Embattled Papillion State Senator Bill Kintner could be a step away from being bounced from the Nebraska Legislature.
Senator Bill Krist has put together a resolution to expel Kintner from the Unicameral if he doesn't resign on his own. A vote on that resolution could come as early as Wednesday. On the floor of the legislature, several senators called for Kintner to resign.
“We all have a line that we draw in the sand and this is what we will and will not do. I think most of them have been put beyond that line by Senator Kintner and there’s no turning back at this point,” Sen. Krist explained.
Kintner is facing backlash from a retweet over the weekend. He re-tweeted a picture of three women at the women's march in Washington, D.C. last weekend that mocked the women. The message implied that they were not attractive enough to be sexually assaulted. Once the uproar began, Kintner deleted his Twitter account. Kintner says people were taking the tweet out of context.
This latest controversy comes after Kintner admitted using a state computer to engage in cyber-sex with a woman that was not his wife last year. Kintner paid a $1,000 fine and also ignored calls for his resignation.
Kintner issued the following statement Tuesday afternoon: "I understand my colleagues' concern about the retweet I sent this weekend. I am very troubled by the liberal activist campaign that is using my mistake on the tweet to escalate calls for my resignation.
Let's be clear: If Ernie Chambers didn't have me to beat up, he would be taking up floor time on some other issue. It has been clear that Chambers' agenda has been to remove me from office since last summer. He has made it obvious that he will use any means, including lies and cheap shots at my wife and myself.
I have made no decision as to my future plans as a senator."
Sen. Ernie Chambers has been critical of Kintner's disgressions and has discussed them on the floor and in poetry he's written.
"He had done so much damage to the legislature, has shown so little respect to women in general, and the legislature and the state as a part of the legislature I could not sit back and let it go," Sen. Chambers described.
Sen. Kintner was not on the Unicameral floor for much of the discussion Tuesday. Late Tuesday Kintner issued a statement saying he will hold an 8:15 a.m. news conference in Lincoln to announce how he plans to proceed following Tuesday's events.
