Republican Treasurer from Nebraska Resigns Amid Scandal

[mndemocrat_29]

Here's the link: www.politics1.com

NEBRASKA TREASURER QUITS IN SCANDAL. State Treasurer Lorelee Byrd (R-NE) resigned from office Tuesday after a four-month investigation into financial irregularities. Last week, Byrd pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct. According to the charges, Byrd allegedly wrote $300,000 in department checks in February 2003 and kept them locked in her safe before voiding them in June 2003, immediately after the State Legislature ended its budget-cutting work. The move was seemingly done to make it appear is if the money had already been spent, and thus shelter the money from any budget cuts. It is against the law for a state agency to knowingly write a check without a valid bill, purchase order or contract. Byrd then tried to withdraw her plea this week in a deal that would have brokered her resignation -- but Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) refused the offer. "The law was broken. The record needs to reflect that," said Bruning. With hopes for a deal dead -- and legislators talking impeachment -- Byrd went ahead and quit from the job she was initially appointed to in 2001. She was elected to a full term in 2002. Governor Mike Johanns (R) will now appoint a replacement ... for his previous replacement.

[grannylib]

1. She'll probably get a job teaching Creative Accounting 101 at some

conservative university; this is just the kind of number-fudging the Repugnicans are famous for, whether it's unemployment numbers, budget numbers, whatever...

[cosmicdot]

2. perhaps Florida's on-loan to Swarzenegger, Donna Arduin

might be interested in such skills

:eyes: