Suttle Wastes Tax Dollars on his Cronies

Seems our mayor never learns. Tomorrow, he is asking the council to okay a contract with Democrat lobbyist John Lindsay to fight LB 81, introduced by State Senator Cornett. This is the bill that would prevent Omaha from taxing those living outside the city for working in Omaha and using its streets. Lindsay would also fight to prevent Omaha's telephone tax of $16 million from being eliminated by the legislature. Now, we might understand why the mayor doesn't want the bill to take away the funds that the city has collected over the years from those living withing the three-mile limit, but it was he and Councilman Jerram who concocted the idea that led to the introduction of the bill by Cornett.

What strikes us is the fact that the mayor wants to pay his Democrat lobbyist $73,000 of our tax dollars to defeat the legislation. One would think that having a Republican lobbyist talk to some 34 Republican senators might make more sense. Additionally, one can only wonder why the city pays its own lobbyist, Jack Cheloha to lobby on its behalf but still needs to pay a Suttle crony to do so?

What no lobbyist, Jack Cheloha or John Lindsay can do for this mayor is give him credibility with the folks in the legislature, particularly given his inability to prove himself to be serious about solving any of Omaha's problems with any other solution than more and new taxes......


P.S. The mayor should be using the money to fill the potholes that all these non-Omaha citizens are driving over and through.