Thread by @asanderford

Covering the @ketv @OmahaChamber forum @UNOmaha with three of the four key candidates running for #Nebraska governor. #NeGov.

@CWHerbster, @votelindstrom and @TThibodeauNE will be here. @jim_pillen will not.

Pro's pro @jcornellKETV will be moderating for @ketv.

Per Julie: There will be 2-minute opening and closing statements from the three candidates. No rebuttals. Questions come from KETV, questions submitted by viewers and the topics cover issues vital to Nebraska.

Getting started.

Lindstrom: (para) Working on tax relief in Legislature and good news to report that we are likely to get a major relief package through. Trying to make sure we invest more in our communities with youth sports. Phase out of Social Security income tax. Speeding it up.

Lindstrom: This is an election that is a very important election. This is where Nebraska sets is course forward.

Herbster: Thanks David Brown (of Chamber), he grew the GDP, added tens of thousands of jobs and brought in a bunch of investment. No. 13 best place to live. Heart of a city in Nebraska. I'm excited about what we can do.

Herbster: My theme for this state is economic growth and prosperity for Nebraska. We really have to start branding everything from the east side to the west side of this state. Not many places have what Omaha, Nebraska has.

Herbster: Tax code will I'm sure be coming up. We'll do things to make sure the state keeps growing.

Thibodeau: As I have traveled around the state listening to everybody's different experiences and ... what goes into the diverse communities that make the state what they are, we've discussed our hopes and dreams, anywhere from Omaha to our western edge.

Thibodeau: I've heard frustration all over. As past service in the Legislature, working in the corporate world, having my own business, built and sold right here in Nebraska, as a mom I hear you.

Thibodeau: In addition to taxes, people are worried and fearful because they worry they aren't being listened to. The people are our second House. It is my determination as governor to return the power to the people of this great state.

Q: What are you doing to improve Nebraska by 2050?

Herbster: Need to improve the tax code first. Our education system is rated extremely high. I will tell you that as we grow Nebraska and as we bring youth and vitality and talent and skill set, you'll be amazed at what takes place. Just visited Mid-Plains CC and you'd be amazed.

Herbster: I'll be a great promoter of the trades. Was told by a company here an Omaha that you'll make more coming out of a trade school then you'll make more than coming out of a four-year degree. That's how you'll build Nebraska.

Thibodeau: A politician runs to get to the next office. A statesman runs to make things better for the next generation. This is about growing our young people and keeping them here. It starts with taxes. Regional incubators.

Thibodeau: Not every area in Nebraska is the same. We will promote the economic drivers specific to each area. We will fix the taxes and have tax reform and cut the red tape so people will build homes in the areas where people can afford them.

Thibodeau: We will have employers feel more comfortable having child care on site, but they're scared because of the red tape.

Lindstrom: I have kids and I think about them. That's what this is all about. Our kids. We need to get our tax code in order. Investing in property tax reform, taking innovative approaches, including rural broadband, downtown construction and the vibe being created in Nebraska.

Lindstrom: We talk about death by 1,000 cuts but we need to win with 1,000 wins.

Q: How would you keep help young people come and stay here?

Thibs: We need to help colleges increase enrollment. We need people speaking with high school students and show them what opportunities they have right here at home. Focus on graduating children who are ready to head to the workforce from high school.

Thibs: Will focus on studying why our children are graduating not proficient. Need to make sure teachers and children are receiving the resources they need, safe classrooms and creating that learning environment where people want to learn.

Lindstrom: We have 60,000 unfilled jobs. We need to be working on the next demographic who will be our workforce. We need to focus on taxes and get closer to a zero income tax rate for single filers under 50k and families under 100k. We need to focus on the migration.

Lindstrom: They're looking at South Dakota and Wyoming that have zero income tax rate. (He also mentioned Colorado, which has higher taxes.)

Herbster: I would pull the tourism department back under the governor and I would remove that slogan Nebraska is not for everyone. The last 35 years I have spent building independent small businesses in 46 states.

Herbster: Someone said Herbster is just a "salesman." The best governor any state can have is a salesman. I'm the best to sell the greatness of Nebraska. I ask people what it is that drew us to the state, they say it's our people, our way of life, our culture.

Herbster: We will sell economic growth and prosperity, with that culture.

Q: What would you do as gov to bridge urban-rural divide by building coalitions?

Lindstrom: That's what I already do. I've worked on reducing the tax on Social Security income for eight years. Having that experience really does bode well for getting in office and running a bold agenda in 2023.

Lindstrom: You cannot get things done on straight-line party differences or urban and rural. There's a large disconnect on K-12 education. Vast majority of rural Nebraska schools do not get state aid. They need help.

