Commission rejects claims by both political parties against state senators

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By NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

The commission that enforces campaign rules says complaints by the two political parties against two state senators are not valid.

Both Omaha Sen. Tom White, a Democrat, and Lincoln Sen. Tony Fulton, a Republican, had been accused of using their state offices for campaign purposes.

The complaints came from the heads of the two state parties. The Republicans made the charge against White in November. The Democrats filed the complaint against Fulton in early March.

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Sen. Tom White

Sen. Tom White

In both cases at least part of the charges stemmed from the use of Internet sites.

Both senators said the complaints were politically motivated.

Both senators received letters this weekend from the Accountability and Disclosure Commission dismissing the complaints because there was no reason to believe that a violation occurred.

Fulton said he expected the complaint to be dismissed because it was a political maneuver, not a complaint based on facts.

“They (the Democrats) were just trying to get negative attention on me,” he said.

White also said that the complaint against him was just more hard-hitting, D.C.-style politics. And the Republican Party was “just wrong. Accountability and Disclosure did the right thing,” he said.

Nobody, whether Republican or Democrat, should worry about communicating with their constituents, said White. “That doesn’t help us get good government,” he said.

The state Democratic Party in its complaint pointed to e-mails from Fulton’s office giving a link to the senator’s legislative update. The legislative updates and Fulton’s campaign Web site are housed on Fulton’s private domain. Though there was no direct link between the legislative newsletter and the campaign site, the Democrats said someone could use the address line to reach the home page. 

The Republican Party contended White violated state law by sending out a town hall announcement from his legislative office that also included White’s personal Web site address.

That Web site provides information on legislative issues and is not a campaign Web site, White has said.

The Republicans also said White broke the law when he distributed information to senators and media on a telephone poll on taxes.

White said he was mostly concerned about this complaint where he was providing information relating to a legislative topic during the legislative session. 

White pointed out that he was not trying to affect a ballot issue and he was not running for re-election at the time.

The Republicans were “trying to twist Accountability and Disclosure into intimidating senators,” he said about the complaint.

Matt Connealy, executive director of the Nebraska Democratic Party, said the complaint against Fulton was not politically motivated. “We saw a question we had on how a senator was using his Web site. We just asked Accountability and Disclosure to check into it.”

“And I guess we got (our question) answered.”

GOP State Chairman Mark Quandahl also said his party didn’t file the complaint for political reasons, but because it appeared public resources were being used to further a political or personal agenda.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.