Nebraska Senate's leading homophobe gets one of the biggest gubernatorial campaign contributions ever made in state

Charles Herbster, of Falls City, after quitting the race to replace term-limited GOP Gov. Dave Heineman earlier this year, transferred about $860,000 in cash and assets to the campaign of Beau McCoy, who last year introduced a law negating any local LGBT ordinances in the Cornhusker state and tried to trick the Judiciary Committee into believing that Nebraska's largest newspaper endorsed his bill (actually the Omaha World-Herald called his legislation wrong and it later died in committee.)

     That paper, the Omaha World-Herald, notes that Deb Fischer only raised $460,000 in her successful bid to replace Sen. Ben Nelson last year. McCoy is one of five Republicans and two Democrats running for governor. Nebraska allows unlimited individual or corporate contributions to candidates.
     McCoy will need the money, as one of his GOP opponents is Peter Ricketts, scion of the billionaire TD Ameritrade family, whose Senate bid several years ago was rejected by Nebraska voters.
     In 2008, Ricketts was the biggest contributer to the campaign that got McCoy his seat in the Uniameral;* Rickett's sister, Laura, is a gay attorney in Chicago who has served on  the board of Lambda Legal.
     Herbster's money comes from his successful Kansas City business, Conklin.
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*All state legislators in Nebraska are senators because, to save money, the state got rid of its house of representatives decades ago. It is the only state with a unicameral, not bicameral, legislature.