sasse, ben Sen

pension sinecure?

LCV zero?!

http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/benjamin-eric-sasse

===

Ex-GOP senator’s $1.3M catering bill as UF president may have been partly funded by taxpayers

an 9 24

pension grift

after leaving Congress, conservative former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) moved south and spent 17 months as president of the University of Florida. Sasse announced his resignation from that position on July 18, citing his wife's health problems. And his last day was July 31.

Journalist Garrett Shanley examines Sasse's stint as UF president in an article published by the Independent Florida Alligator (UF's student newspaper) on August 12, reporting that spending "ballooned" to "$17.3 million — a major increase from $5.6 million under former UF President Ken Fuchs."

"A majority of the spending surge was driven by lucrative contracts with big-name consulting firms and high-salaried, remote positions for Sasse’s former U.S. Senate staff and Republican officials," Shanley reports. "Sasse's consulting contracts have been kept largely under wraps, leaving the public in the dark about what the contracted firms did to earn their fees."

Shanley adds, "The university also declined to clarify specific duties carried out by Sasse's ex-Senate staff, several of whom were salaried as presidential advisers."

Shanley notes that when Sasse became UF president, he promised to distance himself from partisan politics — yet "tripled his office's spending, directing millions in university funds into secretive consulting contracts and high-paying positions for his GOP allies."

"Under Sasse's administration," Shanley explains, "two of his former Senate staffers — Raymond Sass and James Wegmann — were among the highest-ranking and highest-paid officials at UF. Both worked remotely from the D.C. area, roughly 800 miles from UF's main campus in Gainesville."

The re:{porter adds, "Sass, Sasses former Senate chief of staff, was UF's vice president for innovation and partnerships — a position which didn't exist under previous administrations. His starting salary at UF was $396,000, more than double the $181,677 he made on Capitol Hill."}:

*Read the Independent Florida Alligator's full report at this link.

ref

in his 17-month stint as UF president, Ben Sasse more than tripled his office’s spending, directing millions in university funds into secretive consulting contracts and high-paying positions for his GOP allies.

Sasse ballooned spending under the president’s office to $17.3 million in his first year in office — up from $5.6 million in former UF President Kent Fuchs’ last year, according to publicly available administrative budget data.

A majority of the spending surge was driven by lucrative contracts with big-name consulting firms and high-salaried, remote positions for Sasse’s former U.S. Senate staff and Republican officials.

Sasse’s consulting contracts have been kept largely under wraps, leaving the public in the dark about what the contracted firms did to earn their fees. The university also declined to clarify specific duties carried out by Sasse’s ex-Senate staff, several of whom were salaried as presidential advisers.

The university said Sasse’s budget expansion went through the “appropriate approval process” but did not answer questions about how Sasse bankrolled his splurges, where the funds originated or who authorized the spending.

Keeping friends close

Amid protests over his conservative track record as a Nebraska Republican senator, Sasse promised during his ascension to the UF presidency in Fall 2022 that he would divorce himself from partisan politics under what he called a vow of “political celibacy.”

But the senator-turned-university president quietly broke that promise in his 17-month term at the university’s helm, hiring six ex-Senate staffers and two former Republican officials to high-paying, remote jobs at the university.

Under Sasse’s administration, two of his former Senate staffers — Raymond Sass and James Wegmann — were among the highest-ranking and highest-paid officials at UF. Both worked remotely from the D.C. area, roughly 800 miles from UF’s main campus in Gainesville.

Sass, Sasse’s former Senate chief of staff, was UF’s vice president for innovation and partnerships — a position which didn’t exist under previous administrations. His starting salary at UF was $396,000, more than double the $181,677 he made on Capitol Hill.

Wegmann, Sasse’s former Senate communications director, is UF’s vice president of communications, a position he works remotely from his $725,000 home in Washington, D.C.

