Losing (D) Ne legislative candidate sues state GOP

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10594945

Published Wednesday March 25, 2009
Losing legislative candidate sues state GOP
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A former candidate for the Legislature has sued the Nebraska Republican Party, saying it distributed false and misleading publications that contributed to his defeat.

Rex Moats, a Democrat, lost the District 39 seat in Omaha to Beau McCoy, a Republican, in November. Legislative races are officially nonpartisan.

In mailings, the state Republican Party questioned Moats’ work with National Warranty Insurance Group. The vehicle-repair insurance company failed in 2003.

The party said Moats received a $50,000 trust fund from National Warranty and misled creditors and the public, among other things. One of its mailings was posed as a letter from Moats while vacationing in the Cayman Islands, where National Warranty was based.

In the lawsuit filed Monday in Douglas County District Court, Moats says he never received a trust fund and did not make false or misleading statements. And, he says, he made one trip to the Cayman Islands — to work on its 2003 insolvency filing.

The lawsuit says the Republican mailings were “deliberate and unsubstantiated accusations intended to foment distrust or hatred against Mr. Moats.’’

FULL story at link.