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NE: Group questions why senator got off easy after gambling with donations

By   /   September 20, 2012  /   22 Comments

By Deena Winter | Nebraska Watchdog

GUILTY: Council pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors on Tuesday and was fined $500 plus court costs.

LINCOLN — Common Cause Nebraska says Omaha Sen. Brenda Council got off too easy after receiving a $500 fine for gambling with $63,000 in campaign money.

Jack Gould, issues chairman of the left-leaning government watchdog group, says people have made excuses for Council and pardoned her actions because she’s a popular lawmaker with a gambling problem.

“The focus has been on excuses rather than the issue itself,” he said. “The whole idea of campaign violations is a serious issue. When you’re talking about $63,000, there needs to be real concern.”

Gould questioned how Council would get off with a $500 fine for failing to report to the state that she spent about $63,000 in campaign donations on gambling, whereas a poor, drug-addicted person would likely get jail time for stealing $63,000.

“We’re not quite sure why that penalty was so minor,” he said. “I think we need to look at the consistency of the law. I think in this case there should be some explanation why we went with a $500 fine when there was $63,000 taken.”

Several of Council’s major donors told Nebraska Watchdog last week they would continue to stand by Council.

“Part of our concern is a lot of the major donors are saying everything’s OK,” Gould said. “In reality, it’s not OK.”

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 repeatedly apologized for her error in judgment and vowed to repay all the money. She has not dropped out of her race for re-election to the Legislature.

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. He indicated the two misdemeanors, combined with the public humiliation she would endure as an elected official, would be sufficient punishment.

“I don’t take Senator Council’s long, distinguished career lightly,” he said last week. Council is a former Omaha school board and City Council member.

Gould suggested there’s a double standard for elected officials and “important people.”

“There are a lot of people with addictions,” he said. “The law has been very hard on those people. We’re talking about $63,000. It’s money that was entrusted by the public. To say, ‘Well, it’s OK because it was an addiction’ – the pardoning isn’t consistent with the punishment that has been handed out by courts (in other cases).”

After the 2006 impeachment of University of Nebraska Regent David Hergert for falsely reporting the date of a campaign expenditure and obstructing government operations, state law was changed so criminal offenses are handled by the attorney general and civil offenses by the state Accountability & Disclosure Commission.

A&D Director Frank Daley said he and the attorney general decide whether the action rises to the level of a crime and who will be the lead agency.

“We agreed with their decision that they wanted to take on the matter as a criminal prosecution,” he said of the Council case. “The decision was that they ought to run with it, and we were OK with that.”

Daley’s office handled Hergert’s case, and he was fined $33,000 in penalties and late fees. In another case, former state Sen. Ray Mossey paid $14,000 in fines for using campaign money to pay an Internet dating service and tattoo parlor and failing to file two financial statements.

Gould questioned why the penalties were tougher when the A&D office handled such cases.

“When you pardon that kind of behavior, you’re weakening the whole system,” he said. “The public has been hurt, and the system has been hurt and campaign money is something that needs to be protected and not taken for granted.”

Bruning’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Reported by Deena Winter, deena@nebraskawatchdog.org. Follow Deena on Twitter at @DeenaNEWatchdog.

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Deena Winter

  • http://twitter.com/pahouseholder Aaron Householder

    This is a character issue for Council & her supporters. And it’s sad.

  • racefish

    If Council was a Republican, the outcry would have been so loud no one would have been able to ignore it.

  • Anna

    Brenda Council is the lowest form of criminal there is, a thief and violator of public trust, not to mention she is a deceptive manipulator. Nor has she accepted any real responsibilty for her many failings. The only thing she is ‘sorry’ about is getting caught. Brenda Council is not mentally stable and should not removed from office immediately.

  • Mike-Omaha

    Racefish, it’s a Republican that is letting her off the hook by not charging her with a felony. A lot of this is due to those in the power structure, comprised of both Democrats and Republicans, not wanting Ernie Chambers back in the legislature. With Brenda there they pretty much have a free hand to pick the meat from our bones. But with Ernie there it could be difficult for them to come back and take the bones.

  • Jim Wightman

    TRANSLATION FOR THE STUPID:
    If you’re white, male and Republican, you get the firing squad or electric chair.
    If you’re female, minority and a Dem, you get a tap on the wrist and maybe a finger wag.

