seven years and find
(28:03):
something as divisive as what is dominating the media now
around the Nebraska legislature. We shouldn't be talking about trans athletes,
what bathrooms people use. We shouldn't have the genital police
out here, you know, monitoring what's between your legs. We
need to be working on the actual issues that Nebraska's
(28:24):
talk about in their communities, around their kitchen table, at
the school, pickup line, in line at the grocery store,
and those are things that make people's quality of life
actually better. You know, I mentioned earlier every single thing
that we talk about in there. My only question is
is this going to reduce people suffering in Nebraska? Is
(28:45):
this going to improve their quality of life? There are
lots of issues that we can have heated debates about,
but should those debates be taking up the oxygen that
they do in the legislature, especially in a short session.
You know, many people don't know in Nebraska we have
a ninety day session, that's the long one. This year
we have a sixty day session, which is the short one.
(29:07):
So we're going to be done tax time. We're going
to be done in mid April. We do not have
enough time from January to April to talk about trans writes.
We've got a lot of other stuff to do, and
I would like to put down the swords and focus
on those things when we have such a deficit in
this state. We have so many real pressing issues facing
(29:29):
Nebraskan's and these social issues that are engineered to divide
us are not going to get us. There.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
One question on that that I've always wanted to ask you,
So you State Senator Megan Hunt of Omaha, You're walking
into the women's locker room at the gym. A guy
walks in right behind you. What do you do well?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
That has happened to me. Actually this was in the
news too at the time. I was assaulted in a
locker room at a I'm on Cass Street. And what
I will say is that men who are determined to
(30:11):
assault women do not become trans to do that. They
don't transition to do that. And the safest place for
trans women is in the women's locker room.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
No, no argument on your first point there. So if
it's just a guy who's not he's not trans, he's
just a guy. He's just walking in there not to
do anything. And I didn't know about that, And I'm
sorry to bring up such an awful memory.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Many many women have a similar experience.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Just a guy walking in and just drove and how's
it going, you know, and all that stuff, and there
are other women in the locker room going, I don't
feel comfortable. What should happen there?
Speaker 2 (30:49):
That's something I would probably ignore personally. I mean, it's like,
what are you talking about? This is such a hypothetical,
Like what is he doing? Is he naked? Is he
talking to people? Is he, you know, marching around acting
like he belongs?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Just wonder where the line is?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Did he make a mistake? Did he go? Oops? Sorry?
I thought this was the men's Like, this is a
hypothetical that you know, you're asking me where the line is?
It's really case by case, and everythinking person knows.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
That is all of this going to come up again
this session. Is there any bit to this that we
have yet to fully yell at each other about?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I would I would die to have it not come
up this session. That's going to be up to Senator
Kathleen cauth.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
What do you want to get done in this session?
And when you say you're out there knocking doors, no
one asks about this. What do they tell you that
they want to.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Have you do?
Speaker 1 (31:40):
And how does it rhyme with schmoperdy Shmaxes there you have?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
It sounds like you know, you know, I do think
that when people talk about property taxes, it's shorthand for
cost of living, right, it's another bill that comes to
their house that you know. I bought my first house
this year actually, so now I'm in the club as
well and learning about it for the first time myself,
you know, as a first time homeowner. And yeah, the
(32:10):
bills keep coming, don't they. Whether you own a home,
or you've got medical issues, or you're paying for childcare
or you're just trying to get groceries or go to
a restaurant. It is not cheaper to live now than
it ever has been. And so these are the main
things that I hear from people. And you know, I
think that a lot of property taxes are high because
(32:33):
schools and counties and fire districts and nursing homes. They
have higher costs right now. And if we don't reduce
these costs, you know, no matter how many times we
tweak the formula and link and the costs are not
going to go down. And so especially in a year
where we have like a four hundred and seventy million
dollar plus and growing deficit in Nebraska, taking a look
(32:54):
at that spending is going to be. It needs to
be the priority this session, for this short session.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I hope you guys can finally, if not get something
meaningful done, let's let's have that conversation and see that through.
