KFAB Reporter Jeff Turner takes a deep dive into the candidates running in Omaha's mayoral race in this continuing series. This first installment is a profile of Mark Gudgel, a Nebraska Public School teacher.
With the 2020 Presidential race winding down - Omaha still has a major election in their future. The primary for Omaha's mayoral race is in April, and candidates have already announced their intent to run.
One of those candidates is Nebraska Educator and Nonprofit Director Mark Gudgel. Gudgel announced his candidacy in September of this year and has a background in teaching in both Lincoln and Omaha. He has been living in Omaha's Field Club neighborhood in Midtown for six years now. Gudgel is a co-founder of the Educator's Institute for Human Rights - a nonprofit that 'delivers content and strategies for teaching genocide prevention and sustainable peace.'
"One of the things young people often tell me is that they leave Omaha for or won't come back because of is a lack of opportunity," Gudgel said. Gudgel is also concerned about the city's businesses, "In the past five years, we've lost two Fortune-500 caliber companies, and of course those companies take tons of well-paying jobs with them as well as taxes that could be used to fix the craters in our streets."
Omaha lost Conagra in October of 2015. As of 2020 - Conagra ranks 334 on the Fortune 500. The Omaha World Herald reported in 2016 that Conagra had pushed the Governor of Illinois to offer additional tax incentives - which Illinois officials obliged, offering the company incentives despite the moratorium that had been issued by the Governor due to the budget crisis at the time. This came after an offer from Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts to provide additional incentives beyond what the state was already providing at the time.
Omaha is also in the process of losing TD Ameritrade - TD Ameritrade ranks 486 in the Fortune 500 rankings. After getting bought out by Charles Schwab, the company's new owners voiced intent to eventually move TD Ameritrade's headquarters to Dallas, Texas. TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab announced in October of 2020 that they would be laying off about 1,000 employees between the two companies.
On these departures, Gudgel said "I'm not talking about trying to get TDA and ConAgra to return. Unfortunately, that ship has sailed." He is proposing traveling to places where the cost of living and doing business is high to recruit businesses to come to Omaha.
"There's a lot to love about Omaha, from both a personal and a business standpoint, but we have to help folks on the coasts see that if we want them to uproot their companies and their lives to come to contribute to our economy. I used to coach college basketball, and recruiting was part of my job. I'd go to games and tournaments most nights of the week, I'd spend hours on the phone making calls, I'd send letters, meet with parents and coaches, doing research on grades and eligibility, and eventually, some of the athletes I was walking to would agree to play for our program," Gudgel said.
He adds that he aims to offer a direct line of communication between every CEO in the city and City Hall.
Gudgel listed several issues along with retention of young people and businesses including fighting climate change, improving Omaha's public transit system, and college and trade school tuition relief.
Mayor Stothert has proven a formidable opponent. She defeated previous Mayor Jim Suttle by double digits in 2013, followed by a five-point victory over Former Nebraska State Senator Heath Mello in 2017. While her current approval rating has not been reported on, she enjoyed high numbers all throughout her first term - with the Omaha World-Herald reporting a 61% approval rating in 2014, and an internal poll conducted in June of 2016 placed her at a 60% positive approval rating. How these approval numbers have been altered by the COVID-19 pandemic remains unclear.
He has a lot he'd want to try as mayor, "I once asked a former mayor of Omaha what was to keep the city's top executive from going out and recruiting businesses -- from literally flying to New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and other places where huge businesses are currently struggling from the pandemic and just saying "Hey, I can cut your operating expenses by about 70%. Wanna talk about the American Midwest?" and you know what his answer was? "Ambition."
Gudgel said, however, that he wants to avoid criticizing Mayor Stothert as much as he can. "I think people have had enough ugliness in politics and partly because I want this campaign to be about my ideas and not her failings."
One of Gudgel's marquee issues is an investment in Public Transportation. "This city sprawls in such a way that it's almost impossible to live here without a car -- but it doesn't have to be." He says the ORBT program is a good start, but he wants to go further. "We need to run ORBT to the airport so that businesses and tourists can get into town without renting a car. We need to run it north to south as well, in as many places as possible, and truly connect this city."
