- A complaint was filed against Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson for appearing in an anti Tony Vargas ad.
- State law prohibits elected officials from appearing in partisan political ads in uniform.
- Similar violations have led to fines for other Nebraska law enforcement officials recently.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
An Omaha man says a political ad featuring the Douglas County Sheriff goes too far, in fact, that man has filed a complaint.
The ad paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee shows Sheriff Aaron Hanson campaigning against democratic congressional candidate Tony Vargas. He's wearing this vest with the word sheriff on it… along with a badge on the shoulder… and that's what caught South Omahan Ben Salazar's attention.
"The appearance it gives off is that you're only gonna take care or special care to protect and serve people that agree with you politically," said Salazar.
He claims it violates the law that prohibits elected officials campaigning in public property and filed a complaint with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.
"I acquired it myself personally, those are all items, everything I had were things that I have acquired personally. None of which were owned by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office," said Hanson.
KMTV reporter Hannah McIlree did some digging and discovered that this badge is a prop. Made to 'look' like the real badge - but just different enough to not break the law.
A NADC spokesperson wasn't able to talk specifics about the case, but did say the appearing in the ad is legal as long as an elected official isn't wearing department property.
Brandon Johnson is a law professor at university of Nebraska.
"The expectation is that because they're a political officer or an elected official, that they will engage in politics of some sort. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that they represent the interests of the office," said Johnson.
When asked about his motivation to participate in the ad, Hanson said he felt it was important to discuss youth safety.
"I'm tired of seeing innocent people being victimized and I'm tired of seeing juvenile offenders losing their lives and their futures over these poorly thought out reform laws," said Hanson.
KMTV reached out to Tony Vargas about the ad and he sent the following statement:
“Don Bacon voted to cut funding for nearly 30,000 law enforcement officers and local police by an average of $30,000 per department. As a state senator, I was proud to vote with Republicans to increase funding for law enforcement by $37 million per year and in Congress I will continue to work to keep our communities safe.”
A NRCC spokesperson said they are unsure how long the ad will run for.
