Nebraska state senator Dan McKeon resigns amid claims of inappropriate conduct | EUROtoday

State Senator Dan McKeon has tearfully introduced his resignation from the Nebraska Legislature following claims that he made a sexually charged remark to a legislative staffer and touched her inappropriately.

The resignation got here forward of a scheduled debate to expel him from the physique.

McKeon is a Republican from rural south-central Nebraska who had served solely a yr earlier than his resignation.

“My words and actions were careless, regardless of the intent,” he stated.

“I accept my responsibility for the impact of my words and my actions.

“This past year has humbled me. It requires reflection, listening and learning. Accountability is not only acknowledging my mistake but committing to grow from it. I take that responsibility seriously,” McKeon stated, his voice cracking.

His demeanor was a departure from what lots of his fellow lawmakers discovered to be a defiant and flippant perspective towards the accusations main as much as his resignation.

McKeon’s exit got here a day after the 10-member Executive Board, the physique’s governing board, voted unanimously to ahead a movement to expel McKeon to the total Legislature for a vote.

The unprecedented transfer adopted a criticism from the staffer who works for an additional lawmaker that McKeon approached her and one other aide throughout a May 29 celebration and engaged in small discuss everybody’s trip plans.

The girl stated McKeon informed her she ought to “get laid” on her trip and patted her on her buttocks. McKeon has countered that he “made a foul pun,” telling the woman she and her spouse should “go to Hawaii and enjoy a Hawaiian lei,” according to McKeon’s attorney.

McKeon also countered that he patted the staffer on the back and may have accidentally brushed her rear end, but insists that if he did, it was unintentional.

McKeon’s departure comes as more attention has focused on sexual harassment within state legislatures nationwide — including in Nebraska.

The accusations against McKeon came about 15 months after the body was thrown in chaos when another Republican state lawmaker, former Sen. Steve Halloran, read a graphic account of rape from a bestselling memoir on the floor of the Legislature in which he repeatedly invoked the name of a fellow lawmaker, making it appear as if that lawmaker was the subject of the assault.

An outdoors investigation discovered that Halloran had violated the physique’s workforce sexual harassment coverage, and the Legislature’s governing Executive Board issued him a letter of reprimand.

But that motion was met with sturdy criticism from a number of lawmakers who stated Halloran ought to have confronted a censure vote by the total physique. Halloran left workplace in January 2025 as a consequence of time period limits.

This time round, the Executive Board took a more durable stance after a a number of lawmakers and one other outdoors investigation discovered that McKeon had a historical past of creating inappropriate feedback and jokes throughout his time within the Legislature.

The investigator additionally discovered that McKeon ignored a directive by the Executive Board’s chairman to not attend occasions the place staffers can be, exhibiting up that very same day at one other celebration attended by the girl who filed the criticism in opposition to him.

The investigator additionally discovered {that a} textual content McKeon despatched to a different staffer who shares an workplace with the girl, by which he stated she “seems to be difficult to work with,” may represent retaliation in opposition to her.

The report decided that McKeon’s conduct didn’t rise to a stage of sexual harassment or retaliation actionable beneath state or federal discrimination regulation, however that it did violate the Nebraska Legislature’s office harassment coverage.

McKeon turns into at the least the 57th state lawmaker within the nation to go away workplace through expulsion or resignation since 2017 following sexual misconduct allegations.

He additionally faces a misdemeanor cost of disturbing the peace after an Nebraska State Patrol investigation into his interplay with the workers final May. McKeon has pleaded not responsible to that cost.