There is a clear-cut chance that the next member of the Omaha City Council will make history on day one.

Of the 12 people who have officially applied for the post several are Hispanic, and no Hispanic has ever held a seat on the 7-member panel.

As NCN has reported exclusively, the District Four, South Omaha seat, is 53 percent Hispanic, leading some to argue that the appointment of a Hispanic is all but a must.

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In jail, accused of federal fraud and corruption charges and missing three months of meetings, Vinny Palermo was unanimously ousted by the remaining six-members of the Omaha City Council.

The same six who will now name Palermo’s successor, in a district that—as NCN first reported—is majority, 53 percent Hispanic.

Of the several Hispanic applicants, there are four who are already used to being in the public eye.

Those four are Rebecca Barrientos-Patlan, Margo Juarez, Mark Martinez, and Ben Salazar.

Salazar and Barrientos-Patlan are already at odds.

Joe Jordan: "Do you think it's time for a Hispanic on the city council in South Omaha?"  


Ben Salazar, South Omaha Community activist (Independent): "I’d love it. I mean I think it’s overdue.”

Salazar is a registered independent.

Joe Jordan: "Ben Salazar says it's important for a Hispanic to represent that district but he’s never supported you."

Barrientos-Patlan: "Don’t ask me why. I guess I'm not brown enough."

And there’s former Omaha Deputy Police Chief Mark Martinez, his last job US Marshall in Nebraska.

Mark Martinez: “Presidentially appointed by President Obama. I worked in that facility for eight and half years. I'm battle tested and what I mean by that is when I made Lieutenant, the first Latino Lieutenant, I was told by a higher-ranking officer who wanted to meet me for lunch that people in the Police Department wanted to see me fail and not only see me fail but fail miserably.”

Margo Suarez is on the Omaha School Board.

Margo Suarez: “On the school board I'm really learning a lot of good skills that I think are transitional to working on the City Council.”

All told 12 have applied for Palermo’s seat.

The next step: background checks, followed by public interviews in September, with those selected by the council.

Here's the list of all 12 applicants released Tuesday:

Andrew Adams

Rebecca Barrientos-Patlan

Terri Blackburn

Samuel Canova

Ron Hug

Mark Martinez

Anita Rojas

Margo Suarez

Ben Salazar

Eric Servellon

Joseph Velasquez