Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kathleen. Kylef here on the phone, Nebraska state senator who's
looking at Good morning, Kathleen, go to have you back.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning, Gary, how are you well?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Thank you. I think Jim and I have a little
different view of what you're doing here, but let's start
with this. We go back a couple of months where
Elizabeth O'Connor, University of Nebraska Board of Regents member was
charged to weather pretty serious offense to the UI and
there were some severe injuries in the accident. No verdict yet,
(00:31):
no trial yet. But you say that this merit's at
least looking into impeachment. What are you doing at this point?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Right now? It's literally just figuring out what is the process.
It takes several months to do. It's a very structured process.
So that's why it's important to get it started now
and run a parallel. My hope is that she would
choose to resign and focus on her trial. Should she
be found guilty of a felonie, she would. I don't
(01:01):
know that she would automatically be required to resign, but
I think that it is very important that if you
are drunk driving and a public official, you resigned from
your public.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Office based on the charges, although I don't know that she.
I don't remember any public statements from O'Connor admitting to
this or anything else. So you're saying, because of what
evidence is available, she should resign.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yes, well, there's this little thing called do process, Senator
calf and where are you on that.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I absolutely agree with due process, which is why I
think she should be focusing on her prial for this.
But again it's public officials. We are held to it.
We should be held to a much much higher standard.
The other thing is this is, like I said, a
very long process to do, and so getting it started
now is important because should she be found guilty and
(02:01):
choose not to resign, or should she be able to
clean down to a misdemeanor and not be a felony.
The facts are that she was, according to the police report,
a point three two one blood alcohol level. The victims
who we are not hearing a whole lot about the
Landervan of Anzella and Latanda Johnson. Latnda was a passenger
(02:23):
who has severe injuries. There are also three small children
in that car. All of those people are kind of
being forgotten in this and this is something that we
have to keep a focus on. A public official has
a very very high duty to at all times be
following the law.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well, we have not determined whether she's violated the law yet, Senator.
This is the issue. Innocent until proven guilty is either
a concept we agree with or not, and our court
system assumes innocence until proven guilty. Why does that not
apply to Elizabeth O'Connor.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, I would like to point out the fact that
she did resign from her paying job because of this.
So this is we're talking about the regent's position, which
is not a paying gig. It's it's a public thing.
So if you're resigning from your job because of this issue,
I think that that should be held to all of
these big things in your life.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
It's that to me is very very confusing.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Well, she designed from her job with the Douglas County
Attorney's Office. It's pretty difficult for her to continue to
operate as a Douglas County attorney while she's under a
criminal investigation. You're going to need a special session of
the legislature. If you want this done before January, you
can do during January. How much would a special session
(03:44):
cost to address one accused public official.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I believe it would be about one day, and that's
that's part of the process, is researching, figuring out how
this works, seeing if we have the buy in from
my fellow senators, if they're in sit in doing it,
seeing if the government will approve it and call it.
But I think the validity of it is that we
(04:09):
are expecting our public socials to be held to a
higher standard. If we say, well, gosh, it would be
too expensive to do it, at what point do we
say it's not too expensive to hold someone to a
higher standard and to make sure that they are obeying
the law that they are upholding. And Elizabeth O'Connor, as
a regent, she is impacting millions of dollars if they
(04:31):
just approved a budget. Those are taxpayer funds. This is
not something that is a tiny, tiny public office. This
is very impactful for the stake.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well yeah, well you mentioned and I think this is
important because under the state constitution, if she would be
convicted of a felony, she couldn't. But as you point out,
the possibility of playing down a misdemeanor, in which case
she could stay. And that's where you believe impeachment should
come in correct, right.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, then my offer, then, Senator, would be this, if
she pleads it down to a misdemeanor, which is going
to be hard given the evidence that we know about
so far. I mean, we're talking about an injury accident here,
and all of the evidence gathered at the scene of
the crime is pretty damning for Region O'Connor, then you
can begin the process of impeaching her. There's no question
(05:23):
that under those conditions, if she pleads it down to
a misdemeanor, you're probably going to get twenty five senators
that'll agree to this. Why not just wait until the
judicial process.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Plays out, because again, it is a month long process.
So I think we need to get it started and
run parallel so that we're ready at the time. People
have a tendency to forget things, to memory whole things too. Well,
what I will hear is, well, it was so long ago.
Why does it matter. It matters because people have been injured,
(05:52):
and it matters because it's a violation of public trust.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
It is.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
But Senator, we are three thousand beds short of nursing
homes starting in the year twenty thirty in this state alone.
