Ex-candidate Lakers pleads guilty

LINCOLN — Omaha investment banker Mark Lakers closed another chapter in his short-lived governor campaign Friday by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of abuse of public records.

The charge was based on Lakers’ falsification of April and May campaign finance reports.

The former Democratic candidate paid a $500 fine as part of an agreement with the Attorney General’s Office.

But he might not be finished with the fallout from the reports.

Frank Daley, executive director of the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, said he will now look at whether to pursue a separate civil action against Lakers. Daley said he expects to complete the review soon.

In exchange for Lakers’ guilty plea, Attorney General Jon Bruning agreed not to pursue additional charges to the $500 fine.

Abuse of public records is a Class II misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison or a $1,000 fine or both.

Bruning said he thought the charge and sentence were appropriate, given Lakers’ lack of prior criminal record.

“I don’t think this is somebody that society would benefit from any jail time,” he said.

Lakers won the Democratic nomination for governor in the May primary election. He was unopposed.

Under scrutiny for his pledges of donations, Lakers withdrew from the race in July. The Democrats nominated Mike Meister of Scottsbluff in his place to run against Republican Gov. Dave Heineman.

Lakers’ attorney, Clarence Mock, said his client agreed to the deal because he didn’t want a “vigorous, contested defense of these allegations to distract from the real issues involved in the gubernatorial campaign.”

Lakers also wanted to avoid cost and inconvenience to the witnesses, he said. He plans to return to serving his community, just not as a candidate, Mock said.

Bruning launched an investigation in May after a number of the people listed as pledging donations on Lakers’ campaign finance report denied having done so.

On Friday, Bruning said the investigation concluded that 51 of the 80 pledges listed on the April and May reports were falsified.

Fourteen pledges were found to be legitimate. Another 15 could not be verified.

The falsified pledges amounted to $333,000. Lakers had reported a total of $576,500 in pledges.

Lakers filed a revised campaign report in June that removed $157,000 in pledges but still listed 29 false pledges, Bruning said.

Candidates are required by law to list financial pledges, even before they become actual donations.

Bruning said he thought it was important to pursue the case, even though Lakers had dropped out.
Lakers needed to be held accountable and the truth needed to come out, Bruning said, because campaign finance reports are key to bringing transparency to the political process.

Bruning, a Republican, said he would have pursued the same kind of investigation of a GOP candidate.

“This had nothing to do with politics. This had everything to do with right and wrong,” he said.

Among actions defined as abuse of public records are knowingly falsifying any public record or presenting a false record or document with the intention that it be taken as a genuine part of the public record.

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