AG, LPD: Pillen’s office ‘not implicated in any criminal wrongdoing’ in $2.5M no-bid contract

LINCOLN — The state Attorney General’s Office said the Nebraska Governor’s Office “was not implicated in any criminal wrongdoing” in relation to a $2.5 million bioeconomy no-bid contract the state auditor flagged earlier this year.

The Lincoln Police Department said late Thursday it had concluded its investigation this week and passed it along to the AG’s Office. The contract was between the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and a bioeconomy consultant and lobbyist familiar to Gov. Jim Pillen. 

An LPD spokesperson confirmed the accuracy of the AG’s Office statement of no implications for Pillen’s office.

“Based on that information, the Attorney General’s Office determined that no conflict prevented its review and agreed to accept the file for an independent assessment,” the AG’s Office statement reads.

In a statement Friday, Pillen blasted the investigation as “political from the start” and said he was “glad it’s behind us so we can focus on the issues that matter most to Nebraskans.”

“I appreciate the Attorney General’s confirmation this morning of what we knew all along: ‘Lincoln Police investigators reported that their investigation determined that the Governor’s Office was not implicated in any criminal wrongdoing,’” Pillen said.

State Auditor Mike Foley, a Republican who first flagged potential wrongdoing in January, said the clearing still doesn’t answer the question about the Department of Economic Development.

Pillen’s opponents for reelection this fall, namely former Democratic state Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont and former state Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha and the new America First Party he’s running with, have repeatedly leaned into the no-bid contract controversy in the governor’s race.

The Lincoln Police Union, among other law enforcement, endorsed Pillen’s reelection Monday.

‘Thorough investigation’

Led by Attorney General Mike Hilgers, his office said the LPD investigation began in February at the Nebraska State Patrol’s request. The agency handed over the case due to a potential conflict of interest. The agency head is appointed by the governor, and troopers help protect the governor and his family. 

At that time, given the potential statewide interest and possible involvement of multiple law enforcement agencies, Hilgers’ office agreed to review the investigation and handle resulting prosecutions, subject to any conflicts of interest.

If the review implicated Pillen’s office, the matter would be referred to Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon’s Office, not the AG’s Office, the state law enforcement agency said.

“We thank the Lincoln Police Department for its thorough investigation,” Hilgers’ office said Friday. “Our office will independently evaluate the evidence. That review will follow the law and the highest ethical standards. Our decisions will be guided solely by the evidence and the law.

The office added that given the “substantial public interest” and the submission of the investigation just days before the Nov. 3 election, Hilgers’ team believed it was important to give a full status update and detail its role in the case.

“Our review will begin immediately,” the office concluded. “We will take any further steps warranted.”

‘Properly and without bias’

After 8 p.m. Thursday, LPD sent out a news release saying it had handed over its findings. The news release stated that in March, the LPD Technical Investigations Unit began working “diligently” on the case. According to the release, division investigators are experienced and specialize in investigations requiring “careful, methodical steps, including the use of court-authorized processes to obtain necessary records and information.”

“That level of thoroughness is essential to ensuring a complete and accurate investigation,” LPD said Thursday evening.

“From the onset, the only timeline we prioritized was the one required to conduct a detailed and responsible investigation,” the LPD statement continued. “Our investigators remained focused on completing the work properly and without bias.”

On Friday morning, LPD spokesperson Erika Thomas confirmed the investigation concluded this week. She also confirmed the accuracy of the AG’s Office statement regarding the handoff of prosecutorial review. LPD did not state those details in its Thursday release.

Foley in January initially flagged the no-bid bioeconomy contract between the state Economic Development Department and Global Sustainability Developers LLC. He alleged that state officials skipped the required step of bidding out contracts worth more than $50,000 and steered the contract to a “handpicked” company.

Auditor Foley: ‘I did my job’

Foley’s report and Examiner reporting had shown that Pillen’s office recommended the company and its owner, Julie Bushell, on behalf of Pillen.

“When you sidestep a foundational tenet, it’s just waving a huge red flag for any public auditor. It smacks of favoritism,” Foley told the Examiner earlier this year.

Nebraska auditor to get more oversight of no-bid contracts under proposal folded into unrelated bill

State lawmakers passed a law this spring to require that all no-bid contracts be immediately flagged to the Auditor’s Office for review. Foley urged the law, and Pillen shortly after backed it, too.

Foley said the investigation now heads into its next phase. He said if he saw a contract handled in “such a blatant manner in disregard of state statutes and said nothing, then I don’t deserve to be the state auditor.” A former lieutenant governor as well as a former state senator, Foley is running for what would begin his fourth consecutive term as state auditor next week.

“I feel like I did my job,” Foley said Friday morning. “I turned it over to law enforcement; it’s in their court now. We’ll see where it goes from here.

“If every state contract were handled the way this one was handled, we’d have total chaos in state government.”