Nebraska Attorney General Jon Buning (R) is pushing back against ethics attacks from state Democrats over a vacation home he purchased with executives at a student loan company his office gave a favorable ruling to only a year earlier.
“Big deal,” he told a local NBC affiliate on Monday when asked about the issue. “It’s where I teach my kids to waterski, right? I’m like a lot of families in Nebraska: I love Nebraska, I got a lake house in Nebraska. So what?”
Bruning, who is running in the GOP primary to challenge incumbent Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), bought the $675,000 lake house along with two top executives from Nelnet in 2008, only a year after he tried to waive a $1 million settlement with the company over allegations that it had engaged in improper business practices. After critics pointed out that Bruning had received $16,000 in donations from Nelnet employees, he backed down.
State Democrats filed an ethics complaint against Bruning last month for listing his share in the property as part of a limited liability company rather than identifying it as a house, which they said was designed to hide the fact that he jointly purchased the property with Nelnet executives. Bruning says the practice is common and that he’s followed disclosure rules.
