Councilman Calls Mayoral Candidate Post "Misleading"

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcoming Omaha City Councilman District seven. Brinker Harding back to
the program, Brinker, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
I chilled, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
I wanted to chat with you because typically we don't
do political candidates the day before in election the primaries tomorrow,
but you are unopposed, so there's no no equal time
or thumb on the scale considerations here. But I wanted
to talk with you because it was pointed out to
me by a listener that there that there's a post

(00:31):
on Facebook from the police union, the Omaha Police Officers Association.
Uh that I think at the very least I looked
it up at the very least as shall we say, misleading,
although it is not inaccurate, all right, and I think
you'd probably agree with that, but but flesh it out
for us, because you ran into somebody who was who

(00:52):
was curious about why you were not supporting Jean Stothard,
which in fact you are.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
I am supporting Jean stuff thereed absolutely. It actually started
gary a post from the McDonald campaign last week after
the Douglas County Republican Party did their endorsements, and the
way Mike and his staff worded their announcement led the

(01:22):
reader to believe that Amy Melton, Don Rowe and myself
had endorsed Mike McDonald for mayor of Omaha, and in
fact we had not. So I think desperate times call
for desperate measures. I think it's obvious that McDonald is
running behind Deans. He'll say or post anything to anyone

(01:44):
at any time in the hopes that he'll garner their
garner their support. Again, as you said, go ahead, No,
you have.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
To wonder how many people saw that. I like those guys,
they're supporting Mike McDonald. Huh, you know anybody. It doesn't
say it you are, But that's obviously the clear impression
that was meant.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Right, Yeah, I think the reader would, would you know?
And I when I saw it, I called their campaign
and I asked them to you know that I thought
it was misleading, and I thought it was very intentional
that it was misleading, because when they listed the Amy
and Don and myself and they said, oh, well, we

(02:24):
just copied what the Douglas County Republican Party post said, Well,
that's not true because the DCRP had also mentioned that
Gilbert Iella was was endorsed by the DCRP. So by
the mirror mission of Gilbert's name. It was very obvious

(02:45):
that they were trying to use or or you know,
confuse if you will, the reader that don Emy and
I were supporting Mike McDonnell.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
As an aside, are you surprised that the police union
has not publicly more powerfully supported John Ewing, a former
police officer.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Well, what I think is very interesting too is and
that one of those commercials just ran a couple of
minutes before I came on, is that, you know, when
you look at the national issue of getting police officers
or having fully staffed forces, I think it's rather I

(03:27):
think it's rather incredible that Omaha's crime statistics, which are
we are a safe community, our crime stats for all
of them are are lower than they've ever been. I mean,
homicides were I think at a what thirty or forty
year low last year. And I would say that that's
actually an endorsement of meristot or in the fact that

(03:50):
and Chief moder in the fact that our crime stats
are so low and we've been able to do it
with the less and full complement of our police officers.
But hats off to the men and women in blue
who've been able to do that. They've been working over
time and delivering those results. But there is a plan

(04:11):
in place that we are going to you know, continue
to recruit police officers, have lateral hires as well as
more you know, higher pay for starting officers.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
I know Chief Mater was on with Scott the other
day and he said, if you look at cities like
Omaha roughly the same size, everybody is down about twelve
percent since COVID and are trying to recover from it.
And then you had the.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, and just look at our crime stats. I mean,
we we are a safe city and we've been able
to deliver those results. And the mayor under her leadership
and Chief Smatter have been able to deliver those results.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah. And I don't doubt bring her. I don't doubt
that there's some stress on the police, on the officers
on the street, don't doubt that for a minute.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
But I absolutely it seems we need to do something
about it.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah. Well, anyway, that here's what the post actually says.
The rank and file men and women of the Omo
Police are proud to endorse the candidate we believe will
best keep our community and officers safe. Candidates plural with
omahopolice officers leaving this department at an alarming rate. This
staff in crisis is only getting worse. We need leaders

(05:27):
who will address this issue head on to protect our
community and ensure the safety of our officers. This is
why we're proud to endorse. And then Mike McDonald from mayor,
and then the five council members you, Amy Milton, Danny Begley,
Pete Festerson and Don Rowe now Begley and Festerson. I
don't know if they endorse anyone, I don't remember, but

(05:49):
I know that the three of you Row and uh
and Melton and you are Sothred allies. So a little
bit of a political sleight of hand there, and.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yet I'd like to say too that I am very
grateful for the endorsement also of the Police Officers Association
and have had a very good working relationship with them
and will continue to do so. What it stemmed from
Agindo was the McDonald post where it said grateful to

(06:22):
have earned the endorsement along with council members Amy, Milton,
Brinker Harding and Don Rowe by the Douglas County Republican
Party that was kind of started the whole deal, and
I think that that was the misleading statement. As I said,
I'm fully appreciative of the Police Officers Association and their
endorsement of me, but this stemmed from a misleading statement

(06:47):
that the McDonald campaign put out.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
Indeed, Branker, thanks for the time. I was going to
say good luck tomorrow, but all you need is one vote. Right,
you're good, So I think you'll here in the green zone.
Fine here, you're like naked capitalist. You've wiped out all
the competition. That's District seven councilman Brinker Harding