Interesting Mayoral Race Got Interestinger

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott Vordiez.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
In addition to April Fool's Day and that whole thing, yesterday,
we also had a primary election day here in the
city of Omaha. No surprise that Omaha Mayor Jean Stothard
advanced to the top two. The question was always, I think,
for a lot of people, unless you were fooling yourself
thinking that Mayor Stothard had lost all of her support

(00:24):
in this town and no one was going to vote
for her, and that stupid streetcar and I hit a pothole,
and you know whatever, Mayor Stothart was going to advance
to the general election next month. The question was always
of the other mayoral candidates who would be that second

(00:46):
vote getter, who would come in second and therefore have
to build a coalition to take on the incumbent next month.
A lot of people felt it was Mike McDonald. Don't
blame them for thinking that. Mike is someone who has
ginned up a lot of support among people who listen

(01:08):
to this radio station over the last couple of years.
He's been very strong on the issues of crime and
juvenile justice in this community, and of course famously broke
away from his longtime Democratic Party because he says, well,
I'm pro life. I am unapologetically pro life, and for

(01:29):
that he got censured. He had questions about some of
the stuff that would or would not be happening with kids,
and who's going to play on what sports team, and
who should be allowed to have what surgery or puberty
blocker or whatever at what age, and stunt all of that.
So he had questions about all that, in addition to
being against abortion, and his Democrat Party being what it

(01:53):
is these days, censured him. He left the party and
decided to sign up and say I'm a I'm a Republican.
And so a lot of Republicans are like, yay, hey,
we got one. You know, they're like Janine from Ghostbusters,
we got one. There's your eighties movie reference for this
segment of the radio program. Lucy doesn't know what it is.

(02:16):
I just said it's Ghostbusters anyway, Jennine, Sorry about that
bug eyes thing. I'll be in my office. So a
lot of Republicans were like, yay, we got Mike, we
got a state senator. This is great. Yeah. But then
the first thing that newly minted Republican Mike McDonald does,

(02:36):
he's still got that new Gopiecemell. The first thing that
this Republican does is decide to mount a challenge to
the longtime Republican mayor of Omaha, Jean Stothard. Now, I'm
a believer that iron sharpens iron. No one gets a
free pass. It's why we have primary elections. You get

(02:58):
Republicans buying against each other and things like this. Since
these city races are officially nonpartisan, it's not like it
was just Dothored against McDonald, the two Republicans battling against
each other to see who would win. It's kind of
all mixed in with all the other candidates. But for
that side, it was about who could get their supporters

(03:20):
out to vote for them to advance them to the
top two. And Mike McDonald had a core of support.
But as I said the other day last week, three
weeks ago, it always kind of felt to me whether

(03:40):
it was going to be in the primary or the general.
I didn't know whether McDonald was going to make it,
but I said, it always kind of felt to me
that this support for McDonald is very much like Dan Osborne,
the Independent Senate candidate to ran against deb Fisher last year.
There were a lot of conservatives who liked him, but
he was a little too liberal on things for them

(04:02):
to really fully support. There are a lot of liberals
who liked that he was taken on the Republican but
he was too conservative about some things to really get
their full support. And therefore Fisher won by about what
ten or so points, and it kind of looked like
things were shaping up that way. But the big question

(04:26):
was would the Democrats be motivated enough All these guys
that put blue dots in their yard since well before
the November election and kept their blue dots in their
yards since the election? Why do that? Well? Because this
is who they are. As Gary Sademeyer pointed out on
kfab's Morning News today, he said, I still see a

(04:48):
lot of blue dots and yards around this community. I
guess that's part of their identity. It certainly is how
motivated would they be to go vote in the city
primary election and would they split that vote pretty evenly
between the two bigger Democrats in the race, longtime Douglas

(05:11):
County Treasurer John Ewing and relative political newcomer Jasmine Harris.
As of last night and the latest numbers which will change,
but it's not expected that these numbers will change so
much in the mayor's race that the top two will change.

