Lincoln petition fraud investigation becomes political

A Democratic challenger to the county attorney is asking for a special prosecutor because Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon, a Republican, has ties to Republican consultants with Axiom Strategies who are involved in the petition effort. Condon has not paid Axiom for any consulting services, according to state campaign financial disclosure forms. Condon paid Red Rider Strategies for campaign consulting.

Weber, after his press conference, said there should be “independent individuals involved in the investigation.”

Before the announcement of the arrests of five out-of-state individuals who helped circulate petitions, the petition group had accused city officials of undermining their efforts. 

Weber called for a “full investigation” of the Good Government Lincoln leadership to explore whether they were involved in the fraud. He also has issues with the group blaming city officials before the investigation was public. 

“I think that some individuals need to look at themselves in the mirror before they point fingers at city officials next time,” Weber said. 

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Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office had found no evidence of a political motive for the alleged fraud in their ongoing investigation. 

Jessica Flanagain, a consultant to the Good Government Lincoln ballot campaign, said it’s “not a mystery why career politicians don’t want to see an initiative for term limits get on the ballot — it will pass overwhelmingly.” 

Flanagain, a partner at Axiom Strategies, said “criminal actors” defrauded the group and Good Government Lincoln will “fully cooperate with law enforcement.” She added that it has “stringent protocols” for its signature gathering, but the “criminals worked around it.”

Axiom Strategies — more specifically Flanagain — runs most high-profile GOP campaigns in Nebraska. Flanagain had worked for Gov. Jim Pillen as a consultant before leaving the campaign in March. Axiom Strategies is working on the campaigns of Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood and Sen. Pete Ricketts. 

Attorney General Mike Hilgers, whose office may become involved with the petition investigation, is a client of Axiom Strategies. 

Hilgers has been criticized by the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana group and the Nebraska Democratic Party for not taking a more public approach in the investigation. Hilgers was highly involved in legal investigations of the medical cannabis petition campaigns, which voters overwhelmingly approved.

His investigation is waiting for a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling as he is looking to appeal a Lancaster County District Court judge’s ruling that the petition had enough valid signatures.

Before the criminal investigation, Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird’s campaign said the proposed Republican-led ballot measures come straight out of the “Donald Trump playbook,” claiming “they can’t beat Mayor Leirion, so they are trying to change the rules and misrepresent their proposals.” 

There have been ripple effects from the fraud investigation. 

Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s office announced late last week that former Omaha state Sen. Brett Lindstrom lacked enough signatures to run for Nebraska governor as a nonpartisan because a significant number of signatures “were found to be fraudulent.” 

Advocates for All Nebraskans has paused its local petition effort to establish a minimum staffing level for sworn police officers in the capital city. The group said in a press release that it was because they had seen “hostility” from Lincoln city officials and that “the local petition landscape is tainted” by a “concerning pattern of destructive political efforts run purely for profit.”

“This pause is necessary to protect our front-line officers and preserve the integrity of the ballot initiative process itself from two major destructive forces,” the press release said. 

There have been calls from Pillen and Evnen, whose term will end in January, for the state Legislature to reverse a 2015 decision that allowed paying per signature. 

Jordan Brownstein, chief executive officer of On the Ballot, a subcontractor for Good Government Lincoln, said in a statement that the organization is working with law enforcement “to ensure every bad actor involved is brought to justice and that whoever directed this sabotage is identified and exposed.”

“The fraud that was discovered is outrageous and the worst kind of dirty political tricks. It victimizes voters, the democratic process and the petition sponsors,” Brownstein said.

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