Four female Nebraska state senators launched a fund Tuesday to support women who have accused GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles W. Herbster of touching them inappropriately. Meanwhile, Herbster’s campaign launched a biting ad rebutting the allegations.
April 14, the Nebraska Examiner reported allegations from eight women who said Herbster had groped them. Sen. Julie Slama was the only named accuser, and The World-Herald did not independently corroborate the other seven accounts. Three people later used their names to corroborate specific details with the Examiner.
The news sent a shock wave through the competitive Republican race, in which Herbster is considered one of the front-runners. Every female state senator condemned Herbster, as did several other powerful political figures.
Herbster has vehemently denied all the allegations, framing them as a political hit job coordinated by fellow front-runner and University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen and his most prominent backer, Gov. Pete Ricketts.
From left, Joni Albrecht, Lou Ann Linehan, Suzanne Geist and Rita Sanders. The state senators, all Republicans, announced the creation of the “Herbster Victim Witness Defense Fund.”
SARA GENTZLER, THE WORLD-HERALD
Herbster filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that Slama made “false and defamatory statements” when she confirmed the allegations to the Examiner and repeated them on Omaha radio station KFAB. Monday, Slama filed a response denying Herbster’s accusations, along with a counterclaim alleging battery.
At a Tuesday press conference in La Vista, State Sens. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha, Joni Albrecht of Thurston, Suzanne Geist of Lincoln and Rita Sanders of Bellevue reinforced their support for Slama and announced the creation of the “Herbster Victim Witness Defense Fund.”
The women, all Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, said they aim to prevent the threat of litigation from silencing women and witnesses by providing them financial resources and connections to legal counsel.
“We’re standing here today, united, with a message for those who have been subject to sexual misconduct at the hands of Charles W. Herbster: We stand with you. We support you. And, if you choose to come forward or are otherwise targeted, we will have your backs,” Albrecht said.
The four senators are listed online as the fund’s board of directors. They said they were the only four senators at the announcement because of the time it would take to organize the 13 women in the Legislature, and because, as the only five Republican women in the body (including Slama), they’re “a team” that often works together.
Albrecht and Geist said they have received letters from Herbster’s lawyer asking them to preserve records.
The letter to Geist from attorney David Alan Warrington demanded the senator “preserve any and all documents, communications, and/or other information that may be pertinent to the defamatory statements” described in the letter and “contained in the Nebraska Examiner article.”
The two senators both said they wouldn’t be intimidated into silence.
“He knows who these people are,” Linehan said. “We don’t know who they are. So we’re trying to send a message the only way we know how, that if you’re scared, if you’re getting bullied, if you’re getting letters from lawyers, come to us. We will help you.”
The Herbster campaign did not answer a question regarding who else received such letters and directed The World-Herald to Herbster’s attorneys.
“The legal actions being taken by Charles W. Herbster to clear his name and reputation are in the hands of his attorneys,” the campaign’s statement reads.
An attorney listed on Herbster’s lawsuit did not immediately respond to questions about the letters.
Linehan said fund organizers haven’t started raising money or identified legal counsel, but she sounded confident they could do both. The fund would keep peoples’ accounts confidential until they feel that’s not needed, she said.
Herbster campaign manager Ellen Keast framed the legislators’ announcement as “just another attempt by the Jim Pillen campaign and Ricketts establishment machine to sling mud” at Herbster ahead of the May 10 primary. Keast pointed out that the four lawmakers have endorsed Pillen and received financial donations from Ricketts in the past. The World-Herald verified that information.
“It is absolutely shameful that they would use such serious matters to push a political smear campaign,” Keast said.
The four senators said their support for Pillen was unrelated to their announcement.
“This isn’t about Jim Pillen,” Sanders said. “This is about Julie Slama and other victims that might be out there.”
Also Tuesday, Herbster’s campaign launched an ad aimed at Slama, Pillen and Ricketts.
“Clarence Thomas, then Brett Kavanaugh,” the ad starts. “Lies stacked up to ruin them. Now, Pillen and Ricketts are doing it to Charles W. Herbster.”
The ad lists connections between Ricketts, Slama (without naming her) and Slama’s relatives.
Slama was Ricketts’ campaign press secretary before Ricketts appointed her to the Legislature, and he appointed her now-husband and sister to political posts.
The ad also said Slama continued to contact Herbster after the alleged incident, something Slama has acknowledged. She also has noted what she called the power differential between Republican mega-donor Herbster and herself as a newly appointed legislator.
Slama’s attorney, Dave Lopez, said the Herbster ad tried “to bully sexual assault victims into silence.”
“Herbster’s ad slanders Senator Slama’s family members and promotes a far-ranging conspiracy theory that other people are behind well-corroborated reports of sexual assault and harassment of eight women and at least three on-the-record witness accounts,” Lopez said in a statement. “Charles Herbster is solely responsible for the harm he inflicted against Senator Slama, and he will answer for it in court.”
Lopez said Slama will “take the appropriate steps to hold him accountable for this latest round of slander against her” and called on news media outlets to “conduct their own due diligence and force Herbster to show a factual basis for the conspiratorial claims in this ad for this ad to continue to run.”
Tuesday afternoon, Herbster’s campaign said it had “not canceled anything” related to ads.
Linehan called the ad “disgusting.”
“People need to know they can come forward, and they will be protected,” she said. “And that’s why we’re here today.”
