Sen. Dan McKeon issues statements seeking to add context to alleged groping incident; woman’s attorney defends probe
By:Erin Bamer
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — New statements from State Sen. Dan McKeon of Amherst revealed more details from his perspective about an alleged groping of a woman attending an end-of-session gathering earlier this year.
The statements also sought to add more context to his apology letter to the alleged victim that McKeon sent on July 28. Some of McKeon’s fellow lawmakers criticized the letter as a “non-apology” that made excuses for bad behavior.
“I’m deeply sorry for my actions at the end of session when we were visiting that offended you. I was saying it in a joking manner, and I know that alcohol had some influence but that’s no excuse,” McKeon wrote in the letter.
The Nebraska State Patrol cited McKeon last week for misdemeanor “public indecency” after investigating the allegation by a woman attending a post-legislative session party May 29.
In the Patrol report, a woman reported McKeon “made inappropriate contact with her buttocks with his hand, over the top of her clothing,” a Nebraska State Patrol spokesman told the Examiner.
The Examiner obtained a copy of McKeon’s letter from Kathleen Neary, the attorney representing the woman making the allegation. Her name and address are redacted. The Examiner is aware of the woman’s name but is not publishing it because it is the policy of States Newsroom and the Examiner not to identify people who say they have been abused unless they wish to talk publicly.
She has so far declined to comment through her lawyer.
State Sen. John Fredrickson, a Democrat from Omaha, said McKeon’s letter felt like a “non-apology,” based on his first sentence that apologized to the staffer for actions that “offended” her.
“The other thing that I think is just obviously glaring in (the letter) is that he shrouds himself in God while apologizing for groping another person without consent,” Fredrickson said. “I think the irony of that is pretty clear to anyone who reads that.”
State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha — a progressive nonpartisan — shared similar thoughts with the Examiner, calling McKeon’s refusal to resign “disgraceful.”
“Public officials don’t get to redefine sexual misconduct as a spiritual trial. It’s a breach of trust, and it undermines the dignity of the Legislature,” Hunt said.
McKeon denied the allegations in separate statements Monday and Tuesday by his attorney Perry Pirsch. Pirsch described the incident as “light-hearted exchange” and called the allegations “politically motivated.”
Neary responded to Pirsch’s Monday statement Tuesday, saying that if McKeon files a countersuit for defamation — an idea Pirsch mentioned — “he will be met with a vigorous defense, including a request for sanctions for filing a frivolous counterclaim.”
“Following a thorough investigation, the Nebraska State Patrol determined that Senator McKeon had engaged in misconduct consistent with the criminal act of public indecency,” Neary’s statement reads. “His failure to take personal responsibility for his lewd misconduct and his despicable attempt to defame the victim clearly demonstrates that he lacks the personal integrity required of elected officials in Nebraska.”
On Tuesday, McKeon and Pirsch offered more details about McKeon’s perspective on the incident. Pirsch said McKeon “made a single remark — a joke — to a staff member about her planned trip and hoping she and her husband would receive a ‘Hawaiian lei,’ or words to that effect, and he then patted her on the back.”
“It was meant in jest and nothing about his action was in any way sexually charged or lewd, just a bad pun,” Pirsch said in the statement.
Gov. Jim Pillen and other state officials have called for McKeon’s resignation, but McKeon’s latest statement said he will not resign.
“I have taken responsibility for attempting humor in the wrong moment and tone. I am sorry for that. But I did not engage in sexual misconduct, much less public lewd fondling or caressing. Most of my constituents enjoy my sense of humor,” McKeon said in Tuesday’s statement.
“Senator McKeon’s main dispute appears to be with Governor Pillen and his call for McKeon’s resignation,” Neary said in an email Tuesday. “As for my client’s dispute with Senator McKeon, I look forward to a jury rendering a fair and just verdict after they have heard all of the evidence.”
Roughly half of McKeon’s apology is filled with Bible verses, which he explained was meant to help “understand forgiveness.”
“God is still working on me, and I know he is here for all of us. God bless and hope your summer is going well,” McKeon wrote to end the letter.
McKeon is a registered Republican who was elected to the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature in 2024, replacing former State Sen. Fred Meyer of St. Paul. McKeon’s biographical page on the Nebraska Legislature’s website highlights that he has been married for 30 years and has four children.
The Examiner reached out to several Republican lawmakers for comment Tuesday, none of which immediately responded.
Fredrickson expressed concern that if McKeon does not resign before the next legislative session begins in January, his presence could disrupt lawmakers’ 60-day session. Considering the allegations connote sexual violence, he said having “someone like that” in a workplace is risky and potentially dangerous.
“No one working in the Nebraska Legislature should have to worry about being touched without consent,” Hunt said. “When a senator does that and then excuses it as a joke, or blames alcohol, or hides behind religion, he tells every staffer and member of the public that the rules don’t apply to him.”