By The Associated Press

Published: Saturday, February 2, 2013, 10:25 p.m.
Updated: Saturday, February 2, 2013

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy resigned abruptly on Saturday in a scandal involving thousands of calls to four women on his state-issued cellphone, including one woman who said she had a romantic relationship with the politician.

Gov. Dave Heineman announced Sheehy's resignation in a hastily called news conference on Saturday morning. Sheehy, a Republican, had been considered the front-runner in the 2014 gubernatorial race and had been endorsed by Heineman.

“As public officials, we are rightly held to a higher standard,” Heineman said. “I had trusted him, and that trust was broken.”

Sheehy resigned after questions were raised about the cellphone calls with four women, none of whom were his wife, who filed for divorce last year.

The calls, made over the past four years, were first reported by the Omaha World-Herald, which had made a public records request for Sheehy's phone records.

Records released on Saturday by the governor's office show Sheehy made thousands of late-night phone calls to the women.

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