Opinion ID: 2029434
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: evidence adduced of events before hergert took office

Text: The statewide primary election in 2004 was held on May 11. The statewide general election in 2004 was held on November 2. On February 17, 2004, Hergert filed as a candidate for the Board of Regents. Also on February 17, Hergert filed his statement of financial interests with the NADC, identifying himself as a candidate for the Board of Regents. On March 3, Frank Daley, the executive director of the NADC, sent a letter to Hergert, acknowledging receipt of Hergert's statement of financial interests and notifying Hergert that he would have further responsibilities under Nebraska's campaign finance laws once he raised, received, or spent $5,000 for his candidacy. Daley also informed Hergert that if he had not already received from local officials a copy of the NADC's candidate brochure to assist new candidates in complying with these obligations, he could obtain one from the NADC. In March 2004, Hergert asked Michael Jacobson, president and CEO of Nebraskaland National Bank in North Platte, Nebraska, to be his committee treasurer. Jacobson initially declined to be Hergert's treasurer because of time constraints. After Hergert promised to prepare the reports and forward them to Jacobson to sign and to send to the NADC, Jacobson agreed to be the treasurer in name only and to allow Hergert to use his name in campaign advertising. Both Hergert and Jacobson then agreed Jacobson would have no responsibility for keeping committee records of receipts, accounts, or expenditures. Jacobson had no authority regarding the committee's checking account at the Valley Bank and Trust Company in Gering, Nebraska. On April 13, 2004, the NADC received Hergert's candidate committee's statement of organization. See § 49-1449 (requiring committee to file statement of organization within 10 days of formation). This statement listed Hergert's home address in Mitchell, Nebraska, as the address the committee would use for correspondence between the NADC. The statement listed April 5 as the date the committee had raised, received, or expended over $5,000. The statement also listed Valley Bank and Trust Company as the committee's official depository, listed Jacobson as the committee treasurer, and gave Jacobson's North Platte mailing address. No other committee members were named. On April 13, 2004, the same day that Hergert filed his statement of organization, he also filed an affidavit with the NADC, swearing that he did not intend to abide by the campaign spending limits and that $65,000 was a reasonable estimate of his maximum expenditures for the primary election. The form affidavit for this report included a statement above the signatory line that the candidate understands he or she must file a forty-percent affidavit when 40 percent of the estimated maximum expenditure has been spent, if the candidate's estimate exceeds $25,000, the voluntary spending limit for the primary. Also on April 13, 2004, Daley sent a letter to Jacobson at Hergert's home address. Daley informed Hergert that the committee's first primary campaign statement was late. Daley requested that the committee inform the NADC if the committee wished to receive correspondence at an address other than the one provided in the committee's statement of organization. Daley's letter further set forth every reporting period and due date for the primary and general election campaign statements, as follows: Report Due Date Reporting Period 1st Primary April 12, 2004 through April 6, 2004 2nd Primary May 3, 2004 April 7, 2004 through April 26, 2004 Post Primary June 21, 2004 April 27, 2004 through June 15, 2004 1st General October 4, 2004 June 16 through September 28, 2004 2nd General October 25, 200[4] September 29 through October 18, 2004 Post General January 11, 2005 October 19 through December 31, 2004 Finally, Daley explained that because Hergert estimated his maximum expenditures for the primary at $65,000, he was required to file his forty-percent affidavit within 5 days of the committee's spending more than $26,000. In addition to alerting Hergert in March 2004 to the availability of the NADC's candidate brochure, the NADC sent Hergert's committee two publications explaining its responsibilities under Nebraska's campaign finance laws: the Candidate Committee Treasurer's Guide and the CFLA Candidate Brochure. The latter document provided information specific to the office of regent and, again, a calendar of important due dates for the 2004 election. Both documents detailed the NADC's filing requirements with examples. On April 21, 2004, Daley again wrote Jacobson at Hergert's home address and at Jacobson's mailing address in North Platte, stating that the first campaign statement had still not been filed. Daley reiterated it was Hergert's responsibility to file a forty-percent affidavit within 5 days after spending $26,000 and enclosed a form for that purpose. On May 5, 2004, Daley wrote directly to Hergert at his home address, stating that Hergert's second primary campaign statement, filed May 3, showed his committee had spent a total of $48,444.10 for the primary campaign. Daley informed Hergert that he had failed to file an affidavit within 5 days of spending 40 percent of his estimated maximum expenditures. Daley requested that Hergert send in the affidavit immediately. Based on Hergert's May 3, 2004, campaign statement, Don Blank, the incumbent and one of the abiding candidates in the primary, was entitled to, and received, an additional $40,000 in public funds. Because of Hergert's delay in filing his forty-percent affidavit, however, Blank did not receive these public funds until 5 to 6 days before the primary. See § 32-1604(6). On May 11, 2004, the primary election was held. Of the four nonpartisan candidates, Blank and Hergert advanced. On May 12, the day after the primary election, the NADC received Hergert's delinquent forty-percent affidavit. In the affidavit, he swore that he had spent 40 percent of his estimated maximum expenditures on April 22, 2004. The preprinted forty-percent affidavit is a one-page form. Instructions on the form advise nonabiding candidates that they must file the affidavit within 5 days after spending 40 percent of their estimated expenditures and that failure to do so renders the candidate subject to criminal prosecution. On May 24, 2004, the NADC assessed $225 in late filing fees to Hergert's committee for failing to timely file his first campaign statement for the primary election. Hergert was later fined for failing to timely file his late forty-percent affidavit in the primary as part of the April 2005 settlement agreements with the NADC. On June 21, 2004, the NADC received Hergert's postprimary campaign statement and his estimate of maximum expenditures for the general election. In his estimate, Hergert swore that $25,000 was a reasonable estimate of his expenditures for the general election. Daley testified that given this estimate, Blank, the incumbent regent, would not be entitled to public funds in the general election period because Hergert's estimate did not exceed the $25,000 voluntary spending limit for the general election period. This is true notwithstanding Hergert's expenditures of $61,701.95 for the primary election. On September 3, the last date to amend the estimate, the NADC received an amended affidavit from Hergert, in which he swore that $40,000 was a reasonable estimate. Daley testified that because of the amended affidavit, Blank was entitled to $15,000 in public funds-the difference between the voluntary spending limit and Hergert's estimate-upon Hergert's expenditure of 40 percent of his $40,000 estimate, or $16,000. On September 7, 2004, Mark Hinman, the deputy director for the NADC, wrote a letter to Hergert's campaign committee at the address identified at trial as Hergert's home address. Hinman reminded the committee that a candidate must file a forty-percent affidavit within 5 days of spending 40 percent of his or her estimated maximum expenditures. Hinman also warned that a candidate who is required to file this affidavit and fails to do so is subject to criminal prosecution.