Schaffner turns in petitions to run for mayor

Goodluck and God Bless Carl Schaffner for being a former Marine who is STILL WILLING to defend his country. Kudos to Fremont residents for realizing that it's the Mayor's job to make sure the laws are enforced. Something tells me that with "Mayor Schaffner" in office, all of that "winking and nodding" that's been going on will come to a screeching halt! Good Luck Fremont!

I hope that this one issue candidate will actually start to answer questions instead of just offering big words that say nothing.

There are so many issues in our community we don't need someone running that only knows what he is against instead of what he is for.

Immigration is a big concern - yes. But the funny thing is as mayor there is very little he could do himself to impact that. Police, fire, taxes, roads, etc...that is what the Mayor will focus on. And, he has to show that he can build coalitions -- nut just critize and throw jabs as he has done so far.

To Bob B:

Amen Brother!

I know you read this so be a man and voice your opinion about something...

What are you going to to with property tax this year???

What about promoting new business to move into our town to create better jobs that pay more than $9.75/hour???

How about the street issues we have, finding a resolution - when it rains a little bit over half the streets in town are flooded???

I know, we can go on and on, but if you don't answer these 'simple' questions, how are you going to be able to fix this 'huge' immigration problem.

I need to see facts/opinions from you before I vote for someone that just wants to get rid of Mexican's - legal or illegal.

Great it is about time someone shot Skip SLIM PICKENS down.We need new blood
for a change to lead our city

Carl got enough signatures to get on the ballot. Hmmm, makes you wonder how many citizens really think it's time for a change.

I'm not saying that I think Carl is the right person to run against Skip. I do not have enough information to make that decision. He just wouldn't have been one of my top 5 choices.

However, I do know that numerous times in public Skip has stated that "this will not happen in my town” or “that will not happen in my town”. Maybe others are starting to believe that Skip needs to realize it isn’t “his” town, and that maybe he should start listening to those who elected him.

Hmmm... election is going to be interesting to say the least!

What slays me is people posting things against Carl and mouthing off about what is he going to do about taxes, police and etc. In other words the present mayor hasn't done anything or you wouldn't even be talking about this subject. Ask Carl if you want to know. He is in the phone book. Call him instead of whining.

Yah!! Good for you Carl, I'm glad you got the signatures you needed.

Only 100 extra.?..good luck Carl...that's not a lot of room for error. Plus, it seems that if this is such a priority for the community then you would have way more that 1500 signatures.

If you are on the ballot...I look forward to you actually answering questions and having a real platform. Looked at your website -- lots of talk but no ideas. Every candidates says what you have given us. Where are the new ideas. If you are going to ask the community to take an amazing leap of faith with you on this than you need to give us A LOT more that that.

Don H...you are way off base saying that Mayor Edwards "has done nothing" -- he has made many accomplishments and is actually running a campaign so he has made his positions, ideas and experiences known. So -- we can't question carl but you can throw stones at current Mayor?

Carl wants to run for election and wants our vote...now you suggest we need to call him at home?

Carl running for mayor makes Skip Edwards look like a better choice all the time.

Talked with Carl when I saw him at Expressway -- not impressive. A one issue candidate that doesn't even understand his one issue.

Hats off to anyone who wants to run for Mayor and try to put Fremont's leadership and city government on the right track and end the good ol' boys club that accomplishes nothing except what isa beneficial to theselect few. The Mayor can only read written, prepared statements and continue the lack luster performance of years past. Fremont deserves much more. Fremont can be the great community most people want - but only under solid leadership. IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE.

Most petition drives yield about 82% of verifiable signatures. I predict based on the way these were collected that it comes in lower than 82%. Thankfully Carl will not appear on the ballot. Even if he got an unheard of 90% of signatures verified he still would come up short.

Carl maybe you should run for Mayor in Gotham City. That way you could help rid the City of the joker instead of making a joke out of running for Mayor in Fremont.