(05:33):
Mike McDonald conceded the race last night, so right now
it's incumbent Mayor Jean stotht Republican against longtime Douglas County
Treasurer Democrat John Ewing. There have been a number of
Republicans who voted over the years in city elections for
say their Republican mayor Jean stother perhaps say Republican leaning

(05:57):
council member like Amy Meltener brinker Hart, and they've also
voted for John Ewing. And they've done that for a
couple of reasons. John Ewing is an incredibly likable guy,
really good man, great dude, very very nice, doesn't get
the flame thrower out and start calling names and doing

(06:18):
all that stuff. Longtime Omaha police officer, so he's gined
up a lot of support. Another reason why a lot
of Republicans have voted for him is in most of
these elections he's essentially ran unopposed, so it's kind of
easy to do. But the only measurement on John Ewing

(06:41):
we can get in a race between him and a
Republican is you might remember He ran in Nebraska's second
congressional district years ago against the incumbent Republican congressional member
Lee Terry, and he lost in some mood that were
out of character for John I felt at the time.

(07:03):
He he did come at Terry a little stronger and
included some personal shots on this program. He said, yeah,
I guess you know. Lee Terry played football in high school.
He was the water boy, and so we had some
fun on this radio show with that characterization because we're infantile.

(07:24):
But these guys are running for Congress and that's I thought,
that's kind of how that was a little beneath Ewing
to take that shot. But the voters sent Lee Terry
back for another what would that have been another term
at that point, and then Brad Ashford beat him, and
then we have the mustachio Don Bacon in Nebraska's second

(07:45):
district since then. So this will be another opportunity for
Ewing to try and get that support of the blue
dot Democrats in this city to take on Jean Stothard.
Stothart has enjoyed now three terms as mayor of Omaha.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
And.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Really, I mean Heath Mellow was a very good opponent
for her in one of those races. Obviously, she first
got into office taken on the incumbent Democrat mayor of Omaha,
Jim Suttle. Obviously a very difficult race to take on
an incumbent, but she's beat Heath Mellow and what was it,

(08:26):
I can't remember who she ran against it? What did No,
don't say that name. He didn't run and it was R. J.
Neary this last time. And R. J. Neary, nice guy.
He was nice enough to call and concede the mayor's
race four years ago to Mayor Stothard the night before

(08:47):
the election. That's how close all that was. So how
is this going to look here? Between Stothard and Ewing.
You look at the city of Omaha, where you got
thirty nine percent Omaha voters going into the Douglas County
Election commissioner, thirty nine percent of Democrats, thirty three percent
of Republicans, and twenty eight percent are independent or other

(09:10):
third parties. But this is also the way it was
four years ago and four years before that, and Jeane
Stothard has been elected and re elected and re elected.
So the makeup of the city hasn't changed. The fact
that I think it seems like Mayor Stothart has lost

(09:32):
some support based on the emails. We get to this program,
but people going, I don't like this streetcar. I don't
know what she's doing. This is gonna cost me money,
and she says it's not gonna cost you money. It's
actually going to make more money for the city of Omaha.
Businesses are popping up along the streetcar route. It's going
to revitalize downtown. And maybe you're not going to do it,

(09:53):
but you're probably also she didn't say this part. I'm
saying it. You're probably also the same twenty or so
percent of Omahan's who said, I don't know why we
need a convention center, just leave it alone. We're not
gonna get big concerts and conventions here. And the Civic
Auditorium's fine. Taylor Swift was not going to come here

(10:13):
and play the Civic Auditorium. We don't need a downtown
baseball stadium. Rosenblat's fine. The College World Series was not
going to and this was all under subtle, but the
College World Series was not going to sign a thirty
year agreement with the City of Omaha at Rosenblat, and

(10:34):
since then, the Zoo has made great use of that space.
Time marches on, you march with it, or you get
dragged behind that bus. Mayor Stothart, it seems to me
believes enough in the streetcar. And I've said this before.
If she felt the streetcar was a terrible mistake, and
it might be. But if she felt the street car

