Jon Bruning

Jon Bruning (born April 30, 1969) is the 31st Attorney General of the state of Nebraska. A Republican, he was a Member of the Nebraska State Legislature from 1996 until his resignation in 2002 following his election to the position of Attorney General.

Early life, education, and legal career

Bruning was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, a fifth generation Nebraskan, and graduated from Lincoln Southeast High School ranked first in his class of 487. After high school, Bruning went on to the University of Nebraska where he received a Bachelor's degree in 1990 with High Distinction. Bruning was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Innocents Society, a senior honor society at Nebraska that honors 13 seniors for leadership, scholarship and service. After completing his undergraduate studies, Bruning attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor with distinction in 1994.

In 1995, Bruning married Deonne Niemack; the couple produced two offspring, Lauren and Jack.^[1]

Bruning served as general counsel for Vital Learning Corporation from 1995 to 1997.

Political career

State legislature

Bruning ran for the Senate's 3rd District of the Nebraska Legislature in 1996. He defeated incumbent Michael Avery 55%–44%.^[2] He was the youngest member of the legislature. In 1998, he sponsored a bill that would extend loans to college students in order to encourage them to stay in the state.^[3] He won re-election in 2000 unopposed.^[4] By 2002, Nebraska was the last state to use only the electric chair for the death penalty. He sponsored legislation to legalize lethal injection.^[5]

Attorney General

Bruning was elected Attorney General of the State of Nebraska in 2002 with 66% of the vote, becoming the youngest Attorney General in the country at the time, and the youngest in Nebraska history. He won re-election unopposed in 2006 and 2010.

In 2004, he worked with the Nebraska Legislature to create Nebraska’s Medicaid Fraud Unit.^[6] The Medicaid Fraud Unit recovered more than $20 million in 2012 and nearly $68 million since 2004.^[7]

In 2005, Bruning launched a criminal probe of University of Nebraska Regent David Hergert related to campaign finances.^[8] In the same year, he charged a 20-year-old man with rape after his 14-year-old wife became pregnant.^[9]

He served as President of the National Association of Attorneys General from 2009 to 2010.^[10] He traveled to Iraq as President of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and signed training agreement with Iraq Jurists Union.^[11]

During a speech in August 2011, Bruning compared welfare recipients to raccoons. Bruning said his comment might have been "inartful" but that he was trying to make a point about spending cuts being necessary.^{[12][13][14][15]}

In August 2011, the Omaha World-Herald reported that Bruning had purchased a lakeside house valued at $675,000 near the Platte River in partnership with two Nelnet executives, almost a year after he and his office had been accused of acting favorably toward the student loan company by not enforcing payment of a $1 million judgment awarded to the State of Nebraska when Nelnet was under fire for alleged improper business practices.^[16]

In 2012, Bruning sued the federal government over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with a 26 state coalition. His office led the legal challenge to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s provision regarding employer-paid health insurance requirements related to abortion.^[17]

In 2013, Bruning was fined a $19,000 civil penalty by the Federal Election Commission for campaign finance violations during his 2012 Senate election effort.^[18]

Senate elections

Bruning was briefly a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008^[19] but he withdrew when Mike Johanns declared his candidacy. Johanns went on to win the election.

On November 5, 2010, Bruning announced he was exploring a run for the Senate seat held by incumbent Senator Ben Nelson.^[20] On January 5, 2011, Bruning officially entered the race by filing papers to form a campaign committee with the Federal Elections Commission^[21]

Bruning was endorsed by the Tea Party Express^[22] and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.^[23] Bruning has stated he believes life begins at conception, and has been endorsed by Nebraska Right to Life in each of his campaigns.^[24] Bruning lost the Republican primary election to Deb Fischer, who went on to win the general election.

Electoral history

See also

Conservatism portal

References

External links

• Official campaign website
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission