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All Things N ebraska
There’s a game of musical chairs going on at the State Capitol, and who gets a chair is in question.
Last week, former State Sen. Tom Briese of Albion announced his resignation as State Treasurer.
It’s not often that someone gives up such a politically safe constitutional office to go back to the farm; usually, it’s to take a better job.
I think back to 2001 when then-State Treasurer Dave Heineman gave up that job to be appointed lieutenant governor under then Gov. Mike Johanns after Johann’s second- in-command, Dave Maurstad, left to take a post in Washington. There was also former Lt. Gov. Maxine Moul who gave up that mostly ceremonial post in 1993 to be appointed head of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. Moul always said she gave up the cushy lieutenant governor’s post because of her interest in rural economic development. But there was always speculation that there were other reasons.
Briese’s resignation comes as the current occupant of his old legislative seat, State Sen. Dan McKeon of Amherst, is under fire for being too touchy-feely with a female legislative staffer at a post-2025 session gathering at the Lincoln Country Club.
Pillen called for McKeon to resign after the freshman state senator was cited for misdemeanor public indecency by the State Patrol. McKeon, though, has said he’s not quitting.
Briese’s exit was also announced a couple hours after a former state senator, Julie Slama, made known her candidacy for State Treasurer.
Cue the musical chairs tunes. Briese, who is 66 and was a champion of property tax relief during his seven years in the Unicameral, has insisted that he is quitting to return to his farm and his family, who lived in the vicinity, and that he has no desire to return to the Legislature.
He left the Unicameral in 2023 to be appointed State Treasurer when John Murante decided to resign to take a higher-paying job as head of the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement System (Murante has since quit that post to become a lobbyist).
Meanwhile, Pillen quickly appointed Fremont Mayor Joey Spellerberg to replace Briese and become the next State Treasurer. Because Spellerberg was appointed more than two years prior to the end of the Treasurer’s term, he qualifies to be re-elected twice prior to being term limited, meaning he could serve 10 years.
That has led to some speculation within the “Hall of Hot Winds” (the Capitol) that Briese scheduled his resignation so that Pillen could appoint someone who could conceivably serve more than two, four-year terms. Gotta say, the rumor mill at the Capitol never runs short of grist.
Anyway, Slama had been rumored prior to last week to be interested in running for State Treasurer. But two days after saying she was a candidate (and had $150,000 in campaign funds to do it) she “suspended” her campaign and, after talking to Spellerberg, endorsed him.
Interesting how politics works. Three years ago, Slama was probably the reason Pillen became governor instead of Charles Herbster.
Slama, unlike at least seven other women who claimed that Herbster had once groped them, was willing to be named in an article, which led to some mighty bad publicity for the Falls City businessman just prior to the 2022 GOP primary (which Pillen won by just over 10,000 votes). Herbster, by the way, denied he groped anyone.
But since then, Pillen has reportedly cooled on Slama, who opposed some of his property tax relief proposals. Makes you wonder where Slama would find more financial backing.
This all comes as Herbster, who is tight with President Donald Trump, is rumored to be gearing up for a last-second run against Pillen for the GOP nomination for governor next spring.
So get ready for some more musical chairs with Herbster, reportedly, seeking to replace Pillen at the Governor’s Residence.
Paul Hammel 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, he loves traveling and writing about the state.
