Pillen team offers new explanation for timing of $2.5 million no-bid emergency contract

By: Aaron Sanderford

Outlets: Nebraska Examiner

Published: February 5, 2026

Words: 1,003

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 1 day ago

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LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen’s administration, facing scrutiny for a no-bid emergency contract with a lobbyist to whom he steered more than $2 million in state money, has again changed its story about how and why the contract was awarded.

A governor’s spokeswoman tells the Examiner that agricultural tech CEO Julie Bushell had already been helping the state, free of charge, boost a federal grant application in the waning days of the Biden administration, so …

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