A new political action committee has emerged in Nebraska with the backing of Gov. Pete Ricketts, and its first move took aim at an outgoing GOP state lawmaker.
Ricketts last month gave $314,000 to the group, dubbed the Nebraska Future Action Fund, making him the PAC鈥檚 first and only donor, according to the latest filings from the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. The only expenditure the group documented in its filing was roughly $51,000 to oppose outgoing state Sen. Matt Williams鈥 campaign for a seat on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
Little is known about the new PAC. Its website hasn鈥檛 officially launched, and the group didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment. Neither did Ricketts. Both Williams and his opponent, Kathy Wilmot, said they knew nothing about the PAC鈥檚 goals.
More than $51,000 is a lot to spend on a regents race. Wilmot herself has only brought in roughly $50,000 in contributions this year 鈥 $10,000 of which came as a direct donation from Ricketts, according to her latest campaign filings. Williams has gathered about $96,000 in the same period.
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Wilmot, of Beaver City, has the support of several other big-name Nebraska politicians and political groups, including the state GOP, former Gov. Kay Orr and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles W. Herbster. Regents races are nonpartisan, though both candidates are registered Republicans.
Wilmot said she鈥檚 earned the support by being a familiar face in Nebraska politics for about 30 years. She served on the State Board of Education for eight years, during which she said she developed a track record of voting to support conservative values. She said Williams doesn鈥檛 have the same consistency in his voting record.
Williams, a banker from Gothenburg, claims the $51,000 was largely spent on radio attack ads that paint him as a 鈥渓iberal RINO,鈥 which stands for 鈥淩epublicans In Name Only.鈥 Williams said his history in the Legislature proves he has supported conservative policies such as tax relief, abortion restrictions and increasing gun access.
鈥淎nd those are the real facts,鈥 Williams said.
Williams got crosswise with Ricketts over several issues during their overlapping time in office. Williams voted to override Ricketts鈥 to fund highway construction, repealing the death penalty and granting driver鈥檚 licenses and, later, professional and commercial licenses, to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. Voters reinstated the death penalty after a referendum petition put the issue on the ballot.
Williams said what he believed was best for his constituents sometimes differed from Ricketts鈥 views, but Williams argued that he had the authority to make those decisions as a member of the policy-making branch of state government. He said it is 鈥渄iscouraging鈥 to see attack ads become an increasingly common feature of Nebraska elections.
Ricketts routinely uses his wealth to influence political races in his home state. Earlier this year, he contributed nearly $1.28 million to Conservative Nebraska, a PAC that ran advertisements opposing Herbster and Sen. Brett Lindstrom 鈥 two Republican candidates for governor who challenged Ricketts鈥 preferred candidate, and the eventual winner of the primary, Jim Pillen.
But he鈥檚 not the only wealthy Nebraska political figure exerting financial force on the state鈥檚 politics. the Nebraska First PAC back in August. The PAC鈥檚 two main priorities are: opposing secret ballot voting to determine leadership roles in the Legislature, and supporting permitless carry of concealed firearms, often called 鈥渃onstitutional carry.鈥
Williams called the trend 鈥渄isturbing,鈥 but acknowledged it was allowed under state law. He encouraged voters to do their own research, and not believe all the claims made in attack ads from PACs.
World-Herald staff writer Martha Stoddard contributed to this report.