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NE: Senator gets off with fine for gambling with campaign cash

By   /   September 18, 2012  /   17 Comments

By Deena Winter | Nebraska Watchdog

GUILTY: Council pleaded to two misdemeanor charges.

LINCOLN — Omaha Sen. Brenda Council pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanors in connection with her gambling away thousands of dollars in campaign funds.

Her punishment? A $500 fine, plus court costs.

Council appeared in Lancaster County Court and apologized again for misusing the money supporters gave her Nebraska Legislature re-election campaign. Council is being challenged by Ernie Chambers, the man who held the seat for 38 years before he was forced out by term limits.

The actual crime she was convicted of is abuse of public records for failing to report deposits and withdrawals she made from her campaign account. The misdemeanors carry a maximum penalty of six months behind bars and a $1,000 fine.

Attorney General Jon Bruning said Council withdrew about $63,000 in campaign funds at various casinos, primarily in Kansas, between January 2010 and July 2012, and repaid about $36,000 of it. She has vowed to repay all the money.

But the state attorney general’s office did not recommend a sentence and Lancaster County Judge Gale Pokorny sentenced Council to a $250 fine on each count, plus court costs.

In the courtroom, Council apologized to her family, friends and the state, admitting that she has a gambling problem and borrowed the money from her campaign with every intention of repaying it. She said she’s getting treatment and is “anxious to move forward in my recovery.”

Outside the courthouse, Council’s attorney, Vince Powers, chairman-elect of the state Democratic Party, said he represented her as a friend, and called her a great person.

IT’S OVER: Council, second from left, leaves the courthouse with attorney Vince Powers and others Tuesday after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges.

“Nebraskans judge a person by the totality of their lives,” he told the media. “Sometimes a demon gets the best of you.”

Council said she made a “grave error in judgment.”

“We all fall down, and what I’m doing right now is getting back up,” she said.

Bruning, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a statement released after the court hearing that “Senator Council knowingly filed false campaign finance statements. Today’s guilty plea helps to ensure she is held accountable for her unlawful actions.”

Last week, Bruning said Council could have been charged with a felony, but the penalty likely would be the same and more time and tax dollars would be required to pursue felony charges.

Council is a lawyer and former school board member and city council member.

Contact Deena Winter at deena@nebraskawatchdog.org. Follow her on Twitter at @DeenaNEWatchdog.

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Deena Winter

  • L.A.

    No wonder the public has lost trust in its……”leaders.”

  • OmaSteak

    Are you kidding me??? Steal over $60 thousand and walk out with a $500 fine and no probation, court supervised treatment, a court supervised repayment plan and public service??? Complete and total miscarriage of the justice system by insiders on both sides. If she was white, conservative and male…it would have been jail.

  • ralph

    the state prison is full of people who made a little mistake but they go to jail/double standard

  • http://www.facebook.com/enegue.stanard Enegue Stanard

    So, when will her law license be revoked? Any other lawyer who takes trust money is (always) disbarred.

  • ToucheTurtle

    “Council is a lawyer and former school board member and city council member. . . . made a GRAVE ERROR in judgment . . . CONVICTED of is abuse of public records for failing to report deposits and withdrawals she made from her campaign account . . .KNOWINGLY filed FALSE campaign finance statements.” This woman not only STOLE the money . . . she with purpose committed FRAUD!!!!! No wonder she pleaded guilty . . . she knew a jury of her peers would have thrown the book at her!!!

    If Brenda Council was NOT a well-educated minority person who STOLE $63,000 and had been caught after paying back $36,000, her reputation would have been ruined because she would NEVER be able to be bonded again! She would be a convicted felon which means she could NEVER vote again! She would have served time at the Nebraska Center for Women at York because she would have been CHARGED with theft!!

