Omaha Mayoral Discussion

the1wags · Post by **the1wags** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:05 am

I encourage everyone to go vote today.

cdub · Post by **cdub** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:12 am

Hal and some of his staff were waving their |expletive| off on 28th and Harney this morn. Â Should be an interesting day anyway. Â Lets hope its not the start of a 4 year train wreck.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:31 am

joeglow wrote:Suttle just seems like he is kind of clueless. Â This morning, KFAB gave each candidate 2 minutes for their "final arguments." Â Daub went about 1:45 and gave a typical politicians speech - very cohesive and touched on economy, property taxes, business, crime, education, etc. without giving any real specifics (just that he would improve them all). Â Suttle talked literally for about 30 seconds and said "I have worked for 40 years and I have a unique perspective as I am an engineer." Â

While Daub sounded like a cliche politician, Suttle sounded like a deer in the headlights who had no clue how to think on his feet and prepared NOTHING to say.

It's because Suttle really has no clue of what's going on. I've met with him a couple of times and other people I know have heard him speak on things, not just during this election, but he never has any idea of what he's talking about.

If any of you are on the fence I beg you to vote for Daub. Everything going right with Omaha's development today has to do with Hal getting the ball rolling in the first place. Suttle on the other hand, touts his botching of 16th St Downtown as progress.

***

Remember that during the stadium planning process Suttle's plan was to tax people in Iowa and save up the $140M for the stadium over 20+ years and then build a stadium. That right there shows a gross amount of ineptitude.

- How would you tax people in another state?

- Putting off the stadium for 20 years without even having a plan to rehab Rosenblatt would have had us sitting on our hands while the NCAA shopped the CWS around to other cities willing to accommodate the event now.

- $140M in today's dollars is not going to be $140M in 20 years from now.

This shows that he's not willing to take a stand on anything and is trying to please too many groups and when he finally did come up with a plan it was insanely impractical.

Further showing his ignorance on the stadium issue; Josh (the1wags) and I were speaking with him one night and he said that stadium estimates were too low and that it would easily be over $300M because "it's a major league stadium. Just look at the one they built in Cincinnati a few years ago and it was over $300M". Great American Ballpark is over twice the size of our stadium and is for MLB. Our's is not. If he's such a bravo engineer how can he not tell the difference between a 24k seat $140M stadium and a 44k seat $300+M stadium? He has no idea.

***

When I went to hear Suttle and Daub speak on DT, it was like one of us listening to Hal talk about his plans for streetcars and new developments. Suttle again failed to produce anything inspiring. He wants to do yet ANOTHER STUDY, on the feasibility of streetcars DT on the criteria that it must produce $1B in peripheral developments. Around the track.

Since 2000 DT has had over $3B (probably close to $4B) in new developments WITHOUT a streetcar. How much more do we stand to make once the streetcar is in? It's been studied to death already. People in the city want better public transportation. Having a streetcar Downtown is the first thing that needs to happen to get a more cohesive city-wide system going. If Suttle needs another study to figure that out he doesn't deserve to even be a candidate for Mayor.

So please, if you love Omaha like I do, vote for Hal Daub.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:27 pm

Rainbow text much?

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:33 pm

DTO Luv wrote: So please, if you love Omaha like I do, vote for Hal Daub. [/b]

I lived in Omaha during Hal Daub's run as mayor. Â He regularly offended and insulted officials in surrounding communities, once referring to Council Bluffs as "XXX Rated". Â During his re-election bid, he had to take a lie detector test due to questions about the integrity of his public safety associate. Â When he passed it, he celebrated so hard some thought he was surprised that he beat the polygraph. Â His appointee didn't pass the detector test, raising questions about the ethics of the Daub administration. Daub also didn't work well with any other government bodies. Â Once when Daub went out of town, the president of the City Council negotiated a new deal with one of the city unions that had been hung up with Daub.

Daub was voted out because while he had a few good ideas, city hall was operated like a soap opera and circus. Â He was voted out for good reason eight years ago.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:36 pm

Big E wrote:Rainbow text much?

