Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission tabs new executive director

Members of Nebraska's Accountability and Disclosure Commission ultimately voted 7-0 Friday to promote David Hunter, who has worked for the agency for 23 years, to head the commission.

Hunter, the agency's deputy director, will succeed his longtime boss Frank Daley Jr., who will retire in September after serving for more than two decades as the agency's executive director, a job he's held since 1999.

At an open meeting Friday at the Capitol, the commission interviewed Hunter and two other finalists: Tag Herbek, a senior attorney at the state Department of Banking and Finance, and Jamie Karl, the managing director of communication services at the Ohio Manufacturers'​ Association.

Karl previously worked for Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, the state Department of Agriculture and two Republican representatives in the state's congressional delegation.

Hunter and the two other finalists were among 77 applicants who vied for the executive director job, which pays $105,000 to $110,000 annually.

His exact salary will be negotiated in the coming weeks.

In his interview with the commission, Hunter, who started at the agency in 2000, touted his decades of direct experience on the commission and said he plans to work there until he retires. 

"Without our office, the opportunities for corruption ... could be unlimited," Hunter said Friday after Secretary of State Bob Evnen asked him what he viewed as the primary purpose of the commission's existence.

Hunter, who told commissioners he planned to model his leadership in part off of Daley, who he was worked under for his entire career at the agency, also faced questions over what he might do differently than his predecessor.

"Frank Daley is an extremely impressive person," Hunter responded. "He does the job of multiple people. I think I would try to and build up some more staff, perhaps."

Hunter noted that the agency has had a vacant auditor position for more than a year, and he said he would seek funding for an additional staffer. The longtime deputy director suggested he might allow employees to work from home in a hybrid model to help recruit staff in what he described as a difficult labor market, particularly in the public sector.

"The bottom line for the majority of applicants, I think, is pay. At least that is what's, I think, preventing the auditor position from being filled," he said of the job that pays $21.45 an hour.

He suggested that he would consider adding duties to the auditor position to in turn raise the pay scale in an effort to attract qualified candidates.

After interviews with all three candidates, the commission entered closed session for approximately 50 minutes to select the finalist that will lead the agency, ultimately settling on Hunter.

Though the board publicly voted unanimously to appoint the longtime deputy to the director position, it's unclear if there was consensus from the start of the commission's closed-door discussion.

Marty Callahan, who has served on the commission since 2018, said outside the meeting room that commissioners held "general discussion (of) the candidates" amid the closed session.

"I mean that's nothing we'll go into detail on," he said. "I think it was just a review of the candidates. Nothing spectacular, and the vote came out at, I think, 7-0."

When the meeting reopened to the public Friday, Daley summoned a beaming Hunter from elsewhere in the Capitol building to reappear before the commission.

"Well, Mr. David Hunter, congratulations. You are soon to be our new executive director," said Kate Sullivan, the commission's chair. "Have any thoughts?"

"I'm ready to work," he said.