Bob... I agree that a mayor should know more than just one issue, that he/she should know what is going on and know the issues in our town. My question then is do you really believe our current mayor of 20 years has any idea or had any more qualifications when he was elected into office? Maybe it is time we give someone else a chance to prove himself.

I also agree Carl needs to start answering more questions. Running on the sole issue of immigration will not win you office, no matter how mad most of the city is with "Skip".

Several people have tried to ask Carl what his stand is on other issues, but he never has an answer. He is a One Issue candidate. I'm not "mouthing off" I am stating what can be looked up on this very website. I would gladly vote for someone who has good, positive ideas about all of the issues that face our city. Until he can come up with VALID responses to the questions asked of him, I can't vote for him. I think it is wonderful that he wants to fight illegal immigration, but that is not the only problem that our city has.

To Carl:
First issue or question about self.
Why don't you pay taxes???
Can you clarify this - let us the
people know.

According to the Assessor's Office, Carl gets 100% Homestead as a disabled veteran. I say Amen to that. He gave to us...we can give back to him!

To Doug...the point about the taxes is that he wants to be the leader who decides how are taxes are spent and how much the city will take from our pocketbooks...yet, he doesn't have to contribute anything to property taxes. Seems that if you want that role in our city you too should pay property taxes...he paid them when he was married. If he is all about integrity than I think he would want to pay them...even if he doesn't have to.

Yeah Al, I'm sure that if you were told you didn't have to pay taxes [esp. if it was for a valid reason] you would just keep paying them anyway. Come on!

I am 100% disabled vet. And no that is not homestead. Plus let me clarify "disabled vet" many think this means you were disabled via comabat. NOT TRUE. Per carl's website he was a gardener in the Marine's. he may call it "forestry" but we marines know. carl is not a wounded vet. i am sorry that Carl became disabled but don't mislead people because it discredits those of us that served and were disabled while serving.
Why carl does not pay taxes is a mystery. Why won't he answer? And no it is nl does not qualifyot because he is a disabled vet. He is a veteran who became disabled. Yes that is considered "disabled vet" but not in action. Will you notice Carl only boasts of belonging to the American legion? Good for him, I too am a member. i am also a member of the Veterans of Forign Wars (VFW). You have to have been in combat area for that. Carl does not qualify for VFW. Which basically means he was never in a combat area and most likely never left USA. so WHY DOES CARL SCHAFFNER NOT PAY TAXES?

Here you have a resident who wants to make changes and improve the community - bring leadership to the Mayor's office.
Give him a chance. Fremont can be no worse off than the mess that exists today.
Skippie and his prepared statements can be easily replaced.
I'm sorry but I see no leadership in Edwards. NO ideas. Even told the Omaha TV station that "God" told him how to votre on the immigration ordinance????
Time to retire Edwards. Get Fremont on a path of success and growth.
The Mayor got excited that Goodwill built a new store and McDonalds fast food expanded their store.
Residents get excited about job creation, higher wages, quality of life, a growing economy and new industries.
Time for a change!

TO: Think about it...

Yes, it could be WORSE. You obviously no little about what Skip has and will cotninue to do for Fremont. Carl is a nice guy but clueless about so much of what goes on in Fremont with regards to running the city. Talk to him at Expressway and you to will see that -- yes, it could be worse than what we have today.

Not only does Carl not pay taxes but he doesn't have a job...but someohow he can run the city?

A lot of discussion on these boards centers on a candidate's qualifications.
What about a voter's qualifications?

For example, if you smoke, you shouldn't be allowed to vote. If you can't make intelligent decisions about your own life, how can you decide what's good for others?

Or, if you don't know the difference between "brake" and "break" or "imitation" and "immigration" you've not had much more than a 6th grade education. I don't want 6th graders deciding my future.

Lastly, if you're 70 or over you shouldn't qualify either. Whatever you would be voting on would not see real results until several years later. By that time you'd be dead. The living shouldn't have to suffer the consequences of your bad decisions.

