Former state Sen. Kent Sorenson, R-Milo, has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for secretly accepting a $73,000 bribe from three Ron Paul campaign aides in exchange for switching his endorsement from then-Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann ahead of the 2012 Iowa caucuses.
On Tuesday morning, Robert Pratt, the federal judge on the case, reportedly called Sorenson’s actions the “definition of political corruption.” The former lawmaker pleaded guilty to violating federal election law and lying under oath to a special prosecutor appointed by the state Senate Ethics Committee whose report led to Sorenson’s resignation in October 2013.
After the scandal emerged, Sorenson faced additional legal problems, including an arrest for an alleged domestic assault and a lawsuit over unpaid credit card bills. He also violated his probation for the caucus scandal charges on three separate occasions for smoking pot.
According to the Des Moines Register, Sorenson told Pratt Tuesday that, during his time as a politician, “I was cocky and filled with misguided ideas.” Last fall, Sorenson testified that politics was a “waste of my life, and I wish I hadn’t done it.”
The Paul aides implicated in the caucus scandal — campaign chairman Jesse Benton, campaign manager John Tate, and deputy campaign manager Dimitri Kesari — were previously convicted for their roles. Benton and Tate were sentenced to two years of probation; Kesari got three months in prison.
