Child Welfare Investigative Committee Selections Under Scrutiny
roughly 2,000 children in the Omaha area are impacted by the troubled state contract.
By Emily Chen-Newton
State senators who will serve on the committee investigating child welfare management in the Omaha area have been announced. State Senator Machaela Cavanaugh has been leading the legislative charge for the investigation into Saint Francis Ministries, and the government departments that awarded the multimillion-dollar contract since last year. In a rare, if not unprecedented decision, the legislature’s executive board did not vote Sen. M. Cavanaugh onto the investigative committee that she herself proposed.
This committee will use subpoena power to investigate the Nebraska governmental departments that awarded the contract and Saint Francis Ministries itself. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) are two such departments both with several governor-appointed positions. The Directors of DAS and DHHS are both Governor Ricketts’ appointees, for example.
The governor does not have the power to veto the investigation because it was proposed by Sen. M. Cavanaugh in the form of a resolution not a bill, and the executive branch cannot veto a resolution. However, several of the Republican senators chosen for the investigative committee were endorsed by, and or, received large campaign donations from Governor Ricketts. After the appointments were made public, Senator Machaela Cavanaugh vehemently questioned the decision on the floor of the Legislature to not include her or any other Democratic women.
“Why? Because I ask hard questions? Because I make people in authority uncomfortable? That’s my job. That’s your job. But hey, if you want to be puppets for the governor, be puppets for the governor.”
Senator Justin Wayne, and several other senators, also criticized the fact that the majority of senators selected for this special committee don’t serve the area (Omaha and Sarpy counties) impacted by the troubled child welfare contract. In an effort to “put it in perspective”, Sen. Wayne asked, “If this was an Ag (agriculture) issue, would you be OK with the majority of senators coming from Omaha?... We need to make sure that the majority of the committee is at least representative of the people impacted in this area.”
Douglas and Sarpy counties are two of the most racially and ethnically diverse counties in the state. And the contract with Saint Francis Ministries currently puts the welfare of roughly 2,000 abused and neglected children in those counties in the hands of SFM. Senator Wayne and others pointed out there is no rule stopping the executive board from reconsidering Sen. M. Cavanaugh for a position on the committee, though there has been no public discussion of that to date.