Salaried at $432,000, Wegmann replaced Steve Orlando, who made $270,000 a year in the position and had nearly 30 years of experience in media relations at UF before he was demoted to be Wegmann’s deputy.

The Alligator first reported on Wegmann and Sass’ appointments last October, but an additional four who followed Sasse from the Senate to the Swamp have gone unnoticed by the press.

Sasse appointed his former Senate press secretary, Taylor Sliva, as UF’s Assistant Vice President of Presidential Communications and Public Affairs, a new position. Sliva’s $232,000 salary made him the second-highest-paid employee in UF’s Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing, trailing only Wegmann.

The remaining three ex-Senate staffers — Raven Shirley, Kari Ridder and Kelicia Rice — served as presidential advisers to Sasse, though their specific duties remain unclear. Rice, Sasse’s Senate scheduler, is listed as a presidential adviser in UF’s salary directory but in practice remained as Sasse’s scheduler, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Sasse raised his former Senate staffs’ salaries at UF by an average of 44% compared to their Capitol Hill pay, contributing to a $4.3 million increase in presidential salary expenses over Fuchs’ last year in office.

Outside of his Senate staff, Sasse also tapped former Republican Tennessee Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn as UF’s inaugural vice president of PK-12 and pre-bachelors programs. Schwinn, with a starting salary of $367,500, worked the newly-created position from her $1 million home in Nashville, Tennessee.

Additionally, Sasse hired Alice James Burns, former scheduler for Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), as Director of Presidential Relations and Major Events. Burns, salaried at $205,000, also worked for UF outside of Florida.

Citing his wife’s recent epilepsy diagnosis, Sasse abruptly resigned from his post in July — leaving the future of his UF inner circle unclear. The university did not respond to questions about whether his political appointees were fired, non-renewed or resigned following his departure.

Fuchs, who began as interim president Aug. 1, kept a relatively small staff of less than 10, compared to Sasse who employed more than 30 in his office.

Jet-setting on UF’s dime

All but one of Sasse’s political appointees worked for UF outside of Florida and commuted to Gainesville on the university’s dollar when needed — a move reflected in his office’s travel expenses.

In Sasse’s first full fiscal year at the university’s helm, travel expenses for the president’s office soared to $633,000 — over 20 times higher than Fuchs’ annual average of $28,000. Sasse spent more on travel in his 17 months at UF than Fuchs’ entire eight-year tenure.

It is not unprecedented for UF employees to work outside of Florida, but out-of-state positions have typically been reserved for those representing the university as federal lobbyists in its Washington, D.C. office. It is virtually unprecedented for top UF officials and rank-and-file administrators to work outside of Florida.

The university hasn’t responded to requests for a complete log of Sasse’s travel expenses, leaving it unclear how much of his sky-high travel expenditures were spent shuttling his remote hires to campus. A partial report shows Sasse spent over $20,000 between April 29 and July 29 to fly his employees to campus.

Taylor Sliva, Sasse’s press secretary, was the only one of Sasse’s political hires to work in Florida. His employment contract, obtained from a public records request, included a $15,000 relocation stipend. He currently rents out a house in Gainesville.

McKinsey comes to the Swamp

When Sasse took over UF in February 2023, he knew he’d need a hand.

His track record in higher education administration was limited to his five-year presidency at Midland University, a small, private liberal arts college in Fremont, Nebraska. At UF, which enrolls over 60,000 students and pulls in an annual $1 billion in research grants, Sasse faced a steep learning curve.

He turned to consultants for help.

During his presidency, Sasse spent $7.2 million in university funds to consultants for advice on his strategic planning and to fill leadership gaps — over 40 times more than Fuchs’ total consulting expenses over his eight-year term.

Sasse paid nearly two-thirds of the $7.2 million to McKinsey & Company, where he once worked as an adviser on an hourly contract. The firm carries prestige as one of the “big three” management consulting giants, but is notoriously secretive about its dealings and shielded its work from public view using records laws protecting trade secrets.