(10:57):
was a terrible mistake, I think she would have said,
but you know what, City of Omaha, I've had a
great time being your mayor. It's time to hand the
baton to the next generation of leadership in this city
and I wish you the best. And she wouldn't run
for this term, but I think she believes enough in
the streetcar and or is stubborn enough to run for

(11:19):
another term, to see it through, to see all the
businesses pop up around it and say see again. She
probably won't do it like that. She'll say, see this
is great, and then she'll run for another term. I
don't know what she's going to do. I don't know
what the City of Omaha is going to do on

(11:40):
May thirteenth, when we have the general election here between
Mayor Stothard and John Ewing. It's noted here by the
Omaha World Herald quote. In pursuing her fourth four year
term as mayor, Stothard is seeking to extend a remarkable
political run. You have to go back to the the

(12:00):
corrupt machine politics days of the nineteen twenties to find
the last time anyone was elected mayor of Omaha four
times or served more than twelve years in office. I'd like,
wait a second, the corrupt political machine days of the
nineteen twenties in Omaha. Who was that? Who was mayor

(12:21):
in Omaha back in the nineteen twenties? You know who
it was?

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Was it Alves?

Speaker 2 (12:28):
No, it was like the nineteen seventies. No, but the
mayor of Omaha throughout the nineteen twenties, Hal Dobb is
that right? Yeah kidding? No, it was a Democrat mayor.
We had a lot of Democrat mayors for better part
of forty years. An occasional Republican I think maybe one

(12:50):
Republican in there. But for most of the nineteen hundreds, teens,
the twenties, and then back again for the early thirties
was Democrat Mayor James Dolmen of the Domen Avenue, Dolmen,
Dolmen Park, Dolmen School, the Dolmen neighborhood. The No, that's

(13:11):
the Dalton gang, Lucy. You don't know jan No, James Dolmen,
And so I started. I just kind of did a
little cursory examination of the life of Mayor James Dolman,
like what what made him, you know, the corrupt political
machine of the nineteen twenties. Well, I can't find anything

(13:37):
in there that fully suggests that it was all corrupt.
I know that there were people here one hundred years ago,
good decent people who didn't like that Mayor Dolmen allowed
so much sin and vice in our community.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
He's the one that ordered the tunnels being built. Really yeah,
under the what is now the Old Market he ordered
all those tunnels to be built and attached connected to buildings.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Is that true? Yes, I don't know if you're messing
with me or what you're doing.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
No, the tunnels are there. I don't know if you think. No.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
I think the tunnels are there for you know, electrical plumbing.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
And they'd walk through tunnels.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
I know. But I mean there's all kinds of reasons.
But perhaps the prohibition come and going from various speakeasies
that may or may not have been allowed at the time,
Mayor Dolman had a reputation as the wettest mayor in America.
The number of saloons especially. This is going back in

(14:42):
you know, it's it's one hundred years ago in Omaha,
West Omaha. In Omaha in nineteen twenties was like what
sixtieth Street?

Speaker 3 (14:51):
Oh yeah, we were way outside. Now we're barely inside
the Omaha city limits here in writing.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, so West Omaha, Like, who would ever live of
west of sixtieth Street?

Speaker 3 (15:02):
So Roger still feels that way, I know.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, Roger Olson, who's never been west of sixtieth Street,
very dundee kind of a guy. You go along that
stretch like on Q Street and it's not it still
kind of is. But when I was growing up a
million years ago, that stretch and Q Street, I think
at one point had the most bars of any like

(15:28):
one mile stretch. We're talking like in the the twentieth
you know, between twentieth and thirtieth Street, thirty seconds somewhere
in there. I think that enjoyed a reputation of the
most bars and parlors of any one mile stretch of streets. Yeah,
I can see it now in America, Yeah, yeah, and
they're all great. So the number of saloons and pubs

