Terry Tea Partying

by Street Sweeper on March 15, 2012

NE-02 Congressman Lee Terry has fund raisers and events planned tomorrow. But what makes these events different from the standard rubber chicken and photo op one usually attends, is Terry’s guest: Representative Allen West (R-FL).

West is a member of the House Armed Services Committee as well as Small Business Committee. In addition to those, Lt. Colonel West served in Operation Desert Storm, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

But what West is even better known for in political circles is his leadership in the Tea Party movement. He has been a resounding voice on economic independence and entrepreneurial spirit and regularly slams the Obama administration for stifling jobs and growth.

None of those positions are new to Terry, and West’s support of Terry is not really much of a shock either. Terry gets high ratings and support from most conservative groups.

But of course Terry has also received a few extra intra-party opponents this year who have tried to claim some sort of Tea Party support on their own. Nary a political story goes by in the local paper without some mention that Terry has opponents in the GOP primary who claim Terry is not conservative enough.

So West’s support of Terry should help to put a wet blanket on that story and focus on Terry’s conservative credentials and the support from his colleagues. (But we doubt that would happen, because otherwise what would they have to write about?)

We rarely think these types of endorsements factor in that much with local voters. But for those who had wondered where some of the national players came down in the second district, they might note that it is not with Terry’s opponents.

***

On that NE02 note, on Monday Don Walton of the LJS mentioned that maybe the Obama campaign wasn’t going to be flooding the second district with the same amount of resources they did in 2008.

Then again, that could all change if someone thinks the Presidential campaign will come down to one Electoral Vote. Or if the DSCC thinks they can bang Kerrey in with increased Dem turnout.

But we have yet to see any real interest in the NE02 Democrats from any national sources.

***

This is pretty much one of those “closing that barn door after the horses have escaped” points, but a commenter noted it, and we can’t believe we did not bring it up as well.

One of the big supporters of the new Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender anti-discrimination ordinance in Omaha, is of course Mayor Jim Suttle. You may remember immediately following Suttle’s election, his choice for Chief of Staff — Matt Stamp — quickly got caught up in a scandal where he was accused of having a homosexual relationship with a then-minor, who ended up killing himself five years later. To our knowledge Samp was never actually legally accused or convicted of anything in that whole matter.

But the accusations, at the time, were enough for Suttle. Rescinding an offer to hire Samp, Suttle said,

“It doesn’t make any difference whether it’s perception or reality — treat them the same. It’s time to part company and I did.”

Now the new ordinance, that Sutle supported, says that an employer — in that case it would have been either Suttle or the City of Omaha, or both — may not refuse to hire someone based on someone’s actual or perceived homosexuality

Yet we have no doubt that a crafty lawyer, based on Suttle’s statement above, could make a strong argument that Suttle did refuse to hire Samp based on his perceived homosexuality. We are also sure that someone else could attempt to argue their way around that as well. But it certainly would have been an interesting question to ask and answer to receive after all the give and take over the last week.

Maybe Pandora’s Legal Box won’t open over this ordinance. But we have a feeling people in Suttle situation will be sure to take a different tack next time.

***

Be wary of certain George Clooney movies today. You’ve been warned.

Oh, and you’re Bracket is already done so just tear it up now.

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The Final Kickback

by Street Sweeper on March 14, 2012

Yesterday Ben Nelson gave half a million dollars of his campaign war chest to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Commitee (DSCC).

Which was convenient.

Because we remember that immediately after Nelson signed on as the deciding vote for ObamaCare and signed off on the Cornhusker Kickback, the DSCC started running ads on Nelson’s behalf during the Husker’s bowl game. In the end the DSCC spent around $1.5 million on TV for Nelson in Nebraska — described as issue ads, as opposed to Nelson campaign ads.

Many Dems were angry (how about choo get back to us when you’re NOT angry, Dems) that the money had been spent on Nelson, then he went and dropped out of the race. Well, now Nelson is paying the DSCC back, and Nelson’s cash can be funneled to Bob Kerrey’s camp, via the DSCC. It’s like one big revolving cash waterfall, yeah? Nelson notes that they will be “making other refunds” and see what they have left for the DSCC.

Interesting way to put it since, again, all along the claim was that these were not “campaign” expenditures.

The NEGOP’s Mark Fahleson asked,

“Is this part of the secret deal Bob Kerrey admitted making to get him to enter the Senate race – a deal that Sen. Harry Reid now denies? What else was part of the deal, and what role did Sen. Ben Nelson play in all of this?”

Interesting questions all, Mark. Though we would suggest that you’re better off yelling into a desk fan out in the middle of a field in Keya Paha County, than hoping that the press will…press…Kerrey or Reid or Nelson on this.

