Thursday, December 02, 2010

UFOs

We are still getting a kick out of the half-(bottomed) attempts by Forward Omaha, Vince Powers, and all of the rest of Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle’s mouthpieces to nix the Recall.

Their Exhibits? Five undercover, shaky, videos, with fishbowl-like audio, of circulators.

Which they have lied about.

Lied?! Well then the Anti-Recallers should be thrown out, no?

You’d think so, wouldn’t ya?

For instance, there is the video labeled,

Circulator Talks About Payment By Quota

Now mind you, THIS is the video they Anti’s are really hanging their beanies on.  This is the one, baby.  This will shut it all down.  Are you ready?

Let’s go to the YouTubes!



OK, here is the transcript of the money talk (so to speak):
Undercover Forward Omaha: Have you made your quota yet?
Circulator: Recall! Uh, I don’t know.
(Unintelligible) ...we gotta get like ten signatures an hour.
UFO: Ten signatures an hour to get $20 an hour?
Circulator: Yeah.
UFO: OK.
Now. Keep in mind kids, they are trying to make this admissible in court.

So someone said something was a quota? Yes, that would be... the UFO! If some random dude starts asking about how YOU get paid, are you going to give him all the details? And then did the UFO nail down if ten sigs was a requirement to get paid...or simply a goal?

Of course not.

But Forward Omaha and Vince Powers and Jim Suttle want the Judge to believe this dripping water shooter is really a Smoking Gun.

Riiiight.

***

And then the UFOs set up another entitled:

Circulator Claims 15% Tax on Restaurant

Hmm. Really? Well, again, let’s look at the actual blurry video:



And here is the transcript of what the dude says.
The Mayor went ahead and put a 15% sales tax on all the restaurants and all the food, so now when you go to a restaurant it’s 15% more, in the City of Omaha, whereas outside of Omaha you don’t pay that.
And that is 100% false dude!

Because the actual increase was 28.5%!

Wait, what?

That’s right math wizards, an increase from 7% to 9% is a 28.5% increase. So you are paying 28.5% more in taxes. (And we are actually leaving out the fact that it’s a tax on a tax and it’s really more than that, but the math is easier this way. You’re welcome Mayor.)

So the guy got it wrong.  He undercut it.  But of course...so what?

Because that guy IS NOT A CIRCULATOR!

The guy from Omaha, holding the clipboard, collecting the signature is the circulator. The guy talking is supporting the position. So video him all day long if you want. Maybe he has a YouTube site. Maybe his YouTube site will be admissible in court.

Or maybe not.

***

And while we’re at it, please tell us which of these signatures is invalid.

Oh wait, NONE, because the UFOs didn’t sign the petition!

So here is the reality people:

The people who wanted to sign the petition, signed the pettion.
Those who did not want to -- like the UFOs here -- didn’t.

So cross out all the Mickey Mouses and Gretna residents.

And count up the rest, Phippsy.

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have come to Leavenworth Street for a long time to get my Nebraska Political news and it has always been interesting with an obvious agenda. I am sad to say with the recall thing Sweeper you appear to have lost your mind. You no longer have any credibility. I don't know who you are but you must work for the recall campaign. You are not even plausibly twisting the facts.

Street Sweeper said...

10:35

Well first of all, No, I don't work for the Recallers. Moreover, they have made pretty much no effort to contact me or send anything to me. Do with that what you may.

But hey, I spelled out all my points and added videos. Let's hear what your problems are with my analysis of the Anti's legal/political arguments.

My mind is right here. How about yours?

SS

Pol Observor said...

To anonymous above: You are clearly a Forward Omaha, Bold Bebraska, NNN, NDP or what ever the flavor of the month you choose to be Liberal Activist. You folks, spin, lie, distort, and stretch the truth to fit your agenda. Sweeper does a great job and he even lets you post your crap on here.

You guys are going to lose, so deal with it.

Street Sweeper said...

Btw,

Sorry to make this all about the
Omaha Recall the past few days. But it's undoubtably the biggest political story around right now.

We'll be posting more statewide stuff soon.

SS

Anonymous said...

First I am member of none of the groups listed by Pol. I am just a former Nebraskan living abroad who likes to remain informed about my former home. I have no vested interest in the outcome of the recall drive.
Second. The reason I felt compelled to post is because in the past I have enjoyed Sweepers relatively evenhanded presentations and I feel that Sweeper has strayed a little to far into the realm of the implausible here.
My problems are this
1. In the first video that man is clearly referring to being paid for a certain number of signatures an hour. If that is not a quota I do not know what is, no matter who used the word.
2. The man in the second video clearly means a 15% tax and not mean that a 2% increase is a 15% increase in the tax rate. Even if that is what he meant he was intentionally misleading people.

