The Omaha Firefighters Union has endorsed Heath Mello over his challenger, current Omaha mayor Jean Stothert.
The union said they sent out a campaign questionnaire on February 3rd and then conducted candidate interviews.
They say three weeks later with no response from the incumbent, the union decided to endorse Mello.
On March 3rd, Stothert's campaign contacted the union saying she would like to participate in the interview process.
Monday night, union president Steve LeClair issued a statement.
“There was ample time for the Mayor to respond, and, for whatever reason, she or her campaign chose not to send back the questionnaire until it was general knowledge throughout the fire service that Local 385 had endorsed Mr. Mello,” he said.
LeClair then went on to say that her track record on public safety, and particularly the fact that she did not respond to our questionnaire or participate in the interview process in 2013, should have left little doubt in her mind that she would receive the endorsement of local 385.
Mayor Stothert's campaign responded to the criticism Monday night with this following statement.
"Late tonight the Firefighters Union issued a statement on why they did not interview the Mayor for their endorsement.
We returned their questionnaire in a timely manner--they did not give us a deadline for doing so. We reached out to them but they never responded until today telling us they endorsed Mello.
The way the union leadership handled this was disappointing."