All the time!

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:38 pm

HskrFanMike wrote:
DTO Luv wrote: So please, if you love Omaha like I do, vote for Hal Daub. [/b]
I lived in Omaha during Hal Daub's run as mayor. He regularly offended and insulted officials in surrounding communities, once referring to Council Bluffs as "XXX Rated". During his re-election bid, he had to take a lie detector test due to questions about the integrity of his public safety associate. When he passed it, he celebrated so hard some thought he was surprised that he beat the polygraph. His appointee didn't pass the detector test, raising questions about the ethics of the Daub administration. Daub also didn't work well with any other government bodies. Once when Daub went out of town, the president of the City Council negotiated a new deal with one of the city unions that had been hung up with Daub.

Daub was voted out because while he had a few good ideas, city hall was operated like a soap opera and circus. He was voted out for good reason eight years ago.

So? Really. So what. I'm not looking for leaders to be super ethical. They're people just like us and to expect people to be so high and mighty is impossible.

Post by **Brad** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:41 pm

I just went and voted over lunch. Â I was only the sixty second person to vote in my polling place.... Seems really low.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Tue May 12, 2009 7:37 pm

Brad wrote:I just went and voted over lunch. I was only the sixty second person to vote in my polling place.... Seems really low.

When I went to my polling place to vote at exactly 12 noon, I was the ONLY one there to vote..We'd be lucky if Omaha hit the projected 31% voter turnout..

Truly sad and pathetic..

Â ..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Post by **Coyote** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:00 pm

8 p.m. - let the counting begin!

Post by **Coyote** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:08 pm

Daub Â 13026
Suttle 13508

Its going to be a long night.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:11 pm

I hope I'm wrong, but I have a gut feeling Suttle is going to be Omaha's next mayor..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Post by **Coyote** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:12 pm

Total Registered Voters Â Â 241,803 Â
Total Votes Cast (Turnout) Â 26,807 Â (11.09%)

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:56 pm

Come on Daub. Â :shock:

Post by **Coyote** » Tue May 12, 2009 9:00 pm

Daub Â 19848
Suttle 19980

Total Registered Voters Â Â 241,803 Â
Total Votes Cast (Turnout) Â 40,225 Â (16.64%)

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Tue May 12, 2009 9:03 pm

Now a 132 vote difference. Hal is closing the gap..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Post by **Coyote** » Tue May 12, 2009 9:05 pm

197 freaking write ins!

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Tue May 12, 2009 9:09 pm

Yeah. That write in number stinks..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Post by **Coyote** » Tue May 12, 2009 9:31 pm

Daub 30766
Suttle 30322

Â
Total Registered Voters Â Â 241,803 Â
Total Votes Cast (Turnout) Â 61,694 Â (25.51%)

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Tue May 12, 2009 9:36 pm

City Council:
• District 1: Pete Festersen
• District 2: Ben Gray
• District 3: Too close to call
• District 4: Garry Gernandt
• District 5: Jean Stothert
• District 6: Franklin Thompson
• District 7: Chuck Sigerson

Hal Daub 30,766
Jim Suttle 30,322
Write in 323

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Tue May 12, 2009 9:37 pm

Coyote wrote:Daub 30766
Suttle 30322

Total Registered Voters 241,803
Total Votes Cast (Turnout) 61,694 (25.51%)

And Hal takes the lead..

..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Tue May 12, 2009 10:15 pm

Woot!!

HskrFanMike · Post by **HskrFanMike** » Tue May 12, 2009 10:32 pm

Final numbers

Suttle 37,433
Daub 35,970

Very grateful that we've been spared four more years of Hal.

sincitybaby · Post by **sincitybaby** » Tue May 12, 2009 10:32 pm

Suttle Wins

So much for a progressive Omaha. Â This is terrible news! Â

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Tue May 12, 2009 10:40 pm

Omaha Democrats flexing their muscles once again... don't feel too bad... the real progressive won tonight, albeit perhaps not measured in this forums favored units of highrise floors.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Tue May 12, 2009 10:44 pm

We'll see our cities fate, I would have preferred Daub, but perhaps Suttle can do it, I hope.