A critical “scope of work” attachment, which would outline McKinsey's responsibilities to UF, was redacted from a copy of the contract obtained from a public records request. The redaction, permissible under state public records laws, makes it virtually impossible for the public to know what the firm did to earn its fees.

A UF spokesperson said McKinsey was using data analysis to help Sasse build his strategic plan, but the university hasn’t disclosed further details about its $4.7 million contract with the firm since The Alligator first reported its existencelast August. Public records requests for any reports, presentations and data produced under the contract have yielded no responsive documents.

Sasse offered the only public glimpse of McKinsey’s work at UF last fall during “roadshows” of his strategic plan. Accompanied by slides displaying “sobriety data” provided by McKinsey, Sasse argued some faculty weren’t pulling their weight and had “quiet retired.”

One slide showed only 10% of research faculty drove 39% of research awards on campus. Another showed in one unidentified 47-person department, only 13 were engaged in research.

In two roadshows that were open to the press, Sasse skipped over a slide that sparked controversy after the Alligator reported on anonymous faculty accounts of previous presentations. The slide suggested reducing UF's total number of departments from 200 to an ideal number of 140.

Beyond the $4.7 million contract, Sasse payrolled three former McKinsey consultants as full-time employees in his office, with salaries ranging from $150,000 to $200,000, according to university records.

It remains unknown who Sasse paid the remaining $2.5 million in consulting expenses to. Public records requests for the president’s consulting contracts were not fulfilled in time for publication.

McKinsey’s contract allowed for UF to pay additional fees for consulting services until February 2025. The university has gone months without responding to public records requests for invoices related to the contract.

*This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact Garrett Shanley at**gshanley@alligator.org* Follow him on X @garrettshanley.

---

===

an ah 10 22

Although Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska isn’t a full-fledged Never Trumper like the Washington Post’s Max Boot, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, attorney George Conway or former GOP strategist Rick Wilson, the conservative senator has been highly critical of former President Donald Trump at times and voted “guilty” during Trump’s second impeachment trial — a move that has resulted in Sasse being labeled a RINO (Republican In Name Only) by Trump and other far-right MAGA Republicans. Sasse has decided he would rather be in academia than politics, applying for a position as president of the University of Florida.

Sasse is the sole finalist for the position, and his departure from the U.S. Senate is almost certain. GOP strategist and Never Trump conservative Sarah Longwell is sorry to see Sasse leaving politics, although not surprised. In an article published by The Bulwark on October 17, the founder of the Republican Accountability Project (formerly Republican Voters Against Trump) laments that in the GOP of 2022, there is little or no room for those who are not far-right MAGA extremists and total devotees of Trumpism.

“Ben Sasse is retiring from the Senate at the youthful age of 50,” Longwell writes. “We know why. Politicians who thought they could wait out Trump now see the writing on the wall. The party’s over. For years, we watched the GOP defenestrations: Will Hurd, Jeff Flake, George W. Bush, the memory of John McCain, Paul Ryan, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and any other Republican who stood up to Donald Trump — or even just opposed Trump’s attempted coup. Some fell on their swords. Some were tossed aside involuntarily. The result was the same.”

Trump continues, “Simultaneously, we watched the progress on the other side of the spectrum as normie Republican moderates such as Lindsey Graham, Kevin McCarthy, Elise Stefanik, Ronna Romney McDaniel, and J.D. Vance became unquestioning Trump maximalists. What these two dynamics proved was a simple fact: In the Republican Party as it is currently constituted, political power emanates completely and totally from Donald Trump…. The end result of this truth is that it has driven the Good Republican — that rare animal who was supposed to be the post-Trump future of the GOP — to near extinction.”

Longwell adds that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is “not a Good Republican,” but rather, a “despicable human being” and “a performative culture warrior who uses the levers of government against companies who engage in speech he doesn’t like.”