Because Nebraska voters are commanding it.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
That is right, and so that has to be the conversation,
not ICE, not TRANS. It has to be practical things.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
What about ICE members who are trans Can we talk
about maybe next time. I got to let you go
this morning, and I really appreciate you coming in here
and spending so much time with us this.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Thank you for welcoming me me always.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Thank you, You're always welcome here On eleven ten KFAB.
That's former intern at this radio station, now state senator
in Omaha, Megan Hunt. Scott Voyes mornings nine to eleven
Our News Radio, eleven ten kfab
Scott Vordy's. As I was getting ready for the show,
It's like, all the news is just awful. It's all
there's so much that's so bad. Shooting in Australia, people
celebrating Hanukkah, the shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
The murder of beloved Rob Reiner and his wife it
(00:23):
sounds like potentially by their son, Nebraska's volleyball team loss.
I mean, I'm looking everywhere in the world for some
glimmer of something that's trying to infuse me with some
level of positivity and optimism. And by the way, Christmas spirit.
As we're now into this season, and here's what I
found for you. I think it's more important during times
(00:47):
like this than ever before to try and enrobe yourself
in the Christmas spirit. This is a great chance, with
the news so dire, to take time out from the
all the hectic stuff that the season brings, and you
reach out to a friend and say, we grew up
loving when Harry met Sally, or Sleepless in Seattle or
(01:08):
any of the other great Rob Reiner movies, Princess Bride,
stand by Me, any of them. So we grew up
loving that movie. When can we get together this week
and drink a couple of bottles of wine or whatever
and watch that movie to get together? For others, it
might be you know, we've been friends for a long time,
and even though we're of different faiths, I'm embarrassed to
(01:30):
admit I know starting startingly little about Hanukkah. Most of
what I know about Hankkah comes from an Adam Sandler song.
When can we get together and have a beverage and
hang out and chat and spend a little time together
this week? This is a time to use the excuse
of this horrible news to make sure that you're connecting
(01:50):
with people, family, friends, co workers. It's so easy to
retreat and bury ahead in the sand. This is a
time to reach out to a polarizing senator who might
have different political views of your own and invite her
into the studio to chat for a little bit. Well,
and look who we have here from Omaha serving this
district here in midtown Omaha at State Senator Megan Hunt. Senator,
(02:14):
it's great to have you back here on eleven ten.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Kfab Scott, thank you so much for having me here.
You know, sorry to contribute to more bad news for
your listeners. I'm here. I'm actually been hired to take
over for Gary Sottelemeyer. So it's going to be me
and Scott. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
People been wandering, You're like, who's going to take over
for Gary? Well, it turns out that since you're your
term limited, it's right at the legislature, you're looking for
a little part time gig. It's just for work a
few hours in the morning. And so yeah, I'm I'm
just a placeholder until you're done inflicting whatever it is
you're going to do to us next at the legislative level,
and then you're going to be in here as our
(02:50):
morning show host. And there are so many listeners right
now that don't know we're joking, or maybe we're not.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Maybe you have information I don't. That's fine, it's all yours.
It's it's good to see you. You have actually spent
some time on our little radio station here. You're a
Dundee denizen of sorts.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
That's right. You know a lot of you, A lot
of your listeners might know or not know. I was
an intern here at KFAB and I want to say
two thousand and six vern Werka, an old radio engineer
here was one of a big, big mentor that I
had in college, and I spent some time here working
with Matt Tompkins and different folks as a drive time
(03:28):
producer for tom Beca And so yeah, I know these halls.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Well, actually, well, it's good to have you back. It's
been a very long time. When I, in our broadcast
tease a moment ago, described you as someone who some
people referred to as the AOC of Nebraska and our
blue dot here, your face wrinkled a bit. Was that
and enthusiasm was that in? I don't know if I
(03:55):
want that label or what do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, I said you after I said, nobody said that. I.