(15:51):
and bars and speakeasies, parlors and all the rest of
it doubled during his time during his first ten years
in may And what was the years, Well, that was
the first ten years as mayor was like throughout the
right after the turn of the century, throughout the nineteen hundreds.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
So not when Omaha was founded.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
No, okay, and then then he wasn't mayor, and then
he was mayor again, But basically over twenty three years.
He was mayor of Omaha for twenty of about twenty
three mayors, twenty three years as mayor. He died in
office in January of nineteen thirty after being elected. No,

(16:33):
I don't know why he died. I know how his
brother in law died. I also learned that Mayor Dolman,
otherwise known as Cowboy Jim oh See, in eighteen seventy eight,
at the age of twenty two, James Dolman killed his
brother in law during an argument didn't deserve it, and
then fled to Western Nebraska and used a new name,

(16:55):
Jim Murray. Hey, partner, you're not from around here. Name's
Jim Murray. Jim Murray, call me Jim Murray.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
This is the mayor he fled.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Ye, he wasn't mayor yet he wouldn't He wouldn't be
mayor for another twenty years or so. So he kills
his brother in law, flees town, and then a judge
said a self defense, Come on back.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
Is that the judge in Wisconsin?

Speaker 1 (17:22):
No?

Speaker 2 (17:22):
No, So he came back and ran for mayor and
served as mayor for twenty years. And I think it's
interesting that the Omaha World Herald is likening Jeans Stothard
to cowboy Jim Dolmen. I mean, the only thing they
have in common is they have now at least three

(17:43):
terms of mayor and they've also killed a guy. So
those are the only things that Stothard and Dolman have
in common. Questionable murder and at least three years in office.
So just seeing if you're paying attention. So this is
what we're on the precipice of. We've called her ever

(18:06):
since she got that concealed carry permit. We occasionally have
called her Calamity Jane. They're both some gun toting us.
The most routent TUTANUS mayor in America is calamity Jeans Donther.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
But Joe Trump said make America great again. Yes, so
we're gonna go all the way back.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Ye for those who think that was great. There might
be people who don't. But you weren't alive, what do
you know? Probably wouldn't fine. So she's running against Johnny Wing,
longtime Douglas County treasurer, and he's a former Omaha police officer.
One of the big issues in this primary race was
the Omaha Police Officers Association. The police union weighed in

(18:50):
loudly put a lot of money into this race, touting
the candidacy of Mike McDonald, a firefighter. The cops and
the fire fighters on the same side. Why would that
be and what happens next? I'll tell you after a
Fox News update shortly Scott.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
By's news Radio eleven ten k FAD.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
Big question I have about the May thirteenth general election
in the city of Omaha is what are those cops
gonna do?

Speaker 3 (19:23):
So?

Speaker 2 (19:24):
I mentioned a moment ago, the Omaha Police Officers Association
instructed all of Omaha's police officers who are motivated to
go vote. After all, this impacts their jobs and their
livelihoods and their safety. In their community, and so therefore
also impacts their family members. So when the police union says, hey, sergeant, sergeant,

(19:50):
in this case the sergeant's last name is also sergeant relative.
Was it dick sergeant or anyway?

Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yeah, from a bewitched yes.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
So in this case it's one of his relatives as
an Omaha sergeant named sergeant sergeant. Sergeant, sergeant, you addressed
me as sergeant.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
I have it.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
Sorry, it's a long it's not worth getting into the
weeds on this one. Sergeant. You're gonna go vote for
in the primary election, Mike McDonald. And remember when you
go vote, make sure your wife goes to vote. I'm gay.
It's a husband. Sorry for good, no offense. In this case,

(20:33):
sergeant sergeant is also a gay man. You're gonna go vote.
Your husband's gonna go vote, his brother's gonna go vote.
Make sure your sister goes to vote and her husband,
and so that tree of influence ends up having a
lot of roots. That's why I'm a little bit surprised

