Hilgers sues over alleged foreign influence in Nebraska ballot measures

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers alleged Wednesday that a Swiss billionaire has funneled millions of dollars into Nebraska to try and influence initiative campaigns.

“Nebraskans are under an unprecedented assault of foreign money, flowing unlawfully into our state’s elections, which seeks to radically remake Nebraska’s laws and constitution," he said. "This billionaire and his dark-money allies have flaunted the law in Nebraska, and we filed suit to put a stop to these groups who seek to violate Nebraska law while pushing their radical agenda on the people."

Hilgers filed a lawsuit against Hansjörg Wyss, a native of Switzerland who lives in Wyoming. Wyss founded Synthes, a multinational medical device manufacturing company, and has donated large sums to environmental and liberal causes in the United States.

Nebraska initiatives Hilgers says Wyss has contributed to include ballot measures last year aimed at securing abortion rights, repealing private and religious school scholarships, legalizing medical marijuana, requiring paid sick leave, and promoting fair housing in Lincoln.

Hilgers said those contributions were funneled through various other organizations, including the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest and Civic Nebraska. But he said he was not suggesting either of those groups had done anything wrong. Representatives of those organizations did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit is not directed against those organizations, but rather against Wyss and six larger organizations: the Wyss Foundation, Sixteen Thirty Fund, Berger Action Fund, New Venture Fund, Hopewell Fund and The Fairness Project, which he accuses of violating Nebraska law prohibiting funding of ballot initiatives by foreign nationals.

In a statement Wednesday evening, a spokesperson for the Wyss Foundation and Berger Action Fund said “These allegations are false. We are confident the facts will demonstrate that the Wyss Foundation and Berger Action Fund have always complied with the law.” Similarly, the Sixteen Thirty Fund called Hilgers' lawsuit "baseless" and "politically motivated." New Ventures said its work is "fully compliant with the law." And Hopewell said its contributions "fully complied with all laws and regulations governing 501(c)(3) nonprofits." The Fairness Project declined comment.

Hilgers says he is not seeking to overturn the results of any of the initiatives. Instead, he says he is seeking a declaration that the defendants have violated the law, and a permanent injunction prohibiting them from making contributions in the future.

Hilgers described Wyss as supporting what he called a “radical left” agenda. But he denied targeting Wyss and his foundations because of that and said he had found no similar foreign contributions to ballot measures supported by the political right.

Wyss has been criticized by conservative groups like Americans for Public Trust, who say he exemplifies the problem of foreign “dark money” in politics.

The lawsuit was filed in the District Court in Madison County in northeast Nebraska, not Lancaster District Court in Lincoln, as is usually the case. Hilgers said that was not because he was shopping for a favorable judge, but because he is trying to spread filings of cases of statewide interest around the state.