You know, I'm every every politician that any of us
could be compared to. You know, they stand on their
own they have their own legacy, they have their own agenda,
and they have their own experiences, and I don't think
that we can compare you know, AOC from the Bronx
to me from Blair, Nebraska. You know, it's not going
(04:19):
to be the same type of thing. I understand what
people mean when they say that. You know, I have
a reputation as a leftist and a progressive in Nebraska,
which is a conservative state. But I think that that
is needed in a state like Nebraska, we need opposing viewpoints. Obviously,
I'm not in the majority, and so I don't think
(04:40):
anybody needs to worry about, you know, me getting my
way all the time or anything. But it is just
kind of the dichotomy and the tension of different views
and experiences that come from our personal experience that I
think is what makes politics really great.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I'll tell you why I think some people kind of
tag you with that label is because, like Alexandria Ocasio
Cortez in New York, you are one of the few who,
when you're running for office, you say, if you vote
for me, this is what I will stand for, this
is what I will say, this is the voice I
will have, these are the votes I will make, and
(05:13):
then you actually do those things. Now, some people and
sometimes I have criticized some of the things you've said,
especially we'll get into some of your Twitter posts here
in just a moment, but at no point have I
been shocked by them, because you are the person that
say this is what you're getting, you want to vote
for it, and people are like, great, we'll have some
(05:34):
of that. And so that's why you've been in the
unicamerle for so long. What I really have a problem
with are the people who say, hey, if you vote
for me, i'll be this vote, I'll be this reliable
and then they get there and they don't do any
of that stuff. They don't stand for anything, they don't
vote for the lines with the party that they claim
to be a part of. Those are the people I
(05:54):
have a problem with, not people like you.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
No, I agree with you completely. And what you learn
quickly in politics is all you have is your word.
All you have is your good word. And you know,
the first time I ran for office, I've been reelected
and I'm term limited now, so I'm just going into
my eighth year. But I've knocked over twenty six thousand
doors in this district. And that of course includes a
lot of independence like myself, and a lot of Republicans,
(06:18):
And of course, you know, you hear this whole spectrum
of you know, epithets and everything at the doors. Sometimes
I had a gun pulled on me. Once you know,
all this stuff happens at the doors.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
You can look very dangerous.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
It could be wild, but I also heard from a
lot of Republicans and conservatives. You know, I disagree with
you ninety five percent of the time, but I trust you.
But I know you're not, you know, a liar. You're
not misrepresenting your views on anything, and I honestly appreciate
you recognizing that, because you know, despite political differences, anybody
(06:51):
can have integrity, and that's the way you do that.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I've even talked with some of your cohorts down there
who are very different from you from a political spectrum,
and they respect you as well. Sometimes you aggravate them,
but they generally they enjoy working with you. Do you
enjoy Do you enjoy working with any of them?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Oh? No, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
No, you would rather many of these these more conservative
members voted into the unicameral by their constituents just not well.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's not it's not that I have a problem with
their politics, even which which in many cases I do.
The people who are the colleagues who I'm working with
in the legislature, just the culture there is very different
from when I started, and eight years is not a
long time, so I feel like I was fortunate to
come in sort of just as the culture change of
(07:52):
term limits was happening, So I got to see a
little bit of the before and now some of the after.
And you know, I'm not saying it wasn't always this way.
I'm not saying this is a new development or something,
but I don't think people are running for the right reasons.
And it's really frustrating. You know, when you talk to
a colleague and they're not quote unquote working on an issue.
(08:15):
So when you ask me, do you like working with
your colleagues, you know, it's hard to swing a cat
and hit somebody who's working on anything. They're not working.
They're taking their marching orders from somebody, whether it's on
the left or the right. And you know, before we
even go in and work on a policy or fine
tune a bill or talk about amendments, everybody already knows
(08:36):
what's going to happen. And it wasn't always that way.