Tired of Morons, according to your theory then, Skip shouldn't be the mayor anymore then either. Is that what you are saying? Since, according to you, "Whatever you would be voting on would not see real results until several years later. By that time you'd be dead. The living shouldn't have to suffer the consequences of your bad decisions."

If so, I agree, but not necessarily because of his age but because of his lack of vision and resistance to any kind of change.

What has skip done about this stuff???

NOTHING

Why do people have to keep coming back to 'prepared statements' from the Major. If he did or didn't know what the outcome was of that night, he needed to be prepared to make a statement. Can any one of you on the forum talk from the hip about immigration without a prepared statement??? Bet not - you people are trying to dig a deep as possible to blame someone.

I am changing my tun, I hope and pray the Carl is elected mayor - then I can sit here and say - I told you so!

While I found most of your post witty, I must point out that just because they don't know the difference between "brake" and "break" or "imitation" and "immigration" doesn't really mean they've not had more than a 6th grade education.

I think that's just the standard of our education system these days. I'm sure there are several individuals who have made it through graduation and couldn't tell you the difference between your examples anymore than they could tell you the difference between than/then, they're/their, or to/too and how to use them correctly.

While we're on the subject, what are Mr. Schaffner's views on the state of our education system today and how does he intend to improve them?

I know the poster who wrote on "illegal immitation"....the intent the poster had was to make a mockery of the absurdity of senseless debate.

The poster is an avid fisherman and certainly, from the latest posts on this blog, other bloggers have taken da' bait ("debate", for those wittiest enough for the pun)

Ok two things I have to comment on.

First to 'Bobo' I think it's really ridiculous to say that because smokers have made a bad life choice that they are incapable of making good decisions about any aspect of life. Most people started smoking when they were young, and had no fear of consequence. Once they are older they are already addicted and struggle to quit. EVERYONE makes bad decisions in their lives. Don't act as though you have never made a mistake. One bad choice is no reason to take away someones right to vote. You say you are tired of morons, but it is you who looks like a moron when you say things like that.

Secondly, we have all of these people on here, saying 'Hey Carl what are you going to do about this and that. Well here are some questions I have. What has Skip done about the drug problem this town has? What has he dont to improve education? What has he done to prevent illegals from moving to our town and draining our resources? What has he done about the increasing fear of gang activity in the town? What has he done when it concerns crime? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he has never done anything of value, I'm just saying everyone is out to attack Carl, but it seems to me that Skip hasnt done a whole lot of anything and he has been our mayor for a long time. I think a new approach is needed. Instead of attacking Carl, look at our mayor now. I encourage someone, anyone to tell me about what Skip is doing to better our town.

Bobo - You should no the answer too you'r question...How do we fix the over crowded halls of our local education system: Get rid of the illegals. (hahaha - good think i didnt gratitate from the local system!!!!)

I have asked our current mayor these same questions...I just want some answers from someone. But since this guy seems like a one issue person, I will get the same answer...If we get rid of the illegals than we won't have any money left in our budget to fix the other problems. Good answer :-)

TO CW

First --let's have both candidates answer those questions. I turly belive you may be surprised at how much has actully been attempted to deal with many of the questions you ask.

Second -- oh boo hoo if you think folks are "attacking" Carl. There are just as many mean attack if not more on the current Mayor. Carl needs to be a big boy here and speak up. If he wants to be taken seriously as a candidate he needs to asnwer these questions. He has put himself out there so he needs to face us.

And if you missed it the mayor has been running his campaign and faced a challenger in the primary. If you attended the forum or read the artciles you could answer some of these questions about what Skip Edwards has done. Carl chose not to take the traditional route to office -- he could have run in the primary -- he chose not too -- so we should hold him to a high standard and not fee like we need to "give him time" as some has suggested. Now that he is done standing outside Wal Mart gaining signatures he needs to actually talk to all voters and answer these question. Even his website says he is "researching" many of these issue and the rest is just same old political speak for -- I really don't know how the answer that.

The clock is ticking Carl.

I am going to Write in Scott Schaller!!! I invite everyone to Join me! A Good portion of this city was not given the opprotunity to vote for him. I'm writing him in and I hope more people do too!

