NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The former board chairperson of a Connecticut power cooperative and estranged husband of a California congresswoman was sentenced Wednesday to 6 months in jail for utilizing public funds to pay for lavish journeys to the Kentucky Derby and a luxurious golf resort.
James Sullivan, 56, a one-time Democratic congressional candidate in Connecticut, was convicted of serving to plan journeys in 2015 and 2016 for dozens of prime workers, board members and members of the family totaling $800,000. Prosecutors mentioned the journeys had been unrelated to the enterprise of the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, which receives federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The $800,000 included journey bills, personal chartered airfare, first-class resort lodging, meals, tickets to sporting occasions, golf charges, souvenirs and presents, federal prosecutors mentioned.
For a visit to the Kentucky Derby journey in 2015, which prosecutors mentioned had a mean price of roughly $9,000 per visitor, Sullivan introduced his son, brother and sister-in-law, in addition to a girl he knew and her buddy.
Sullivan is married to Democratic U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, who dropped her bid for chair of the House Democratic Caucus after Sullivan’s indictment in 2018. Connecticut courtroom information point out the couple goes by way of divorce proceedings.
A second case towards Sullivan and the power cooperative’s former CEO remains to be pending associated to $100,000 of Sullivan’s private and journey bills, together with a number of entries that included bills for Sanchez, comparable to journey to the Kentucky Derby and to Key West, Florida, in 2014.
An electronic mail was left looking for remark with a spokesperson for Sanchez.
In 2018, a spokesperson for Sanchez mentioned she attended a Kentucky Derby journey “in her personal capacity as the spouse of a board member, which is expressly allowed under House rules. Although she was not required to do so, out of an abundance of caution she did seek the advice of the House Ethics Committee prior to attending, and the committee confirmed that she could attend.”
Sullivan, the second of three individuals to be sentenced this week within the scheme, apologized in courtroom and known as the journeys “a serious lapse of judgment,” in response to The Day of New London. He’s required to report back to jail July 12.
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com