    But THIS Brenda Council is an ATTORNEY who KNOWS the law and therefore should be held to a higher standard!!! She has position in the community and in the State which means she should be punished to the maximum degree because of her LACK of judgement considering her knowledge level and setting a poor example to her peers and the youth of her community! And lastly, there isn’t a day goes by that a young minority person isn’t sentenced to PRISON TIME for much less serious charges!!!

    Jon Bruning should be ashamed of himself for giving this woman special consideration BECAUSE she is a lawyer, a Senator, and well-known public figure!!! Who ever said that Lady Justice is blind doesn’t KNOW what they are talking about!!! Lady Justice must have dropped her “scales” somewhere along the line and justice is all about who you know and how good your defense council is!!! Welcome to the progressive form of justice in America!!!!

  • Roger Yant

    I agree. She should go to jail. We have a BIG problem with our public officials. Both parties!!!! They protect each other. Jail time it should be.

  • Jason3

    Hey, Brunings got to many skeletons to prosecute anyone…he should go away…B. Council should go away and gamble away her own money…what a deal, possibly a felony..being a left leaning ..middle of the road democrat…council doesn’t deserve a tap on the hand…$60K plus gambled away…no monitoring to pay it back..absolutely amazing…give the seat to ernie and go away. has nothing to do with being conservative or liberal..has to do with being HONEST…a State Senator…can she be impeached…or something so she can’t run again..she gives the demos’s and left a bad name…GO AWAY!

  • jaycee

    The prejudicial headline “Gets Off” seems to have generated feelings of vengence. Ms Council was charged with a misdemeanor, NOT a felony.
    She was fined half the maximum allowable plus court costs. If theft were her motivation, why would she have repaid half before being ‘discovered?’ There are several classes of misdemeanors in Nebraska so the uninformed should read more before bellyaching about ‘convicted ‘felons losing the right to vote.’ Perhap the Judge had evidence Ms Council was in treatment for gambling addiction which incarceration cannot change. Judges have the prerogative of knowing the background of any person who appears before the court as does an Attorney General. Thankfully, Judges are far more experienced and trained in these matters than the general public, many of whom are only adept at bloviating and pontificating without knowledge, evidence or valid reasoning. A gambling addition cannot eradicate the decades of admirable service Ms Council has given to her community. Addictions merit education, understanding and treatment. As Bill Gates said, “life isn’t fair: get over it”.

  • D. Mark

    The fine wouldn’t even cover the cost that the State spent on taking her to court! We will see what the next person gets if they do something similar!

  • resistwemuch

    A 60 grand “loan” and only 500 dollars in “interest.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/tontonwink Wink Winkler

    WOW!! That’ll teach her.

  • gvazquez

    If she’s abused her power now, since when has she been taking money? Lawyer, School Board, City Council, where else has she taken money from?

  • Hal

    I agree with most of these comments regarding Council, and the general state of politicians/people of power who put themselves in a place which, if isn’t above the law, it certainly finds a comfortable niche for them.

    This obviously exists now at the local level, and works its way to the highest levels. Like “L.A.,” I’m losing confidence, not only in my leaders, but also in our presumed democratic process in this country.

    I have a sense that much of the anger that exists between conservatives and liberals today stems from an anger or frustration with the state of things as they are today—and they’re attacking the “other side” because they don’t know where else to turn. And I think both sides place themselves on extremes of those parties(most of the time) because they simply want a simple yes/no or absolute answer to the swamps of half-truths, distortions, etc. that flood the media.

  • http://twitter.com/GerardHarbison Gerard Harbison

    $500 for a state senator is equivalent to 5 years in jail for an ordinary citizen. It’s a ‘dog years’ thing.

    Oh, OK, not buying that? How about “hasn’t she suffered enough?”

    No? How about “It’s a sickness, not a crime!”

    I give up. Lock her up.

  • Kevin

    I guess this means that embezzlement is acceptable?

  • Melba May

    Boy–if this had been a Republician you wouldn’t have heard the end of it. Obamaism rears its head here. Equal justice for all.

  • Ga. Peach

    You are absolutely right!!