Jim Pillen Blamed Nebraska's Budget Forecasters for the Shortfall. Now He's Put the Two Senators Who Sponsored His Tax Cuts on the Board.
Six weeks before the forecast that will shape his next budget, Pillen replaced a third of Nebraska's independent revenue-forecasting board — the first governor to do that in its 40-year history — installing Lou Ann Linehan and Tom Briese, who championed the income tax cuts that have contributed to a third straight budget hole of at least $200 million. Linehan says she doesn't think there is a problem.