Sarah Keeney
Eleven Federal and State Legislative Candidates meet with nearly 400 OTOC Leaders in Candidate Accountability Session
Federal issues include immigration, child care access, and humanitarian parole.
State issues include access to drivers’ licenses and unemployment insurance, and preservation of ballot initiatives.
Omaha, Nebraska – Nearly 400 leaders of Omaha Together One Community (OTOC) member institutions met Sunday (Oct. 20) at St. Pius X Catholic Church with eleven candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and State Legislature as OTOC sought commitments to support solutions on key issues important to the membership.
OTOC is a 31-year-old, broad-based organization made up of over 30 member congregations and community organizations. OTOC members work to identify, develop, and organize leaders around their common interests. As a non-partisan organization, OTOC never endorses a candidate, but seeks to develop public relationships with elected officials, and organize enough power to be able to advance the solutions they seek. OTOC’s accountability session did not follow the typical town hall or debate format. Instead, OTOC asked all the candidates for specific commitments to work with OTOC on their agenda of issues.
OTOC Leaders presented their personal stories illustrating the need for: the creation of pathways to permanency for long-term immigrant Nebraskans (Ariel Magaña Linares); the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant program to expand access to childcare (Amna Hussien); and for the creation of a humanitarian parole program for the Sudanese (Dr. Nada Fadul).
Representative Don Bacon, State Senator Tony Vargas, and Preston Love Jr. unanimously supported all three Federal OTOC initiatives!
OTOC leaders again presented State Legislative candidates with their personal stories illustrating the need for: expanding drivers’ licenses to all Nebraska residents (Esther Oyebefun Hung); expanding access to unemployment insurance for all work-authorized Nebraskans (Itzel Lopez); and protecting the role of citizens by preserving the ballot initiative process (Rosa Pinto).
Margo Juarez, Dunixi Guereca, Tim Pendrell, John Cavanaugh, Terrell McKinney, Nick Batter, Ashlei Spivey, and Allison Heimes also unanimously supported all three OTOC initiatives!
“OTOC leaders have conducted over 150 meetings across the state during the past 2.5 years,” said Kathleen Grant, OTOC leader and one of the co-chairs of the Candidate Accountability Session. “OTOC’s priorities were informed by these conversations and the leaders who are leading the work to identify solutions. This unusual format ensures the candidates will hear OTOC’s priorities and make clear public commitments to work together with us.”
“What makes this important is that we are gathered as people in community that care about issues and solutions and that these issues come from our people,” said Mark Hoeger, Augustana Lutheran Church. "What makes our Candidate Accountability Session unlike other forums is that here we're asking candidates to listen to the people and hear what their concerns are and then to commit to working together with us."
“We are thrilled by the reaction of the candidates to prioritize a relationship with OTOC, and to commit so clearly to work together with us on these issues!” said Jaimie Schmitz, Sacred Heart
[Photo Credit: Cass Opal]
The candidates who accepted the invitation to appear:
Candidates who accepted the invitation to appear:
2nd District Congress: Rep. Don Bacon (R) and Tony Vargas (D)
U.S. Senate: Preston Love Jr. (D)
State Legislature:
District 5: Margot Juarez
District 7: Dunixi Guereca and Tim Pendrell
District 9: John Cavanaugh
District 11: Terrell McKinney
District 13: Nick Batter and Ashlei Spivey
District 39 Allison Heimes
Candidates who declined to attend or backed out:
U.S. Senate: Sen. Pete Ricketts (R), Sen. Deb Fischer (R) & Dan Osborn (I)
State Legislature:
District 5: Gilbert Ayala
District 9: Julia Palzer
District 39: Tony Sorrentino
To see more about this event, check out this coverage:
KMTV 3 News Now Online
New York Times
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