(20:55):
that Mike McDonald didn't advance to the top two vote getters,
because at play here is the police officers and the firefighters.
Mike McDonald was a longtime firefighting captain and union leader.
So you imagine that had a lot of influence among
the firefighters and their spouses and their kids who are

(21:18):
old enough to vote, and their friends, and their brothers
and sisters and their parents. I mean, they all went
out and voted the same thing with the cops. And
because now we're talking about union stuff, a lot of
times those union guys tend to band together. I'm a
little surprised that you didn't have more union people do

(21:40):
the same thing, with the same family roots going out
there to vote all for Mike McDonald. That was the
thing that I thought would probably if he were to
make the top two. It's because they got out that
big union vote. But unions tend to be pretty staunch
Democrats tend to be pretty staunch Democrats. And Mike McDonald

(22:02):
was censured by the Democrat Party of Nebraska and then
registered as a Republican. That's a fractured base of support
right there, which is why my big question was is
it gonna mean McDonald or Ewing. Well, now we know

(22:23):
it's Ewing against the incumbent mayor, Jean Stothart, So now
here's the big question. Here's here's the big, big question
for the general election next month. Has Mayor Stotht lost
enough support over the years in Omaha, whether it's the
streetcar thing. A lot of people are like, I don't

(22:45):
like the street car, Yeah, but you don't really like anything.
Well I'm not gonna ride it. Yeah, but you weren't.
You weren't doing it that anyway. So I mean, there's
there's a lot of that, and there's also something that
happens in this town which just happens in this town.
I don't think Omaha is unique in this respect, but
you have some people that are like, Ah, that person's
been in office long enough. I think it's time to

(23:06):
get someone else. I don't like these career politicians for whatever.
So in other words, I don't like that that person
I've voted for three times does things ninety five percent
the way that I would do them if I were
in office. I just get tired of the same people
in office all the time. Let's get someone in office

(23:27):
who would vote the way I would fifteen percent of
the time, just to get a new face in there.
It's weird, but that's what happens. So has Mayor Stotht
lost enough support that people won't go out and vote
in the general election, and will John Ewing be able
to get because in order for him to take down

(23:51):
Mayor Stothart, he's going to have to retain the people
that just voted for him yesterday. Shouldn't be hard. He's
going to have to win over pretty much. I mean,
you would think the Jasmine Harris voters are probably gonna
vote for John Ewing, and then you also think Scot
there's gonna get a lot more people out to vote

(24:13):
next month. That should probably cancel each other out. The
big question is all these people that voted for McDonald,
what are they gonna do? Because you're vote, you're looking
at a guy who's got that police union or some
of the union supporting this town and some and that
tends to be Democrat, and you would think they'll vote

(24:34):
for Ewing. But he's also this new Republican who was
saying we got to stop the streetcar, even though every
other candidate for mayor said we can't stop the streetcar.
We don't know what he's talking about. Not only I mean,
we already bought a lot of this stuff. We're tearing
up roads, we got businesses all set up ready to

(24:54):
go along the route. What do you mean stop the streetcar?
We gotta have a vote. This is the vote for
the street car in some respect, and based on that,
it looks like the street car is in good shape
after yesterday. So for next month? What are those McDonald
voters going to do? These are a lot of people.

(25:16):
This is the angry twenty percent of Republicans who never
like the Republican incumbent. Ah, we need someone in there
who's gonna be more like this and more like that.
There's always some of that. Well, are they gonna are
these people who tend to be pretty staunch Republicans? Which

(25:38):
was interesting that they just sided with a guy who
for his entire adult life was a Democrat until the
last year and a half. But be that as it may,
do they vote for Stothard in many cases? Again, are
they going to go vote for a Democrat or are
they going to sit out? This is gonna be a
pretty tight race. The thing that incur courages me about

