Omaha mayor faces first recall vote since 1987

[The Northerner]

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Voters in Omaha, Neb., are heading to the polls to decide whether Mayor Jim Suttle should keep his job.

Polls open at 8 a.m. in the city's first mayoral recall election since 1987. The first returns are expected as voting ends at 8 p.m.

Suttle is a Democratic former city councilman and public works director who took over the city's top job in spring 2009.

In seeking his ouster, the recall group cites "excessive taxes, broken promises and union deals that cost taxpayers millions and threaten Omaha's economic future."

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hBYqJJc68gSh1IORTefePiwkxZ8Q?docId=0987dcdfb02d4da4aaccb4a5a0e3f54c

[DBoon]

1. related LA Time story

"Campaign finance reports filed with the state show four individuals and a married couple — all Republicans — gave a combined $169,000 toward the Mayor Suttle Recall Committee. That's more than half of the donations collected by the group through Jan. 10.

Two of those donors gave at least $25,000 each to another pro-recall group, finance reports show. The top donors to the recall effort also gave substantial donations to the Republican ex-mayor Suttle defeated in 2009, campaign filings show.

Loree Bykerk, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said the recall effort was funded by "prominent Republicans who have political ambitions." She said the recall backers used the nation's economic troubles as leverage."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-omaha-mayor-recall,0,7165678.story

His only offense is being a Democrat

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Shameful.