In conclusion I think I will take a pass on LS for the time being. Don't worry I will be back to hear the scoop on the upcoming senate race and inevitable post-recall Mayor’s race.

Anonymous said...

This was brought up on the earlier thread in bits and pieces but I thought it was actually a very good point and worth combining into a single posting.

Democrats are claiming that the recall is motivated by sour grapes. This suggests that the losers of the prior election are putting forth a recall effort solely and only because they lost.


Then, some other person continues to bring up that Mark Fahleson, Republican Party Chair, hasn't found anyone to run against Chris Beutler for mayor of Lincoln. The fact of the matter is that people in Lincoln on both sides of the aisle have been pretty OK with the way Beutler has governed. There's not a strong motivation for anyone to run against him.

I think it's a fair point that if Suttle had governed more like Beutler, he wouldn't be facing a recall today. That argues very strongly against the whole "recall is sour grapes" rant.

Anonymous said...

Dissatisfied dude, I'm not going to try to talk you out of leaving LS. However, it's at best ambiguous what the guys in each video were talking about. Your theory may be correct, but it's at least equally plausible that SS's interpretation is correct. In which case, how can one use these videos as justification to stop a recall?

The guy in the one video never says he has a quota by which he's being paid. So your interpretation is certainly not the only plausible or even the most plausible interpretation.

But here's the great thing: Unlike the Suttle folks, SS posted the videos so that each person could view it for themselves. He didn't just say, "well, I've seen the vids and they don't show jack." The other side, on the other hand, offered their conclusions without offering up the vids so that people could judge for themselves.

Don't you prefer SS's approach?

Anonymous said...

I wouldnt be surprised at all to find out that it was the anti-recall people who signed with the wrong addresses and signed false names to try and derail the whole recall effort.

Anonymous said...

Well I would like to add that I was a circulator and I had some of the "out-of-towners" coach me too. I needed the help I don't mind admitting because I've never done anything like this before and/but especially when the Forward Omaha geeks showed up to try to confuse me and cause trouble. If they didn't want to sign then they should've just moved along. They didn't have a right to keep sending people over to get me into some sort of debate and waste my time and cause me to miss others who may have wanted to sign it. Shame on Suttle and his hired geek squad. How much did they get paid?

Anonymous said...

Jeremy Aspen's attorney is J.L. Spray. I believe he was once legal counsel for the NEGOP or at least Lancaster County. He also sat on the NADC board at one time. Why did Jerm have to go way to Lincoln to find his man? For that fact, why did Suttle? Not one soul local to do the bidding? Interesting when it's all about Omaha.

Nothing partisan here. Keep moving, though not necessarily forward.

Pro Recall said...

"The Mayor went ahead and put a 15% sales tax on all the restaurants and all the food"

That is just plain wrong. Why are you defending this guy?

I second what 10:35 said. You damage your credibility when you defend these people and downplay the significance of blatant misconduct.

Anonymous said...

J. L Spray was attorney for Nebraskans United when they tried to get the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative petition thrown out. Election law is fairly specialized, and not many attorneys do it; it's not surprising they had go to Lincoln to find one.

I wouldn't put too much store in his political affiliation.

Anonymous said...

So, Sweeper is saying it's OK to make false statements for political gain.

Man, I've got a lie about Jim Vokal I'd like to tell all of you.

Street Sweeper said...

Hey look kiddies (12:15 and 12:44, I'm looking your way),

Please address the post, huh?
Yeah, the guy said 15% tax, then changed it to 15% increase. Did you hear that or not? Do you take that into account or not? Or better yet, as a Judge, what is the probative value of that statement by a guy who ISN'T a circulator? Work with any and all of that, then come back to the comment board.

Listen, I know many of you Anti's don't like the tact we've taken here of late. But here's the deal: You've done a piss-poor job of defending Suttle and his actions since taking office. Your defense of the Recall has been "It's expensive!" You've done a crappy job politically, and now your court case is a piece of junk-law as well.

That's the state of things. Get your sh*t together, and we'll be happy to call it as we see it.

Thanks and thanks for reading.
SS

Anonymous said...

I did watch the videos. I saw the one where the guy didn't completely read the defense statement for Suttle. That's against the law.

I saw the video where the woman said the group circulating the petitions would pay for the election. Would you care to examine that statement more in depth? I'd love to know who these money men are.

I even saw the video where the guy said the federal government would pay for the election. Seems like that's a flat out lie to me.

Sweeper, it's sad to see all the mental gymnastics you are putting yourself through to try and justify people lying to get signatures.

If Democrats had done this, you would be throwing a fit and calling for the heads of all the petition organizers. I'm pretty sure you would throw around words like "union thugs". This blog is way to predictable and it has quickly become laughable.

Macdaddy said...