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Tue May 12, 2009 10:52 pm

This is bad.

the1wags · Post by **the1wags** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:07 pm

|expletive|.

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:16 pm

This is all kinds of bad.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:16 pm

This is just god damn mother |expletive| bullshit! How the |expletive| could anyone vote for that |expletive| mentally incompetent |expletive| retard Jim Suttle? I'd rather vote for George W |expletive| Bush for president again than have Jim Suttle be mayor of Omaha.

For all of you dumbasses who voted against Daub based on |expletive| national issues like immigration or whatever (and yes you are dumbasses because what in the |expletive| is he going to do as a god damn |expletive| mayor!) you have made the decision to let this city stagnate. So much was at stake for moving Omaha forward. Jim Suttle doesn't have ANY |expletive| CLUE on what to do as mayor. This isn't |expletive| Mayberry this is god damn OMAHA! One of the top 40 municipalities in the country and one of the top 60 largest metros. My butt hairs have more capacity and know how to be an effective mayor than Jim Suttle.

So the |expletive| what if Hal rubs people the wrong way? The mother |expletive| got |expletive| done! Period. Being in a sense, the CEO of Omaha, wouldn't you want the aggressive CEO that's going to do all he can to grow the company and be competitive against other companies? Or do you want the |expletive| clueless serendipitous no-plan-having sheepman who's content to let the company be set on cruise control and has no idea how to grow the company or remain competitive?

Well I guess now we know. Since I've been around we've only ever had one local politician that I can think of that has a sincere passion for Omaha and not only passion but plans, good plans, on how to keep Omaha from being HoHumaha.

The best thing I can hope for is that Suttle is at least pliable on development like Fahey has been. Fahey never came up with a |expletive| original idea either but how much momentum have we lost by not having someone awake at the wheel?

I'm actually not surprised. With this recent wave of Democrats taking power at every level I expected Suttle to win. All of these young jackass voters here have no clue which man was better for making the city they want Omaha to be. Everything in the last few years that this demographic loves about Omaha can almost be directly contributed to Hal Daub.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:18 pm

To my friends who supported Hal Daub,

I understand that many of you supported Hal Daub for mayor because you believe that he has a broad and forward thinking vision for Omaha. You may be right, but many long time Omaha residents believe that Mr. Daub's vision was delivered by the wrong messenger. Many of us simply could not stomach the thought of Mr. Daub again taking the reigns at city hall. The era he served as mayor was one ripe with bitterness, pettiness, and rancor. Many citizens blamed Mr. Daub for the ugly tenor of city hall politics, so bad that citizens were scared to turn on the local news for fear of having their stomachs turn each night. We refused to allow those ugly days to again permeate the halls of city government. Maybe Mr. Daub has changed, and matured in the past 8 years, but we were not ready to roll the dice on that chance that he had changed his stripes.

I share your fears that Mr. Suttle does not exactly inspire confidence or excitement about where he will take this great city. He is trained as an engineer, so he must be intelligent, but other than his obvious political skill at beating the Daub political juggernaut, he has failed to impress many on these pages (and elsewhere) as having "the vision thing". With the right people working for and with Mr. Suttle, our city's future can indeed be bright. We face terrible budget problems in the coming decade. The work of our next mayor is cut out for him, and will, I suspect, take it's toll on him and his legacy. But then again, difficult times often reveal true leadership skills in those not known to otherwise possess them. Let us all wish our new mayor the best, and continue to work to move the city in the direction of greatness.

The field of mayoral candidates seemed "thin" this year. The underdog ended up winning against the 800 pound gorilla who had scared off many other possible contenders. David has beaten Goliath. What that portends for the next 4 years is anyone's guess. I for one will do my part to make sure that a progressive voice is heard at city hall.

My congratulations also to the council men and woman elected tonight. They also will play a crucial role in maintaining civility and progress at city hall, and a vision for our city. I am encouraged by Ben Gray's election, and by the continuity of other strong voices already on the council.

