Candidate for Gage County Sheriff Fired But Campaign Continues
By Gordon Hopkins
A candidate for Gage County Sheriff has been fired from the sheriff’s office. However, he is still running for the position.
That is according to a social media post made on Deputy Mike Hager’s campaign Face-book page. According to the post, “He was terminated for delivering campaign signs in uniform and using his patrol unit. He was asked if he put signs up in uniform to which he re-plied no. He did not put signs in the ground in uniform. He put them on the counter for them to distribute. The dept took this as him lying and being deceitful.”
Campaigning while on duty is generally prohibited for government employees to maintain neutrality and prevent the misuse of public resources.
Deputy Hager served as a School Resource Officer (SRO) for Freeman, Diller-Odell, and Southern Public schools.
The Facebook post noted, “Because of the change of status there is an investigation with the state crime commission in Grand Island at the schoolhouse,” and added, “He has no disciplinary actions against him. The state campaign office has not fined him for his violation. He has not lost his law enforcement license/certificate.”
The campaign indicated there are two more investigations being done outside of the sheriff’s office, “We were waiting on findings of these outside investigations before we made a statement.”
The current sheriff, Millard “Gus” Gustafson, recently announced he will not be seeking reelection this year. Also running for Gage County Sheriff are Spencer Behrens and Tim Hanson.
FJN reached out to Sheriff Gustafson. He confirmed Hager was no longer with the sheriff’s office but offered no other comment.