Do these Forward Omaha people carry hidden cameras with them to bars so they can sue when someone lies to them about respecting them in the morning?

These videos are weak and the pitiful behavior by the anti-recallers almost makes me in favor of a recall. Almost.

Cecil be da Man said...

In that first video, does anyone else notice the SAME beige car passing by in the background TWICE? Is that Forward Omaha or Forward-But-Stuck-in-Left Omaha? I know FBSILO probably doesn't have a budget for a professional film crew (yet) but they should invest in something called continuity to avoid snafus like this.

While watching, I was waiting for the petitioner (if he was a petitioner and not just an actor hired by FBSILO to pretend he was a petitioner for filming purposes) to say to the guy "Hey, sign this or move on! Because you're creeping me out by just standing there and pointing your hidden camera at me!"

And does this video have the same soundtrack as the first one we saw about the quota? Sure sounds like it.

Street Sweeper said...

Well, we DID complain about people campaigning making false statements.

One guy even did this while running for Mayor, then won! Amazing.

But there's no court that would claim those statements were against the law.

Are there other avenues to work, in that case? Yep.

Same with the Anti's. They can get convince people to NOT sign (and can and have made false statements doing that) and then get people to NOT recall Suttle in the vote.

So there you go.

And for the guy who didn't read the (idiotic) full statement for each side, please give Phipps the name of that person who signed their name (we're guessing since it was a Forward Omahan, the name is I.P. Nightly) and have that name removed.

See that wasn't so heard, was it?

(and thanks for...well, you know)

Anonymous said...

False statements in campaigns? That's unheard of! I've never known Lee Terry to make a promise and then back out of it. Oh... wait.

Anonymous said...

...and people cared so much about that, that's why they stopped re-electing Terry. Oh wait...

Anonymous said...

It looks like Lincoln and Omaha will both be having mayoral elections coming up soon.

Speaking of Lincoln, has Jordan McGrain found a candidate yet? That will be a monumental failure if the Republicans don't even put up a challenger.

Anonymous said...

Since when is the state party's role is too find mayoral candidates?

Anonymous said...

LOL. Look at the A &D reports from every Mayoral candidate from Omaha and Lincoln and you can see how much money both state parties have spent in both cities. "Not our role" is a sad, sad excuse for failing to find a candidate. There is a Republican voter majority in Lincoln and still no candidate.

Anonymous said...

Yes someone has lost their mind. Suttle.

The Mayor of Omaha has a private Gestapo secretly filming people. Why? Because those people want voters to take a second look at the Mayor they elected. That hardly seems the jackboot. After all Suttle is the chief executive.

If Suttle is proud of the job he has done and the promises he kept and has nothing to hide, then why the camera spy stuff, banning of news people, etc.? He is acting like a paranoid tyrant.

Anonymous said...

I suppose Suttle needs to exhaust his legal options, especially if they believe fraud has taken place. But politically, I think it's a bad move. If the signatures are verified and it's a few thousand more than needed, I would drop the suit. The more this gets tied up in court, the more people will get frustrated and confused, driving down turnout. I would imagine motivation to go to polls is greater on the side that wants him out. Suttle needs the people like me, who might not be happy with him, but think the recall is a waste of time and money to go vote. If they have the signatures, move on and start campaigning to keep your job. Thoughts?

Anonymous said...

anon a-hole at 2:14, we already have a Republican mayor in Lincoln. Why would we need another one? His name is Chris Beutler. Perhaps you've heard of him. Oh, he ran as a Democrat but he's governed like a Republican. Even LIBA likes him. Maybe Vince Powers can try to get him recalled since Beutler's not the lib they thought/hoped he was. Or would that be sour grapes?

Anonymous said...

Spin, spin, spin, the NEGOP has dropped the ball with the Lincoln Mayoral and they'll say anything to justify their utter failure. I suppose Conrad and Mcgill are Republicans too and that's why they were allowed re-election?

Anonymous said...

Yeh right 12:27PM and do I have some prime property in the Gulf to sell ya.

Anonymous said...

11:27

You have a valid point. How would Noelle and Co. know that there are invalid signatures by illegals? Unless they paid or had the illegals sign? A judge needs to look at any wrong doing by both sides.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'll be honest, Conrad and McGill are libs for sure. Conrad worse than McGill. But they're each in predominately Democrat districts and they had to portray themselves as much more conservative than they really are and, STILL, they only just barely won re-election. If the voters only knew the kinds of things Conrad really believes in, they'd have booted her for sure.

But, give the Dems in Lincoln credit. They may be cut throat bastards, but they're effective. They're backed by an unholy alliance of teachers, trial lawyers, and union thugs and they relish digging up any dirt on their adversaries that they can find, holding it until a week or two before the election, and then smearing good people with half-truths and distortions when it's too late to respond.

