VIDEO: Omaha Unions Say No to Gov

Via the Omaha World-Herald:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker drew a few hundred people to a Monday rally with Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert — and a few hundred union members to protest outside the event.

Walker, whose moves to restrict labor unions have made him a polarizing figure nationally, said there’s a clear distinction between Stothert and challenger Heath Mello. The governor came to Omaha in part as a response to last week’s Mello rally with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“Do you want Midwest common sense?” Walker asked about 250 attendees. “Or East Coast radical values?”

He pointed to several specifics, including Stothert’s property tax cuts and her moves to add police officers and eventually a fifth police precinct.

But about 100 union members including firefighters, teachers, laborers and operating engineers said at an earlier gathering that neither Walker nor Stothert share their values. The group, along with about 100 others, then went to protest the rally.

“To Scott Walker, I say, go back to Wisconsin. Omaha does not need or want your political agenda here,” said Tracy Hartman-Bradley of the Omaha Education Association. “To Jean Stothert, I say, be wary of the company you keep.”

In his first term, Walker pushed for a budget bill that ended collective bargaining rights for many public employees and mandated that they cover part of their health care and pension costs. The measure brought national attention and huge protests to the Wisconsin State Capitol.

He survived a recall effort and was elected to a second term. Last year he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for president.

Stothert, a Republican in an officially nonpartisan election, said she sees many similarities between herself and Walker.

“Folks,” she said, “my opponent wants more government and he will raise your taxes to get it.”

Stothert was elected in 2013, in part by promising to resolve the pension issue. She’s agreed to put more city money into the pensions and received concessions from city workers on pension benefits.

Stothert has criticized Mello for accepting $25,000 from the fire union, saying it would be difficult for Mello to objectively negotiate a contract with a group that has given such a large contribution to his campaign. Stothert argues that Mello would bring back benefits for unions that would take the city back to the days of the pension funding crisis.

Mello says he could remain objective when negotiating agreements.