LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature’s Executive Board unanimously advanced a resolution Monday to expel State Sen. Dan McKeon of Amherst after hearing from his attorney and an outside investigator.

The board voted 9-0 to advance Legislative Resolution 282 to floor debate following a nearly two-hour public hearing. The Legislature’s expulsion debate will take place Tuesday. Expelling a sitting senator requires 33 votes.

McKeon faces expulsion following allegations he inappropriately touched a legislative staffer — allegations he denies. McKeon’s responses to the allegation, as well as additional allegations against the senator that have surfaced since then, contributed to the Exec Board’s resolution, said State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, the board’s chair.

The Exec Board allowed only invited testimony at Monday’s hearing, including McKeon’s attorney Perry Pirsch and outside counsel Tara Paulson, who conducted the Legislature’s internal investigation. Paulson’s probe was separate from a related Nebraska State Patrol criminal investigation.

Pirsch argued that expulsion is too extreme a measure to take against McKeon considering the circumstances of the allegations, equating it to “a life sentence” in criminal court. He described the decision to expel a sitting senator as one with “historic consequence,” as the Legislature has never done so, and said doing so now would set a precedent.

“Expulsion is not simply discipline,” Pirsch said. “It is the Legislature setting aside an election and removing the representative chosen by the voters of Legislative District 41.”

Pirsch has repeatedly described McKeon’s exchange with the staffer as the senator sharing “an ill-advised pun” and giving her a pat on the back. He claimed that even the staffer described the contact as a “coach’s pat,” but Kathleen Neary — the attorney representing the staffer — called his description a lie.

“First of all, he’s not her coach,” Neary said. “Second of all, he needs to keep his hands to himself.”

Paulson noted that when McKeon was first confronted about the encounter the day after the incident, McKeon denied touching her, but he later admitted to having made contact under questioning.

The staffer reported that McKeon made a joke about going to Hawaii to “get laid” and smacked her rear end after delivering the joke, according to Paulson’s report. A separate police report after the incident led to McKeon being cited for misdemeanor public indecency by the Nebraska State Patrol in October.

Prosecutors have since charged him with misdemeanor disturbing the peace. McKeon pleaded not guilty. His next court date is Jan. 26.

Though Pirsch said McKeon can’t exactly remember what comment he made to the staffer, he argued McKeon is “a joker” who regularly uses humor in his rhetoric and said humor is “protected speech.”

“One man’s inappropriate joke is another man’s good one, because humor is subjective,” Pirsch said.

Paulson later clarified that while there are scenarios where a joke from a lawmaker may be protected, this case is not one of them. Neary added that a fundamental element of protected speech under the First Amendment is that the matter being discussed must be of public importance.

Pirsch argued that, due to term limits, he believes he has more institutional knowledge than some senators on the Exec Board, and is privy to the gossip that spreads through the Capitol building.

He said he knows of instances that would warrant expulsion, including allegations of senators having sexual encounters with staffers or accepting inappropriate gifts. He said McKeon’s case does not rise to the same level.

Paulson’s report concluded that McKeon’s actions did not constitute actionable sexual harassment under state or federal law. However, she said it may violate the Legislature’s own workplace harassment policy. That policy includes “sexually oriented jokes” in its definition of sexual harassment.

“Actionable is not tantamount to acceptable,” Paulson said.

Paulson added that she believes McKeon’s actions “should not be tolerated” by the Legislature, as it could foster a hostile work environment, which in legal circles could put taxpayers at risk of a state claim. Neary has said her client is considering filing a civil lawsuit, but hasn’t specified what parties would be targeted.

Board members questioned Pirsch about several responses McKeon had to the initial allegation that they felt were retaliatory, including a text message he sent to a separate staffer working in the same office saying the staffer who alleged he touched her inappropriately “seems to be difficult to work with.”

McKeon previously described this as a “single, limited question” meant to better understand why the staffer made the accusation, but Pirsch clarified Monday that the text was not written as a question. Pirsch said McKeon sent the text because he felt he was in a “Kafka-esque” process, and wanted to get more information.

State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln pressed Pirsch on this, asking if McKeon truly wanted more information, why didn’t he seek out members of the Exec Board? Pirsch said the staffer McKeon texted had a longstanding relationship with him and previously applied to work in McKeon’s office, so he felt he was trustworthy.

Speaker of the Legislature John Arch questioned Pirsch about various written statements McKeon has made in recent months, including a quote that was included in a press release distributed by Pirsch’s office on Dec. 17.

“I will try to watch my future comments, but I might still occasionally have a bad joke slip out, and those who are eggshells should avoid me, not engage me in conversation,” McKeon wrote.

Pirsch said McKeon regrets that this statement was included in the press release, and argued that the statement and others have been taken out of context. Arch countered that he was referencing exact words from McKeon and Pirsch.

