I wonder if Governor Pillen ever feels any guilt.

Does he feel any guilt when he sends fellow human beings to the Cornhusker Clink whose only crime is coming into the country illegally, while knowing at the same time that he committed crimes when his Pillen’s Family Farms hired all those undocumented workers in the first place?

On September 9th, the Flatwater Free Press and the NY Times published an extensive, well-researched and documented story on all the illegal immigrants the Governor’s hog farms have employed over the years.

Hard workers who paid state and federal taxes. Workers that paid into Social Security knowing they would never be allowed to claim any of the benefits. Workers he now wants to separate from their families.

I wonder how that makes him feel.

Yanqi Xu, the reporter from the Flatwater Free Press, interviewed current and former employees of the Pillen Family Farms and other ag businesses the governor has a stake in.

They told stories of knowingly hiring those with phony identification. In some cases, helping those who wanted to work get those phony IDs.

I wonder if he sent any of his former employees to the Cornhusker Clink and if he feels bad about it.

Does the Governor ever feel bad about the nitrates in the water around many of his worksites? Nitrates that can cause cancer in children.

When the Flatwater Free Press exposed that story three years ago, the governor dismissed it out of hand since the reporter was an immigrant who was born in China. That’s the same reporter who wrote the story about his farms employing so many undocumented workers. The same reporter who is a graduate of one of the most prestigious journalism schools in the country and is well respected for the work she does.

Will he dismiss this story the same way?

Does he lie awake at night thinking about the young man who died working on his farm? Does he have second thoughts about how they blocked OSHA investigators from discovering the cause of that man’s death? Does he lose any sleep the way the mother of that deceased teenager does? A mother who is still grieving, asking for answers years after the tragedy?

In his TV ads, Governor Pillen seems really proud about the huge property tax cut he facilitated. A tax cut that really benefitted him more than the average landowner in the state, considering all the property that he owns.

What he fails to mention in the ad, though, is that at the same time he cut those taxes, he put Nebraska behind the eight ball by turning the surplus he inherited into a deficit.

If he has any remorse about that, you sure couldn’t tell from his ads.

I wonder how the Governor feels when he cuts Medicaid funding for people with disabilities. How can he champion the so-called Big Beautiful Bill that cuts about $300 million dollars in federal Medicaid subsidies for Nebraska?

I seriously doubt he feels bad about giving a multi-million-dollar no-bid contract to a friend of his either.

If you haven’t read about how Pillen Family Farms started to take immigration status more seriously when he decided to run for governor, you can read the whole story here. https://flatwaterfreepress.org/gov-pillen-backs-ice-crackdown-his-compan...

And after reading it, ask yourself how you feel. Does the hypocrisy of sending those ag workers to jail while breaking the law himself by hiring them in the first place bother you?

Does the budget deficit, the cuts in social services, the no-bid contract, and other things this administration has done warrant his reelection?

Nebraska has two other viable choices for governor: Lynne Walz and Brett Lindstrom. Two people who I believe have much more integrity than the current leader of our state.

Both have Unicameral experience and are willing to work with others to find compromise and fix many of the problems the state faces.

Either Lynne Walz or Brett Lindstrom would be a better choice than what we have right now. Please take a serious look at them both. Don’t just automatically vote for the incumbent.

I don’t know if Governor Pillen feels any remorse about the things he’s done. I do know that if he gets reelected, Nebraskans will be the ones who feel bad.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.