State senator under investigation for sexual harassment

Lawmaker names colleague while reading about rape

A Republican Nebraska lawmaker who stirred a firestorm of controversy by repeatedly name-checking a fellow senator while reading a graphic account of rape from a best-selling memoir on the floor of the Legislature is now under investigation for sexual harassment.

The investigation into state Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings by the Legislature’s Executive Board was announced Wednesday by Sen. Ray Aguilar, a Republican and chairman of the board.

Aguilar said he filed the harassment complaint himself after witnessing Halloran’s remarks on the floor Monday night.

“This formal investigation will be thorough and by the book,” Aguilar read on the floor. “I can assure members of this body, legislative staff and all Nebraskans that any and all allegations of workplace harassment will be properly investigated and addressed as provided in the Executive Board policy.”

A panel of three lawmakers will be named to oversee the investigation and will hire an outside investigator to look into Halloran’s actions.

A report will be made public within 45 days, Aguilar said.

Halloran said legislative rules on harassment investigations prevent him from commenting on the probe, “other than to note I’ll defend myself.”

During a debate on a bill targeting obscenity in libraries, Halloran read a graphic excerpt from the memoir “Lucky” by Alice Sebold, which recounts Sebold’s experience of sexual violence when she was 18, and invoked the name “Sen. Cavanaugh” several times, appearing to reference Democratic state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, a female colleague.