Herbster: We lost 7k people in 2021. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Great leaders have to be in the trenches with their people. Farmers and ranchers. I assure you that's where I'm going to spend my time. I don't have a family. I don't have a wife, as you know.

Herbster: I can spend 12-14 hours re-working the things that are necessary to make Nebraska great again.

Thibodeau: I am already doing that. I picked a lieutenant governor candidate who represents rural Nebraska (Trent Loos). We all have the same goals, lower taxes, better education for our students. I will ensure every student that we are funded the same amount. Safe communities.

Thibodeau: Everybody will have a voice at the table. Working with local governments as well. You can't get anything passed unless you have people at the table.

Q: Where is Nebraska spending too much money? What would you cut?

Herbster: First of all we have to re-work the tax code. I don't have access to the information the governor does. We are going to look at where every dollar goes and look at is it efficient? Is it effective? One of those areas is law enforcement.

Herbster: We'll have to be competitive with other states on wages with other states. We are not only going to be looking at where are we spending too much, but where are we not spending enough. (He's talking about the southern U.S. border and saying it will change the country.

Thibodeau: We are going to audit every program. We need to see if programs are working, how they're working and if they're working efficiently. If not, we need to think about cutting them because they don't do anybody any good.

Thibodeau: Second, we need to be looking at tax relief. Any budget that doesn't have tax relief will not pass my desk. Programs should be reviewed every three years to make sure they're doing what they're intended to do.

Thibodeau: It's the governor's job to make sure your money is spent effectively.

Lindstrom: Nebraska works hard. There's a reason we have 1.6 percent unemployment. Money came in over forecast, because Nebraskans work hard and kept spending under control, we are able to deliver on this large tax cut, this package.

Lindstrom: As governor, putting together my budget, with the Legislature, we will make sure we limit the spending under the growth of the private sector. Government has to take control and keep efficient at what we're spending.

Q: Prison crisis, what is your approach to reducing Nebraska's prison population and what sort of sentencing reform would you propose?

Lindstrom: We'll put together a study to look at some aspects of this. I don't know if I want to step out and say we have to build a new prison right away. We do need to focus on what we're doing with the non-violent offenders.

Lindstrom: We need to make sure those people who have addiction issues and mental health issues are getting the help they need. We think about 60k jobs and we have this recidivism. A lot of people with treatment and mental health can fill those jobs.

Lindstrom: We need to focus on the up front efforts.

Herbster: When we build a prison, and we will need to build a prison, Nebraska has a mental health issue, and we have to realize that and face that.

Herbster: We're doing some great things starting out with the veterans for mental health. I see extending that to our sheriffs and law officers. Working to help incarcerated people find a job when they get out.

Herbster: I'm going to really focus on making sure we have programs that help those people come back to the workforce.

Thibodeau: As gov you have to be prepared to talk about ugly realties. We need to build another prison. There simply aren't enough non-violent offenders to let out to avoid building one.

Thibodeau: With a new prison you can put programs in place to help people know how to re-enter the world when you leave. Things as simple as learning to wake up with an alarm clock and be on time. I will not allow reform to be done just to open beds.

Thibodeau: Those drug offenders dealing fentanyl need to go to prison and need to stay in prison, because they are a threat to our communities and our children.

Q: Child welfare issues, what would you do to improve what happened with St. Francis Ministries?

Thibodeau: As gov you can't always look at the least expensive. Sometimes you need to look at what would be best for the children. Need to help caseworkers keep up with their loads so children get the services they need and don't get forgotten about.

Thibodeau: It's the culture of the child welfare. Our children are our future. We need a system that serves the needs of our children to keep them safe and serves the needs of the adults to help them be ready to take care of children safely.

Lindstrom: I'm not giving up on an outside contractor. But you have to do better than accepting a 40 percent discount you know was not going to get the job done. It needs to be realistic in its approach.

Herbster: In the business world, we'd say that was a bad deal and a bad contract. All three of us agree that the most important deal in any type of program we create or contract we sign is those children. They cannot control their destiny. That means it might not be the cheapest.

Q: Please explain your def of critical race theory?

Lindstrom: I think racism exists everywhere. Part of bridging the gap is realizing that you're going to represent everyone. We need to make sure that we are welcoming to all people. Some of that is walking the walk and making sure of the message we are sending people.

Lindstrom: We have to draw people into Nebraska, different races, creeds, sexual orientation. Walking the walk is a big part of that.

Herbster: America is in trouble. Why are we in trouble? We as a country have lost the moral country of what made America great. That's god, our flag and our families. We are at war.

Herbster: There's no question there's critical race theory here in the State of Nebraska. Here in 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19. "Critical race theory is when you're teaching the things that are wrong with America." We need to get back to teaching what made America great.

Herbster: There's no question there's critical race theory here in the State of Nebraska. Here in 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19. "Critical race theory is when you're teaching the things that are wrong with America." We need to get back to teaching what made America great.