The Never Trumper cites Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey as examples of Republicans who weren’t Big Lie promoters after the 2020 election but are now “stumping” for Kari Lake — an “election-denying lunatic” and far-right Big Lie promoter — in Arizona’s gubernatorial race because they want to remain “in good standing” with their party.

“To be a Republican in good standing today,” Longwell laments, “you have to make a devil’s bargain…. Did Glenn Youngkin move Republican voters? Or did Republican voters move Glenn Youngkin? Ask Kari Lake. She knows. And that’s the choice for the remaining Good Republicans. You can play ball with the base, with Trump, with (Steve) Bannon, with Lake, with your new lunatic colleagues. Or, like Ben Sasse, you can tap out. Either way, you can’t ignore the truth: The Good Republicans are gone. Probably for good.”

===

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) is reportedly going to resign. Sasse has become a frequent target of the Trump-wing of the Republican Party claiming that he's nothing more than a "RINO" (Republican in Name Only) and that he isn't loyal enough to former President Donald Trump.

Sasse was seen as a young Republican rising star until Trump took over the party and made him a target.

According to KFAB radio host Ian Swanson, Sasse is being offered a job at theUniversity of Florida. Sasse previously served as the 15th President of Midland University until he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He didn't attend the University of Florida and has no otherwise obvious ties to the state.

Politico also reported Thursday that Sasse plans to resign his Senate seat, citing "two people familiar with the Nebraska Republican’s plans."

The Nebraska governor would then appoint a replacement until the seat comes up for reelection.

---

Former President Donald Trump lobbed an unprovoked attack against United States Senator Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) on Thursday, hours after Sasse announced that he is retiring from Congress to become the president of the University of Florida.

Sasse was one of seven Republicans to vote to convict Trump for inciting the January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol following the conclusion of his unprecedented second Senate impeachment trial.

Trump's falsehoods about the 2020 election "had consequences, endangering the life of the vice president and bringing us dangerously close to a bloody constitutional crisis. Each of these actions are violations of a president’s oath of office," Sasse said in a statement at the time.

"This institution needs to respect itself enough to tell the executive that some lines cannot be crossed," Sasse added. "On election night 2014, I promised Nebraskans I’d always vote my conscience even if it was against the partisan stream. In my first speech here in the Senate in November 2015, I promised to speak out when a president – even of my own party – exceeds his or her powers. I cannot go back on my word, and Congress cannot lower our standards on such a grave matter, simply because it is politically convenient. I must vote to convict."

Although Trump was acquitted by the Senate's GOP caucus – twice – he has nonetheless held a grudge against the lawmakers who supported removing him from office.

That was abundantly clear in Trump's fit on his Twitter copycat app Truth Social.

"Great news for the United States Senate, and our Country itself. Liddle’ Ben Sasse, the lightweight Senator from the great State of Nebraska, will be resigning. If he knew he was going to resign so early in his term, why did he run in the first place? But it’s still great news! The University of Florida will soon regret their decision to hire him as their President," wrote Trump. He declared that "We have enough weak and ineffective RINOs in our midst. I look forward to working with the terrific Republican Party of Nebraska to get a REAL Senator to represent the incredible People of that State, not another Fake RINO!"

===

https://www.alternet.org/2021/08/conservative-christian-constructionists/

thconv

by Crawford Gribben, Queen's University Belfast

Evangelical groups in the U.S. have for years faced dwindling numbers. And a messy cultural fight over the direction of the movement might serve to drive further defections.

But while some of the largest Protestant denominations in America, such as Southern Baptists, continue to hemorrhage members, one small group of conservative evangelicals appears to be bucking the trend – despite numbering only around 1,300 or so.