***

And remember how when Big Apple Bob (nee Cosmic Bob) bragged that he made a deal with Harry Reid and that he made said deal only because it was “for the benefit of Nebraskans”.

Well, maybe Bob or Paul Johnson or an intrepid member of the media will ask Senator Arlen Specter about promises from Harry Reid, particularly regarding Senate seniority.

In a new book, Poltiico notes that Specter says that…

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid did not uphold his promise to grant him seniority accrued over 28 years of service in the Senate as a Republican (after Specter became a Democrat).

“Specter believes that Reid acted with “duplicity” while managing the party switch. Specter said Reid promised him that he would be recognized on the seniority list as a Democrat elected in 1980 but failed to deliver it.”

Now, we have already seen that Reid denies making any promise to Kerrey.

So to quote that ubiquitous phrase in his ad, Welcome back (to politics) Bob! Getting duped already, yeah? Let us know when you change your mind, again.

***

To close out the coverage from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender vote issues yesterday, we stand by our original info and source when told that Franklin Thompson was going to vote “Yes” on the ordinance. We received an irate response from one supporter who was not happy that we posted that before Thompson voted.

Be that as it may, Thompson’s behavior during the pre-vote discussion was…interesting to say the least. First Thompson asked for more information about the poll that was taken by Democrat operatives in favor of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender ordinance. But no matter who took the poll, we were a bit alarmed that immediately prior to the vote, Thompson was asking publicly, “Which way does the wind blow?” This sort of vote seems to be based on the language of the ordinance, and then on one’s personal positions regarding the issue as a whole. Yet Thompson wanted to find out more about a poll?

And then there was that little matter that it was a bogus, party driven, unevenly weighted, and admittedly one-sided, bullshit poll. So, REALLY Councilman Thompson? THAT was what you wanted more info on?

Follow that with the fact that Thompson was willing to vote Yes, if his amendment to take out the “appearance of Transgender” part was accepted, and we think we were pretty on-track — not to mention that our info was that Thompson was telling certain people before the vote what he had decided.

But such is the back and forth in political life. Thompson’s vote wasn’t needed in the end, and that may have made a difference as well. Or maybe not. But after all that, Thompson will no doubt have some explaining to do to constituents who care to ask.

We have heard from politicos who are ready to put this issue on the 2013 ballot as quickly as they can. But we would just offer a word of caution: if the failed Mayoral recall taught us anything, it is that an unorganized, splintered, leaderless group will get you nowhere. Especially when you are facing a well-organized group, who frankly will be snarling about this issue.

As we noted before, it has the potential to offer full employment for local politicos. (And maybe that is part of the problem.)

***

Thank you again to all of you who have supported Leavenworth Street by making your Amazon.com purchases via our Amazon links (at the top of the page)! And there are few things better than coming home to a toasty Amazon box containing your favorite whatever that you got for a steal. We are here to help make you happy!

And hey, even if you don’t buy Amazon stuff (and even if you do), please tell your friends and especially political enemies about Leavenworth Street! Spread the word, and let them know where to go for the talk of Nebraska politics. And you can tell them that you were here first.

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UPDATE: Thompson votes NO, Gernandt votes YES; New ads for Kerrey

by Street Sweeper on March 13, 2012

In a vote that could spell full employment for political consultants and media buyers and sellers across Omaha, City Councilman Franklin Thompson is reported to be voting FOR the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender non-discrimination ordinance before the City Council.

Those opposing the ordinance have vowed to collect the required signatures to put the ordinance to a vote before Omahans in 2013. We understand that former Hal Daub aide Brinker Harding could also be an early declared opponent to Thompson in his West Omaha district.

We will update with further info and as necessary.

***

And as we noted earlier, Bob Kerrey made a $107,000 ad buy in Nebraska for this week. See his spots here…

…and here:

In both the “Step Up” and “Welcome Home” spots, Kerrey finally admits that he has spent the last eleven years away from Nebraska.

…as a New York City liberal, who thought about running for Mayor there, and is looking forward to pushing through more and more ObamaCare.

Well…the rest is implied anyway.

**update**
And as a commenter notes, if Kerrey is “home” in Nebraska, where does he go when he wants to see his wife and young son? And where do THEY live?

**UPDATE at 3:30pm**

Thompson says that if the “gender identity” language stays in, he will NOT vote Yes…

**UPDATE at 3:40 pm**

Thompson proved us wrong and voted NO.

But, the ordinance passes anyway with Gernandt flipping.

Which, if we were gambling, tells us that Thompson realized they didn’t need his vote, and went safe. But he did note, as we did, the uncertainty contained in the ordinance language. Will be interesting to see how he plays it down the road.

