Photo by Frank Graham Marc Kaschke

The first candidate for North Platte mayor has officially tossed his hat into the ring.

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Marc Kaschke, who ran an unsuccessful bid for the District 42 seat in the Nebraska Legislature in 2006, filed his intention to run for the mayor’s seat with the Lincoln County Clerk Tuesday.

Kaschke, 34, owns and operates the Valentino’s restaurant in North Platte. His parents, Orville and Mary Kaschke, have owned the John Deere implement dealership here for 36 years.

Kaschke is the first candidate to officially file for the mayor’s seat.

Kaschke said he recently hired a polling company to test the waters. He said the pollsters collected a statistically relevant sample of voters in North Platte.

Kaschke said he polled against North Platte Police Chief Martin Gutschenritter because he had been rumored to be considering running for mayor himself.

The poll showed 49-percent of residents said they would vote for Kaschke while Gutschenritter got 29-percent, according to Kaschke. The undecideds made up the remaining 21-percent.

Gutschenritter said Tuesday he was still undecided about whether or not to run for mayor.

North Platte Mayor G. Keith Richardson said recently he did not intend to run for a second term and, amid much speculation, no one had filed for the seat until Kaschke filed Tuesday.

Kaschke, born and raised in North Platte, said he intended to bring a fresh perspective to City Hall and a strong vision for North Platte’s future.

“I want to help bring the community together to create a new vision for the future of North Platte,” Kaschke said. “I believe I have the experience and dedication necessary to help North Platte grow and prosper.”

Kaschke graduated from UNL with a business degree and has helped launch national and international businesses. While in college, he was an intern for both State Sen. David Bernard-Stevens and U. S. Sen. James J. Exon. He learned about farm economy from being involved his father’s John Deere implement business in North Platte.

Kaschke is an entrepreneur, an investor and business consultant.

In 2006, Kaschke ran against rancher Tom Hansen for the 42nd District legislative seat in the Unicameral. Hansen defeated Kaschke with 57 percent of the vote.

Since then, Kaschke bought and operates Valentino’s restaurant in North Platte.

In his own words

Kaschke said he decided to run because he saw an opportunity to bring a bunch of different groups of people together and create a common vision.

“Where do we want to be in 20 years and are we taking the right steps to get there,” Kaschke asked. He said important issues are affordable housing and creating jobs.

“We need to question and probe to see if there are better ways of doing things,” Kaschke said. “We need to prioritize issues and be fiscally responsible.”

Kaschke said there are only three ways for governments to reduce spending – cut services, become more efficient or build the tax base.

Kaschke said city government, like all government, must be questioned to see if policies and procedures are efficient or even necessary. He said with both the Chamber of Commerce and DEVCO having “acting directors,” there was a leadership void in development.

“An important role of the mayor is to be out front in business development,” Kaschke said.

Kaschke said he intended to ask serious questions about the Iron Eagle Golf Course and the Recreation Center.

“We may find out that both play an important role and serve a segment of the population that otherwise wouldn’t be served,” Kaschke said. He said he doesn’t have an agenda but that his “only agenda is progress and how we define that.”

Kaschke is a Ronald Reagan conservative who believes government has valuable roles. He said while other boys had pictures of Michael Jordan on their walls in the second grade, he had a picture of Ronald Reagan on his.

“I’ve always wanted to be in public service,” Kaschke said. “It’s just something that is part of me, something I’ve always been interested in.”

Kaschke said he has loved every minute of his return to North Platte in 2005.

“I enjoy seeing people I know at the grocery store,” Kaschke said. “I know my neighbors and they even pitch in and help me sometimes when I need it. I love that aspect of North Platte.”

Kaschke said he intends to do a lot of listening to residents during the campaign.

“Ill be going door to door and talking to people one-on-one,” Kaschke said. But he has no illusions of a cake walk.

“It’s an open race,” Kaschke said. “I expect quality opponents.”

The Nebraska primary is May 13. Deadlines for incumbents filing for office is Feb. 15, for non-incumbents is March 3.

North Platte city councilman Dan McGuire was considering running for mayor but said Tuesday he decided he could be more effective as a councilman. McGuire represents Ward 3 and has been on the council for 26 years. No one has filed to challenge him.