Female Nebraska lawmakers call for change amid photo probe

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Several female Nebraska state lawmakers on Tuesday railed against the Legislature's handling of a male state senator who resigned after admitting that he took photos of a female subordinate without her consent, calling for an overhaul of their internal policies and recounting their own experiences of being groped, harassed and belittled.

The push by half a dozen female lawmakers from both parties in the officially unicameral Legislature came less than a day after state Sen. Mike Groene, of North Platte, abruptly stepped down and abandoned his campaign to be a University of Nebraska Regent.

Groene, a blunt and often abrasive Republican lawmaker, acknowledged Friday that he took photos of the legislative staffer in his office. But he said none of the images were sexual in nature and that he also snapped pictures of other staffers and office visitors, including his wife.

The former staffer, Kristina Konecko, filed a complaint with the Legislature's Executive Board in which she described the photos as “objectifying and demeaning." She said some included zoomed-in close-ups of provocative body parts with explicit subject lines — an allegation Groene has denied.

Konecko, who consented to have her name used, told The Associated Press that no one pressured her to come forward with the complaint against Groene or tried to stop her. She declined to comment further on her allegations, citing an investigation launched by lawmakers.

The female lawmakers said Tuesday that the Legislature's method of handling such complaints isn't adequate. Several called for the creation of a legislative ethics committee, which was an idea that was briefly floated after another former Republican lawmaker, state Sen. Bill Kintner, acknowledged that he had cybersex with a woman...