Herbster: As governor there will be no critical race theory in the state of Nebraska.

Thibodeau: Critical race theory began as a way to teach critical thinking skills. But it's turned into a way of teaching children how to distrust and dislike one another.

Thibodeau: We need to focus on critical thinking skills. (Cited an example of a youth retreat where a bunch of people came back disliking one another.) We want to make sure everybody has the same opportunity as everybody else.

Q: How do you think concepts of racial inequity and justice should be addressed in public schools and colleges?

Lindstrom: We do have a higher percentage of our prison population that is African-American. Education is the great equalizer. Some families don't grow up with a lot of great upbringing.

Lindstrom: But education needs to be tailored to individual communities to make sure people get what they need to succeed. Government and private partners need to work together to get that done.

Herbster: Need to get back to teaching the basics. Teach how America was founded, the greatness of America, even though we made a lot of mistakes. When it comes to employment and working with people in this state, I never hire based on gender. I never hire based on race.

Herbster: I only hire based on skill set, talent and opportunities. And I assure you that's how we're going to run the state.

Thibodeau: Teachers need to focus on the basics. It's not just education where that should be taught. Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs, Teammates, mentors matter. I have seen great things happen through that.

Thibodeau: Working with communities, listening to them to see their needs and help ensure they can take care of their families. The government cannot take over being a parent. Giving them the tools and resources.

Q: What policies would you put forward to make sure every child has access to postsecondary education?

Thibodeau: The state needs to step up to its constitutional duty and fund education per child (I think she's talking K-12.) I'd also work with the community colleges and high schools. Need more of them to make sure students have access.

Thibodeau: Bringing in business leaders, companies, trade schools and universities to show young people what they have to look forward to. That's another way to keep our children out of trouble, too.

Lindstrom: 244 school districts in Nebraska. 87 get state funding. 150-plus aren't. We have a huge disconnect and that's what's creating the urban-rural divide. If we drop the general levy fund from $1 to 0.90, we can do a 20 percent direct prop relief and provide equal aid.

Lindstrom: Rural broadband is another component of that. A kid in Broken Bow had to get on a horse to get to a top of a hill to send in an assignment..

Herbster: I agree with Senator Lindstrom. Rural broadband is an absolute necessity. Want to say to you moms and dads, you should have choice of the education and education system for your children. We need to make sure that the dollars follow the student. That's important.

Herbster: We need to realize the Omaha Public Schools have 60k students. It's a little bit of a balancing act. I'm for school choice. I'm for dollars following the children, but we have to make sure we protect our public schools and public school systems. "A tide rises all boats.

Q: When looking at those types of things, all 93 counties need represented.

Lindstrom: Sens. Wayne, Vargas and McKinney have done a lot of heavy lifting on that. This is a foundational groundwork to create the opportunity. We want to empower entrepreneurs.

Lindstrom: We want opportunity zones, education. The emphasis needs to be empowering innovative and thoughtful people to invest and grow. This is a significant step in that direction.

Herbster: Any money we spend has to have mentorship and apprenticeship. I met a chamber member who has a business in North Omaha. She said she'd be the only Dept. of Labor reporting company where they have an apprenticeship program. (I'll have to check.)

Herbster: Apprenticeship and mentorship is key if we're going to grow our next leaders.

Thibodeau: We need to make sure those funds are being used for those opportunities and that they're going into the communities they're meant to serve. Are there other parts of Nebraska that were left out of that.

(Sorry having some technical difficulties. Lost a few answers.)

Thibodeau: I don't like throwing money at problems without knowing how it's going to be spent and how we'll know if we're getting a good return on investment.

Q: Taxes. What would you change?

Thibodeau: I'd want to make sure we know where we're spending too much so we know how much we can cut, because we're being honest about what programs work and which don't.

Lindstrom: I want to get to an income tax of zero for the 50k single filers and 100k families.

Herbster: We'll look at everything, income, sales, property, consumption tax.

Q: What about illegal immigration, what would you do?

Thibodeau: We will prosecute people trafficking people and drugs into our country, and we will work with the delegation on this in Congress. I will serve our citizens first and meet their needs.

Thibodeau: For refugees, they need to be vetted. If not properly vetted, we have to protect our citizens.

Lindstrom: We do need to make sure on refugees that they are vetted. Need to make sure people are vetted. Immigration as a whole, businesses have taken steps with e-Verify. We need a path for legal immigrants to come here and work. We have a deficiency in our workforce.

Lindstrom: Not going to be done organically. Need bolstered e-verify, need legal immigration, and open to refugees who are verified.

Herbster: I spent three days on the border, more than Biden and Harris. I spent three days. I know exactly what's happening open the border. I know you're watching the news. We're getting ready to lift Title 42, you're going to have a catastrophic surge.