Ah City politics…

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The OWH pushes a bogus poll

by Street Sweeper on March 13, 2012

Before we dive into the goings-on in Omaha, here is a little piece to keep the local radio stations in business. American Crossroads has a spot out on the Bob Kerrey Kickback. Hear it here:

And this is the low-hanging fruit on Kerrey, folks. We do not doubt that there will be more and more and more to come.

Kerrey is reportedly going up with a week’s worth of ads ($104K) starting today. No word on the contents yet. (Will it feature the bridge???)

Fun, no?

***

Here on Leavenworth Street, we like to talk politics. That is why we put it in the title of our blog — “the talk of Nebraska politics”. The point being, we are oftentimes more fascinated by the politics of an issue, than the issue itself.

Case in point: the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender ordinance being considered by the Omaha City Council today. Understandably commenters here have taken to discussing the merits of the ordinance and whether it is deserving, etc. Nebraska football coach Ron Brown expressed his opinion on the ordinance, quoting the Bible, and was roundly criticized for being an anti-gay caveman. OK.

In all honesty, we do not feel THAT strongly about this ordinance. Sorry if that is a shock to you. We have stated that we believe this ordinance is poorly written, is too broad, and could have repercussions beyond what is intended with it. But we do not think the idea or goal behind it is bad.

Of course, if you come out against something that someone claims will help the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender community, you are automatically labeled a homophobic knuckle dragger who wants to turn America back to the ’50s. The 1750s, that is.

And we get that. That has been the M.O. of the liberals and Democratic Party for years and years and will continue to be so.

But when this all came up, we were wondering, Who is driving this? Omaha City Councilman Ben Gray? Really?

Well, then we looked who Ben Gray and his wife are associated with, and we started connecting the dots.

Gray and his wife work with the organization, NorthStar360. Interesting makeup of the NorthStar360 Board.

You’ve got…

• Dick Holland — Sugar Daddy to Nebraska’s feature ultra-liberals, Bold Nebraska.
• Bob Kerrey – former President of the ultra liberal, “New School” in New York City, who apparently has been seen in Omaha lately.
• Susie Buffett — Daughter of well known social-issue-liberal Warren, and champion of local liberal causes, most recently seen hanging out with Cosmic Bob at a local high school basketball game
• Ben Gray – Omaha City Councilman who is pushing for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender ordinance.

***

Now as you probably know, Susie’s dad now owns the local paper, the Omaha World Herald (“OWH”). The OWH has already taken the Editorial position that Omaha should enact the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender ordinance. That is fine. They can, and do, push whatever issue or candidate they want — oftentimes to the contrary position of public opinion.

But when their aggressiveness on an issue comes off the Editorial page, in into the “news”, we take note.
Yesterday the OWH published the headline:

Poll: Plenty of support for anti-bias ordinances

They state, “a new poll showed that a majority of Omaha registered voters who were polled favored such protections. “

Well, that is an interesting poll (see a “summary” here), isn’t it? We are told that it was a telephone poll, of some sort.

But when was the last time you saw a polling group take a sample of more than 500? This one comes up with 1,003 respondents?

And the age skew? In Garry Gernandt’s South Omaha District 4 38% are age 18-29? But then essentially the same number, 40% are aged 30 to 60? And then 60 and over is 21%?
44% college graduates in Franklin Thompson’s District? Hmm.
That is what you are selling, huh? Got it.

Oh and we see Questions are numbered starting with…3,4,5,6,7,8,9…12…2. We hate to go all Sesame Street on you, but The Count may have some issues with that number sequence. What of the mysterious missing questions?

So with NO backup to show the methodology of this poll…and with no further analysis of the “poll” whatsoever… and just a little mention at the end that this pollster works pretty much exclusively for Democrats…the OWH publicizes it as “news”.

Oh, and while we are at it, coincidentally, the Gals at Bold Nebraska also put up an ad on their website, which they state aired in Omaha last night. How about that! Gee, Dick Holland funds Bold Nebraska and they end up with the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender TV ad. What a coincidence! We wonder who paid for that???

See their hipster techno-spot here:

So, whichever side you land on this issue, know that the Omaha World Herald is pushing this with all the barrels of ink they own. And Susie Buffet and Warren Buffett and Dick Holland and their guy Ben Gray are driving that ink wagon down Dodge Street.

On the other side of it, the anti-ordinance forces have already said they will look to put this on the 2013 ballot to link it with all of the City Council races, and the Mayor’s race. And do you think the pro-Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender ordinance forces would open up their pocketbooks for that election battle?