And so that's what has taken a lot of the
fun I suppose, or enjoyment, or you know, the kind
of thing that makes you excited to work in politics
because you get in there to solve the big problems.
To say, yes, property taxes are a big problem, Yes,
we shouldn't be closing these rural hospitals. Yes we need
(08:58):
to make sure that farmers are getting fair price for
their commodities and their outputs and everything. Yes, we need
to make sure small business owners have a future in
this state. All of these things, but the actual will
for the problem solving that that takes is not there
to the degree that it needs to be.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
All those things are incredibly important things to discuss, yet
you've been there at a time during the legislative history
that has just been one social thing after another, whether
it's related to the specter of President Trump, whether it
has to do with the gender issues in bathrooms and
surgeries and so forth. You've been outspoken on all of
(09:39):
these fronts. I'll tell you the one tweet of yours
that I wasn't entertained by, and we'll start there is
just one. Well start with this one. We'll start with
that one as our guest in the studio is State
Senator Megan Hunt of Omaha. Will talk more with her next,
Scott goes, Well, you'll know it. News Radio ELEVENFAB been
(10:00):
very entertained by your social media presence for a long time.
Another reason why I think you get the AOC of
Nebraska tag. Because you're both very entertaining on social media,
you have no problem firing back at people. You're not
exactly careful sometimes in your opinions, you're like, here's what
I think, and it's might include some obscenities, but here's
(10:22):
what I'm thinking. I think some of your posts here
about ICE Immigration Customs enforcement, I thought that they were
potentially dangerous because if we are telling people that they
need to resist or disrupt or anything that ICE is doing,
that could potentially get people arrested, it don't need to
(10:43):
be or worse, they could get they could get killed
in a situation like this, and I felt like you
were trying to push people down a potentially dangerous road,
and that has happened.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
You know, people have been arrested who are not guilty
of breaking any laws, you know, or people who are
not guilty of breaking any laws other than you know,
kind of what can happen in the course of a
peaceful protest. And then those things go out and get
litigated in court, and people have lost their lives as
well in these protests. And I think that that should
(11:16):
be a wake up call to people in this presidential
administration who have prioritized these quote unquote mass deportations over
public safety. And I think that some of that has
been you know, it's it's red meat for the base.
It's capitalizing and preying upon some of the darkest, you know,
(11:41):
divisive political views that we have about each other, when
what we're really talking about is our neighbors in Nebraska, no,
our newest Nebraskans. And you know I have I'll admit
to you and your listeners. You know, I have what's
probably an uncommon view on immigration in the legislature and
probably in the general public too. You know, I think
(12:02):
people should be able to live where they want to live.
I think that that's the best thing for our economies,
that's the best thing for healthy families and for public safety.
And everybody in a community, whether it's me or someone
like my colleague Senator Dan McKeon, or you or a
migrant who lives down the street and works in the
(12:22):
restaurant here in Dundee, they have to follow the same
laws as everybody. So you know, when you're guilty of
law breaking, when you have committed a crime, we have
a justice system to deal with that. We have a
court system to deal with that, and these extra judicial
arrests and incarceration, these things actually don't make anybody safer.
(12:47):
And so that's my view on that. I know that
you know that's not something that's probably popular with a
lot of people listening, But I think that, especially now,
and you know that the lead up that you did
up to this segment at the top of the hour,
what we need right now, more than anything is more
(13:08):
compassion for each other. And there is almost nobody I
respect more in this community than the people who have
risked everything to migrate here, to move here, to put
down routs and start a family, start a business, and
I think that as community members to those people, we
should be protecting them.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I could go down a couple of different side roads there.
The only one I'll take a step in is if
we allow just open borders everyone come here. I think
you might have some people take advantage of the generosity
of America, and now that welfare state gets to be
really untenable. But to step back here on the topic
at hand, I have always said that if I'm living
(13:45):
in some nation that's run by drug traffickers and gang members,
and all I have to do is get my family
to America, which is traditionally both parties have looked the
other way on immigration and border security. And now I
have a chance to protect and take care of my family.
