By Don Walton, Lincoln Journal Star —
Sen. Robert Clements of Elmwood has emerged as the likely new chairman of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee following word from Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams that he will not seek the chairmanship and will be supporting Clements.
Clements, a banker and current member of the committee, was initially appointed to the Legislature in 2017 by Gov. Pete Ricketts, then elected to a four-year term in 2018 and reelected this year.
Dorn had initially declared his intention to seek the chairmanship, but said Monday that he decided to support Clements, who he said will be "a strong voice on the budget" and a chairman who is prepared to "work closely with the Pillen administration" in structuring the state's next two-year budget.
Governor-elect Jim Pillen will succeed Ricketts in January.
Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha, another Appropriations Committee member who had once been considered a possible candidate for chairman to succeed Sen. John Stinner of Gering, who will leave the Legislature in January upon completing his second legislative term, is a declared candidate for chairman of the Nebraska Retirement Systems Committee.
