Lincoln businessman asks gov. to fire state employees

By: Megan Palera
mpalera@klkntv.com

Lincoln financial advisor Bob Bennie is asking Governor Dave Heineman to fire four regulators with the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance.

Bennie says he was harassed by those four officials back in 2010. He says they conducted five, politically motivated investigations into his business “Bob Bennie Wealth Management” after his Tea Party views were printed in the paper, and he aired a commercial about the right to bear arms.

“We have a series of emails that these are what initiated these investigations which of course turned up nothing,” Bennie said.

During those investigations, Bennie's license was suspended and he claims he lost millions of dollars. He filed a lawsuit against the 4 individuals in 2011 and that case is still pending. But the businessman says more needs to be done.  

“I'm asking Governor Heineman to fire the people involved,” Bennie said.

Bennie says his fight here in Nebraska is no different than the IRS scandal and its improper treatment of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

“Many people didn't believe me. Now that this is a national story with the people at the IRS doing it on a widespread basis, I hope that the leader in our state government – Governor Hieneman – will take action against these employees and fire them which is what needs to be done,” Bennie said.

He has not heard back from the governor but is confident justice will be served and those state officials will be fired, sooner or later.

We have tried multiple times to reach out to those four employees for comment. The agency's legal counsel has declined to comment. We also tried reaching out to Governor Heineman's office Wednesday. We were told he could not comment because of pending litigation.