I'm crawling through miles of broken glass to do that
for my family. I don't blame so many people for
(14:07):
taking advantage of that opportunity. The one thing I want
you to think about here when it comes to what
ICE is doing. For example, they come to this food
processing plant here in Omaha, they have a list of names.
It's not like, Hey, anyone who looks like they even
have so much as a decent tan get in the van,
will or send you to Uganda. Will figure it out later.
(14:29):
This was a targeted operation by ICE, probably because there
are people within the Hispanic community, legal immigrants, dreamers who
are trying to get paperwork right now, who have had
their identities stolen by people who came here stole their identities.
Made it difficult for people in this community to start businesses,
(14:51):
to have jobs, to be able to get loans, to
be able to function. When your identity is stolen, it's
absolutely awful to deal with. And when people come in
here and they steal an identity and they use that
to work. It makes life harder for people in their communities,
does it not. Isn't there something we should do about that?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I think that we already have processes in place to
do something about that. You know, identity theft is already
a crime, and so I think that we should pursue
justice for crimes like that through the same avenues that
you know, you or I would go through. I wouldn't
expect an ice vehicle to come to my shop in
Benson and arrest me if I stole somebody's identity. I
(15:33):
just don't think that that's a solution to the problem,
and it's exacerbating again violence, division, the worst impulses of
humanity in our country, separating families, locking people up, not
letting them have lawyers or any legal representation. It's not
the way.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Do you think that the process, the way it's been
played out here in Nebraska has been okay. We've got
the so called corn Husker in McCook, a prison that's
now used as a processing center, and we have had
attorneys be able to go meet with them. Sometimes we've
had to bring people back your to Omaha to meet
with some of their immigration attorneys, and we haven't had
(16:15):
people just rounded up and sent to El Salvador at
this point. Here is what's happening in Nebraska. Okay, I'm
sure you'd like to see it done differently, but is
I mean you've said, well, yeah, if you break the
law on some front, then you need to deal with
those consequences. Right now, we're processing this all out, So
what's the problem.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
The problem is the targeting of people that has been
so obviously racialized that we are rounding people up in
this dragnet who have not broken the law, perhaps at all,
and certainly not to the degree that they need to
be locked up in a facility like the one in McCook.
I think that there's a cruelty and a nastiness behind
(17:00):
the motivation of all of this stuff. And I think
that there's also, you know, legal and constitutional questions about
how the mcook facility has been converted into a federal
detention facility. You know, you guys have probably talked about
this on your show. State senators have not been allowed
to visit the facility, even though according to our constitution
in Nebraska, you know, we do have oversight over our
(17:23):
correction facilities, and so people who disagree with that, will say, well,
it's not a state facility, it's a federal facility. And
then that's a question that's going to play out in
the courts, you know, in the coming months. But if
we had a system where public safety was really our priority,
and transparency and following rule of law was really our priority,
(17:46):
you know, on the part of our leaders, on the
part of people like the governor or the president, et cetera,
this would not be the way that this plays out
in our in our culture.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I'm going to give you my thoughts and say I
believe a lot of people feel the same way I do.
I already told you that if if I were south
of the border and knew if I got here, I'd
have a much better life for me and my family.
I don't blame anyone for doing that. I've always thought
America needs to do a better job of making sure
that we are allowing for legal immigration to be able
(18:17):
to support allow them to support their families, support our communities.
