Gov. Pete Ricketts Hires Privately-Paid Adviser/Lobbyist for Internal Staff

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[SIZE=12.0048007965088px]Jessica Moenning, a longtime political operative of Gov. Pete Ricketts, is staying on as a privately paid senior adviser. [/SIZE]The arrangement has prompted questions about a private employee, paid out of the governor’s own pocket, being involved in public policies and using, at least for a time, publicly funded office space at the State Capitol.
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“I need someone who can really be divorced from the day-to-day and think big picture and not get caught up in the urgent things that happen every day,” Ricketts said.
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Moenning ran Ricketts’ unsuccessful 2006 campaign for U.S. Senate and served as a paid campaign aide/consultant for the past two years during his campaign for governor.

She also has worked as a communications consultant for a pro-Keystone XL pipeline group, Nebraskans for Jobs and Energy Independence, and was a consultant, paid and unpaid, for a handful of state legislative campaigns last year.
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So, aside from the potential attempt to skirt potential FoIA requests related to Keystone XL pipeline discussions, this sets a rather dangerous precedent which will make it difficult to keep governments honest and transparent to the citizens, does it not?

Of course, I fully expect our tea-laden friends to retort that money = free speech, and that this is just Rickett's was of speaking, and that of his Koch Brothers' friends as well.

 
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My biggest concern is oversight. Her position has none, and the governor's "She answers to me and I answer to the people" line makes a good sound bite, but it'll end inquiries real quick if he decides he doesn't want to have her involvement be 100% transparent. And that's the danger of such a high-level adviser not governed by the government.

 
This makes sense. After all, it's no secret that lobbyists run the nation's various political systems. This is just an example of it happening right out in the open. Transparency!

 
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