Councilman Mulligan: Less Than One and Done?
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Now that Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle has the four City Council votes he needs to pass his proposed contract with the Omaha Police Union, the next question is how will he pay for it, or more accurately how will you pay for it.
And then there’s the question of Councilman Thomas Mulligan’s political future. Or to put it another way, does he have one?
On Thursday Mulligan and Councilman Chris Jerram joined fellow Councilmen Ben Gray and Garry Gernandt in favor of the controversial police contract.
But Mulligan, and he may not be alone, is keeping his options open (see video below) when it comes to which tax or taxes will go up to pay for the contract, its added pensions costs, and the city’s overall 2011 budget deficit of $34 million.
As Nebraska Watchdog first reported in June, Mulligan is all for Suttle’s proposed $23 a year hike in the wheel tax (from $35 to $58) because, as Mulligan notes, the money is specifically targeted to fixing the city’s streets.
But while announcing his vote for the police deal, Mulligan would not say if he’s in favor of the Mayor’s plan to balance the budget with a 4 percent restaurant tax and 9 percent property tax increase.
Although property taxes have historically infuriated Nebraska voters, it’s the Mayor’s restaurant tax that has received most of the complaints this time around (as it did last year as well). So unless the Council makes some unexpected 11th hour moves to cut the budget it appears, that if the restaurant tax is lowered (look for 2 percent) or dropped completely, property taxes will jump even higher.
As for Mulligan’s future on the City Council, it looks shaky at best. It was just a few months ago the Council voted unanimously to appoint Mulligan to the northwest Omaha seat held for years by Chuck Sigerson. The district is largely conservative and, like Sigerson, Mulligan is a Republican. But it might not be long, in fact it may have already started, before Mulligan’s critics label him a RINO (Republican in Name Only).
Mulligan tells Nebraska Watchdog (see video below) he thinks he’ll run when the seat is up in 2013. But he’s not ready to say how his votes for higher taxes and the police contract will help him win.
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Reported by Joe Jordan, joe@nebraskawatchdog.org
Posted under News, Omaha Government.
Tags: Ben Gray, Chris Jerram, Thomas Mulligan
8:12 am on August 13th, 2010
What Mulligan ought to be concerned about regarding his political future is that he will likely be subject to a recall effort in the very near future. He has no campaign warchest and the recall effort doesn’t need to be huge like going after Suttle. He has no support in his district and his “voting record” ensures he’d be ousted. If Jerram could also be recalled, this would effectively shut Suttle down for the rest of his first, and only term, and would put both the police and fire unions back into their proper place. Jerram didn’t win his seat by much of a margin and he too isn’t popular now in his own district.
10:54 am on August 13th, 2010
Too late Jerram has said he will vote for the police HUGE contract
they never listened to any taxpayer and once again the unions control the city and the departments what a joke this town is
12:29 pm on August 13th, 2010
I does feel like the unions got one over the taxpayer. somehow the people are too distracted to vote them out. Oh well, you get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit. Some will vote with their feet, given sufficient time. we definitely will leave some time in the future, because Omaha is not where I want my children growing up under the yoke of the labor unions. They will need to beef up the chamber of commerce advertising to overcome the tax and spend reputation that Omaha has earned. What will their slogan be? : ‘We used to be something before we became nothing”, or maybe “Omaha, land of 10,000 pot holes, and growing”.
6:50 pm on August 13th, 2010
Should just give the “rubber stamp” to the Mayor and cut out the City Council since all they do is what the Mayor wants. Cut out all of the town hall meetings to listen to what the taxpayers have to say, City Hall doesn’t listen to them anyway. The Rubber Stamp Roundtable (City Council) is at it again.
1:38 pm on August 14th, 2010
I believe it’s worse than ‘rubber stamp’ the behind the scenes stuff going on is just a clear indication of how the firemen and police along with the stupid mayor are laughing their rear ends off because one more time they lied and screwed the public. And I would ask that the police union and the fire union never again tell us what professionals they are-they are not. Taxpayers are willing to work for the city we KNOW it is a mess but the unions have lied to the public they just got another enhanced pension with the DROP program. So go ahead and blame Fahey for enhanced one but suttle gave them a HUGE enhanced pension TWO!
By the way did Officer Platt get his disability pension yet? Has the police department finished their investigation of him and the other two officers since May? Maybe Platt is waiting for the new contract to be signed.