Why Stothert Matters
Forbes Loves Omaha, But Why?
If you have not seen the debate between Republican Mayor Jean Stothert of Omaha and her Democrat opponent, John Ewing, you can watch below but will need to skip around to the starting point.
Stothert constantly refers to a Forbes rating Omaha as the top place to live with a 100 percent score (https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/moving-services/best-cities-to-move-to/) in 2024. So how did Omaha score so high? In part, because most cities were racing to the bottom.
Stothert made crime reduction as a central focus of her agenda, while other cities considered it too costly to do so. From George Floyd protests to defund-the-police advocates, Stothert sided with law enforcement to the point of calling for a curfew and supporting the National Guard which Governor Ricketts implemented (https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-police-to-hold-news-conference-following-two-nights-of-violent-protests/32722394) . At the same time, responsible and couragous leaders refused to capsize sucessful enterprises.
Under Governor Pete Ricketts, Nebraska rose to the top regarding the response and recovery from the Pandemic.
This is reflected in the National Bureau of Economic Research (https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w29928/w29928.pdf). Because of Ricketts, Omaha thrives as well as does much of Nebraska. But he was not alone.
Three Omaha City Council members sued over a mask mandate from the County healh director (https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/three-omaha-councilmembers-join-state-lawsuit-against-mask-mandate). They did not need to do so as the State of Nebraska also sued (https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-lawsuits-nebraska-omaha-0dbe58048fccfbf57589ed548760662b) but they could have refused to do so.
And here they are! Aimee Melton, Brinker Harding, and Don Rowe!
By joining the State lawsuit, they put the rest of the City Council on notice of the need for courage over relentless fearmongering. When crisis struck, they did not blink. They calculated the risks for what the real risks were and judged according. If only the rest of the United States could find such leaders to take the time to contemplate, what a wonderful world it would be.
Yes, Nebraska has numerous serious economic problems to address, but it is trending well against much of the country.
Like I've told my friends, Stothert matters because of what she fixed. She fixed a budget in shambles. She fixes crumbling roads whose budget had been diverted for pet projects. Road construction is going so well that it's all the left seems to complain about lately.