Senators discuss harassment following Groene's resignation

Feb. 22, 2022, 7 p.m. ·

Senator Wendy DeBoer speaks Tuesday (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)
Sen. Wendy DeBoer speaks Tuesday (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)

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Women senators in the Nebraska Legislature Tuesday told personal stories of sexual harassment and recommended stronger policies, after former Senator Mike Groene resigned Sunday for taking photos of a female aide without her knowledge.

Shortly after 10:00 when the Legislature convened, Sen. Dan Hughes explained how, as chair of the Executive Board, he responded to a staffer’s complaint that she found photos of herself when asked to clean up Groene’s computer. Hughes said he followed policy by trying to resolve it informally. When that didn’t work, Hughes said he instituted a formal investigation, to be headed by Sens. Anna Wishart, Tom Briese and John Arch.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh then moved for a “call of the house’’ – requiring all senators to be in their seats, and delivered a message to her male colleagues.

“I did a call of the house to say to the men in this body you need to listen. From now until noon, you need to listen to your colleagues. You need to listen to us,” Cavanaugh said.

For about the next hour and a half, women senators told stories of being harassed or assaulted, and talked about policy changes that are needed.

Sen. Wendy DeBoer said it has an outsized effect when someone you assume you can trust breaks your trust.

“Then suddenly you’re going through the world and you’re having to do the work – through no fault of your own, through nothing you did – of having to rebuild that trust that you can, in my case, take a cab again. That the next cab driver won’t attack you. Or your next boss won’t. Or your next colleague won’t,” DeBoer said.

And DeBoer said it affects how you think about other interactions.

“You do risk assessments. Can I stand this way? Is it okay if I wear this color? And these are risk assessments that you do over and over again because something happened to you that violated your trust. And when you’re busy doing those risk assessments about every little thing, you’re not doing other things that you could be doing with your life – forwarding your career, getting better at what you’re doing,” she said. (To see an extended version of DeBoer's remarks, click here).

Sen. Julie Slama said since entering politics at age 22, she has been groped at a political event, subjected to sexual threats and harassment, and touched inappropriately by colleagues in the Legislature.

Senator Julie Slama (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)
Sen. Julie Slama (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)

“You know why I don’t talk about it that often, and most times I really don’t come forward when it happens? Sen. DeBoer got to this point pretty well. It’s because as a young female, you worry that it’s going to be the thing that defines you. Journalists reach out and push stories , wanting to know details on things that you’re coping with, and getting the most hits and clicks on a story that has nothing to do with how I’m doing my job,” Slama said. (To see more video of Slama's remarks, click here).

Sen. Jen Day said probably every woman in the Legislature had a similar story.

“My story is no different. I won’t go into the details, but I had an incident when I was a teenager, and following that for 13-15 years of my life, I spent a lot of that time inflicting any type of self-harm that I could find in order to try and deal with the pain that resulted from the incident. And finally, when I got the appropriate treatment and found a partner in life who would support me in that, I have healed, and here I am today,” Day said.

Senator Jen Day (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)
Sen. Jen Day (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)

And Day rejected the excuses she sometimes hears.

“I often get frustrated with the conversations that ‘Oh you know,’ as Sen. DeBoer said, “It’s just photos, or that’s just the way he is.’ As a mom of two boys, I resent and I reject the idea that boys and men can’t do better than that. My boys will be raised very differently, and I think that that narrative is not only harmful for women, in terms of the behaviors that we become subjected to, but it’s harmful for the men in this body as well. I know you all are better than that,” she said. (For more video of Day's remarks, click here).

Sen. Megan Hunt called for legislative changes and a legal investigation.

“We need to have a conversation, but above all we need action. We need the process to change. I think we need an ethics committee… I think we can expect some interim studies about the best way to report harassment and assault going forward. Who should be on that review board? Should it be independent? And while that is happening, we need to make sure the attorney general and the State Patrol and anybody else concerned investigates what happened here in this case to make sure that no criminal wrongdoing occurred,” Hunt said.

Sen. Hughes promised the senators he’s appointed to head the investigation would do their job.

“If the panel uncovers any evidence of any potential criminal activity, that information will be referred to the attorney general’s office for appropriate action. Further, while the information to date has shown that Sen. Groene acted alone, and that no other senators or staff were aware of his actions, if the formal investigation uncovers that more individuals were involved, or were aware and did nothing, appropriate action will be taken,” Hughes said.

Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks expressed frustration as a member of the Executive Board, she was denied access to the allegations until, she suggested, some other senator leaked it to the media.

“I am not surprised that it came out from people in this body. But that just shows why we need an independent review. We need somebody else to be able to have the victim go to that person and say ‘Here’s what’s happened,” Pansing Brooks said.

Reporter Brandon Benson of the news website Sunrise Nebraska News, who broke the story, said he received an anonymous tip and called the woman whose pictures were taken, whom he knew from his previous work as a legislative aide. Sen. Suzanne Geist, CEO of Sunrise Nebraska News, said she was not the source.

Hughes said one of the jobs of the senators in charge of the investigation will be to recommend how complaints like this can be handled better in the future.


Editor’s note: You can find video of Senators DeBoer, Slama and Day on our Nebraska Public Media News Facebook and Twitter pages.