Outside ads attack Vargas for school board votes, which Vargas’ camp calls a smear

Nebraska voters in the state’s 2nd Congressional District will face a rematch between Democratic Sen. Tony Vargas, left, and U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb. (Photos of the candidates courtesy of the campaigns; Capitol photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

OMAHA – A new and darker front has emerged in the television and digital advertising war between outside groups spending money on the U.S. House race in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon expressed discomfort when an outside ad aired against his opponent, state Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha.

Vargas is facing $414,000 in unusually televised scrutiny over two routine votes he cast as a board member of Omaha Public Schools in 2014 and 2016.

The ad is the latest salvo in Nebraska’s most competitive congressional race. Experts have said it could be one of the few that decides which political party controls the House of Representatives next year.

Ad attacks Vargas’ OPS board votes

The ad, funded by the National Republican Congressional Committee, includes a board vote to hire a paraeducator who was later convicted of child abuse. The ad indicates that Vargas should have known that the paraeducator from a previous district had been fired for touching students.

State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, center, talks with State Sens. George Dungan of Lincoln, Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha and John Cavanaugh of Omaha, from left. July 26, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

In the same ad, Vargas is accused of the administration’s hiring of a high school IT specialist who was later convicted of possessing and distributing child pornography.

Members of the Nebraska school board sign off on all hires that district administrators make, with recommendations from human resources staff, an OPS spokeswoman told the Examiner.

Large district boards vote en masse on new hires

But in a district as large as OPS, which serves 52,000 students and employs 7,000 people, school board members rely on staff and administrators to check backgrounds and recommend new hires.

School boards vote en masse on the hires, people familiar with the process explain. They generally do not conduct individual research on specific applicants.

The one rare exception, current and former board members said, is when a voter expresses concerns about someone who has gone through the screening process.

In those circumstances, board members can, and sometimes have, singled out individual names for separate discussion.

Background information about the employees in question

In the first vote mentioned in the NRCC’s advertisement, as of September 2014, the OPS board unanimously approved a motion to adopt 27 paragraphs. The list included Greg Sedlacek, who was later convicted of assaulting six Fontenelle elementary students.

The Omaha World Herald reported in 2019 Sedlacek had previously been dismissed from a school district on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for “excessive hugging and tickling.”

The other person agrees that the advertisement states Brandon Lanzawho was hired as an IT specialist at Davis Middle School. He was later convicted of possessing and distributing child pornography.

According to August 2016 board meeting minutes, the OPS board hired Lanza and two other back-office employees, along with 61 teachers, a principal, nine paratroopers, two office workers, a custodian and a food service worker.

The vote was 8-0, with one abstention, from then-board member Justin Wayne, who is now a senator. Wayne declined to comment for this story.

Vargas has introduced bills to protect students

As a senator, Vargas introduced Bill 1210 in 2020 to make sexual exploitation of a student a crime. Much of the bill’s language was changed in a crime package passed that year, LB 881.

He also introduced Bill 478 in 2019, which eliminated a minor’s consent as a factor that could reduce civil liability in lawsuits following sexual assault.

“Don Bacon’s allies are resorting to blatant, despicable lies that exploit the suffering of children just to protect Bacon’s political career,” said Vargas campaign spokeswoman Meg Mandy.

Mandy said Vargas, a former teacher, worked in the Legislature to protect students and “crack down on sexual abuse.” She said he prioritizes protecting children.

Bacon asked about outside advertising

Bacon, asked about the outside ad, said it wasn’t the way he would have approached things.

US Representative Don. Bacon, R-Neb., responds to questions from reporters on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

“It’s not my ad,” Bacon said. ‘You’ll have to talk to the NRCC. Judge me by my own ads. I walked on my record, and that’s a separate ad that I had nothing to do with.

NRCC spokeswoman Delanie Bomar defended the ad as accurate and shared documentation of the school board votes and lawsuits involving the people hired. She said Vargas was reckless.

“Tony Vargas allowed sexual predators to get close to Nebraska children,” Bomar said in a statement about the ads.

Local political consultants agreed that the ad was technically accurate. However, they noted that such ads often oversimplify complex processes, such as hiring by school districts, in order to play on voters’ fears.

External ads against Bacon have attacked his anti-abortion views and his support of former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Bacon for a third time near the end of the 2024 Republican primaries.