Brad Ashford Honored as Omaha Press Club’s 153rd Face on the Barroom Floor

Brad Ashford – a political icon and community leader in Nebraska for the past three decades – was honored on May 17 as the Omaha Press Club’s 153rd Face on the Barroom Floor.

A four-term state senator in the Nebraska Legislature (1987-1995 and 2007-2015), Ashford served in the U.S. House of Represenc Pickleman’s vatatives from 2015-2016. In 2016, Ashford sponsored HR 5099, a bill that created a new way to construct VA facilities. For the first time in the history of the federal government, the bill made it possible that a federal facility could be built locally with private financial support and then be gifted back to the VA. What it means to Nebraska is that after decades of waiting, the Omaha VA will have a new state-of-the-art medical facility in the not too distant future. Some of Ashford’s other successes in Congress included a new runway at Offutt Air Force Base and Ebola-related funding for the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Roasters included: Jim Quinley, a pharmacist at Kubat Pharmacy and one of Ashford’s running partners (emcee); Chris Burbach, a City Hall reporter for the Omaha World-Herald and one of Ashford’s running partners; Erin Grace, Omaha World-Herald columnist; Chris Abboud, partner, Abboud Law Firm and former Nebraska state senator; Jim Rose, KFAB radio host, and Rex Fisher, director of corporate relations, HDR, Inc.; Woody Bradford, partner, Houghton Bradford Whitted Law Firm and the 151st Face on the Barroom Floor; and Ann Ashford, Brad’s wife, and John Ashford, Brad’s son.

Ashford’s Face caricature was drawn by Omaha artist Jim Horan, who has drawn all but two of the 153 Faces on the Barroom Floor.