I also think that there are a lot of people
who are in the country illegally, who they got to
the border, maybe illegally, but they were told by somebody,
hey sign this, pay me that and we're going to
give you a work number. Now, these people didn't know
(18:37):
it was stealing someone's identity. They didn't know the whole
thing was fraudulent. They're just like, Okay, someone told me
if I get here and meet this guy and I'm
with these other people, they're going to give us this
paperwork and this allows me to work in America freely
and legally. I think a lot of people have felt
that way. What we're doing right now with these ICE
operations is trying to separate these people I was talking about,
(19:02):
and you're el Chapos and things like that here. So
when I say I think we need to do some
of this stuff, it might not be pretty because a
lot of law enforcement work is not. I'm not looking
at this as hey, just round up all the illegals
and get all them meskins out of that.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So I mean, expectfully, Scott, You're not supposed to look
at it that way. All of this immigration, mass deportation,
the messaging, the effort, the rollout of it has been
designed to make people like you think it's okay. You know,
you say, we got to separate the people who just
have a false social Security number from the El Chapos
(19:41):
is the place to do that, in a chain link
cage in twenty degree weather, separated from their families, taken
away from their businesses where they've been contributing positively to
the community. I you know, as I said in the
previous segment, we have legal uh processes in place, and
what this administration has done is invent a new process
(20:05):
because they manufactured a crisis, They made a lot of
people feel like their communities and cities are not safe
when they're perfectly fine, and have manufactured a political will
to say, well, we got to get the El Chapos
out of here, and if we got to throw all
the brown people in a cage to do that, then
that's what it takes. And that's what's important to me.
(20:26):
And I think we got to step back and say,
you know, people are exhausted by political fights that have
nothing to do with their actual lives. And on every issue,
I ask myself, does this reduce suffering? Does this help
somebody with their family? Does this keep people safer? And
the way that Trump administration has chosen to enforce the law,
(20:50):
especially when it comes to immigration, I have to say no,
it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I've been doing this radio show for over nineteen years.
We've talked about the illegal immigration a billion different ways. Sure,
and I've received eighty seven trillion emails about it from
KFAB listeners. Not once as any single emailer ever said
let's just round up all the brown people and figure
it out later. I've never heard anyone. I've received emails
(21:15):
that have been racist over the years, and those people
have been blocked from my inbox. I'm not interested in
having that conversation. I'm not saying there aren't racists out there,
but when I hear good people discussing this issue, I
don't hear that characterization of them that you just provided.
So do you think that Trump voters are racist or duped?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Like?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
What do you think about people who have a different
choice when they go into that ballot box?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I think that what people think if they wouldn't say
out loud, let's round up the brown people. Fine, fine,
nobody said that out loud. Fine, let's say that's true.
But that's what's happening. It's so much more important to
me what people's experiences are, how we are enforcing the law,
and also what message this is sending to the rest
(22:04):
of the world. It's shameful. I mean, people aren't coming
here for tourism. People are coming from Germany and England
and these other places expecting to have their phone searched
at the border to see if they have any memes
making fun of JD. Vance. All of these things are
embarrassing to the United States of America, and a lot
of that the root of it is the racism of
(22:24):
our immigration policies.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
What about people who are in the country legally. They
are from whether Mexico or Salad or Guatemala or whatever,
and they've got businesses, they employ people, and they've been
told by some alleged community leaders like, look, all right,
we are shutting down all the businesses here in this
area to show a solidarity for all the things that
(22:51):
those racist Republicans and Trump supporters and the Ice people
are doing. And business owners, some of them have said,
we want to be open. We take every single step
to make sure that we're not employing people who don't
have their paperwork in order. But if we open up,
we're gonna look like we're somehow not with the people
in this community. And it's hurting our businesses too. I mean,
(23:12):
this is a problem for not just why people going, hey,
I get rid of all the You know, this is
a problem in these communities too.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I haven't heard of I haven't. I mean, I'm always
open and being wrong, but I haven't heard of any
businesses closing quote unquote in solidarity with a boycott or
something like that. I've heard of workers who are here
legally or undocumented, being afraid to go to work because
they're afraid that their business will be targeted, being afraid
(23:40):
to go to school, being afraid to go to their
places of worship. Because in this country, we do have
people who are here legally, whether they're citizens, veterans, whether
they're here seeking asylum and they or they have visas,
or their students. These people have been detained by ice
sometimes for months, and the process, the legal process that
(24:03):
we're putting these people through to receive justice for any
crime they may have committed or not, is not the
right process. It's not keeping anybody safer.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Your cohort, also from Omahas Day, Senator MICHAELA. Kavanaugh was
I don't know if she was one of those or
the one who went out to observe the Cornhusker clink
in McCook, Are you planning on going out there as
well and potentially being turned away.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I know she went out there. I think Senator Margot
Warez may have gone out there as well, potentially Terrell McKinney.