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April 14, the Nebraska Examiner reported allegations from eight women who said Herbster had groped them. Sen. Julie Slama was the only named accuser, and The World-Herald did not independently corroborate the other seven accounts. Three people later used their names to corroborate specific details with the Examiner.
The news sent a shock wave through the competitive Republican race, in which Herbster is considered one of the front-runners. Every female state senator condemned Herbster, as did several other powerful political figures.
Herbster has vehemently denied all the allegations, framing them as a political hit job coordinated by fellow front-runner and University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen and his most prominent backer, Gov. Pete Ricketts.
From left, Joni Albrecht, Lou Ann Linehan, Suzanne Geist and Rita Sanders. The state senators, all Republicans, announced the creation of the “Herbster Victim Witness Defense Fund.”
SARA GENTZLER, THE WORLD-HERALD
Herbster filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that Slama made “false and defamatory statements” when she confirmed the allegations to the Examiner and repeated them on Omaha radio station KFAB. Monday, Slama filed a response denying Herbster’s accusations, along with a counterclaim alleging battery.
At a Tuesday press conference in La Vista, State Sens. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha, Joni Albrecht of Thurston, Suzanne Geist of Lincoln and Rita Sanders of Bellevue reinforced their support for Slama and announced the creation of the “Herbster Victim Witness Defense Fund.”
The women, all Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, said they aim to prevent the threat of litigation from silencing women and witnesses by providing them financial resources and connections to legal counsel.
“We’re standing here today, united, with a message for those who have been subject to sexual misconduct at the hands of Charles W. Herbster: We stand with you. We support you. And, if you choose to come forward or are otherwise targeted, we will have your backs,” Albrecht said.
The four senators are listed online as the fund’s board of directors. They said they were the only four senators at the announcement because of the time it would take to organize the 13 women in the Legislature, and because, as the only five Republican women in the body (including Slama), they’re “a team” that often works together.
Albrecht and Geist said they have received letters from Herbster’s lawyer asking them to preserve records.
The letter to Geist from attorney David Alan Warrington demanded the senator “preserve any and all documents, communications, and/or other information that may be pertinent to the defamatory statements” described in the letter and “contained in the Nebraska Examiner article.”
The two senators both said they wouldn’t be intimidated into silence.
“He knows who these people are,” Linehan said. “We don’t know who they are. So we’re trying to send a message the only way we know how, that if you’re scared, if you’re getting bullied, if you’re getting letters from lawyers, come to us. We will help you.”
The Herbster campaign did not answer a question regarding who else received such letters and directed The World-Herald to Herbster’s attorneys.
“The legal actions being taken by Charles W. Herbster to clear his name and reputation are in the hands of his attorneys,” the campaign’s statement reads.
An attorney listed on Herbster’s lawsuit did not immediately respond to questions about the letters.
Linehan said fund organizers haven’t started raising money or identified legal counsel, but she sounded confident they could do both. The fund would keep peoples’ accounts confidential until they feel that’s not needed, she said.
Herbster campaign manager Ellen Keast framed the legislators’ announcement as “just another attempt by the Jim Pillen campaign and Ricketts establishment machine to sling mud” at Herbster ahead of the May 10 primary. Keast pointed out that the four lawmakers have endorsed Pillen and received financial donations from Ricketts in the past. The World-Herald verified that information.
“It is absolutely shameful that they would use such serious matters to push a political smear campaign,” Keast said.
The four senators said their support for Pillen was unrelated to their announcement.
“This isn’t about Jim Pillen,” Sanders said. “This is about Julie Slama and other victims that might be out there.”
Also Tuesday, Herbster’s campaign launched an ad aimed at Slama, Pillen and Ricketts.
“Clarence Thomas, then Brett Kavanaugh,” the ad starts. “Lies stacked up to ruin them. Now, Pillen and Ricketts are doing it to Charles W. Herbster.”
The ad lists connections between Ricketts, Slama (without naming her) and Slama’s relatives.
Slama was Ricketts’ campaign press secretary before Ricketts appointed her to the Legislature, and he appointed her now-husband and sister to political posts.
The ad also said Slama continued to contact Herbster after the alleged incident, something Slama has acknowledged. She also has noted what she called the power differential between Republican mega-donor Herbster and herself as a newly appointed legislator.
Slama’s attorney, Dave Lopez, said the Herbster ad tried “to bully sexual assault victims into silence.”
“Herbster’s ad slanders Senator Slama’s family members and promotes a far-ranging conspiracy theory that other people are behind well-corroborated reports of sexual assault and harassment of eight women and at least three on-the-record witness accounts,” Lopez said in a statement. “Charles Herbster is solely responsible for the harm he inflicted against Senator Slama, and he will answer for it in court.”
Lopez said Slama will “take the appropriate steps to hold him accountable for this latest round of slander against her” and called on news media outlets to “conduct their own due diligence and force Herbster to show a factual basis for the conspiratorial claims in this ad for this ad to continue to run.”
Tuesday afternoon, Herbster’s campaign said it had “not canceled anything” related to ads.
Linehan called the ad “disgusting.”
“People need to know they can come forward, and they will be protected,” she said. “And that’s why we’re here today.”
Nebraska legislators launch support fund for people accusing Herbster of groping them
Four Nebraska legislators launched a fund to support women who have accused Charles W. Herbster of touching them inappropriately. His campaign launched an ad rebutting the allegations.
