I’m pretty sure our governor is committing some sort of insurance fraud. Allegedly. Hypothetically. Supposedly. Please, Mr. Pillen, don’t sue/assassinate me. I said “pretty sure,” maybe, potentially, possibly.
Firstly, on April 1, 2024, Zach Riggs-Panther, a 17-year-old working at Beaver Valley Pork, one of the nearly 100 farms owned by Pillen Family Farms, was found collapsed on the floor and announced dead not long after. If you want to know what happened to him, so does his mom.
See, investigations were started by the county sheriff, Nebraska state troopers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). But all these agencies faced barriers or failed to turn over every stone in their investigation. Such as the sheriff and state trooper who examined the room where Riggs-Panther died, but nowhere else on the farm. An OSHA agent wasn’t allowed to bring air monitoring equipment or a paper and pen into the facility. Then, the only suitable blood sample was accidentally destroyed by the lab after a test was recommended by an OSHA medical officer. However, there has been a recent reversal, which will allow independent lab tests and could offer some closure. When Pillen said he wanted to “keep kids in Nebraska,” I at least thought he meant keep them alive.
The New York Times and the Flatwater Free Press want me to assure you that Gov. Pillen does not oversee the day-to-day operations of the family business, nor was he involved in the investigations. He is, of course, affiliated and has stakes within the business that he founded alongside his father. A business which, according to Pillen, operates on the core beliefs – do what is right, do the best you can, and treat others the way you want to be treated.
Secondly, at the end of last year, on Dec. 29, a Pillen Family Farms hog barn burned down near Humphrey, Nebraska. This is yet another fire in a string of bad luck for Pillen. The third fire in four years, how unlucky! In 2021, a Pillen-owned hog barn caught fire, killing 10,000 pigs and amounting to an estimated $1 million loss. I wonder what the insurance payout was on those. It’s nothing short of a miracle that every time there’s been a fire, no employees have been in the buildings. We wouldn’t want OSHA getting involved again, now, would we?
Thankfully, all these accidents haven’t impacted Gov. Pillen’s political career. No, he’s still at it- denying women their rights and attacking trans youth. Recently, he even steered the Nebraska Department of Economic Development to award $2.5 million in a no-bid emergency contract to a bioeconomy consultant and lobbyist whom Pillen once worked with.
State Auditor Mike Foley alleges that a blank page left on the form required for this contract means it does not comply with “the legal requirement to specify the nature of the supposed exigency” under the Nebraska State Procurement Act in Nebraska Revised Statutes 73-815. Folly told the Nebraska Examiner that he sees this contract as “a huge red flag,” and said, “It smacks of favoritism.”
Whew, what a career. Don’t worry because Gov. Pillen has already begun his re-election campaign. His re-election campaign announcement patted all Nebraskans on the back for the passage of permitless concealed carry and celebrated his team’s commitment to working with President Trump. In a recent tele-town hall, he said he needed more time to work on property taxes, but he assured that online criticism of his office doesn’t get to him as he “doesn’t give a damn what these libtards and these people” have to say.
In a statement to KETV, Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, added to the criticism. “While families worry about rising costs and a growing state deficit, Pillen is awarding no-bid contracts to a female friend and jetting overseas with her,” Kleeb said. “Nebraskans deserve serious leadership – not chaos, insults, and cronyism.”
Which means it’s time for me to remind everyone that there are midterm elections this year for Nebraska Senate and House members, as well as many state offices. Not to mention the Governor.
