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A state senator – who will remain unnamed – once told me that “we’re all mammals” in reference to a sex scandal at the State Capitol.
Another senator had been caught using a state computer to, shall we say, do something naughty while watching a woman do something naughty online.
That comment, I suppose, referred to our human frailties and that we can fail to resist temptation and do the inappropriate and even the illegal.
Gotta say, after thinking about the “mammals” comment later, I wondered “aren’t we ’thinking’ mammals, with discretion to suppress our worst urges?”
Anyway, this all brings me to a recent indictment of the former executive director of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission. He’s accused of receiving money and sexual favors from two Lincoln strip clubs in exchange for inside information about liquor enforcement activities against their clubs and those of competitors.
The indictment – and please be clear, they are just allegations at this point – against Hobie Rupe are pretty salacious. They read like something out of a pulp fiction novel: – Rupe receives a roll of cash from the co-owner of the clubs.
– Rupe uses the cash to pay for a “private dance” with a stripper at one of the clubs, a dance that typically costs $100.
– the strippers use yellow Post-It Notes to document cash in the club’s safe that’s been removed as payments to Rupe. The notes have the code letters “COB,” for “cost of business.”
– club owner sends Rupe photos of the dancers and their schedules, so that Rupe knows when his favorites were working.
– if a dancer was labeled “a team player,” that was code that she would participate in “sexual activities.”
– in exchange for the cash, free admission to the clubs, free drinks and sexual favors, the indictment said the clubs would be “effectively insulated” from law enforcement investigations, investigations that would instead go after the club’s competitors.
Rupe has pleaded not guilty and, again, these are just allegations at this point. But if true, it’s just another example of how power can corrupt and how we mammals are susceptible to temptation.
Too often, it seems, we read about some trusted official or business owner abusing the public trust.
Rupe worked for a relatively low-key state agency, mostly out of view of reporters and – except for bar owners and liquor distributors – the public. His work was overseen by three commissioners, appointed by the governor, to make rulings (like judges) when alcohol outlets were found to have violated state law, such as selling liquor to a minor or after hours.
The most famous case involving Liquor Control was when commissioners voted to revoke the licenses of beer outlets in Whiteclay, ruling that the remote village, just across the border from the sprawling Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (where liquor is officially banned), didn’t have sufficient law enforcement to allow beer sales.
Two of the liquor commissioners ultimately resigned at the request of Gov. Pillen.
Did they know what was going on? I wonder, but it’s hard to see such appointed, part-time officials following their exec to a strip club.
Usually, people who do bad things are eventually found out either by other honest government employees tipping off investigators or reporters, or by reporters or investigators discovering misdeeds through audits, unpaid bills or other means.
(I still recall watching the state auditor, who is supposed to be finding cases of fraud and abuse, trudging out of a Lincoln sports bar at 3 p.m. on a work day and telling myself, this needs some investigating.)
Can cases of fraud, embezzlement and pay-to-play ever be totally eliminated?
I doubt it. Like the senator said, “we’re all mammals.” But this is another reason to support your local reporter and keep watchdogs, like our current state auditor, on the job.
Paul Ilummel has covered the Nebraska state government and the state for decades. Prior to his retirement, he was senior contributor with the Nebraska Examiner. He was previously with the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha Sun. A native of Ralston, Nebraska, he loves traveling and writing about the state.
