Nebraska’s lawyer common is dealing with criticism after asserting he has employed a former state lawmaker and buddy to be his coverage adviser, although the ex-lawmaker has no authorized background.
The $95,000-a-year job is a newly created put up being stuffed by Suzanne Geist, who resigned from the Legislature in April in a failed bid to be elected Lincoln’s mayor. It is unclear what the job entails, however critics say senior workers positions throughout the workplace often go to attorneys who can assist with prosecutions and have the experience to deal with authorized and court docket issues.
Geist, a fellow Republican and former legislative colleague of Attorney General Mike Hilgers’, is just not an lawyer, and her {qualifications} seem to hinge on her six-year tenure within the Legislature, the place she served as chair of the Transportation and Telecommunications and the Performance Audit committees. She was additionally a member of the Judiciary and Corrections Oversight committees. Her work previous to being elected to the Legislature in 2017 was as a marketing consultant who offered girls’s clothes by way of a multi-level advertising firm.
In a press release asserting Geist’s hiring on Thursday, Hilgers referred to her as “a trusted colleague and friend.”
“Suzanne has deep policy expertise, with a particular focus on criminal justice and sentencing issues,” Hilgers stated. “She has established relationships with law enforcement and other critical stakeholders.”
Jack Gould, with the federal government watchdog Common Cause Nebraska, criticized the hiring as lower than clear and questioned her {qualifications}.
“One, she’s not a lawyer. Two, how come $95,000? What is it that she has accomplished that justifies that kind of investment?” Gould requested. “Friendships have nothing to do with doing a good job. It’s: What are your qualifications? She doesn’t seem to have any. So I think there should be a lot of questions asked by the Legislature.”
Geist didn’t reply to e mail or direct social media messages looking for remark. But the state Attorney General’s Office defended her hiring, pointing to her expertise within the Legislature and denying that the place was created solely for Geist.
“The attorney general identified this senior staff position early in his tenure to assist in effectuating his goals in serving Nebraskans to help force expand on initiatives within the office and with stakeholders outside the office,” stated Suzanne Gage, spokesperson for Hilgers’ workplace. “Geist is highly qualified. Her resume exemplifies her suitability for service in the executive branch.”
Gage appeared to battle to reply questions on what the job entails and repeated that Geist’s expertise within the Legislature makes her certified for the job. When pressed for particulars of Geist’s new job duties, she stated Geist could be “supporting the process” of Hilgers’ work on a legislative committee created to take a look at prison justice reforms.
Before she resigned, Geist had been the co-author of a legislative invoice to overtake points of the state’s prison justice system – together with the creation of a pilot program to determine parole-violation residential housing and problem-solving courts, like drug courts and veterans courts. Omaha Sen. Justin Wayne took over because the invoice’s principal creator after Geist’s departure. It handed regardless of opposition from conservatives – together with Hilgers – to the invoice’s measure to hurry up parole for a lot of nonviolent offenders.
Gage didn’t reply follow-up questions on whether or not it was Geist who contacted Hilgers’ workplace to hunt the job, or whether or not the company first contacted her to supply the job.
“It certainly smells an inside arrangement, and it’s not something that I think the public in general is going to appreciate,” Gould stated.
Without a full clarification of how Geist received the job and what makes her most certified for it, the rent lacks credibility that may result in public mistrust within the workplace, he stated.
“Hilgers should know better,” he stated. “There are lots of people who would be more qualified, I think, for that position.”
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