Pirsch argued that the Legislature hasn’t followed a fair process to judge McKeon’s actions, particularly when it comes to additional accusations that have come forward but remain confidential. LR 282 claims that McKeon has made multiple other inappropriate jokes after taking office last year, including about people’s race.

Pirsch said McKeon has not received any additional information about those allegations beyond what’s been released to the public, so he cannot meaningfully rebut them.

“If we are going to take the extraordinary step of expulsion, we should be certain the accused senator has been told in full what the case is, has had a fair chance to respond and the public can see the basis for the decision,” Pirsch said.

Based on everything he has seen, Pirsch said McKeon has reasonable cause to believe there are larger forces working against him aside from the staffer. He claimed that a State Patrol investigator told McKeon that the staffer had “marching orders” when filing the criminal report and that “she had to charge him with something.”

“This is not an adjudicative process,” Pirsch said. “It’s literally not much better than a witch hunt.”

Neary denied claims that her client was following orders to file her report. Cody Thomas, spokesperson for the Nebraska State Patrol, also disputed this, saying in an email that “at no point did the investigators involved in this case tell Senator McKeon that they were under pressure to cite or charge him.”

Paulson said she could only speak to her investigation, but said she followed the same process she has for previous investigations of workplace harassment within the Legislature. Several of the more-than-a-dozen senators who sat in on Monday’s hearing said they believed the process was fair.

“It’s certainly not perfect, but I think it did show that the intent is to be fair but also to protect the integrity of the Legislature,” said State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston.

Pirsch came under fire from State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha after he shared identifying information about the staffer making the allegation during his testimony, which he said was “highly concerning,” and said it serves as evidence that McKeon feels no remorse for his actions.

Neary said sharing identifying information about an alleged victim of sexual harassment is threatening toward the victim, and displays “continued bad conduct” on behalf of McKeon and Pirsch.

The Examiner is aware of the alleged victim’s name but is not publishing it because it is the policy of States Newsroom and the Examiner not to identify people who say they have been abused unless they wish to talk publicly.

Paulson said McKeon regularly cracked jokes while she interviewed him, but noted she could not discern if that was due to unease or a lack of remorse.

“Today’s hearing was just more of the same from Senator McKeon,” Neary said by email to the Examiner. “He refuses to accept responsibility, he blames everyone else for his bad conduct and continues to change his story.”

Neary described McKeon’s allegation that he was denied due process “ridiculous.” She said the senator and his lawyer “walked out of today’s hearing when the evidence against him was being presented.”

“Due process requires the accused to stay and participate in the process, not walk out,” Neary said.

During Pirsch’s hour-long testimony, Riepe said he felt the attorney was talking on a “loop” and remarked that “one can make his point better by not boring down your audience.”

Riepe said he feels McKeon will be expelled Tuesday and said the rules suspension last week was “pretty indicative” of that, with a 43-0 vote to expedite the hearing. He said he felt bad for McKeon’s constituents, who he thought should be disappointed “their elected representative didn’t uphold the standards of their great community.”

Other senators were not as certain about McKeon’s fate. State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman, said she would continue to give the matter “some contemplative thought, being very conscious that we are honoring the process that is reflective of this institution and the integrity of the institution.”

“Either way, it’s not going to be an easy decision,” Storer said.

State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha said she was still trying to figure out the “appropriate consequence” while balancing the facts.

“The topic is uncomfortable. It’s not something pleasant to deal with at all,” Juarez said. “I still need to give it more thought as to how I’m going to vote. I think I’ll probably need every hour I can get to think about it.”

State Sens. Loren Lippincott of Central City and Dan Lonowski of Hastings were running vote cards to track legislators’ positions on expulsion before Tuesday. Lippincott declined to comment on the cards, or the earlier hearing, which he attended.

Multiple senators said the duo asked about how lawmakers were asking about expulsion. Some lawmakers said they were asked whether they wanted McKeon to resign instead. Gov. Jim Pillen and others have called on McKeon to resign.

The Examiner witnessed Lippincott, Lonowski and McKeon enter a hearing room behind the legislative chamber after the session ended for the day. Lippincott declined to comment on what the vote cards indicated.

State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area, who has pushed for McKeon’s resignation, also attended Monday’s hearing. She said Pirsch gave what seemed to be “contradictory information and kind of circular logic.”

She supports expulsion and is basing that on her experiences with McKeon and the “retaliatory nature” of some of his comments after.

Kauth said she is also getting frustrated with some people arguing “it’s never been done before” and a “long list” of past officials who have had worse behavior but faced no serious consequences.

“We need to say very clearly that this Legislature does not tolerate this behavior, regardless of how other Legislatures have allowed misbehavior to continue unchecked. That’s not us,” Kauth said.

Examiner reporter Zach Wendling contributed to this report.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/01/12/nebraska-lawmakers-move-toward-expulsion-for-state-sen-dan-mckeon-after-public-hearing/