We have a property tax crisis right now that is
driving people out of the state. There is a good
chance that two ballot initiatives are going to get on
the November twenty, twenty sixth ballot, which means overnight, you
(06:17):
and your forty nine friends forty eight other friends are
going to lose two thirds of the state's revenue in
twenty four hours. It seems to me that the judicial
process can handle Elizabeth O'Connor and the year guys time
should be spent on solving the problems of workforce development,
childcare availability, western educing test scores that are cratering in Omaha.
(06:38):
I mean, it seems to me you've got a full
plate and the judicial system can handle Elizabeth O'Connor.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Well, I think you forget that we can do many
things at once. I do actually hear that frequently. Well,
why aren't you focusing on this, Well, there's forty nine
of us. We're all focusing on many things at once.
Most of us have ten or twelve items that we
are working on. Property taxes is always one of those.
How to handle the as you said, the long term
(07:05):
care crisis is always one of those. So all of
these things, though, are impacted by the public's trust in officials.
If we say, well, gosh, we're too busy to say
this was wrong and we expect better. At what point
does a PUBLICI just lose trust completely in an elected official.
As we're trying to make these very very difficult decisions,
(07:28):
we need to have a public that trust that we
are doing the right thing at the right time. Sometimes
it is not convenient to do the right thing.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You have run you and thirty three other Republicans have
run for the last two elections on solving the prosy.
That argues that argu you've lost the trust of the
state of Nebraska long before both O'Connor climb behind the wheel.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I think that's a bogus argument, Jim, because it suggests that, Okay,
because we got these big problems, if something else important
comes up, we can't address it.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I just think that's a The judicial system will take
care of it. But then if they make it a misdemeanor,
then the legislature can get involved.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Well, we can agree to disagree, Jim.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Jim, you had the opportunity and you were seriously exploring
running the legislature. If I understand that you chose not
to do it, that is part of the problem. You
chose not to be in there with, you know, the
other legislators fighting these fights. We're there, we're actually working
on it. We are being stymied in a lot of ways.
There there are so many different conflicting ways to look
(08:39):
at things. But we're there and we're fighting. But if
we choose to ignore poor behavior by elected officials, we
will not have the public trust, and we shouldn't have
the public trust. It is never okay to say I'm
going to not do the right thing because it's inconvenient.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I agree, Gemini.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I love you kat this one. I just think you're wrong.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I appreciate the time. Senator Kathleen Kopp
Kathleen. Kylef here on the phone, Nebraska state senator who's
looking at Good morning, Kathleen, go to have you back.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning, Gary, how are you well?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Thank you. I think Jim and I have a little
different view of what you're doing here, but let's start
with this. We go back a couple of months where
Elizabeth O'Connor, University of Nebraska Board of Regents member was
charged to weather pretty serious offense to the UI and
there were some severe injuries in the accident. No verdict yet,
(00:31):
no trial yet. But you say that this merit's at
least looking into impeachment. What are you doing at this point?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Right now? It's literally just figuring out what is the process.
It takes several months to do. It's a very structured process.
So that's why it's important to get it started now
and run a parallel. My hope is that she would
choose to resign and focus on her trial. Should she
be found guilty of a felonie, she would. I don't
(01:01):
know that she would automatically be required to resign, but
I think that it is very important that if you
are drunk driving and a public official, you resigned from
your public.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Office based on the charges, although I don't know that she.
I don't remember any public statements from O'Connor admitting to
this or anything else. So you're saying, because of what
evidence is available, she should resign.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yes, well, there's this little thing called do process, Senator
calf and where are you on that.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I absolutely agree with due process, which is why I
think she should be focusing on her prial for this.
But again it's public officials. We are held to it.
We should be held to a much much higher standard.
The other thing is this is, like I said, a
very long process to do, and so getting it started
now is important because should she be found guilty and
(02:01):
choose not to resign, or should she be able to
clean down to a misdemeanor and not be a felony.
The facts are that she was, according to the police report,
a point three two one blood alcohol level. The victims
who we are not hearing a whole lot about the
Landervan of Anzella and Latanda Johnson. Latnda was a passenger
(02:23):
who has severe injuries. There are also three small children
in that car. All of those people are kind of
being forgotten in this and this is something that we
have to keep a focus on. A public official has
a very very high duty to at all times be
following the law.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well, we have not determined whether she's violated the law yet, Senator.
This is the issue. Innocent until proven guilty is either
a concept we agree with or not, and our court
system assumes innocence until proven guilty. Why does that not
apply to Elizabeth O'Connor.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, I would like to point out the fact that
she did resign from her paying job because of this.
So this is we're talking about the regent's position, which
is not a paying gig. It's it's a public thing.
