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Two Republican candidates and three Democratic incumbents are the big money-raisers — and spenders — in the crowded officially nonpartisan City Council race, bolstered by big party donors and PACs. Tom and Shawn Peed, who own Sandhills Global and have become big donors in local and state politics, each donated $20,000 to Jerry Shoecraft’s campaign — one of two Republicans vying for three at-large seats on the council that now has a 6-1 Democrat majority. The Democracy Nebraska PAC has donated $5,000 to each of the three Democrat incumbents running for reelection.
The sole donor to the PAC is Nebraska Donor Alliance, a progressive funding collaborative whose executive director is Adam Morfeld. Morfeld, former state senator, founder and former director of Civic Nebraska, challenged Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon in 2022, and narrowly lost a contested — and expensive — race where the Peed family donated more than $300,000 to Condon and a PAC that supported him. People are also reading.
.. According to the latest campaign filings with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, each of the incumbents have also gotten donations from the Nebraska Democratic Party, Way Back, a Wyoming-based regional Democrat-focused PAC ($2,500 to each candidate) and Bold Alliance, the environmental nonprofit run by state Democratic party chairperson Jane Kleeb ($5,000 to each).
Shoecraft, a Democrat-turned-Republican who served two terms as an at-large member in the 1990s and made an unsuccessful bid for northeast Lincoln’s District 1 in 2003, has raised — and spent — the most money so far, according to the campaign filings. He’d raised more than $68,000 as of March 24, the latest deadline for campaign statements, and since then he’s gotten another $15,000 in donations including those from the Lincoln Police Union ($5,000), the Nebraska Realtors Association ($2,000), Lincoln Firefighters ($6,000) and an individual ($2,000). He’d spent close to $32,000 as of March 24, two weeks before Tuesday's primary election, according to accountability and disclosure records.
Stan Parker, the other Republican, had raised about $28,000 and spent about $12,000 in that time. Parker, a former Husker lineman who runs a nonprofit Christian ministry, has donations primarily from individuals. Tom Beckius, who is running for a second term on the council, had raised $58,000 by March 24, but had another $10,000 donation from the Nebraska Realtors PAC.
He’s spent more than $48,000. Sändra Washington, who is seeking her second full term, had raised about $38,000 — plus another $4,000 in donations from Integrated Behavioral Health and the Nebraska Realtors PAC, and spent close to $30,000. Bennie Shobe, who is seeking a third term, had raised more than $33,000 and spent about $7,200 as of March 24.
Elina Newman, who has made two unsuccessful runs for a council seat, had close to $6,000 as of March 24 and spent about that much. The other three candidates — Maher Aurang Zeb, Maghie Miller-Jenkins and Rene Carrillo — have not filed statements with Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure, required when candidates raise or spend more than $5,000 in a calendar year. Health Department milestones Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department public health nurses with the Family Connects program — a universal home visiting program for new moms created under former Director Pat Lopez — surpassed their 1,000th visit about 15 months after the program began.
The program was a labor of love by Lopez, who died last month. She came to believe in the benefits of such programs as a public health nurse who visited new moms for many years, a belief well-backed by research. A few more numbers in the Health Department’s 2024 “public health” snapshot: 8,425 and 5,452: The number of children and adults uninsured or not connected to a doctor who got routine vaccinations through the department.
Good news in today’s measles-outbreak, anti-vaccination climate. 980: The number of refugees who got health screenings and vaccinations from the Health Department, a number likely to go down because of the new presidential administration’s immigration crackdown. 13,746: The number of people who visited the Health Department’s dental clinics last year.
268: The number of bats tested for rabies. Just six tested positive, plus one fox. The department has also expanded its wastewater surveillance, which helps monitor disease spread in the community and guide the public health response.
Samples are tested weekly for pathogens such as flu, RSV, COVID-19 and norovirus. Testing can also detect high risk substances such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and nicotine. County hiring freeze In February the Lancaster County Board instituted a hiring freeze in an effort to reduce a $3.
4 million mid-year budget shortfall and so far has saved close to $200,000, said Budget Officer Dennis Meyer. The freeze is temporary — until the end of the fiscal year — and department heads can make their case to the County Board if they feel they need to hire someone. So far, the county engineer, public building commission administrator and community corrections director have asked to hire various positions, and the public defender asked to reclassify a position to higher pay.
All but one of those requests were denied. The board gave the public building commissioner permission to hire a supervisor for its building cleaners because the manager position is open and when the supervisor retires, the workers will have no supervisor. Community Corrections also got to hire a couple of part-time drug techs, and the county engineer can also advertise the open positions but can’t hire anyone until July 1.
The shortfall happened for a combination of reasons: the board keeping the tax rate level or lowering it; substantially fewer unfilled positions (the county often used those unfilled vacancy dollars to fill mid-year budget needs); and a couple of labor contracts with large salary increases. Since the hiring freeze began, the number of unfilled positions has grown from about 35 to about 54, Meyer said. The next budget period will be tight, he said, and the hiring freeze is a good reminder for departments.
“The hiring freeze is not just how much savings (you generate) but it’s also a message to everyone that this is kind of serious,” Meyer said. “It gets people geared up for the next budget period.” The E-edition is available to you every morning, and is updated throughout the day 2025 Primary Election Voter's Guide: Nine candidates running for 3 City Council seats Are you ready to fill out your primary election ballot? We talked to the nine at-large Lincoln City Council candidates.
Here are their responses to questions on the issues. Contact the writer at [email protected] or 402-473-7226.
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