Judge receives 10 days jail for improper campaign spending

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A judge in Ohio’s capital city has been sentenced to 10 days in jail after pleading guilty to charges related to improperly spending campaign funds.

The Columbus Dispatch reports Judge Tim Horton of Franklin County Appeals Court also was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, give $2,000 to a food bank and undergo alcohol treatment at sentencing Thursday in Columbus.

Judge Horton was charged with improperly spending $1,000 in campaign funds at a dinner to celebrate his opponent dropping out of the 2014 appeals court race; nearly $1,000 on a restaurant fundraiser that attracted just one donor and $170 on cigars.

Judge Horton told the judge who sentenced him that his “mistakes and misjudgments” were partly caused by alcohol problems.

Misdemeanor convictions don’t require him to resign as judge.