You know, I'm trying to think of who else has
gone out there. Yeah, I do plan to go out there.
I think that you know, what is this platform for.
I'm not ordained. There's nothing like special or magical about
(24:52):
me that I get to be the state Senator from
District eight. I'll be gone in a minute and someone
else will be here and they will have to be
a steward of the gift of this position, just as
I have tried to be. And I think that it
would be a waste of the gift and the platform
to not use this position for the oversight that it
calls for. The Nebraska Constitution calls for state senators to
(25:14):
give oversight over our corrections processes. And that's what I'm
going to do, because that's not just what I was
elected by these people in this community to do. It's
my responsibility as a lawmaker.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Do you think Governor Pillen is racist? I presume that
you think President Trump is racist.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
I think that there's a long documented history of racist
remarks that Senator Pillen or that Governor Pillen has made
you know, what we hold in our hearts or whatever.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
People can debate, But the President Biden, President Obama rounded
up deported a lot of people in their administrations. Are
they racist?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
That's right. I was deeply critical of all of that
at the time as well.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Are they racist?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
That's a racist action for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Okay, I want to talk about a few different things
while we have you in here, State Centaer Megan Hunt
of Omaha with us here. You're term limited out in
just a moment. What do you want to do here
in this upcoming legislative term because you guys get back
after it just in a matter of days.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Now.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
What are you hoping to do? And what are you
afraid it's going to devolve into some of the antics
related to all of the stuff on who's going to
be allowed to do what surgery, what age and bathrooms
and all the rest of that stuff. It's been an
interesting few years here. What are you thinking here as
(26:36):
you guys get back after it next month?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Isn't it depressing that all of the things facing Nebraskans.
You know, when I was knocking doors for the first
time in twenty sixteen. Nobody at the doors said, you know, well,
we got to make sure that kids aren't getting surgery
on their genitalia. Nobody said that to me.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Do you think that's because they didn't have to. They
didn't think this was going to be such a big issue.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
It isn't a big you know, here we go, here
we go. But no. I what I would like to
have happen this session and what I am determined to do.
I mean, look at the bills I introduce. I think
that people know me better from the remarks I make
on the floor, many of which are offensive. And by
(27:19):
that I don't mean offensive necessarily. I mean, you know,
and in my position on the floor, I think sometimes
I take kind of a linebacker role. You know, I'm
the one that's kind of willing to throw a bomb
from time to time. And everyone has their strengths, and
I think that that's one of mine. And you know,
using the rules and using the procedures to try and
block policy that I see is harmful. And I think
(27:41):
that's something that I have become most known for because
when people watch the legislature, they're listening to us talk
on the floor and sometimes, you know, that's the most
remarkable thing that we're doing. But the actual work that
we do is in the bills that we introduce. And
I would challenge anybody to look at the bills that
I've been reduced over the past seven years and find
(28:03):
something as divisive as what is dominating the media now
around the Nebraska legislature. We shouldn't be talking about trans athletes,
what bathrooms people use. We shouldn't have the genital police
out here, you know, monitoring what's between your legs. We
need to be working on the actual issues that Nebraska's
(28:24):
talk about in their communities, around their kitchen table, at
the school, pickup line, in line at the grocery store,
and those are things that make people's quality of life
actually better. You know, I mentioned earlier every single thing
that we talk about in there. My only question is
is this going to reduce people suffering in Nebraska? Is
(28:45):
this going to improve their quality of life? There are
lots of issues that we can have heated debates about,
but should those debates be taking up the oxygen that
they do in the legislature, especially in a short session.