Good luck To Mr Shatner. I know his brother william did a heck of a job with The enterprise. Chill out people. When all the votes are tallied Im sure our good ole boy Skip will be right there on top.

Re: Im voting for Schaller

Last, I heard Mr. Schaller doesn't want to be a write in or anyone to write his name in. Just a heads up from an article I read a few weeks back here on the Tribune.

So, please don't waste a vote :)

So Alison, you still didn't tell me what Skip has done. I figured if I asked, maybe I would get some answers. Apparently none yet... I want both candidates to answer my questions about what will be done concerning these issues, but if you read my post carefully, I asked what HAS Skip done over the years? Not what will he do. It's an honest question, and it deserves an answer. All these people defending him don't seem to have the answer to that.

Per your request CW:

Here is a short list of Edwards clear accomplishments that have have many years of impact for Fremont...


Helped add wellfields to improve community’s water supply

Expanded affordable elderly citizen housing by construction of the Stanton Tower high-rise complex

Increased generating capacity of the Power Plant while contining to offer Fremont homes and business some of the lowest cost power in our state

Developed Christensen Field as an agricultural park and recreational facility and continued to work on enhancements -- a huge investment for Fremont which is paying back big time.

Expanded Fremont Airport runway to accommodate jet traffic and added needed hangar spaces which helped enhance income so hangars are self supporting and aided area businesses

Acquired land and developed Christensen Business Park to continue to bring and enahnce business in Fremont

Constructed aditions to sewer system east and north of town to promote future residential, commercial, and industrial development

Constructed numerous major traffic improvements including Bell and Broad Street viaduct replacements, the widening of sections of 23rd Street, Military Avenue, Bell and Broad Streets, and partnering with the Department of Roads on the Highway 275/30 By-pass

Constructed Fremont’s water storage and treatment facilities on south Luther Road to improve the quality and safety of the Community’s water supply

Added a peaking turbine generator to assure reliability of the Community’s electric supply

Cooperated with Dodge County Humane Society officials in the location, construction, and financing of the new animal shelter and transferred animal control activities to the Society

Acquired and improved the Community’s gas distribution system. Municipal ownership brought the customers’ gas rates down from being the second highest in the state to the lowest quartile

Initiated a trails system to serve community residents

and the list goes on...

And...no I don't work for Edwards or his campaign.

So...CW why don't you list Carl's community accomplishments. And better yet why don't you have him respond about ideas and suggestions on ANY of the type of issues listed above.

Looking forward to your response to my questions and HIS.

add to that...

Skip used leadership to keep our taxes low.

used leadership to bring toghether other leaders in the state to help with area roads projects and other efforts requiring outside funding -- things we would not have gotten if he had not used his relationships with these folks to make it happen.

He has helped get much of Fremont out of the flood plane -- his influence helped push this project along.

Supported countless capital projects from area organiations to help improve facilities, building and organizations that provide services to residents in need.

Look at his record on fiscal responsibility. We are unlike so many other communities that have seen constant increases in taxes on top of increases in property values.

In general our crime rate is low -- still crime is a concern but ask our PD about the support the mayor gives public saftey.

There are so many other things as well. He is not perfect. Fremont is not perfect.

But to suggest that he has sat by over all these years and do nothing is WRONG. Even his opponent in the primary talked at length about Skips accomplishments and his integrity.

And while many wouldn't dare admit it -- Skip did do the right and LEGAL thing by voting no to a law that that legal counsel AND the Attny General of Nebraska said was not within our authority. He could have simply NOT VOTED...but he stood up for what he thought was right and didn't just hide from a vocal and threatening group of citizens.


Any word from Carl... yet?