To those of you who supported Mr. Daub, the sun will come up tomorrow. To Mayor elect Suttle, time to roll up the sleeves and get to work in solving our city's problems. And to Mayor Fahey, thank you for your steady stewardship of the city these past 8 years.

justnick · Post by **justnick** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:30 pm

Did you really just say HoHumoha?
'cause my Gods.
Best word ever.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:59 pm

nativeomahan wrote:
I share your fears that Mr. Suttle does not exactly inspire confidence or excitement about where he will take this great city. He is trained as an engineer, so he must be intelligent, but other than his obvious political skill at beating the Daub political juggernaut, he has failed to impress many on these pages (and elsewhere) as having "the vision thing".

No, he's really not that smart. That's not even from my experiences with him. I've heard dozens of people, before he ever announced running for mayor, that he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. So while he may have the know how on how to engineer a bridge and keep it from collapsing does not mean that technical expertise carries over to any other area. I can play the guitar well. It does not mean I can lead an orchestra. It's akin to people saying George W. was a smart guy but after awhile we realized it was a farce. I feel Suttle will be no different.

And to acknowledge that Hal does have the vision to get things done, but to not see that his approach and people skills may have changed over the years is a weak argument. How many of the same people from a city council 8 years ago are even on this new council? Siegerson maybe? Things like that can be a 2 way street so it's unfair to place all the blame on Hal.

Suttle has been running for Mayor for months and has never offered ANY plans on anything? I watched, checked his site, and there is no substance to him. I don't know why he even ran for mayor honestly. At least with Vokal it was well known that he had aspirations to be Mayor. This is just a sad day for Omaha. We'll probably never get another leader like Hal Daub in my lifetime, and I'm 23. We'll just get a bunch of hunky-doory hee-haw do-nothings that complain about taxes and potholes. Chicago and NYC just got that much more attractive.

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:59 pm

I'm still in shock over this.

Bosco55David · Post by **Bosco55David** » Wed May 13, 2009 2:14 am

Well I hope Suttle doesn't stick it to the police departments like I fear. Â :evil:

joeglow · Post by **joeglow** » Wed May 13, 2009 7:46 am

Case in point as to why we need intelligence tests for people to be able to vote. Â The ONLY 2 reasons people could vote for this guy are:

1. He is a Democrat, or
2. He is not Daub.

Either reason is a flimsy POS and shows a complete lack of intelligence. Â Anyone who spent 30 seconds looking at the views and plans the candidates discussed could see Suttle is in WAAAAAY over his head and has no clue what to do.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed May 13, 2009 7:58 am

HALLELUJAH!!!!

And now, can someone kindly please ask Mr. Daub to go crawl back under the rock whence he slithered?

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:07 am

For all of you who voted foolishly, this line from the OWH this morning sums up everything I feared about Suttle.

OWH wrote:Exactly what changes Suttle will make at City Hall are unclear.

Bingo! The man has no |expletive| clue about anything. He'll never take a stand on any issue and try to be too all encompassing and never get anything done.

joeglow · Post by **joeglow** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:34 am

DTO Luv wrote:For all of you who voted foolishly, this line from the OWH this morning sums up everything I feared about Suttle.

OWH wrote:Exactly what changes Suttle will make at City Hall are unclear.
Bingo! The man has no |expletive| clue about anything. He'll never take a stand on any issue and try to be too all encompassing and never get anything done.

Finally, we can agree on something. Â Too many ignorant idiots who can't be bothered with looking at candidate's positions are allowed to vote in Omaha.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Wed May 13, 2009 9:23 am

True. I can't believe how many people I talked to that are big on Omaha and knew damn well that Hal was better for Omaha, but couldn't get past the fact that he's a republican. Hal and I couldn't be further apart in our political ideology but he's not running for congress or senate. He's a good mayor which doesn't have anything to to with affecting social issues on that scale. Even then many of these same people voted against Omaha's best interest by voting for Suttle. Complete and utter idiots.