Dave Niedfeldt, who handles mornings and agricultural reports for Siebert Broadcasting’s KWBE-AM Beatrice NE has decided he’d rather stay on the radio than on the Beatrice Public School board. He has been elected to the board twice before, each time to a four year term, according to JournalStar.com, but on his third try an opponent apparently took note of his day job and asked for equal time, citing FCC rules and regs to support the demand. Other candidates followed suit, and Niedfeldt decided it was best to simply withdraw from the race. He had no idea why this issue had not come up in his other two runs for a seat.
This particular situation has already been a point of discussion by RBR/TVBR readers.
RBR/TVBR observation: We’ve seen broadcasters, usually large market talkers, take a leave of absence in order to run for a more high profile seat than a local school board. Dave Ross’s run for Congress in the Seattle area comes to mind. Such a move is carefully considered, after making sure that campaign funding, not to mention person financial considerations, are well taken care of. But at this level, it must be virtually impossible to hold a broadcasting post while moonlighting as an elected official.
