Nebraska senator says governor misused public resources to promote his campaign and tax plan

Gov. Jim Pillen is joined by State Sens. Lou Ann Linehan and Rob Clements in unveiling a proposal to reduce local property taxes in three years. July 18, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with response from the Governor’s Office.

LINCOLN — State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln filed a campaign finance complaint against Gov. Jim Pillen on Tuesday, claiming that the first-term governor has misused taxpayer funds to promote his political campaign and his plans to reduce property taxes and slash state spending.

Conrad, in a letter to the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, stated that while Pillen has First Amendment rights to free speech, “no public official has a right to use, abuse, or misuse public resources for campaign purposes.”

The senator, a Democrat, alleged three different abuses by the Republican governor:

— That he improperly linked his campaign website to a taxpayer-funded report issued earlier this month detailing budget cuts recommended by a Utah consultant, Epiphany Associates, thus distributing “Pillen for Governor” information using state resources.

— That a brochure and text campaign, as well as a tax calculator and other materials in support of his tax policy and the summer special session, were purportedly paid for in part with state funds.

— That Pillen’s campaign materials were emailed to public employees Tuesday using the state’s email system, encouraging them to support his tax plan. That plan was the subject of a public hearing Tuesday in front of the Legislature’s Revenue Committee.

The Governor’s Office, in an email response Tuesday afternoon, said that the state’s new director of informational services self-reported the use of the state email system to notify state employees quickly after he discovered that it was improper.

Spokeswoman Laura Strimple said the Accountability and Disclosure Commission, relying on the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, had verbally advised the Pillen administration that it had identified no law violation in the mistaken emails.

Strimple said Pillen was reviewing the other claims and would soon address them but said any suggestion that laws had been violated “were completely without merit.”

Last week, Strimple and Pillen clarified to the Nebraska Examiner that he personally paid for the property tax brochure and said the governor “misspoke” at his news conference. Pillen confirmed that his campaign paid for robotexts that were sent to constituents in at least a handful of state senators’ districts.

State law prohibits a public official or public employee from using “public resources for the purpose of campaigning for or against the nomination or election of a candidate or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a ballot question.” Fines or other civil sanctions can be issued if a violation is proven.

Conrad, in her letter, said the possible co-mingling of taxpayer funds with private campaign monies “raised significant concern among my constituents and colleagues.”

Officials with the Accountability and Disclosure Commission did not respond immediately to a request for comment at midday Tuesday. Typically, officials with the commission do not publicly comment on complaints unless there is a finding that a violation has occurred.

Nebraska Examiner reporter Zach Wendling contributed to this report.

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