Bruning fires his political consultant
A liberal blogger thinks so — and is reporting as much.
I wouldn’t think Kyle Michaelis would be the first to know if Attorney General Jon Bruning really fired his political consultant — but then again, Michaelis might be the first to report such a thing, since bloggers don’t have to name their sources and all.
Michaelis is reporting that “the word in local political circles” is that Bruning has canned San Francisco-based Bob Wickers of Dresner Wickers & Associates — Bruning’s consultant since 2001. He theorizes that this is a response to the withering publicity Bruning has endured for, oh, about six weeks now.
I asked around, and I’m told Wickers has been replaced with Larry McCarthy — which Politico calls “the GOP’s leading practitioner of the art of the attack ad.” This is the guy who made his name by being the architect behind the 1988 Willie Horton ad that helped defeat Michael Dukakis, according to Politico.
So fasten your seatbelts, people — this campaign may get ugly. I mean uglier.
Council to appoint — ahem, consider appointing — Schimek to council Monday
Although we all know that former senator DiAnna Schimek will be replacing Jayne Snyder on the Lincoln City Council, let’s suspend reality for a moment and read the mayor’s press release today on what’s going to happen on Monday:
Former Sen. DiAnna Schimek
The Lincoln City Council will vote on the nomination of former State Senator DiAnna Schimek to fill the vacant Council seat formally held by Jayne Snyder, on Monday September 26, according to City Council Chairman Gene Carroll.
Carroll previously announced he would select a name for Council vote from nominations made by his fellow Council members. Jon Camp and Adam Hornung nominated Mary Bills-Strand, a local realtor. Carl Eskridge, Jonathan Cook, and Doug Emery nominated DiAnna Schimek.
“We were fortunate to have two such outstanding citizens nominated for the Council seat. Mary Bills-Strand has been a community leader on a number of issues facing the City. I have a tremendous amount of respect for her and her accomplishments,” Carroll said.
“It was a difficult decision as both candidates have a great deal to offer the community. But in the end, I thought DiAnna’s strengths filled a void that has been needed since John Spatz left the Council. The City needs to work closely with the Legislature on issues that impact the City of Lincoln. With DiAnna’s 20 years as a state senator, no one is better positioned to help the City make progress on issues such as the Commission on Industrial Relations, jobs creation, and state regulation.”
“DiAnna has a reputation for building consensus and has demonstrated a long history of working with people across a broad political spectrum. She brings people together and will provide the same spirit of non-partisanship to the Council that is characteristic of our non-partisan Legislature,” Carroll said.
Carroll also cited Schimek’s breadth of experience as a factor, “DiAnna has faced a variety of issues in her career, from health policy to economic development, jobs creation to affordable housing to performance auditing. She will hit the ground running from day one and provide an important perspective on many issues from which we can all benefit.”
“I think DiAnna is the best choice for moving Lincoln forward,” Carroll said.
The Chair’s nominee must receive four Council votes to be elected to the vacant Council seat. If no one is elected on Monday the 26th, the process is repeated at the October 3rd meeting until the open seat is filled.
Food truck saved by frat boys
Update to my last post about the Heoya food truck that found itself in violation of an outdated city code.
A UNL fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, has given the food truck a home: In their driveway at 519 N. 16th St.
Read it in the DN here.
We’ll see how long this arrangement lasts before the city finds another reason to shut ’em down.
Winterized 