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Former Minneapolis Council member sentenced to 21 months
April 30, 2003

Minneapolis, Minn. — (AP) - Former Minneapolis City Council member Joe Biernat was sentenced Wednesday to 21 months in prison and fined $10,000 for public corruption.

U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery told Biernat she considered his misdeeds a "detour" in his life. However, she said, that didn't justify a sentence lighter than recommended by federal guidelines.

In a voice that trembled at times, Biernat told Montgomery he deeply regretted the pain the case has caused his former constituents, his former colleagues and other city employees.

The sentence was nearly double the time Biernat's fellow council member, Brian Herron, served after pleading guilty to extortion in an unrelated case in 2001.

Biernat's attorney, Jan Symchych, said she planned to appeal the conviction and that Biernat should not have to serve more time than Herron.

He will remain free pending further proceedings.

Biernat was convicted Nov. 21 on five of seven federal counts related to his acceptance of $2,700 in free plumbing work. He was convicted on three counts of mail fraud, plus lying to a federal agent and aiding a theft from Plumbers Union Local 15. The charges alleged that after receiving the free plumbing, Biernat voted to appoint the union officials who arranged the work to a plumbers licensing board.

He resigned his council seat hours after his conviction.

Earlier, the union official, Thomas J. Martin, was sentenced to two years in prison, ordered to pay $43,000 in restitution to the union and fined $5,000. His brother, union member Joseph Martin, was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to repay $9,177 to the union.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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