Rick Sheehy, Nebraska Lt. Gov., Resigns After Several Affairs Are Made Public
Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy resigned on Saturday after reports surfaced stating that he made thousands of phone calls to four women, none of which were his wife, which dated back several years.
During a press conference on Saturday, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman revealed that he had accepted Sheehy's resignation after it became known that Sheehy was involved in several extramarital affairs.
"As public officials, we are rightly held to a higher standard," Heineman said. "I had trusted him, and that trust was broken."
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News of Sheehy's impropriety came to light after his phone records were requested through a Freedom of Information request. Sheehy used a government-issued phone whose records are available to the public, as first reported by The Omaha World-Herald.
The phone records indicated that Sheehy made thousands of phone calls to the four women over a 4-year span, with some women being called several times a day.
Theresa Hatcher, a doctor, was one of those who was in a relationship with the Lt. Gov. and revealed that they had developed a relationship after meeting each other in 2008.
"I thought I was the only one," Hatcher told the Associated Press. "Apparently, I was grossly mistaken … politicians can lie. Doctors don't lie."
The new development sent shock waves through the Nebraska GOP, who considered Sheehy a strong contender for governor 2014, but now Democrats will look to take that race.
"We're going to have a very strong candidate in 2014," Vince Powers, chairman of the Nebraska Democratic Party, said in a statement.
"This doesn't change anything, other than it really demonstrates that when you have one party in power for too long, arrogance and corruption and scandal follow it. It doesn't matter if it's Democrats in power or Republicans in power," he added.
In the days since the news broke, other individuals have come forward expressing their interest in running for governor in 2014, including University of Nebraska Regent Chuck Hassebrook, who said that he is "taking a hard look" at running for governor.
