(NE) PBS: Tighten Campaign Finance Laws Introduced (OS's State Senator Sue Crawford!!!)

[Omaha Steve]

http://netnebraska.org/article/news/954291/bills-eliminate-mandatory-minimum-sentences-tighten-campaign-finance-laws

by Fred Knapp, Producer/Reporter, NET News

Snip: Meanwhile, Sen. Sue Crawford of Bellevue has introduced legislation to tighten Nebraska’s campaign finance laws. Crawford’s bill, LB166, would require campaign committees to file year-end bank statements which auditors could check against what the committees say they have in campaign reports. It would also prohibit campaign committees from making loans. And it would allow the Accountability and Disclosure Commission to require committees to make restitution for funds that were used improperly.

Crawford says she thinks most campaigns are clean. "This bill is being introduced to make sure that we have important protections in place. It’s not that I think there’s rampant fraud. It’s more the case that we do have some high visibility cases that happen," she said.

There have been at least two such high visibility cases in the last decade involving members of the Legislature. Former Sen. Brenda Council pled guilty in 2013 to wire fraud, after being accused of borrowing more than $63,000 in campaign funds for gambling. And in 2005, former Sen. Ray Mossey agreed to pay more than $14,000 in fines after using campaign funds to pay an Internet dating service and a tattoo parlor.

Audio story at link.