For the past 30 years, believers from across the United States and beyond have been gathering inMoscow, a city in northern Idahowith a population of around 25,000. Here, as part of the Christ Church congregation, they have set their face against the cultures of American modernity. Guided by a controversial social theory known as “Christian Reconstruction," which holds that biblical law should apply in today's setting, they look to the Bible to understand how they believe American institutions should be reformed. Followers believe that abortion rights and same-sex marriage, among other evidences of what they would see as moral decline, will eventually be repealed. Their goal is simple – the conversion of the people of Moscow to their way of thinking as the first step toward the conversion of the world.

This hope might appear to be unrealistic. But as a scholar who has charted the rise of the movement in my book “Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America," I know that these believers have already made steps toward that goal.

Growing influence

In Moscow, the community has established churches, a classical Christian school, a liberal arts college, a music conservatory, a publishing house, and the makings of a media empire. With books published by major trade and academic presses, and a talk show on Amazon Prime, the community is setting the agenda for a theologically vigorous and politically reactionary evangelical revival.

These believers are led by conservative pastor Douglas Wilson,whose views on gender, marriage and many other topics are controversial, even among the most conservative Christians. For over 30 years, Wilson has been campaigning against the influence of everything from atheism to feminism.

In so doing, he has attracted some significant critical attention – not least from the late journalist and prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens, with whom he debated whether Christianity was good for the world in a series of exchanges that was later turned into a book.

The community that Wilson leads in Moscow is still small. It is hard to obtain figures for the growth of Christ Church in terms of numbers, but my research and conversations with members of the congregation suggest it is expanding. What is clear is that in little more than three decades, Christ Church has gone from being a little-known congregation to one generating media attention and getting attention from senior political figures.

The community has established a K-12 school, a member of an association of hundreds of classical Christian schools heavily influenced by the educational beliefs of Wilson. In a testament to the political reach of the group, in 2019 Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska was one of the speakers at the association's annual convention.

As I note in my book, the community's liberal arts college sends students into doctoral programs in various disciplines at Ivy League and leading European universities – it isn't an insular educational world. Its small and closely connected group of authors has worked with publishers such as Random House and Oxford University Press.

And then there is the talk show on Amazon Prime.

This talk show, “Man Rampant," gives an indication of why this community is growing in influence despite the evangelical decline. Wilson, as its host, uses the platform to set out the ideas that undergird his vision of Christian renewal – developing an agenda drawn explicitly from the Bible about the revival of traditional masculinity.

As its title suggests, “Man Rampant" promotes an extremely muscular Christianity. Forget Jesus as well-meaning, meek and mild; the first episode condemned the ." Empathy, says Wilson, “is not a good thing."

The “Man Rampant" agenda is reinforced on Wilson's website, which draws upon the creative people living in the Moscow community to turn his arguments into, and where, while dismissing racism, he argues that ."

Going local to convert America

In America's crowded religious marketplace, Wilson's message is clearly distinct.

One of Wilson's most important influences is the late R.J. Rushdoony, an Armenian-American Presbyterian theologian who was driven by protecting Protestants in the U.S. from suffering the kind of genocide from which his parents escaped. Frustrated by the other-worldliness of many American Christian denominations, whose adherents he feared preached more about heaven than earth, and their complacency in what he perceived to be a hostile liberal culture, Rushdoony set about developing biblical principles for how society should be organized.

The Ten Commandments were no longer to be considered as an artifact in the history of morality, Rushdoony argued. Instead, they should be understood as setting out the core principles for the running of the modern state. “Thou shalt not steal" ruled out the possibility of inflation, which Rushdoony argued devalued monetary assets and was therefore was a form of theft. And “Thou shalt have no other gods besides me" ruled out any possibility of religious pluralism.

Rushdoony promoted these ideals in titles such as 1973's “Institutes of Biblical Law" – a 1,000-page exposition of the Ten Commandments that argued for both the abolition of the prison system and a massive extension of capital punishment.

Christians would be secure in American society only when it was shaped by their religious values, he argued. But the Christian America that he anticipated would not be secured through revolution or any form of top-down political change – only by the transformation of individual lives, families, towns and states.