Herbster: 500k more people coming into this country illegally. They're not coming in because they want to be American. Or to be a taxpayer. Or a citizen. Governors will have to band together to push back against federal overreach.

Herbster: I will protect the citizens of the state and their children before we worry about someone coming in illegally, the culture we have of this beautiful state.

Q: How do you reach out as Republicans to people who feel like the Republican Party doesn't represent them, because of the rhetoric on immigration?

Lindstrom: We need to walk the walk, talk to people who feel neglected. Hear them. Work with them to address their concerns. Listen.

Herbster: We will work with legal immigrants. But we will not let our communities be overrun by illegal immigration.

Thibodeau: We need to work with legal immigrants and make sure they feel welcome and get this done.

Q: What about LGBTQIA folks, how will you make them feel welcome?

Herbster: We will work with people and listen.

Thibodeau: Many in the LGBTQ community want the same opportunity. They don't want things pushed on children. They want to live their lives and not have their lives showcased. Theys should have the opportunities to own business, live and succeed.

Thibodeau: To be left alone, like the rest of us.

Lindstrom: I've worked with someone in that community. Traveled around the state. They want the same things. We want to grow Nebraska no matter a person's background, color, creed or sexual orientation. We can bring people here to the state of Nebraska to continue to grow.

Q: On energy and the environment, how would you balance growth of solar and wind energy in state with concerns of landowners about how it changes the landscape?

Thibodeau: Farmers are concerned about it. Take for example the 30x30 that was written into law by Joe Biden. That is the federal government taking over land the size of Nebraska every year for the next state years. That's our land and our right to develop it.

Thibodeau: In Nebraska we already have a great product to help the nation become energy independent, ethanol. As well as protecting our power and that our power grid never goes down. We need to make sure the grid is safe. In Nebraska, we'll leave the light on.

Lindstrom: Water and protecting our water rights and our ability for our ag producers to thrive is vitally important to me. I support the Colorado project. With energy, a lot of that comes down to local decisions and local control. Some people want it. Some don't.

Lindstrom: Innovation in Nebraska can be. We need to double down on what we do well. ADM can create a hub and we can create spokes off of that. Those are the investments we need to make through incentives and tax reforms and build it. Nebraska is a net exporter of energy. That he

Lindstrom: That helps every ratepayer.

Herbster: I'm not putting any windmills on my land. Nobody's researched this more than when Trump was in office. Says nation was energy independent under Trump. (I believe the nation was a net exporter.)

Herbster: We need to focus on that. I like the Facebook joke I saw the other day, when Air Force One is electric, I'll buy an electric car.

Lindstrom closing: I think of this election in two different ways. What separates me is experience, eight years in the Legislature working with others to get things done. Walking the walk is vitally important. Tax code, rural broadband, highway system. Investment in communities.

Lindstrom: I'll walk alongside those individuals in those communities. Individual freedoms. Individual communities. Walking alongside of them to build. Next-generation leadership, in 2050, what will Nebraska be?

Lindstrom: We should double down on what we do well. Nebraska needs to be a global leader on a lot of different fronts, ag and beef industry. I look forward to opening new markets to grow Nebraska. The more companies collecting dollars from outside Nebraska the better we can grow

Herbster: Everything that we grow, everything that we manufacture, everything that we process, everything that we do anything with in this state will have a beautiful red Nebraska silhouette on it, because marketing is branding.

Herbster: And we have to let the U.S. and foreign countries know that Nebraska looks like this and great things come from Nebraska. We have got to brand, brand, brand. That's one of the key things that will bring more business into the state of Nebraska.

Herbster: There's nothing better than when you create a brand with your name on it and it starts to click. We can lead in Nebraska. As governor you will have my promise, we will be selling Nebraska every single day. Everybody in this state has a place at the table.

Thibodeau: In my time in the Legislature, I was a tax cutter. As a small business owner, I know what it's like to face government red tape from many different organizations. I see the opportunity and what needs to be done in our education.

Thibodeau: It's not only the experience in Lincoln that makes a great next governor. It's life experiences. It's diversity of backgrounds. You begin on where you agree and you build on that.

Thibodeau: We have 93 counties, let's bridge all of those counties. Not red and blue counties. Let's make red, white and blue counties. Pass a state to the next generation that will thrive for years to come. Nebraska, don't let the big money thrown around waste your vote.

We are done. Apologies for the technical troubles that lost parts of some answers. Got most of them. Thanks for following along. Story to come on @NE_Examiner.

@threadreaderapp Please unroll

One more thing, this tweet left out a key modifier. This forum included three of the four top GOP candidates running in the May 10 GOP primary for Nebraska governor. Apologies that I didn’t catch that sooner. The winner will likely face @Blood4G, who is the key Democrat running.