It's an election year. Campaign mailers are flooding mailboxes, including flyers from the candidates seeking the District 32 seat in the Nebraska Legislature.
Fortunately, Senator Tom Brandt is term limited. A big land owner, Brandt has for years intentionally muddied the waters between state and local taxes. Even during serious state budget crunches, he brags about state government spending $1.6 billion annually to subsidize local property tax bills. Yet property taxes are imposed by K-12 schools, counties, cities, and NRDs — not the state. Brandt is comfortable using Nebraskans' sales and income tax dollars to let the Unicameral play "sugar daddy," allowing big spenders at the local level to avoid accountability.
Vying to replace Brandt this November are two candidates who will appear on the May primary ballot:
- Mark Schoenrock, a "conservative Republican," Army veteran, and career officer who has served as a Jefferson County Commissioner.
- Shay Smith, a Crete-based lawyer and tax professional who presents herself as an "independent problem-solver." However, the Crete News previously published photos of Smith attending an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vigil, leading many to suspect she supports liberal causes. Because the Nebraska Legislature is non-partisan, voters are at a distinct disadvantage; there is no "R" or "D" after names on the ballot to provide clarity.
This week, The Plains-Sentinel, an online Nebraska publication, wrote: "In a potential surprise from a usually right-leaning rural district, Shaylene Smith, an independent progressive candidate for District 32, out-raised the Republican candidate Mark Schoenrock $57,000 to $30,000 and had nearly $85,000 cash on hand compared to Schoenrock’s $36,000."
No wonder Smith is sending us so many glossy campaign flyers.
The Times investigated Shoenrock's and Smith's campaign statements filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission (NADC). Three red flags stood out regarding Smith’s funding:
- State Senator Danielle Conrad, a liberal activist attorney and a leader of the Unicameral’s far-left wing, is a donor to Smith’s campaign.
- Smith's campaign received $25,000 from Democracy Nebraska. This group is a well-oiled progressive activist group that Google's Gemini says is comprised of "Lincoln/Omaha elites" and is "funded by out-of-state interests who want to 'California-ize' our election laws." The AI tool also called Democracy Nebraska "the primary recruitment and training ground for the next generation of liberal organizers" and "a 'who’s who' of Democratic and progressive operatives in Nebraska."
- Wyoming-based Way Back PAC, another "dark money" group, gave Smith's campaign $10,000. Gemini said this about Way Back: "They are systematically funding the infrastructure ... designed to crack the 'red wall' in the West. Their funding of liberal stalwarts in North Dakota and Kansas proves that 'Way Back' isn't about going back to old-school civility; it's about providing a back-door for liberal policy wins in states where the Democratic brand is underwater." Gemini notes that the most significant move by Way Back PAC in recent cycles was their heavy backing of Dan Osborn in the 2024 Nebraska U.S. Senate race. "While Osborn ran as an independent, the PAC’s involvement — alongside traditional Democratic donors — signals their role as a bridge for liberal interests to support non-traditional candidates in deep-red states where a 'Democrat' label is a death sentence."
Only about $12,850 of Smith's reported campaign contributions since Jan. 1 were from individuals from Lincoln, Crete or other nearby communities. That compares to about $10,500 for Schoenrock.
The Times will not endorse a candidate for the Primary Election. However, we will take a stand against "dark money" and suspicious donations fueling candidates who are allowed to hide behind non-partisan labels to avoid public scrutiny.
Nebraskans deserve transparency. It shouldn't require hours of investigative research to discover who is actually bankrolling the people who want to write our laws.