ORBT currently runs from Downtown to Westroads and goes through Downtown, Midtown Crossing, Nebraska Medicine, Dundee, Crossroads, the University of Nebraska at Omaha Campus, Children's and Methodist Hospital - ending at the Westroads Transit Center.
Gudgel says a robust public transit system will work for all Nebraskans. "More people using buses reduces the number of cars on the streets, which in turn reduces the wear and tear and the number of tire-eating potholes in this city. Also, public transportation can help us reduce our carbon footprint and be part of a much larger plan to become a more climate-friendly city for the future."
"Omaha currently isn't doing its part to fight climate change, but we could be. Lincoln is, and frankly that should embarrass us," said Gudgel on Climate Change.
Gudgel says he is working with consultants to develop a long-term plan for Omaha to fight Climate Change and become carbon neutral in the future. "We can't recycle most recyclable goods in Omaha, and when the city council banned plastic bags a few years back this mayor vetoed that bill. I used to work in Rwanda, and that entire nation has successfully banned plastic bags. It's not a matter of ability, it's a matter of vision, of caring for the environment, and of the will to do the right thing."
Mayor Stothert's most recent move with regard to environmental protection is the transition to a new trash service. There will be a period in the first 4-6 weeks of 2021 where all yard waste collected will help to produce Oma-Gro, which is compost made from yard waste. The yard waste will go to a landfill in the remaining weeks of the year. The service is meant to make dropping off recycling at recycling sites more accessible without increasing your taxes.
Gudgel's background is in teaching, and education is a big part of his platform. "I've committed to creating a program of tuition assistance grants that will ensure that all young people in Omaha have the ability to attend post-secondary education, say to become a plumber, a chef, a teacher, an electrician, a hairstylist, or a nurse, and to graduate free of debt."
Speaking on the issue of student debt, Gudgel said "As mayor of a municipality, I'm not in a position to forgive student loans. That's a federal issue, though I'll say that I have my share of student loans and I won't mind it if somewhere along the way those get forgiven."
He's right to say that any student loan forgiveness is a federal issue. Marketplace reports that 92% of loans are held by the Department of Education - the report adds that it's hard to determine what impact a certain amount of student debt cancellation would have on the economy.
Gudgel wants to work with philanthropic groups and existing programs to offer opportunities for tuition reimbursement. "We can probably even bring in employers like HyVee and others that offer some form of tuition reimbursement for their employees. We get everyone at the table, and we create a clearer path for getting an education without taking out loans. But here's where this gets bold: alone this still won't do it, so how do we fill in the blanks to be sure that every student in Omaha to graduate from high school can get a post-secondary education and go on to have a career they want? That comes down to my office as mayor."
Gudgel wants to offer institutions, beginning locally, pennies on the dollar for tuition, "if we buy it a million hours at a time," he said. "This program -- we're calling it tuition assistance grants right now -- will help fight brain drain and it will also help fight urban sprawl."
Gudgel continued, "this constitutes a whole new program. To simplify, step one as a municipal government will be organization: getting stakeholders to the table and assessing our assets. We do the work of organizing first and see how many kids can get their tuition fully funded this way, and how many get part way there. Step two then is to make up the difference, and that's where the tuition assistance grants come in. If a kid can get half of their tuition paid for great, and we'll step in to cover the other half so that they're able to graduate debt-free. They'll still have to pay rent, obviously, but for local kids who may be able to live at home that's not a new burden. What I'm planning to do is to remove the insurmountable obstacle to ensure that smart kids like the ones I teach can pursue well-paying careers rather than just jobs. This will help end generational poverty, which in turn will lower crime, and all because we took care of our residents as a city. There's no downside and almost no limit to the upside."
Gudgel said this program won't be available to kids in Gretna, Bellevue, or Papillion as a means of encouraging families to stay in Omaha. "This is good for young people, most of all, but it's also good for the long-term health and prosperity of the city of Omaha," Gudgel said that his campaign is still fine-tuning the program, with an official rollout coming soon.
You can read up on Mark Gudgel on his website.
The Omaha Mayoral primary - where all candidates, Republican, Democrat, and Independent, will be on the ballot - is on April 6th.
(Photo by WOWT 6 News)