A Nebraska lawmaker faces backlash for invoking a colleague’s name in a graphic account of rape

By MARGERY A. BECK
Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska lawmaker is facing calls for his resignation after reading a graphic account of rape that included a colleague’s name on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature. Republican Sen. Steve Halloran read an excerpt Monday night from the memoir “Lucky” by Alice Sebold. The book recounts Sebold’s experience of sexual violence when she was 18 years old. In his reading, Halloran repeated the last name of Democratic state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, a female colleague. Halloran has since said he was simply trying to get the attention of Democratic state Sen. John Cavanaugh.