So if you're resigning from your job because of this issue,
I think that that should be held to all of
these big things in your life.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
It's that to me is very very confusing.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Well, she designed from her job with the Douglas County
Attorney's Office. It's pretty difficult for her to continue to
operate as a Douglas County attorney while she's under a
criminal investigation. You're going to need a special session of
the legislature. If you want this done before January, you
can do during January. How much would a special session
(03:44):
cost to address one accused public official.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I believe it would be about one day, and that's
that's part of the process, is researching, figuring out how
this works, seeing if we have the buy in from
my fellow senators, if they're in sit in doing it,
seeing if the government will approve it and call it.
But I think the validity of it is that we
(04:09):
are expecting our public socials to be held to a
higher standard. If we say, well, gosh, it would be
too expensive to do it, at what point do we
say it's not too expensive to hold someone to a
higher standard and to make sure that they are obeying
the law that they are upholding. And Elizabeth O'Connor, as
a regent, she is impacting millions of dollars if they
(04:31):
just approved a budget. Those are taxpayer funds. This is
not something that is a tiny, tiny public office. This
is very impactful for the stake.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well yeah, well you mentioned and I think this is
important because under the state constitution, if she would be
convicted of a felony, she couldn't. But as you point out,
the possibility of playing down a misdemeanor, in which case
she could stay. And that's where you believe impeachment should
come in correct, right.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, then my offer, then, Senator, would be this, if
she pleads it down to a misdemeanor, which is going
to be hard given the evidence that we know about
so far. I mean, we're talking about an injury accident here,
and all of the evidence gathered at the scene of
the crime is pretty damning for Region O'Connor, then you
can begin the process of impeaching her. There's no question
(05:23):
that under those conditions, if she pleads it down to
a misdemeanor, you're probably going to get twenty five senators
that'll agree to this. Why not just wait until the
judicial process.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Plays out, because again, it is a month long process.
So I think we need to get it started and
run parallel so that we're ready at the time. People
have a tendency to forget things, to memory whole things too. Well,
what I will hear is, well, it was so long ago.
Why does it matter. It matters because people have been injured,
(05:52):
and it matters because it's a violation of public trust.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
It is.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
But Senator, we are three thousand beds short of nursing
homes starting in the year twenty thirty in this state alone.
We have a property tax crisis right now that is
driving people out of the state. There is a good
chance that two ballot initiatives are going to get on
the November twenty, twenty sixth ballot, which means overnight, you
(06:17):
and your forty nine friends forty eight other friends are
going to lose two thirds of the state's revenue in
twenty four hours. It seems to me that the judicial
process can handle Elizabeth O'Connor and the year guys time
should be spent on solving the problems of workforce development,
childcare availability, western educing test scores that are cratering in Omaha.
(06:38):
I mean, it seems to me you've got a full
plate and the judicial system can handle Elizabeth O'Connor.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Well, I think you forget that we can do many
things at once. I do actually hear that frequently. Well,
why aren't you focusing on this, Well, there's forty nine
of us. We're all focusing on many things at once.
Most of us have ten or twelve items that we
are working on. Property taxes is always one of those.
How to handle the as you said, the long term
(07:05):
care crisis is always one of those. So all of
these things, though, are impacted by the public's trust in officials.
If we say, well, gosh, we're too busy to say
this was wrong and we expect better. At what point
does a PUBLICI just lose trust completely in an elected official.
As we're trying to make these very very difficult decisions,
(07:28):
we need to have a public that trust that we
are doing the right thing at the right time. Sometimes
it is not convenient to do the right thing.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
You have run you and thirty three other Republicans have
run for the last two elections on solving the prosy.
That argues that argu you've lost the trust of the
state of Nebraska long before both O'Connor climb behind the wheel.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I think that's a bogus argument, Jim, because it suggests that, Okay,
because we got these big problems, if something else important
comes up, we can't address it.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I just think that's a The judicial system will take
care of it. But then if they make it a misdemeanor,
then the legislature can get involved.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Well, we can agree to disagree, Jim.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Jim, you had the opportunity and you were seriously exploring
running the legislature. If I understand that you chose not
to do it, that is part of the problem. You
chose not to be in there with, you know, the
other legislators fighting these fights. We're there, we're actually working
on it. We are being stymied in a lot of ways.
There there are so many different conflicting ways to look
(08:39):
at things. But we're there and we're fighting. But if
we choose to ignore poor behavior by elected officials, we
will not have the public trust, and we shouldn't have
the public trust. It is never okay to say I'm
going to not do the right thing because it's inconvenient.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I agree, Gemini.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I love you kat this one. I just think you're wrong.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I appreciate the time. Senator Kathleen Kopp
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