LINCOLN — Former Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg rode name recognition from three decades in the public eye to an easy win Tuesday in the Republican primary for state treasurer.
Stenberg, 61, polled more than 50 percent of the GOP votes cast.
Lincoln State Sen. Tony Fulton placed second, with former Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent Tom Nesbitt coming in third.
Stenberg, whose political career began in the 1980s as an aide to then-Gov. Charlie Thone, credited his management experience in state government and his record as the state's top attorney.
“I was very pleased,” Stenberg said. “Any time you get more than 50 percent of the vote in a three-way race, it's a big victory.”
Stenberg will square off in the November general election against Democrat Mark Stoj of Omaha. Stoj, a 40-year-old credit union manager, was unopposed in his primary race.
Current State Treasurer Shane Osborn declined to seek a second term because of family considerations. The 35-year-old Republican is a former Navy pilot credited with safely landing a surveillance plane that had collided with a Chinese fighter jet in 2001.
State voters will not only elect a new state treasurer in November, but they will also decide whether to eliminate the office as an elected position.
Amid budget worries this spring, the State Legislature placed the issue on the ballot, billing it as a way to streamline government. If approved, the Treasurer's Office would go away as an elected post in January 2015.
Stenberg served 12 years as attorney general, building a reputation for pushing tougher restrictions on abortion and stiffer penalties for drug dealers. He also mounted statewide campaigns for U.S. Senate in 1996, 2000 and 2006.
The race featured a last-minute spat over campaign ethics between Nesbitt and Fulton.
On Election Day, an official with the Nebraska Public Service Commission said Fulton had used a telephone polling firm, Communications Strategies of Clayton, Mo., whose permit to make such calls had expired April 30.
Nesbitt also complained that Fulton's pollsters had failed to identify themselves in the automated “robo calls,” which would be a violation of state rules.
Fulton said he was unaware the polling firm was not properly registered. He said, however, he had reviewed transcripts of his polling and said it included the proper identification.
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