.jpg)
It’s one thing to try and cut out shenanigans in state government and another if you’re part of it.
Gov. Jim Pillen’s recent “State of the State” address laid out plenty of goals to cut out funny business in state government, from ending frivolous lawsuits to reversing tax breaks for special interests.
But not mentioned was a sizable, no-bid contract the governor approved in 2024 for a lobbyist he was well acquainted with, via overseas trade missions and events in Nebraska.
State Auditor Mike Foley – who seemingly isn’t afraid to call out anyone or anything – rapped Pillen for seeking an emergency, no-bid contract of $2.5 million for the lobbyist via her firm, Global Sustainability Developers, “a company handpicked rather than selected through a ‘time-honored’ and legally required open, competitive process.”
Issuing state contracts via competitive bids is a “bedrock, foundational tenet of government operation,” the auditor said.
“When you sidestep a foundational tenet, it’s just waving a red flag for any public auditor,” Foley told the Nebraska Examiner. “It just smacks of favoritism.”
(My guess is that Foley isn’t going to be invited to any governor steak fry any time soon.)
When issuing an “emergency” contract without seeking competitive bids, a state agency, or in this case, the governor’s office, has to justify what emergency necessitates contracting for services without seeking bids – something that didn’t happen in this case. Pillen has denied there was any favoritism shown in the $2.5 million contract issued in May 2024 with the company, owned by lobbyist Julie Bushell, the firm’s lone employee.
The contract called on Bushell to seek out more federal funds to help develop the bioeconomy in Nebraska, and to get more businesses in that arena to open in the state.
The administration says that the justification portion of the emergency contract was left blank by mistake. It now says that going through the normal process of seeking bids would have taken too long, and would have meant that the state lost out on some federal dollars during the last few months of the Biden Administration.
A spokeswoman for Pillen said that Bushell’s efforts helped Nebraska obtain $550 million in federal grant pledges (of which $200 million, the Examiner reported, has not yet arrived).
A Phelps County official also said her help was vital in obtaining a pledge to build a $5.5 billion facility to convert cornstalks into biofuel.
Foley questioned whether the Phelps County project will ever happen, given the track record of the company involved, and stated other states obtained similar amounts of federal funds as Nebraska did, without paying a consultant.
The Examiner reported that the $2.5 million deal was the largest no-bid contract by far issued through the State Department of Economic Development in recent years.
The auditor said there appeared to be plenty of time to award such a contract, rather than proceed as a no-bid, emergency affair. But Pillen officials disputed that, saying it would have delayed the work by more than three months past the May 2024 award to Bushell.
Now, there are emergencies and there are “emergencies.”
The COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, was a real emergency, and it prompted then Gov. Ricketts to give a $27-million, no-bid contract to a Utah firm to quickly set up testing stations for the virus. The contract drew criticism, but the contractor, Nomi Health, mostly delivered on what was promised in what was a hectic time in state history.
Also, in government there are laws, there are rules and there are appearances. Foley says Pillen and his people violated the law, by not justifying the “emergency.”
One thing’s for sure, the appearance was not good.