If you think our mayor makes all those decisions,(police, fire, roads, hiring, taxes, and how they are spent etc.) you need to do some research!. The City administrator, general manager, management coordinator, personnel coordinator and city council make the decisions. Other facts..Skip doesn't have a job either (not relevant) he was excited about new McDonalds because he has coffee there in the morning with the boys club. He's excited about the new goodwill store because they bought very expensive ground(more property taxes) If the goodwill could afford that ground,they are making way too much money, do not take your things there(another story diff day) So do not make Skip out to be God of Fremont. Hes a good speaker that relays the decisions others have already decided. You want all the changes, expect more from those I have listed. Carl will push to change things from those leaders and will not become a good old boy. And concerning the state of the education system, just ask his 2 highly intellegant, highly achieving, fremont school system, respectful, polite boys. Seeing the great job he has done raising them proves to me he can get the job done. He gets my vote!

Alison, I appreciate your latest post.
It was very informative!

Alison, wake up!
Skip had very little or nothing to do with any of those items.

Ielectricute was correct. It was all of the other leaders, departments and boards that accomplished those goals. I doubt Skip even voted on any of them.

To BingeDrinker: If Schaller could have been on the ballot again in November, he would have. However, Fred Mytty stated that due to his loss in May, he could not be, and even as a write in, votes for him would not count.

However, the citizens of Fremont can do whatever they want on their ballot. Choose Skip, Carl or write in whoever they want.

I'm just waiting to see how many citizens of Fremont vote and how many votes are cast for Skip. That will give everyone the true picture of how the majority of citizens feel.

I'll probably just leave that area blank as I'm not sure I want any of them for 4 years. Looking forward to Election 2012!

I knew whatever I posted there you would all be quick to say..."he didn't do that" blah, blah, blah.

It continues to show that many of you are unware of the role of the mayor of Fremont. It is his leadership that has helped get these projects done. In many, many cases his behind the secene work and work with the staff, council and other organizations in the community have made these things happen.

Of course he himself did not make each one of those things happen. But in the same token then you can't lay blame for every problem our city faces on his shoulders. Folks -- you can't have it both ways. Seems like if there is something you don't like it's his fault -- something that has been done -- then he didn't do it.

So-- I answered as asked. Sorry you want to pick that a part. BUT...where is Carl's accomplishents in any leadership or community oriented capacity. Since that list doesn't appear to be coming -- what about his ideas abotu any of the citywide issue -- including what he would do in reality to "rid Fremont" of illegals.

are you serious..."raising polite boys" makes him ready to lead Fremont.

Is that the best you have?

Alison-
I will have to look into your claims as to what Skip has done. I'm not going to 'pick them apart'
However, you didn't answer my questions. None of what you listed has anything to do with drugs, gangs, education, or the crime rate. These are things that concern me! I'm not saying the other things aren't important, but as a voter I want to know what can be done about the serious issues of this town. Drugs gangs and crime are all serious issues. We need to do something about the meth problem in Fremont. We need to find outlets for our young people to express themselves in a positive manner, so that they aren't destroying our town by vandalizing things. I feel like if the teen population of Fremont had something positive to do with their time there would be less problems. Less car windows being broke out, less graffiti, and hopefully less drug use. When I was a teen, the main reason for kids drinking and smoking pot was 'there is nothing to do in this town' That makes me think if we did have something for them to do they would be using less drugs.

You know Alison, I'm not saying Carl is the man for Fremont, I'm just saying that Skip should be doing more about serious issues. You are barking up the wrong tree when you ask me for answers to questions you have for Carl. He has never been the mayor for me to be able to look back and site his accomplishments as you have with Skip. I would hope that Carl will answer everyones questions and put some of the voters minds at ease, however that is not my place, so please dont ask me to speak for the man, because that is something I cannot do. I can tell you the one thing that I know about Carl, he is a veteran, and should be respected for fighting for his country. He should be admired for fighting for our freedoms, one of which is our ability to get onto this website, and state our opinion about these issues for all to see. He served his country, and like him or not he deserves respect for that.

Carl get respect from his children and others. That is a sign of a good leader. Try to focus on my whole comment, not just the last line. Alison, YOU are unaware of what the mayors roles are. I bet you can't even name the people that go to the positions I talked about.