Lack of accountability within the Nebraska Legislature may be contributing to lack of student political engagement and faith in the local government, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln student leader and some state senators say.
Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings was under investigation after inserting the names of Sens. John and Machaela Cavanaugh, both of Omaha, into a graphic rape depiction read aloud on the senate floor amid debate over LB 441 on March 18. Halloran’s actions gained national attention, and calls for his resignation poured in.
The Nebraska Legislature Executive Board voted 8-1 on April 3 to reprimand Halloran and will not go forward with Legislative Resolution 335, the motion to censure Halloran.
The Executive Board issued the letter of reprimand after the law firm hired to investigate Halloran instructed the legislature to either censure Halloran or issue a letter of reprimand.
While the issue may seem like an internal battle within the legislature, it could impact student faith in the legislature and political engagement, said Luke McDermott, recently elected External Vice President of the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska and former Government Liaison Committee chair.
“Citizen engagement is really important to the Nebraska Legislature, and this makes people not look favorably upon the legislative process, which can be harmful to student engagement,” McDermott said. “A lack of accountability is going to cast a shadow on the rest of the session in that if there is not responsibility, that only encourages other bad behavior.”
McDermott said the recent drama within the legislature may also contribute to Nebraska’s continuing brain drain.
“There’s been a sense of lack of accountability, maybe even corrupt practices in Nebraska politics… That is a pull factor away from Nebraska.” McDermott said. “People don’t want to live in a society or live in a state where they feel like their officials aren’t actually being impartial or acting on their behalf.”
Some senators have said they believe the letter of reprimand to be ineffective, resulting in no real consequences for Halloran or offenders of similar actions in the future.
Machaela Cavanaugh told the HuffPost she feels that Halloran has not apologized or taken proper ownership for his actions. Cavanaugh added that an apology isn’t enough.
“For me, it showed a complete lack of understanding of what it means to have experienced any sort of sexual violence,” Machaela Cavanaugh said to the HuffPost.
Sen. Julie Slama, who has often opposed Machaela Cavanaugh on political issues, came to Cavanaugh’s defense, criticizing the legislature’s inability to protect senators.
“Nebraskans deserve so much more from the most public workplace than this really, clearly unprofessional conduct,” Slama said to the Nebraska Examiner.
“It was gross, disrespectful and beneath the Unicameral,” Machaela Cavanaugh posted on X, formally known as Twitter, after Halloran’s comments.
McDermott agreed with the sentiment, saying students may choose not to work for and with the legislature if it continues not to take action against workplace misconduct and personal attacks.
“Last session, I was a legislative page, and hearing the things that go on and then seeing that there is really no response or consequence made me not want to be a page or intern with the legislature the next year,” McDermott said. “As a student, why would I want to intern for that legislative body if I knew those things were happening?”
Halloran said he believed the matter to be purely internal and that censuring him would be breaking from the Board’s history of not censuring other senators for similar offenses, noted in a letter to the speaker of the legislature and executive board chairman obtained by The Daily Nebraskan.
Halloran also said in the letter that he believes censuring him would be against several legislative rules and the Nebraska constitution, specifically Rule 2 Sec. 8 and 9 and Article 3 Sec. 26.
McDermott said he believed there would be no further action taken on the issue by the legislature. What’s next, McDermott said, is up to the people.
“We have to be proactive about contacting our elected officials and making sure that they know people are watching,” McDermott said. “The common thread between the last few sessions is legislators thinking they can do whatever they want because citizens don’t watch and don’t care. And that’s not true.”
McDermott encouraged students to reach out to their senator with their opinions and concerns regarding the issue, especially those within Halloran’s district.
Students can find and contact their senator here and register to vote here.
Halloran did not respond to The Daily Nebraskan’s request for comment.