Over the past couple years, Hal Daub has gone through an expensive three-quarters life crisis (Hal’s a little too old to qualify for the mid-life crisis). Some men are happy with sports cars, Terry Watanabe was fond of the black jack table, but Hal has an ego only elected public office can satisfy.
Daub tapped equity for campaign – Omaha World-Herald
Unfortunately for Daub, money can’t buy elected office (just ask Pete Ricketts), and his journey back to elected public office has drained Daub of his personal savings. Daub loaned his mayoral campaign $200,000 in the final days of the election. Add that to the $300,000 of savings spent on an unsuccessful senate run and you have a recipe for financial disaster. After losing to Jim Suttle in Omaha’s mayoral election, Daub seemed to indicate he’s moving past his three-quarters life crisis.
Last week, former Mayor Mike Fahey held a fundraiser to retire the campaign debt of Jim Vokal. Fahey hosted a roast-style fundraiser. In the spirit of creative fundraisers, I believe family, friends, and supporters of Hal Daub should hold an intervention.
It seems Daub is still in denial about how how he got into debt. An intervention would serve multiple purposes – it would raise money and open Hal’s eyes. The World-Herald reprinted a few lines from a recent Daub fundraising letter. The letter was full of denial. One form of denial – blame others.
We did not want to let our friends, our supporters and Omaha down.
Another form of denial – justification.
The decision to go into debt and borrow against our only equity, our home, was proven to be a good decision as we narrowly lost and could not have expected victory but for this additional financial injection at the eleventh hour.
Daub loaned his campaign $200,000 so he would lose by only 1,400 votes instead of 3,000. This sounds like a man in trouble.
Omaha, we need to help this man before he seeks another elected office. It’s time for a Hal Daub intervention.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, Daub (or perhaps his wife) obviously have money to burn. Just think how much good even a fraction of that could have done if the Daubs had donated the money to a worthy charity, rather than on a Quioxtic, ego-driven bid to regain the office of Mayor.
The $200,000 is especially telling — In being forced to tap his home equity, it is clear that Daub's big donors (you know the ones) told Daub that the game was over and that no more $$$ would be forthcoming. That had to hurt.
As for the newspaper story, well it's just another kiss blown to Daub by the OW-H for his decades of devoted service to the paper's agenda.
The biggest losers — Jim Vokal and Dan Welch. At least Vokal had the guts to atempt to take Daub down in the primary. As for Welch (Hazelrigg; and the other 40-somthing GOP wannabes), he obviously didn't have the guts to take on his Maker. Either Vokal or Welch would have had a better chance of defeating Suttle in the General.
Bottom line — Daub's ego cost the GOP its best chance of capturing the Mayor's office. LO — shot with their own gun.
I wouldn't be surprised if Emperor Daubilus is also in denial that he lost. I can see him calling Pat McPherson, Brinker Harding, or even ol' Protexter in the middle of the night and yelling commands at them: "We need more yard signs!!" or "Get me a car full of illegal Mexicans and go over to Jim Suttle's house. That'll get the voters stirred up!!" Maybe he can take a polygraph that will prove he had no knowledge of any alleged loss to a Democrat in any Mayor's race.
Ah Hal, he seems to have his own special case of Daubzeimers disease. Many years from now he will be wandering aimlessly down the streets by the Qwest asking for people's votes. Those that don't know him will probably give him a quarter. Those that do may try and get a picture with him. Everything will be fine until someone says cheese…
Drivel. An obvious hit piece.
Oh, and Mike Fahey wasn't even at that fundraiser, let alone a host. Get your facts straight.
Get your straight facts here!!
Read at top of Vokal Fundraiser invite: "The Honorable Mike Fahey Invites you to a roasting of Jim Vokal."
Sounds like a host to me. Whenever your name is at the top of an invite it usually signals your willingness to be a part of the event or that you are allowing your name to be used to draw other people to the event who may not otherwise attend. I say host, you say I'm going to take my toy and play somewhere else.
Interesting that the sour grapes brigade is steering clear of this site except to come in and drop some of their own drivel.
The W-H article makes it sound like the former Mayor really needs help to retire his debt. What does he get in the form of a Congressional pension? What does he earn from his investment in a shopping center? What does he earn from his investment in Rick's Boatyard, the only restaurant in Omaha with parking and surounding walkways that are tax-exempt? As for the equity on the house, remember the assessed valuation is $880,000 which is roughly 10 times the median home value in Nebraska according to the Census Bureau. Spare us the box of tissues, World-Herald.
I have the invitation! Mike Fahey's name is not on it. His name was on a joke email sent around which had the invitation attached. Fahey wasn't a host, wasn't at the roast.
This is yellow "journalism."
I guess anyone with a computer and spare time can start a blog.
I have to think that Kristen is just telling lies at this point. First, this post was about Daub and not Vokal. Daub really is in denial about a lot of things, including his role in bringing this city to financial paralysis that it is currently in. Second, please see Objective Conservative's blog post 11 days ago on August 14th about how Mike Fahey was hosting a fundraiser for Vokal. It's okay to run that story only if you are a Republican? Third, I have the actual invite as well. It's a nice blue card with a red border and when you open it up it says in white letters at the top of one side: "The Honorable Mike Fahey Invites you to a roasting of Jim Vokal."
What's that? Did you just get told? I think you did! Game. Set. Match.
I said good day!!
As a resident internet expert (I incidentally invented it), I would have to agree with one of Kristen's arguments though – indeed, anyone with a computer and spare time can start a blog. That's a very good point.