Omaha senator asks colleagues to uphold ‘justice and decency’ and censure Sen. Halloran

LINCOLN — An emotional public hearing over a rare request to censure a state senator ended Thursday with the committee deferring action until after the four-day Easter weekend.

That came despite a request by State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha for an “immediate” decision on whether to censure fellow Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings for vulgar statements directed at “Senator Cavanaugh” during floor debate March 18 over an obscenity bill.

“The longer it takes, the more harm you are causing,” Cavanaugh told members of the Legislature’s Executive Council, which handles such internal complaints.

‘Too emotional’

Grand Island Sen. Ray Aguilar, who chairs the Exec Board, said after the half-hour hearing that events Thursday were “too emotional,” and he wanted members of the committee to consider their decisions over the weekend.

Cavanaugh, the only testifier at the hearing, called on the committee to uphold “justice and decency” by issuing a censure, a formal expression of extreme disapproval which hasn’t been done in the State Legislature since 1955. That’s when Sen. Sam Klaver of Omaha was censured for participating in a blackmail scheme involving a tax on gambling devices.

The censure request was filed after Halloran, during floor debate on March 18, repeatedly inserted the name “Senator Cavanaugh” as he read a graphic description of a rape contained in the book, “Lucky.” The segment included a demand from the male assailant for oral sex.

Cavanaugh said it didn’t matter if Halloran’s reference was directed at her or her brother, fellow State Sen. John Cavanaugh, but she said it felt like Halloran was demanding her to perform a sex act.

Censure ‘reaffirms’ integrity

“Such behavior has no place in our deliberative process,” Machaela Cavanaugh said. “By censuring Sen. Halloran we reaffirm our commitment to accountability and ensure that our legislative body remains a bastion of respect and integrity.”

Halloran skipped Thursday’s hearing, which featured only invited testifiers.

Two others who had been invited to testify — State Sens. George Dungan and John Cavanaugh, Machaela’s brother — declined to testify, Aguilar said at the hearing. But after the hearing, John Cavanaugh said he and Dungan had initially been invited to testify, then were later told they wouldn’t be.

Halloran, in an email to reporters, said he did not want to attend and “give credence” to a legislative hearing he maintained violated two legislative rules.

The senator was joined by nine conservative colleagues, who issued a statement earlier Thursday calling on the Executive Council to “immediately cancel” the censure hearing.

Meanwhile, several members of the public who supported the censure resolution — some carrying signs calling for Halloran’s resignation — lined up outside the State Capitol hearing room. Five other state senators, all Democrats, sat in the front row of the hearing room in apparent solidarity with Machaela Cavanaugh.

‘Called to order’ instead

Halloran submitted briefs to the committee Thursday citing legislative rules that state a senator should be “called to order” if a colleague objects to words spoken during floor debate.

He argued that the speaker of the Legislature, Sen. John Arch, violated legislative rules when he accepted the censure resolution from Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh and Julie Slama and that Aguilar also broke the rules by holding a hearing on the request.

Halloran has maintained that he was trying to grab the attention of Sens. John Cavanaugh and Dungan while reading the graphic assault contained in a book that he felt shouldn’t be allowed in school libraries. He also has contended that senators’ speech during debate is protected free speech.

‘Protected speech’ has consequences

Later, however, Halloran told the Examiner that he wished he had not interjected the name “Senator Cavanaugh” into his floor statement.

Machaela Cavanaugh said that while Halloran’s statements might have been “protected speech, protected speech still carries consequences.”

She said that prior to Halloran’s floor speech on March 18, the 75-year-old senator had approached her and another female legislator and began reading the graphic rape scene, which had been recited during an earlier legislative hearing on the obscenity bill.

Cavanaugh said she told Halloran, “OK, Steve, I’m going to walk away now.”

Cavanaugh added that as she spoke on the floor following Halloran’s rape scene recital, the male senator walked over to her side of the legislative chambers and “sort of smirked and was laughing at me.”

“I was shaking,” Cavanaugh said, adding that the reading had left her in “complete shock.”

Earlier this week, the senator said she heard that Halloran — as senators were debating another obscenity bill — was “loudly” telling some colleagues that she “knows about” an internet porn site and “watches porn.”

Letter from Cavanaugh’s father

During her testimony, she read from a letter written by her father, John Cavanaugh, a former state senator and U.S. congressman, who called Halloran’s floor speech “callous and careless.” He said it had placed “pornography” into the legislative record for the first time.

“The entire country is looking to see what Nebraska will do,” the elder Cavanaugh wrote, saying he’d heard concern from friends across the nation.

During her testimony, Machaela Cavanaugh apologized to fellow Sen. Julie Slama for not seeking a censure motion four years ago against then-Sen. Ernie Chambers for suggesting that Slama was appointed to the Legislature due to “favors of the flesh.”

“We failed to act,” Cavanaugh said. “I failed to act. I failed Sen. Slama.”

Slama, who is a member of the Executive Board, thanked Cavanaugh for her “courage” in standing up to objectionable speech, adding that “the same people” who pressured her into not objecting in 2020 had tried to pressure Cavanaugh.

“Thank God you’re willing to fight this fight,” Slama said, adding that she hoped the hearing would result in more “clearly defined” policies and procedures related to sexual harassment.

Cavanaugh said that Halloran’s speech had traumatized the public, as well as her family, and that a censure motion is only a statement of objection, not something that stops him from speaking or serving on legislative committees.

“This is not censorship. A censure is a statement that we disagree with Sen. Halloran,” she said.

Vargas supports censure

At least one member of the nine-member Executive Board, Omaha Sen. Tony Vargas, told the Examiner that he supported the censure resolution.

“I support holding him accountable for his words and harassment,” Vargas said, adding that he hopes the committee takes action immediately upon returning to work Tuesday.

Aguilar, the committee’s chairman, said he had made up his mind but declined to say what his decision was.

Two other members of the board, North Platte Sen. Mike Jacobson and Kearney Sen. John Lowe, said they planned to ponder their decisions over the Easter weekend.

Aguilar, citing legislative policies, had appointed a three-member committee to investigate the statements made by Halloran.

But Cavanaugh and Slama sought the censure motion, saying an investigation might not be completed until after the Legislature adjourned for the year on April 18, and they said the incident warranted a quicker response.