Nebraska Legislature reprimands senator who removed pictures from walls
By Fred Knapp 
, Senior Reporter/Producer and Matt Olberding , News director Nebraska Public Media
Feb. 12, 2026, 11:26 a.m. ·
The Nebraska Legislature’s Executive Board formally reprimanded Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh on Thursday for taking down pictures that were part of a 250th birthday celebration for the nation.
In early January, Cavanaugh removed pictures near her office that were part of a 250th birthday display from controversial conservative content provider PragerU.
At the time, she said she believed the display did not belong on the walls near senators’ offices. None of the displays were damaged, and the Nebraska State Patrol did not issue any citations. Cavanaugh later apologized for her actions, saying she did not know that the displays had been approved by the Capitol Commission.
Sen. Jared Storm asked the Legislature’s Executive Board to reprimand Cavanaugh, and Gov. Jim Pillen asked for a criminal investigation into her conduct.
That criminal investigation was done by the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office because the State provides security to senators and believed it would be a conflict of interest to do an investigation.
The Executive Board said in a letter announcing the reprimand that “law enforcement has determined it will not pursue an investigation or recommend criminal charges." However, Cavanaugh said she has not been notified that the investigation has concluded, and a spokeswoman for the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said the investigation, "remains open and active."
The Executive Board said in a letter read into the record by Clerk of the Legislature Brandon Metzler that Cavanaugh’s, “underlying conduct remains unacceptable.”
“This incident has sparked significant public controversy and criticism from Nebraska citizens who hold their elected officials to a higher standard of professionalism,” the letter said. “This behavior reflects poorly upon the entire Nebraska Legislature, and with its selfish nature, detracted from the session start when the focus should have been on promoting public policy and the needs of Nebraskans.”
The letter, which was signed by the entire Executive Board, went on to say that the reprimand will be placed in the permanent record.
Cavanaugh apologized again Thursday, saying, “I sincerely apologize to Nebraska and my colleagues.”
But Cavanaugh also said she believed her apology was enough, and she said she was, “surprised and frankly disappointed to learn from the press that the executive board had issued a formal reprimand without any notice.”
She also said there was no hearing, and she was given no opportunity to address the Executive Board directly.
Sen. Ben Hansen, the board’s chair, disputed that, however, calling the allegation, “completely false.”
“I don't know why she's saying that,” Hansen said. “I've had, personally, multiple conversations with her about this reprimand, about when we're going to move forward with it. So I'm confused about why she's getting up here, saying that nobody communicated this to her. Multiple people on the Executive Board told her about it,” Hansen continued. “We dropped it off at her office after we voted on it. So I just want to make the record clear that the Executive Board followed policy. We communicated this with Senator Cavanaugh, and we followed everything to a ‘T’.”
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