An open letter of apology to the people who were at the Augustana Lutheran Church on September 25th to hear the Republican nominee for Secretary of State, Scott Petersen, speak.

I’m sorry I disrupted your meeting. I’m sorry I got up, yelled, and stormed out in the middle of it. I shouldn’t have done that.

Here’s a synopsis of what happened.

One of the many duties of a Secretary of State is to serve on the Pardons Board.

About a dozen people concerned with how the state handles clemency for people in prison held a couple of meetings to hear the Secretary of State candidate’s position on the topic.

I attended a previously held meeting with the Democratic nominee Sarah Slattery, and I wanted to hear what Scott Petersen had to say on the topic.

When Mr. Petersen got there, he went around the tables and warmly greeted the attendees. He and I had a brief pleasant conversation about a mutual friend of ours.

When he started to speak, the first thing he brought up was his bullshit about election integrity. He spoke of how people don’t have faith in our elections.

I bit my tongue and thought to myself, “That’s because people like you keep spreading lies about elections not being safe.”

He talked about how we need to curtail write-in voting.

When it was brought up that 11 counties in the state only have mail-in voting he claimed that when he visits those counties, the people there wish they could vote in person.

Again, I sat there quietly and thought to myself, “It’s hard enough to get people to drive 4 blocks to a neighborhood polling place, let alone get them to drive 20 miles to visit the county seat.”

A couple of people started to challenge him on his voting policies and asked him to show proof that there had been cheating. A few of them started to get a little loud.

The moderator of the group calmed things down and got back to the topic of clemency. Something Mr. Petersen didn’t seem to have much knowledge of or interest in.

A man who had earlier challenged him on voting conspiracies asked him if he ever had any connection with someone who had been or was currently in prison.

He said that he played softball once in the prison yard and spoke of a person he hired at his printing business who had been a convicted felon who turned his life around.

The man who asked that question is a volunteer at the prison and said he could get the candidate inside to visit one of those facilities and talk to the men themselves.

Peterson showed halfhearted interest, then got back to talking about not trusting our elections.

Things got intense as some in the crowd kept asking for proof that he couldn’t provide. I did start to speak out now and joined that chorus.

Frustrated, I got up to leave, but a woman asked me to stay. I went back to my seat and listened a while longer.

What was supposed to be a conversation about prison clemency had now turned into Petersen spouting lies and doubts about the security of our elections.

Finally, I had to ask the one question the MAGA Republicans hate:

Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?

He gave the rehearsed answer about how Joe Biden was sworn in, but he refused to say that Donald Trump had lost. I had had enough.

But I didn’t just leave quietly. I raised my voice and asked for proof once again. I may have used some profanities as I left, and for that I also apologize.

Petersen says he has proof that you can’t trust the elections and will email it to me. I’m guessing he’ll send me evidence of scattered individual cases of fraud. A few Republicans and Democrats have both been convicted of voting illegally. These scattered instances tend to balance themselves out. Those limited cases have not tilted any election and are no reason to doubt the accurate results.

I agree that only legal citizens should have access to the voting booth. But with the Trump administration trying to make it more difficult to vote, having a person in charge of our elections who can’t even admit that Trump lost in 2020 should be a red flag for all of us regardless of party.

I’ll apologize for my outburst. But I won’t apologize for my passion to stop Scott Petersen from trying to take away people’s right to vote.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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