  • Joe Sixpack

    The real reason Council got off so easy is simple to figure out. AG Jon Bruning does not want Ernie Chambers back in the Unicameral. Brenda Council is milk toast compared to Chambers. In Bruning’s mind she is much better than Chambers. My proof: Brenda Council rolled over for Bruning and allowed the Lethal Injection Death Penalty law to pass and he must feel he owes her a big favor.

  • Jason3

    This has nothing to do with being a Repub or us Demo’s…it’s about honesty and integrity and politics…Council is now apologizing…get serious, she got caught…she needs to stay away from being a NE Senator…as someone else mentioned this about keeping Chambers out of the legislature…how can a attorney General, who gets involved in various questionable deals prosecute anybody..bruning needs to resign…along with a gov that is a republican first and a govenor second

  • Boney McBoner

    Does she have to pay back the money?

  • Buzz

    A democrat gets caught stealing $63,000.00 (Council) and she is basically declared not guilty by a republican (Bruning). Can Bruning explain how much do you have to steal to have it classified as a felony. As Paul Harvey would say, we need to see page two for the rest of the story.

  • D. Mark

    Different punishment for different people, depends on who the people are and who they know!

  • Goblin Shark

    Paul Harvey is a coward that was so afraid of going to combat he feigned mental illness so he would get discharged from the Army.

  • Goblin Shark

    And he was a huge Vietnam War supporter until Paul Jr. was old enough to get drafted, then he became an opponent of the war.

  • ToucheTurtle

    I REPEAT . . . .

    “Council is a lawyer and former school board member and city council member. . . . made a GRAVE ERROR in judgment . . . CONVICTED of 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 and forethought, 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 – with connections in VERY high places – 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 CONVICTED of 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!!! Whoever 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 . . . today justice apparently is all about who you know and how good your defense council is!!! So much for “justice for all!”

  • Roger Yant

    Simple, she is a women, a democrat, and she is black. Very simple to figure that out. A white male republican, he would be doing time. As well as he should. But now days we have to be politically correct. How about, I’m sick of it. OK some one now call me a raciest, I’m expecting it, that is what they always say when you tell the truth.

  • lu

    Political favor for another political favor…u scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. I think she should’ve received a higher fine and agree to step down as senetor until she completes a gambling addiction course.

  • SusanSmith4NeLegD11

    The last thing our district needs is to have their trust and confidence violated and shattered by an elected official. I believe Sen. Council’s decision to stay in the Nebraska Legislative race is an example of continued poor judgement in thinking only of herself. Withdrawing from the race would be the appropriate and responsible thing for her to do.

    District 11 voters have another choice to vote for on November 6th. They can WRITE-IN Susan Smith – a no-nonsense, commonsense conservative who will represent ALL of the voices in North Omaha.

  • ToucheTurtle

    Maybe the MOST important question is . . . WHY wasn’t she charged with a felony and then have to go to jail???

  • GVazquez

    Did it really matter what party she belongs to? The people that put her there are the same that ‘bailed’ her out. A public figure not being held accountable isn’t anything new. Government places Ethics in such a high standard, but are the first to ‘protect’ thier own when they are caught! She should at least have enough respect to her constituents and herself to re-sign, or at least drop out of the race.

  • George Wanker Bush

    Why do you find it NECESSARY to use CAPS so much whey you REPLY here???

  • ToucheTurtle

    Because I CAN!!!! If you don’t like it . . . well, you know what you can do, right?

  • Dakota Kid

    I was at Union Pacific when she was employed in the legal department. You notice I did not say “worked”. She seemed to be always gone. It was a period when UP hired token “blacks” (OK, call me a racist) and “women” to fall in line with Federal “diversity” guidelines in order to keep hauling mail for the USPS and other Federal contracts. If I remember right, she was on the City Council during this time, didn’t spend much time in the office and apparently UP didn’t care. I guess being on the City Council was a full-time job!

  • Watching_From_Lincoln

    So if Sen. Council withdraws, do you want Ernie to wipe his backside with you in the 96% to 4% landslide victory of his in District 11? Do you NOT understand that District 11 is NOT a Conservative District, it is NOT, say, District 39? Do you understand the expression “A snowball’s chance in hell”?