Imagine this scenario: You’re an elected official working in the state of Nebraska. One day you’re walking along the street and a stranger comes up to you and stuffs $30,000 into your pocket, then walks away. Do you think this constitutes a “gift”? If it is, then you would need to report it not only on your taxes, but also with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission (“NADC”). Nebraska law requires elected officials to disclose any gifts they receive in a calendar year that are valued at more than $100.
Unfortunately, those who are tasked with enforcing campaign finance laws in the state do not agree. This hypothetical is describing something that actually happened last year. Lancaster Sheriff, Terry Wagner, brought forward a lawsuit that would eventually kick medical cannabis off the 2020 November ballot. He was able to do this because he hired a very expensive attorney, Mark Fahlsoton, from Rembolt Ludtke to carry the case all the way through the Nebraska Supreme Court. The legal fees would have been measured in the tens of thousands.
Wagner maintains he doesn’t know who paid for the lawsuit, but he happily put his name on it in order to personally benefit by tampering with the November ballot. Earlier this year, I submitted a complaint to the NADC, forcing them to review whether or not Wagner had to report his legal fees getting completely paid for. The answer would surprise me. Thinking this was a slam dunk; I was fairly optimistic we’d finally get some answers as to who paid for the lawsuit, even though I had a pretty good idea it was somehow related to Governor Pete Ricketts.
But the answer from the NADC was that it was not a gift, because Wagner did not “personally solicit” the legal payments. This single missing element made it not a gift. This is outrageous. The implications are apparent immediately. Politicians can suddenly get tens of thousands of dollars in benefits if they don’t go out and ask for it? As an attorney I found this reasoning incredibly suspect. At this juncture we need to, as the public, demand a revamp to our election laws if this loophole exists. Because now politicians can get thousands of dollars in gifts if they simply don’t ask for it. Obviously this is corrupt as hell, and I can’t be the only person pissed off about this.
I’m not going to give up finding out how the will of the People was able to be subverted by dark money. In a free and fair democracy there is transparency. We cannot allow corrupt politicians and a broken system to operate in the shadows as we desperately try to make beneficial changes in the state. Since they are so hell-bent on trying to hide this information, it only makes it more important that the public knows the truth. The next time this happens, who is to say an anonymous donor doesn’t pay for a senator’s DUI charge, or a litany of other legal matters.
As a result of this lawsuit, there are sick children and adults suffering who desperately need medical marijuan as an option. To think people like Wagner were cheering the day the Supreme Court ruled we couldn’t have a fair shot at the ballot box is infuriating. History will not be kind to such deviant cowards who hide behind their money.
In closing, I would just like to say, this fight is not over, it’s only just heating up.
