The Daily Background
| Ney gets 2.5 years
by Arlen Parsa
Former Rep Bob Ney (R-OH) got two and a half years:
A federal judge today ordered former Congressman Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) to serve 30 months in prison for accepting gifts, favors and campaign contributions in exchange for official actions, making the six-term congressman the first elected official to be sent to prison in the influence-peddling investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s activities.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle rejected the recommendations of both prosecutors, who asked for a 27-month term, and Ney’s lawyers, who sought leniency. Instead, Huvelle doled out a slightly tougher 2 1/2 -year sentence because, she said, Ney had “seriously betrayed the public’s trust.”
Huvelle told Ney: “You have a long way to go to make amends for what’s happened.”
Reports suggest that Ney has been drinking all day long and may have been drunk at his sentencing.
