Nebraska lawmaker who targeted a colleague during a graphic description of rape is reprimanded

By MARGERY A. BECK
Associated Press

An outside investigator has found that a Nebraska lawmaker who invoked the name of a colleague while reading a graphic account of rape violated the body’s sexual harassment policy. That led the Legislature’s Executive Board on Wednesday to issue Republican state Sen. Steve Halloran a letter of reprimand. But that announcement was met with strong criticism from several lawmakers who said Halloran should have faced a censure vote by the full body. The report and reprimand follow Halloran’s remarks on the floor March 18. In his remarks, he repeatedly called out the name “Sen. Cavanaugh” while reading the graphic scene. Halloran has said he was reading what he considers “obscene material” available to students in libraries.