This strategy of promoting beliefs at the local level explains why Christian Reconstructionists, like those led by Wilson, prefer to focus energies in small towns. The Reconstructionists in Moscow believe that they can achieve much more significant cultural impact if they can secure significant demographic change, either by the conversion of existing inhabitants or by encouraging others to move to the area.

Eschewing the existential crisis

The stated goal of Wilson's congregation is to make Moscow a Christian town; at present only around a third of Moscow residents identify as “religious," according to a 2019 report.

But it is Wilson's attitude about public health measures during the pandemic that has most recently brought him and his church back to the attention of political leaders. Throughout the pandemic, he has argued that mask requirements reveal the hypocrisy of government. In September 2020, Wilson led his congregation in the illegal hymn-sing in front of City Hall that led to the arrests of several church members – footage of which was retweeted by President Trump, who suggested that the Moscow congregation's arrests were emblematic of what would happen to evangelicals if Democrats took control. “DEMS WANT TO SHUT YOUR CHURCHES DOWN, PERMANENTLY," the former president tweeted in all caps.

And yet, whatever the former president's fears, Wilson's congregation is growing. While large denominations, like the Southern Baptists, divide in the debate about critical race theory, Wilson's church shows how some congregations could respond to evangelicalism's existential crisis – and possibly thrive.

3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter. [Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.]

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Early life and education:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

A fifth-generation Nebraskan,^[4] Sasse was born on February 22, 1972, in Plainview, Nebraska, the son of Linda K. (Dunklau) and Gary Lynn Sasse. He graduated from Fremont Senior High School in Fremont, Nebraska, in 1990,^[5] where he was valedictorian.^[6]

Sasse graduated from Harvard University in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in government. He also studied at theUniversity of Oxford during the fall of 1992 on a junior year abroad program.^[5]

Sasse graduated from St. John’s College in 1998 with a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies and from Yale University with a Master of Arts degree (M.A.), Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D), all from the Department of History, in 2004. Sasse’s dissertation, The Anti-Madalyn Majority: Secular Left, Religious Right, and the Rise of Reagan's America won the Theron Rockwell Field (best dissertation) and the George Washington Egleston (American history) Prizes.^[5][7]

Career and politics:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

From September 1994 to November 1995, Sasse worked as an associate consultant at the management consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group. For the next year, Sasse served as consultant/executive director for the Christians United For Reformation (CURE).^[5] During Sasse's tenure, CURE merged with the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (ACE), and Sasse became executive director of ACE in Anaheim, California.^[5][8]

From January 2004 to January 2005, Sasse served as chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy in Washington, D.C. and as a part-time assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin by commuting to Austin to teach. Sasse left the Department of Justice in 2005 to serve as chief of staff to Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) from January 2005 to July 2005.^[5]

Sasse then advised the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington, DC, on national security issues from July 2005 to September 2005 as a consultant. Sasse moved to Austin, Texas, to resume his professorship full-time from September 2005 to December 2006.^[5]

From December 2006 to December 2007, Sasse served as counselor to the secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Washington, DC, where he advised the Secretary on a broad spectrum of health policy issues, from affordable healthcare access to food safety and security.

In July 2007, Sasse was nominated by President George W. Bush to the post of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.^[9][10] His appointment was confirmed by the Senate in December 2007^[11] and served until the end of the Bush Administration in January 2009. During his tenure at HHS, Sasse took unpaid leave from the University of Texas.^[5]

During 2009, Sasse was advising private equity clients and health care investors and teaching at the University of Texas.^[12][13] In October 2009, Sasse officially joined the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs’ Center for Politics and Governance as a fellow, before being appointed president of Midland University.^[14]