I wouldn't want to subject myself to the Vic Covalt bare-knuckle treatment. So I'll just keep my high-paying job and not run for office and let some unemployed Democrat run for office, m'kay?

Ted said...

Get it together, Omaha.

Recall or no recall, the city council needs to ensure its next mayoral election coincides with a primary/general statewide election. That will nearly guarantee that Omaha never again is forced to deal with a clown like Suttle or go through a recall circus again.

Anonymous said...

Let's be reasonable, Sweeper. If these day-laborers from the temp agency AREN'T being paid by the signature, then what explains their behavior?

Why else would somebody with no vested interest in recalling Mayor Suttle spend his weekends accosting customers at Wal Mart-waiting creepily outside customer's car doors the instant they park and then pouncing on customers the minute they open their car doors, and harassing them until they sign?

Your blogs becoming a joke.

Anonymous said...

No Ms. Obermeyer, you and your boss are a joke. Jim Suttle is going down big time.

Street Sweeper said...

5:27,

I'm being eminently reasonable. The main reason they are not being paid by the sig is that to do so would threaten the entire Recall, and why would they do that?

I saw the videos, and I saw the people standing on Dodge and Pacific Streets and none of them were accosting anyone.

Once again, you and your group continue to attack the messenger instead of defending your guy.

And the voters know this.

Oh mander said...

SS and Recallers - I am an Omaha resident, Suttle is not my guy, I do not oppose the recall, and I am not defending him.

That said, it is obvious to me that petition laws were broken, however illogical they may be. Instead of just admitting this and moving on with 5 fewer signatures than before, you and the other recall supporters act as though nothing happened, citing these ridiculous loopholes, qualifiers, and literal interpretations of some but not all parts of the same sentence. I think it would better serve your cause if you demonstrated some reason in your assessments, throw the rule-breakers under the bus, and move on rather than this "deny, deny, deny" approach.

Just one man's opinion... Happy hunting.

Street Sweeper said...

Oh Mander,

I appreciate your comments, but...

We agreed that the time they didn't read the whole thing they should throw that signature out. Then again, do you really think the guy from Forward Omaha wrote his real name? Otherwise, who else's signatures are you going to throw out there? The whole sheet? Which sheet? Which collector?

Does the guy saying 15% also mean the person next to him collecting sigs get his thrown out? Which one? Which sheet? Who was it? Does saying 15% qualify as "breaking the law"?

I could go on and on. Yours and other's broad generalizations about "laws broken" is swell, but isn't specific. And oh by the way, we're talking about a court case here, which IS very specific.

So, we will admit that Forward Omaha put up five videos. So if it helps you, subtract five from 37,000.

There you go.

SS

Anonymous said...

If I was a dog I would view the whole recall effort and this blog as a tree or a fire hydrant.

This whole thing is disgrace, a waste and a scam.

Anonymous said...

If I was a dog I would view the whole recall effort and this blog as a tree or a fire hydrant. Hey, power to the people, baby.

(And if you were a dog (and how do we know you're not?) I'd be tempted to fire some buckshot at your rump if I caught you taking a dump on my yard. You filthy creature. Go pee in your own damn yard.)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Anon 10:35. I used to read this for some interesting political insight. Now its just a gossip column.

BkDodge42 said...

I was a paid circulator who lives in Omaha. I had one person notice my petition that said it was being circulated by a paid petitioner. He asked me how I was getting paid. I answered that I was paid by the hour. He asked how the recall group could keep track of how many hours I worked. I replied that it was on the honor system, kinda like the Omaha Fire Fighters.

Anonymous said...

Only 4 hours away now from finding out if the circulators got enough valid signatures or not.

Just going to take a guess here and say they cleared the hurdle by at least 3,000 valid signatures.

There was a healthy amount of anger fueling this recall. Those who dismiss this as purely sour grapes have done so at their own peril. Sour grapes don't motivate people to recall a mayor. Don't get them out to sign petitions.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Street Sweeper said...

No links please.
Joe Jordan has further info on the Anti-recallers latest claim.
-Ed.

BkDodge42 said...

Back in 2006 Kate Witek wanted to be on the ballot for state auditor as a democrat. The Secutary of State felt that by switching parties, Witek was circumventing the primary system. Vince Powers was her attorney. His comment is very telling. "Both state law and case law is on our side," Lincoln attorney Vince Powers said.

Case law indicates the court and the secretary of state, when in doubt, must give citizens the right to vote, Powers said.

Now that a fellow democrat is facing recall, it seems that he has forgoten what he said a few years ago.

Anonymous said...

Sweeper, will we get a new thread in advance of the presser? Only 15 minutes to go.

(Say g'night, Gracie.)

Anonymous said...

G'night, Gracie.

Over 2,000 signatures more than needed.