Rex Moats

By ANNA JO BRATTON and TIMBERLY ROSS Associated Press Writers

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- 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 of Omaha, a Democrat, lost the District 39 seat to Beau McCoy of Omaha, 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."

Moats is seeking $50,400 in lost salary for four years as a state legislator and additional compensation to cover the expense of campaign materials to refute Republican claims, lost earning capacity and emotional distress.

Moats' attorney, David Domina, said Wednesday that Moats accepts his defeat in the election and will not argue that the Republican mailings were the direct cause of the loss. Rather, the case will focus on the false statements.

"The real goal," Domina said, "is to maybe help us all relearn that there are rules for how people are to behave, and all is not fair in law and in war and in politics. There are rules for each."

Mark Fahleson, chairman of the state Republican Party, said Wednesday: "The Democratic Party is the party of the trial lawyers, so it's not surprising that litigation is the salve for the wounds Democrats sustained on Election Day."

Fahleson replaced Mark Quandahl in January, so he wasn't in charge when the mailings were sent.

A message left Wednesday for Quandahl at his office was not immediately returned.

Among the assertions made in Moats' lawsuit is that he was falsely labeled a trial attorney in Republican mailings. Moats said during his campaign that he's an attorney and community advocate.

Domina said Moats' law experience includes mostly insurance work and juvenile cases, and that he's never tried a case before a jury.

Trial lawyers have often been demonized by politicians who say the lawyers are responsible for large jury awards that have prompted calls for judicial reform.

Moats also says in the lawsuit that he has been registered as a Democrat most of his life but has often supported Republican candidates and causes. He considers his political views to generally be nonpartisan and conservative.

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