Ex-Congressman sentenced to 30 months for bribery in US

Ney is the latest in a string of men convicted in the Abramoff scandal that so far has caught several lobbyists and two members of the Bush administration. Democrats last year campaigned against what they said was a Republican “culture of corruption” as they won control of both houses of Congress.

As head of the committee that administered the House of Representatives, Ney was instrumental in getting the chamber’s cafeterias to change french fries on their menus to freedom fries to protest French opposition to the US-led war on Iraq.

When he is released from prison, Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said, Ney will serve another two years on probation and pay a $6,000 fine. She also ordered him into a prison alcohol rehabilitation programme for treatment of a drinking problem he has acknowledged in recent months.

The sentence was harsher than recommended by prosecutors or Ney’s lawyers, Huvelle said, because Ney had violated the trust place on him as a public official. “Both your constituents and the public trusted you to represent them honestly,” she said.

Ney apologised to his family and constituents during a brief speech to the judge.

“I will continue to take full responsibility, accept the consequences and battle the demons of addiction that are within me,” he said.