This blog post has changed significantly since I started writing it this morning, but I’m a master of starting a blog post and not finishing it; so let’s dive in anyway.
In case you missed it, there’s a particularly appalling story in the Nebraska Examiner today outlining accusations against Charles Herbster from a sitting Nebraska State Senator, seven other women, and a handful of eyewitnesses.
Ever eager for clicks on their revenue-generating ads, the capitalist media has focused on the horse-race aspect of the story (since that’s the formula that gets eyeballs) and not on the serious question this raises about Charles Herbster’s fitness to lead, his attitudes toward women, and his willingness to take responsibility for his actions. Given that Herbster is a complete shyster, his campaign has steered into the horse-race narrative to avoid answering tough questions.
Any examination of Herbster’s past business dealings, late tax payments, and blatant disregard for speed limits will begin to paint a picture of an entitled billionaire who has convinced himself that he doesn’t have to play by the same rules the rest of us have to live by.
Charles Herbster, Sexual Assault, and Political Theater
The response to the Nebraska Examiner’s story has been predictable.
- Herbster’s campaign counters that the candidate has a “lifetime record of empowering women to lead” while political opponents line up calling on him to drop out of the Governor’s race.
- Meanwhile, on social media, Herbster’s supporters are calling the story a hit piece.
- Republicans skeptical of anything that isn’t rightwing media are lining up to question the timing of the story (despite a good explanation from the report),
- …and a shocking number of the self-proclaimed “family values” crowd have opted to throw mud at the victims. Sadly, the mud-throwing award for this scandal goes to Hal Daub, a former mayor of Omaha, who told Paul Hammel he wanted to ask “Sen. Slama what she was wearing. Was she nude? Was she wearing a one piece or two piece?”
We’ve hit a new level of appalling when a sexual assault survivor has to tweet a picture of the outfit she was wearing in response tribalistic attack from a Herbster-aligned has-been politician.
Working in Politics: Worker Exploitation on a Whole Different Level
Setting aside the political theater, let’s talk about worker exploitation. Anyone who has worked in politics knows that there’s a blacklist. Step out of line, you’ll never earn a paycheck again. And making the jump from a political career to something else can be extremely difficult.
One thing that is absolutely clear from this article: Charles Herbster knew that his victims would be exceptionally hesitant to come forward given the career-ending consequences that their speaking up could have. Combine that with the fact that most politicos are working in the field because they believe in the candidates and their party’s position and it’s almost a guarantee sexual assault and/or harassment will go unreported.
The article notes that Herbster was so confident he could victimize these women with no consequences that he positioned himself by the exit – after assaulting them – so that they would have to interact with him as they left the event.
There’s No Good Choice for Nebraska in 2022
While the Republicans trip over themselves in an effort to swear fealty to the party Trump created, the Democrats can’t get their act together to field a credible challenger to the status quo. Lacking a strong candidate, Democrats should have taken the opportunity to talk about Herbster’s fitness to lead or his absolute lack of a coherent policy vision for the State’s future. Instead, they’re drawing parallels between Herbster and Trump (hey NDP, everyone knows those two are buddies; find better messaging).
For those of us leftists in Nebraska (pro-Putin Tankies excluded), we need to focus our energy on building mutual aid and dual power. It’s going to get worse before it gets better and we need to stand in solidarity with each other to weather the coming storm.