Entering the final stretch of signature gathering, recall organizers gained the support of the Lancaster County Republican Party in trying to remove Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird.
The move marks the most partisan shift in what had been a campaign billed by LNK Recall as a bipartisan push to hold city leaders accountable for their pandemic actions.Ìý
Party officials didn't respond to an email seeking comment.Ìý
But emails obtained by the Journal Star show County GOP Chairman Jason Jackson, who is the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services Director and serves as Gov. Pete Ricketts' chief human resources officer, met with recall organizers after members of an internal committee expressed interest in supporting the effort.
He sought approval to offer space for signature gathering events and meetings, turn over party data to the recall volunteers, increase communications critical of the city administration, create a "Stop Leirion" website and spend up to $5,000 on radio ads criticizing Gaylor Baird.Ìý
In the emails to party leaders, Jackson said the radio ads also could help Republican candidates in the spring 2021 City Council election.
"I think we can do all of this within budget, give the recall a greater chance of success, and use these efforts as a jumping-off point for the municipal elections in the spring," Jackson said in the email, asking for at least 15 votes to proceed.
He later sent a clarifying email noting the party would be helping the effort to recall only the mayor.ÌýÌý
Reached for comment Tuesday, Justin Carlson, spokesman for the recall opposition group Decline to Sign, said, "This is just further proof that the recall effort has been a partisan plan by the local Republican party all along."
LNK Recall spokesman Samuel Lyon pushed back again Carlson's claim.Ìý
"If it was a partisan thing, wouldn’t you think the GOP would have jumped on board before there was seven days left?" Lyon asked.
He said the recall push, which includes an effort to oust Republican City Councilman Richard Meginnis, includes volunteers from all political walks of life.
LNK Recall organizers started circulating their petitions without knowing who would support them, and they welcome all the support they've amassed in their 30-day signature gathering sprint, Lyon said.
On Saturday, comedian Dan Whitney, better known as Larry the Cable Guy, became the most famous name to back the LNK Recall movement.Ìý
Speaking at a signature gathering event at Courtside Banquet Hall, Whitney decried how divided the city has become and insinuated that Gaylor Baird doesn't care about Lincoln because she's not originally from the city.ÌýÌý
The rural Lancaster County resident, who cannot vote in city elections,Ìýtalked about coronavirus-related health measures that forced the closure of a dance studio his daughter attends.
His Larry the Cable Guy account criticized the mayor's decision to let her daughter play in an outdoor tennis tournament last month during the three-week pause on indoor youth sports mandated by the directed health measure.Ìý
"I hope that you guys get a ton of signatures and at least we can do some recallin' and get somebody in there that actually thinks about all of Lincoln and not just the friends of the people that agree with the mayor," Whitney said.
Listen now and subscribe: | | | |
LNK Recall organizers have until Dec. 23 to collect signatures in their effort to remove Gaylor Baird along with City Council members James Michael Bowers, Meginnis, Jane Raybould and Tammy Ward.
A local bar owner pleaded noÌýcontest last week to violating an order of the health director in what is believed to be the first conviction of roughly three dozen cases filed so far by the City Attorney’s Office related to the county's coronavirus restrictions.
At a hearing Thursday, Seth Reagan, the owner of The Bar at 1644 P St., pleaded no contest to a single incident on Oct. 3.
The 10 others charged so far were The Night Before, The Office, Grata, Madsen's Bowling & Billiards, Longwells, Royal Grove, Boombox Social, Gray's Keg Saloon, The Beacon and Rosie's Sports Bar & Grill.
Lancaster County Court Judge Timothy Phillips fined Reagan $500, the maximum penalty since the city wasn’t seeking a jail sentence, plus court costs.
“I think it indicates the courts are taking it seriously,†City Attorney Yohance Christie said Tuesday.
Lincoln City Council members Monday pushed back a vote to adopt the city's proposed affordable housing action plan after calls by local real estate agents and home builders to tweak the plan.Ìý
The plan was released in February.
During a public hearing,ÌýKyle Fischer of the Realtors Association of Lincoln and Ann Post of the Home Builders Association of Lincoln told the council the plan needed to be amended or their organizations could not support it.
Market pressures have become unsustainable, Fischer said, noting that on Monday, home buyers looking for a home priced at $200,000 or less had only 51 options across the city and would be competing with investment companies looking for rental properties.
Real estate agents have proposed an amendment encouraging the city to increase its funding for new infrastructure in what they believe can help bring down the price of new homes and for apartments.Ìý
Post said the homebuilders couldn't support a plan that recommends against sanitary improvement districts, a development mechanism they view as key to encouraging new building and reducing prices.
The council will take up the plan and possible amendments Monday.
* Lancaster Event CenterÌý— A potential site for mass vaccinations for Lancaster County. The center at 84th Street and Havelock Avenue served as a coronavirus testing site for Test Nebraska earlier this year.
* 16,913Ìý— The number of Lancaster County voters who turned in their early ballots for the general election at library drop boxes in Lincoln, Hickman and Waverly. The Gere Library Branch box collected the largest number of ballots (5,472), according to Election Commissioner Dave Shively.
* Santa ClausÌý— Expected to parade around Lincoln on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. City Hall sources say Santa will leave his sleigh and reindeer at the North Pole and instead ride around Lincoln in a snow plow. Track Santa's movements using the city's snow operations website: .
Two people who declined to give their names wave earlier in December at passing motorists at 67th and O streets as they look for people to sign a petition to recall Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and four City Council members.