The local media salesmen have to be drooling on their spreadsheets — already soaked with thoughts of pro and anti Bob Kerrey ads.

And, as it turns out, this all comes down to Councilman Franklin Thompson today.

Wonder whose info he will bet on…

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Who’s the Liar?

by Street Sweeper on March 12, 2012

The day that New Yorker Bob Kerrey announced that he had “changed his mind” and decided to run for U.S. Senate (in Nebraska), he had this exchange with Nebraska Watchdog‘s Joe Jordan:

Jordan: Did (Democrat Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid make any promises to you?
Kerrey: Yes he did.

Over the weekend, addressing the unfolding Bob Kerrey Kickback, Senator Reid said,

“Kerrey was promised nothing.”

Nothing. Nuuuuth-ing.

There is no misunderstanding that, eh?

So, who is lying here folks?

Bob Kerrey has said (at least) twice that Reid promised him something. As a matter of fact, Kerrey told Joe Jordan that Reid’s promises were “important” to him. So by the admissions that Reid and Kerrey had “lots” of conversations before Kerrey changed his mind to run, one would have to assume that if Kerrey did NOT get said promises from the Democrat Senate Majority Leader, he would not have run.

So if Reid is now saying he didn’t promise Kerrey anything, then either he is lying or Kerrey dramatically misunderstood him, or Kerrey is lying.

And if Kerrey misunderstood him, and now discovers what was so “important” to him, in order to run, was all just a sham, maybe Kerrey needs to reconsider?

Hey look, Chuck Hassebrook’s name is still on the ballot. We are sure that it would be no skin off Jay Noddle’s nose if Kerrey moved out of the guest house and went back home to his wife and child in New York City.

In any case, see Bob? This is what it is like when someone goes back on a promise they made to you. Now what other promises are you going to present to Nebraska?

And remember, it was Kerrey who famously called Bill Clinton, “an unusually good liar.”

Maybe Bob took lessons.

***

And continuing on Kerrey, come on Omaha World Herald! You cannot expect New Yorker Bob Kerrey to have an opinion on every Nebraska topic!

Kerrey was busy for weeks trying to decide if he should change his mind, getting Harry Reid to “promise” things, typing out a “heads up” email to Chuck Hassebrook, calling his sister to see if her basement couch was free for nine months — that kind of stuff. So Kerrey has had no time in the past year and a half to reach an opinion on the Keystone XL Pipeline!

Because on the one hand…environmentalists. And on the other hand…unions. And Paul Johnson has probably not had time to message poll out the issue to tell Kerrey where to stand. But you know, Kerrey does note that…

“Whether you solve (climate change) with Cap and Trade or some other alternative, I think it’s one that in short order we’re going to regret not doing.”

So even if Kerrey would not be in favor of blocking Tar Sands Oil from coming into the U.S. — since China could get it anyway — you can sure as heck bet Kerrey will be in favor of some other radical enviro plan to “change the Earth’s climate” by making you pay more for everything and killing jobs. Oh, and that will be while China and India laugh at you in the unemployment line.

But listen, you have to give Cosmic Bob tiiiimmme. He just moved into Jay Noddle’s guest house, for Pete’s sake! He is currently trying to decide if that new interstate that connects Westroads to Burke High would be a good idea or not. (At least that is how New York Senator Chuck Schumer described it to Kerrey…)

***

Great quote from Congressman Lee Terry, marching on Omaha’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday:

“Frankly, this is a staple for politics. If you’re not here, you’re not a candidate.”

(Searching for Kerrey in the parade lineup…searching…searching…
Nope.)

***

And one last bit on the Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender protected class ordinance before the Omaha City Council, that we discussed last week.

These things do not come out of no where, of course. Ben Gray did not suddenly have an epiphany, and decide that Omaha needed an ordinance to solve a problem for which he had no evidence of.

No, these things get pushed by those with the cash in town. And who is one of the city’s wealthiest pushers of social agendas?

Why that would be Bob Kerrey’s Central High School basketball co-fan, Susie Buffett! Are her pockets deep enough for you?

And heck, we are not sure what it is Ben Gray does for a living, but we would not be surprised to discover that he is associated with her, one way or another. And in any case, Susie’s dad, Warren, owns the local newspaper. Wondering how that fishwrap comes down on the ordinance?

Do you really have to ask?

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Thompson’s gamble

March 9, 2012 Read the full article →

The Kerrey Kickback

March 8, 2012 Read the full article →

Report: Hassebrook to drop out of Senate race

March 8, 2012 Read the full article →

Are those polls correct?

March 7, 2012 Read the full article →

BREAKING: Poll cats

March 6, 2012 Read the full article →

Laser Cat

March 6, 2012 Read the full article →