Let us recap the events that led to the resignation of state Sen. Mike Groene, the de facto head of the crude and crusty curmudgeon committee. Keep in mind that Groene was so unreasonably combative that an ultra-conservative Nebraska Legislature dominated by his Republican colleagues replaced him as the incumbent chair of the Education Committee, with a Democrat! Ouch.
Groene has admitted he took photos of a female aide, without her knowledge or permission, then stored those pictures on his state-furnished laptop. Groene then asked the same unsuspecting aide to clean up his laptop; unfortunately for the senator, she did. Subsequently she reported in interviews with the Omaha World-Herald and other news agencies numerous photographs of herself inappropriate in nature, accompanied by sexually suggestive captions. Investigations will follow. Analysis of that research should prove to be enlightening. Groene’s explanation, I can only suspect plagiarized from the movie “Forrest Gump, was “stupid is as stupid does.” Bravo!
The North Platte Telegraph editorial team chose not to say much further on this topic, reporting Lincoln is 225 miles away. Well, thank you. I assume reporting on this embarrassing resignation could be more difficult than shooting projectiles at the moon. It must have been disheartening at the Telegraph when their hero fell from grace, but keep in mind you still have Gov. Pete Ricketts, for a time anyway.
Groene blames anyone except himself for his demise. He faults democratic enemies, delusional or real; a much younger female subordinate aide is not telling the truth; and, he claims, evil always wins. I would hope that truth prevails. Groene did not resign because of an epiphany of consciousness; he resigned because he got caught. He is not the victim in this case, Kristina Konecko is.
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