(26:01):
this is I think it's actually going to be a
race where these two candidates are respectful of one another.
There's a good conversation and robust debate. No mud slinging,
a name calling, and all the rest of it. I
think now some of their supporters will certainly do that,
But I don't see Treasurer Ewing and Mayor Stothard getting

(26:22):
into the mud on this because if they do, I
think that is too. I think that's the Stothard's benefit
because it would be out of character for either of them,
and let's face it, in a debate, and I hope

(26:44):
to have one here on this radio station. If you've
heard both of these individuals, and both of them were
They've been on with kfab's morning News, they've been on
this program, they're on with Emery last week. If we
talk talk about specifics of what's going to happen in
this area of Omaha, that area of Omaha, what are

(27:06):
we going to do about this? This is a city
budget issue, what about this redevelopment and so forth. Mayri
Stouth knows her stuff. Johnny Wing, he's not served in
Omaha City government in that respect, he wouldn't know as
much and he tends to speak in more generalizations. Well,

(27:30):
it's about trying to keep the young people in Omaha
and making sure we have safe streets. Mayorst authors like
in my one point five billion dollar city budget on
page seventy three, paragraph four. You'll note that in line
two this, and you're like, wow, boy, does she know
her stuff. That's going to be an interesting dynamic. But

(27:54):
I don't see them like calling each other names and
so forth. It's going to be a really good conversation.
I hope to have a debate between the two of
them on this program in the weeks ahead. The other thing,
and I think I'm done with the city election stuff
here this morning.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
After this.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
The other thing here that I'm looking at from yesterday's
vote is in District two, Ben Gray looks he's in
great shape to get his old job back. This is
the former District two north Omaha City council person who
got beat four years ago by a relative political newcomer

(28:33):
who was just, hey, we need someone, we need some
new leadership in this community. And so Juanita Johnson became
the city council representative for District two. During an entertaining
four years of office, Juanita Johnson has had a restraining
order against her by an ex boyfriend who says she

(28:53):
came into my shop and threw a candle at me.
It was not lit. At the time, one of those
big glass jar cands, she threw a candle at me,
which I felt should have been her campaign slogan, Janita
Johnson can't hold a candle to her. So we had
their straining order issue. We had the other members of

(29:15):
the city council basically gang up on Jannita Johnson and
change the rules so that she couldn't just shovel money
away however it was that she wanted, and then sit
there in the council meetings arms folded with a sour
look on her face, calling people names and causing problem
after problem during council meetings, which happened during her four

(29:39):
years in office. During this race and District two, they
had several community events come by and talk to the candidates.
They had some debates among these candidates, really good people.
Ben Gray is a very good man. William King super
great man. And these candidates would go in there and
they would have these or conversations or guess who never

(30:02):
showed up jan Anita Johnson. I don't know if she
just felt like she it was entitled to get another
four years, or if she just didn't want any more.
Part of it. Probably the latter, which surprises me because
I met Janita Johnson when she was a candidate for
office and I enjoyed my conversation with her, and then

(30:24):
what I saw with these last four years was shameful,
and the people of District two apparently feel the same way.
This could change. There's still some votes out there, some
write in votes that need to be counted, a lot
of ballots to count, so it certainly could change. But
as of right now, Ben Gray is dancing towards the

(30:45):
general election. The question is whether he'll be taking on
the incumbent Janita Johnson, who right now is only about
forty votes behind Levanya Goodwin. And I don't know her yet,
but that's gonna be interesting here as they count these
ballats the rest of the week, and we'll get more
details on Friday as to whether Ben Gray is gonna

(31:08):
be taken on Goodwin or Johnson. I kind of hope
it's Johnson because I want to see that debate. No
offense to Lavanya Goodwin, but I just want to see
that debate to basically see if she shows up for it.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Scott Byes, where you're going? News Radio eleven ten kfab.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Put down the candle. This is a political debate. Can't
Councilmember Johnson, do you have anything to say about what
mister Gray just said. Put the candle down, I said

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Scott Byes Mornings nine to eleven, Our News Radio eleven
ten KFAB