You know, many people don't know in Nebraska we have
a ninety day session, that's the long one. This year
we have a sixty day session, which is the short one.
(29:07):
So we're going to be done tax time. We're going
to be done in mid April. We do not have
enough time from January to April to talk about trans writes.
We've got a lot of other stuff to do, and
I would like to put down the swords and focus
on those things when we have such a deficit in
this state. We have so many real pressing issues facing
(29:29):
Nebraskan's and these social issues that are engineered to divide
us are not going to get us. There.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
One question on that that I've always wanted to ask you,
So you State Senator Megan Hunt of Omaha, You're walking
into the women's locker room at the gym. A guy
walks in right behind you. What do you do well?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
That has happened to me. Actually this was in the
news too at the time. I was assaulted in a
locker room at a I'm on Cass Street. And what
I will say is that men who are determined to
(30:11):
assault women do not become trans to do that. They
don't transition to do that. And the safest place for
trans women is in the women's locker room.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
No, no argument on your first point there. So if
it's just a guy who's not he's not trans, he's
just a guy. He's just walking in there not to
do anything. And I didn't know about that, And I'm
sorry to bring up such an awful memory.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Many many women have a similar experience.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Just a guy walking in and just drove and how's
it going, you know, and all that stuff, and there
are other women in the locker room going, I don't
feel comfortable. What should happen there?
Speaker 2 (30:49):
That's something I would probably ignore personally. I mean, it's like,
what are you talking about? This is such a hypothetical,
Like what is he doing? Is he naked? Is he
talking to people? Is he, you know, marching around acting
like he belongs?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Just wonder where the line is?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Did he make a mistake? Did he go? Oops? Sorry?
I thought this was the men's Like, this is a
hypothetical that you know, you're asking me where the line is?
It's really case by case, and everythinking person knows.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
That is all of this going to come up again
this session. Is there any bit to this that we
have yet to fully yell at each other about?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I would I would die to have it not come
up this session. That's going to be up to Senator
Kathleen cauth.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
What do you want to get done in this session?
And when you say you're out there knocking doors, no
one asks about this. What do they tell you that
they want to.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Have you do?
Speaker 1 (31:40):
And how does it rhyme with schmoperdy Shmaxes there you have?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
It sounds like you know, you know, I do think
that when people talk about property taxes, it's shorthand for
cost of living, right, it's another bill that comes to
their house that you know. I bought my first house
this year actually, so now I'm in the club as
well and learning about it for the first time myself,
you know, as a first time homeowner. And yeah, the
(32:10):
bills keep coming, don't they. Whether you own a home,
or you've got medical issues, or you're paying for childcare
or you're just trying to get groceries or go to
a restaurant. It is not cheaper to live now than
it ever has been. And so these are the main
things that I hear from people. And you know, I
think that a lot of property taxes are high because
(32:33):
schools and counties and fire districts and nursing homes. They
have higher costs right now. And if we don't reduce
these costs, you know, no matter how many times we
tweak the formula and link and the costs are not
going to go down. And so especially in a year
where we have like a four hundred and seventy million
dollar plus and growing deficit in Nebraska, taking a look
(32:54):
at that spending is going to be. It needs to
be the priority this session, for this short session.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I hope you guys can finally, if not get something
meaningful done, let's let's have that conversation and see that through.
Because Nebraska voters are commanding it.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
That is right, and so that has to be the conversation,
not ICE, not TRANS. It has to be practical things.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
What about ICE members who are trans Can we talk
about maybe next time. I got to let you go
this morning, and I really appreciate you coming in here
and spending so much time with us this.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Thank you for welcoming me me always.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Thank you, You're always welcome here On eleven ten KFAB.
That's former intern at this radio station, now state senator
in Omaha, Megan Hunt. Scott Voyes mornings nine to eleven
Our News Radio, eleven ten kfab
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