Midland University:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Sasse was announced as the 15th president of Midland University in October 2009. At the age of 37, he became one of the youngest chief executives in American higher education when he took over leadership of the 128-year-old institution in the spring of 2010. Sasse's grandfather, Elmer Sasse, worked for Midland for 33 years, mainly as vice president of finance.^[15] The school was floundering both financially and academically; Sassis is credited with "turn(ing) it around;" rebranding "Midland Lutheran College" as Midland University, instituting new policies (including spot quizzes and class attendance,) and with "prodigious fundraising."^[16][17]

Sasse was officially installed as president on December 10, 2010.^[18] When he was appointed, enrollment was at a historic low and the college was "on the verge of bankruptcy."^[15][19] During his tenure as president, enrollment grew from 590 to 1,300 students.^[15][20] When nearby Dana College was forced to close, Sasse managed to hire much of the faculty and enable most of the students to transfer to Midland.^[20]

When Sasse announced his intention to run for U.S. Senate, he offered to resign his post at Midland. Instead, the Board asked him to stay at Midland under a partial leave of absence;^[21] in October 2013, Sasse's employment contract was amended to reduce his presidential duties and salary.^[22] Sasse stepped down as president of Midland in January 2015.^[19]

U.S. Senate:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

2014 election:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Main article: United States Senate election in Nebraska, 2014

In October 2013, Sasse officially announced his candidacy for the United States Senate seat occupied by Republican Mike Johanns, who announced that he would not be running for re-election in 2014.^[23] As of October 2013, Sasse's fundraising total of nearly $815,000 from individual donors in his first quarter broke Nebraska's previous record of $526,000 from individual donors, set in 2007 by Johanns while he was sitting U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.^[24]

In announcing his Senate candidacy, Sasse expressed strong opposition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA, a.k.a. "Obamacare"), describing himself as "the anti-Obamacare candidate",^[25] later declaring that "[i]f it lives, America as we know it will die."^[23] Sasse's campaign website indicated that he was pro-life, stating "even one abortion is too many".^[26] The website did not refer explicitly to same-sex marriage, but states "Ben believes marriage is between one man & one woman..."^[27]

Primary opponent Shane Osborn questioned the depth of Sasse's opposition to the ACA, publicizing articles and speeches delivered by Sasse during and after the passage of the measure through Congress; according to the Omaha World-Herald, "Osborn's campaign appears intent on questioning whether Sasse is a true conservative."^[28] The Osborn campaign cited, among other pieces, a 2009 Bloomberg Businessweek column entitled "Health-Care Reform: The Rush to Pass a Bad Bill" stating that "There's an emerging consensus that this [an individual mandate] might be a good idea",^[29] and a 2010 speech in which Sasse stated that Republicans would probably lack the votes to repeal the ACA, stating that "a middle class entitlement has never been repealed", and opining that Republicans had failed to offer a useful alternative to the ACA, preferring to stage "symbolic repeal votes".^[30] Sasse's response to the Osborn campaign's assertions was that in his articles and speeches, he was describing the political landscape rather than giving his own opinions on the merits of the ACA's provisions; to a World-Herald reporter, he declared "I have never changed my position on thinking Obamacare is a bad idea".^[28]

On May 13, 2014, Sasse won 92 of 93 counties^[31] and secured the Republican nomination with 109,829 votes, or 49.4% of all votes cast; banker Sid Dinsdale came in second, with 49,829 votes (22.4%), followed by former state treasurer Shane Osborn, with 46,850 votes (21.1%).^[32]

On November 4, 2014, Sasse won the general election for the U.S. Senate, defeating Democratic nominee David Domina with 64.4% of the vote to Domina's 31.5%.^[33]

Sasse assumed office as a United States senator on January 3, 2015. He was officially sworn in when the 114th Congressconvened on January 6, 2015.

