LINCOLN- A member of the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems Board said Thursday that he resigned earlier this week after Gov. Jim Pillen rejected the “best candidate” to head the agency that oversees state and school retirement plans, but Pillen’s office said he hadn’t “rejected” anyone. It appears to be a case of differing interpretations of state law regarding the hiring process, and clearly represents a new interpretation of the law from the governor’s office.

Allen Simpson of Lincoln, a long-time PERB member who had headed the board’s personnel committee, said that the committee recently recommended the hiring of the current interim director/deputy director of the agency, Tyler Cummings. He would have filled the vacancy left when the past director, former State Treasurer and State Sen. John Murante, resigned in December. Simpson said the PERB search committee followed the same process as it had in hiring the previous three directors — do a search, and then let the governor approve it.

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