In our final profile of the candidates in Omaha’s Mayoral Race we look at the incumbent who says she’s shown how to get things done, and should keep her position.
Four years ago Mayor Jean Stothert defeated a group of heavyweights in Omaha politics, the Incumbent Jim Suttle, State Senator Brad Ashford, Former Councilmember Dan Welch, and prominent businessman Dave Nabity to become mayor in 2013. Now she’s on the other side looking to hold the office.
“Four years ago we started with a very clear vision and that vision was to make Omaha safer, and grow our economy, and make Omaha better for the people and I believe we have done that. The city is safer we have grown our population, the economy is great, the budget now has been fixed and has been balanced every year,” Mayor Stothert explained.
The opponents have attacked her history on crime. Statistics gathered by the Omaha Police Department indicate 2016 homicide rate was the lowest in 10 years, and the total offenses clear was the highest in a decade.
Deteriorating roads is also a big issue, but Mayor Stothert says there’s $11 million in the budget to improve those streets.
“There’s more money in the budget for street resurfacing than there has been in history,” Stothert added.
They’ve also claimed she’s gone back on her word about repealing the Restaurant Tax, which generates around $32 million a year for Omaha.
“I made the decision when I was mayor to lower property taxes instead of the Restaurant Tax what I really said when I ran for mayor is I wanted to lower the tax burden and we have,” Mayor Stothert noted.
Stothert also touts a budget surplus every year instead of a deficit thanks in part to her annexation plan, and ability to negotiate better union contracts for the taxpayers.
“Overall, do you feel you have a management style of my way or the highway?” Senior Reporter Jake Wasikowski asked.
“Oh absolutely not. I think that any person in a leadership position especially an executive position like a mayor you have to make a lot of tough decisions. I make every decision very carefully, I solicit input from people, I gather the data, I collect the facts, and then I make a decision, and then I tell people why I make a decision. I’m sure there’s a gender issue there. I think many times if a man makes a big decision he’s considered a courageous leader, if a woman makes a decision there might be a different opinion of that but one of the things that people tell me is that I collaborate with people on an on-going basis and work well with people. Obviously I’ve renegotiated every single labor contract with all of our bargaining units since I have been mayor and they have not had a settled contract all at one time in over a decade. That takes a lot of working together and a lot of collaboration,” Stothert explained.
Mayor Stothert says that she her opponents talk about all the things they are going to do but she has already done them or their ideas have already been progressing at the city level.
The Mayoral Primary Election takes place on April 3.