Tenure:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

In 2016, Sasse was the only senator from either party to vote against the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which was intended to address abuse of heroin and opioid drugs by providing funds to the states for treatment and prevention programs and by making the anti-overdose drug naloxone more widely available to first responders and law enforcement agencies. Sasse stated that he was "distressed by opioid abuse", but questioned whether drug treatment should be addressed at the federal level.^[34][35]

2016 presidential election:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

In early 2016, while both parties' presidential primary election seasons were in progress, Sasse announced that he would not support Republican front-runner Donald Trump should Trump become the party's candidate; he was the first sitting senator to make such an announcement.^[36] Sasse questioned Trump's commitment to theU.S. Constitution, in particular accusing him of attacking the First Amendment; he stated that Trump had refused to condemn the Ku Klux Klan; and he suggested that Trump "thinks he's running for King".^[37] He stated that if Trump won the party's nomination, then he would vote neither for him nor for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, but would probably "look for some third candidate—a conservative option, a Constitutionalist".^[37] According to a Sasse spokesman, he did not say that he would necessarily leave the party if Trump was nominated.^[38]

Trump, asked about Sasse's third-party suggestion, stated "That would be the work of a loser."^[38] Several Nebraska Republican politicians, among them state senatorsBob Krist and Beau McCoy and U.S. senator Deb Fischer, took exception to Sasse's statements: Krist described Sasse's comments as "very immature", and declared that Sasse should "quietly and in a statesman-like manner allow the system to work out and provide the leadership that needs to be provided"; Fischer stated that a third-party alternative to Trump would essentially guarantee a Clinton victory.^[39]

Committees:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Sasse has been appointed to serve on the following committees in the 114th Congress:^[40]

Personal life:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Sasse, and his wife, Melissa (McLeod) Sasse, live in Fremont, Nebraska, with their three children; the children are homeschooled.^[1][41] Sasse grew up a Lutheran and was baptized in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.^[1] He later became an elder in the United Reformed Churches in North America, and served on the board of trustees for Westminster Seminary California.^[42] He is now currently a member at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, a church of the LCMS.^[43][44][45]

Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE)

The Heritage Foundation, Republican Policy Committee, Office of the Vice President

Education

Georgetown University Law Center

500+

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Experience

Chief of Staff

Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE)

January 2015 – Present (1 year 8 months)

The Heritage Foundation

Vice President of Domestic & Economic Policy

The Heritage Foundation

May 2012 – January 2015 (2 years 9 months)

The Heritage Foundation

Chief of Staff to the President

The Heritage Foundation

April 2010 – April 2012 (2 years 1 month)

Policy Analyst/Counsel

Republican Policy Committee

2009 – April 2010 (1 year)

Assistant to Vice President Richard B. Cheney

Office of the Vice President

2005 – 2009 (4 years)

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Associate Attorney

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

2004 – 2005 (1 year)

Law Clerk

Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater

2003 – 2004 (1 year)

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Associate Attorney

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

2002 – 2003 (1 year)

Law Clerk

United States Department of Justice

September 2001 – April 2002 (8 months)

Taylor Sliva

Field Staff at Ben Sasse for US Senate

Jessica Prol

Writer & Legislative Assistant at Office of Senator Ben Sasse

Ryan Broker

State Outreach Director for U.S. Senator Ben Sasse

Alyssa Burleson

Office Manager for Senator Ben Sasse at United States Senate

Klon Kitchen

National Security Advisor to Senator Ben Sasse

Raven Shirley

Director of Operations at Ben Sasse for U.S. Senate

Tyler Grassmeyer

Deputy Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Ben Sasse at United States Senate

James "Quin" Roberts

Homeland Security, Foreign Affairs, & Defense Legislative Correspondent, Senator Ben Sasse

Alexis Vercher

Staff Assistant at United States Senate

Ammon Simon

Legislative Counsel, U.S. Senator Ben Sasse

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/sen--elect-ben-sasse-names-senior-aides/article_32dfa3b2-2d69-5fe9-88e7-97bfbd72b67f.html

sasse, ben Sen

Growing influence

Going local to convert America

Eschewing the existential crisis

Contents

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