Jon Bruning

Nebraska AG Jon Bruning's Land Deal With Student Loan Execs Under Scrutiny

Benjy Sarlin | August 29, 2011, 3:03PM

As he gears up his Senate run, Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) is drawing heavy attention in the local press for his business dealings.

Last week the Omaha World-Herald dug into Bruning's finances, noting that he owns stakes in various businesses ranging from $12 million to $61 million in total value, while also owing high debt between $10 and $35 million to fund his investments, all accrued during a career as a public servant. Now, Democrats are pouncing on a follow-up story about a real estate deal he cut with the help of executives from a student loan company that he crossed paths with as attorney general.

In 2008, Bruning joined two executives from the company, Nelnet, to purchase a $675,000 lake house. But only a year earlier, he was embroiled in a controversy surrounding the same company when he waived a $1 million settlement with Nelnet over improper business practices. After critics pointed out that Nelnet execs had showered him with $16,000 in donations, he backed off the move.

"To me, it's incredibly tone deaf," Paul Johnson, campaign manager for Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), whose seat Bruning is running for, told the World-Herald.

Bruning told the paper he has been friends with the executives in question for years and there is no conflict of interest since the company is not under investigation.

Jon Bruning

GOP Senate Candidate 'Regrets' Comparing Poor People To Scavenging Animals

Benjy Sarlin | August 10, 2011, 6:57PM

Nebraska Attorney General and GOP Senate candidate Jon Bruning caused a stir this week when he compared welfare recipients to raccoons scavenging for insects. According to an aide, he's since realized he may not have picked the best metaphor for the poor.

"It was an inartful statement and one Jon regrets making," Bruning campaign manager Trent Fellers told the Associated Press in a statement. "As Attorney General, Jon's been a strong supporter of welfare reform and giving welfare recipients a hand up and not just a hand out."

In a video released by liberal tracker American Bridge 21st Century on Tuesday, Bruning told an audience about a misguided environmental program that collected endangered beetles in buckets using rat carcasses as bait -- only to be thwarted when raccoons raided the buckets for the tasty bugs.

"The raccoons figured out the beetles are in the bucket," Bruning said. "And its like grapes in a jar. The raccoons - they're not stupid, they're gonna do the easy way if we make it easy for them. Just like welfare recipients all across America. If we don't incent them to work, they're gonna take the easy route."

Jon Bruning

Nebraska AG Jon Bruning Compares Welfare Recipients To Scavenging Raccoons

Benjy Sarlin | August 9, 2011, 11:28AM

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, a frontrunner to win the GOP nomination against Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), compared poor people to scavenging racoons in a speech this week.

In a video captured by the liberal group, American Bridge 21st Century, Bruning makes the comparison as part of an elaborate metaphor originally focused on environmental regulations. He describes a requirement that workers at a construction project gather up endangered beetles by luring them into a bucket with a dead rat in order to release them elsewhere. But the plan is thwarted when hungry raccoons then eat them straight out of the rat-infested bucket. Which, according to Bruning, is a perfect image to illustrate how welfare recipients receive their benefits.

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NE-SEN

Nebraska's GOP Atty. Gen. To Run Against Ben Nelson

Eric Kleefeld | November 5, 2010, 4:29PM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) already has a challenger for his 2012 re-election, the Lincoln Journal Star reports, with Republican state Attorney General Jon Bruning forming an exploratory committee:

Bruning has started raising money for a Senate campaign, formed a four-person campaign staff, and is ready to go.

"I can't imagine any conditions under which I would not run," Bruning acknowledged at a news conference in the Capitol Rotunda.

"I want to run. I'm ready to run."

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