Nebraska Auditor Uncovers State Workers Using Taxpayer Vehicles for Liquor Store Runs

Clear Facts

• Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley reports an “explosion” of fraud complaints as GPS tracking reveals state employees using taxpayer-funded vehicles for personal errands including liquor store visits and medical appointments
• Review of 45 state fleet vehicles uncovered trips to retail outlets, restaurants, residences of relatives, and unauthorized commuting
• Foley has uncovered contractors overbilling and double-billing the state, plus a contentious $2 million no-bid contract awarded by Governor Jim Pillen

Nebraska’s top auditor says fraud complaints are surging as his crackdown uncovers alleged misuse of taxpayer resources inside state government. State Auditor Mike Foley reports an unprecedented wave of tips flooding his office as the national conversation around government waste intensifies.

“It’s just extraordinary the explosion of phone calls and allegations and emails and so forth that are pouring into my office,” Foley told Fox News Digital from the State Financial Officers Foundation conference in Clearwater, Florida. “And as the media focuses on this more and more, it just makes the phone ring all the more, which is fine.”

The timing aligns with heightened national scrutiny of government spending as the Trump administration, led by Vice President JD Vance, has unleashed a federal task force to root out fraud and abuse. Foley says his office is working to filter through the surge of complaints to identify the most legitimate cases for investigation.

The Nebraska auditor is particularly alarmed by what he describes as systematic waste by state workers who are misusing taxpayer-funded vehicles. Foley’s office has equipped many state vehicles with GPS tracking systems that reveal disturbing patterns during work hours.

“We can see precisely where these state vehicles are really going during work hours and they’re going to liquor stores,” Foley explained. “They’re going into health appointments that the employee might have. They’re on personal errands all across the state, and it’s racking up a lot of expense for the taxpayers in a very improper way.”

A review of GPS data from 45 state fleet vehicles found employees allegedly using them for trips to retail outlets, restaurants, medical facilities, residences of relatives, commuting home without permission and other private errands.

Foley documented what he described as a “disturbing uptick” in alleged financial improprieties across local governments statewide last year, detailing eight recent investigations involving suspected misuse of public money, questionable reimbursements and possible fraud.

“I can cite so many examples of contractors that are over billing or double-billing the state, all kinds of state employee infractions of using state vehicles and state assets improperly, having contractors bill us for hours which we know they did not work, having state employees billed us for time served when we know that they were at a different place of employment, public school districts that are milking public school funds for all kinds of extravagances and so forth, but at the end of the day, the tone has to be set at the top.”

That focus on leadership has placed Foley in what he describes as an “uncomfortable” situation with Nebraska’s Republican Governor Jim Pillen. The auditor has challenged a roughly $2 million no-bid state contract that Pillen awarded to a consultant with ties to the governor.

Nebraska law generally requires public bidding for contracts over $50,000. Foley argues the administration wrongly claimed there was an “emergency” to bypass that process.

“There was no emergency and later now they’re claiming that she brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in grant awards,” Foley said. “The truth is those grant award applications were filed by other people, other contractors before she was even on the job. So this is a very, very serious abuse and it sets the tone in the wrong way. For other people in the state government who can say the governor can do that, I can do it too. And that’s wrong.”

Pillen’s administration has denied wrongdoing, maintaining the contract was justified because of the need to quickly pursue economic development opportunities and federal funding.

“The contract was done the right way and is bringing hundreds of millions of dollars of value to Nebraska, which otherwise would have been wasted in California,” Pillen spokesperson Laura Strimple told Fox News Digital. “Auditor Foley disagrees and he is entitled to his opinion.”

Foley has referred the matter to law enforcement for further review, saying his office’s role is limited to conducting audits and highlighting potential violations. The auditor acknowledges his aggressive oversight efforts have created tension within state government.

“I’m not the most popular person in state government,” Foley jokingly told Fox News Digital, but emphasized “we must” track expenditures in order to safeguard taxpayer funds.

“Nebraska regrettably is a high-tax state and people know that, and they’re fed up with these high taxes, and they know that money is not being spent properly in so many instances, and they are relying on me and my office to catch this kind of thing, and we’re doing a good job,” Foley said.

“There needs to be consequences when we find these kinds of abuses, and there are,” he continued. “Many people are losing their jobs because they’ve abused the trust of having access to a credit card or other assets of the government, or there could be even further legal complications and infractions and jail sentences even. We’ve put a number of people behind bars because of abuse and stealing of public funds.”

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