By David Shapiro

Rene Mansho's latest attempt to evade responsibility for her corruption reflects the same misunderstanding of public service that got her in trouble in the first place.

The former councilwoman wrote city workers and others soliciting testimonials to her character and 14 years of council service. She hopes to sway Circuit Judge Dan Kochi toward leniency when Mansho is sentenced June 26 on two counts of felony theft, each potentially worth 10 years in prison.

Mansho says sparing her prison time would enable her to continue serving the community. It displays her persistent delusion that her council service excuses the corrupt acts she admitted to when she pleaded guilty.

She doesn't get it that when she started serving herself at the public's expense, which prosecutors say went on for 10 years, she ceased being a public servant and became a crook.

Until Mansho shows true contrition, learns the difference between right and wrong and pays for her bad acts, there's simply no further service of any value she can offer the community.

From the start, Mansho has clung to a weak "gray area" defense. She vaguely accepts responsibility for her actions, but makes clear that she really doesn't believe she did anything seriously wrong.

Mansho claims her offenses were not black and white, but matters of subtle interpretation that could have tripped up anyone. Though her hand may have been in the cookie jar, her case goes, her heart was in the right place.

On close examination of the facts, however, Mansho's argument crumbles like the cookies she snatched from the jar.

There's nothing gray about misusing tens of thousands of dollars of council staff time for personal projects. There's nothing gray about illegally diverting campaign funds to her own use.

Mansho's staff repeatedly warned her she had crossed the line into illegal activity. Instead of heeding them or seeking further legal guidance to make sure she was on firm ground, Mansho continued to do as she pleased. If it were ever a gray area, she could have easily clarified it before she got in trouble — if she were acting with honest intent.

Prosecutors, annoyed by Mansho's attempts to minimize her crimes, will ask Nakatani to impose the maximum 10-year sentence. That's extreme, but the judge will find it difficult to justify granting Mansho's request for probation.

Mansho stained honest public officials who do their jobs without expectation of special privilege. Her penalty must serve to deter others from following in her path. Having to resign her council seat a few months before her term would have ended anyway isn't punishment enough.

Former Councilman Andy Mirikitani was sentenced to more than four years in prison on federal charges of collecting some $7,000 in kickbacks for bonuses paid to his council staff. The federal court is traditionally tougher than state court in punishing official corruption, but Nakatani can't ignore the comparison.

Mansho will argue that unlike Mirikitani, who clung to office and fought the charges to the bitter end despite overwhelming evidence against him, she resigned her seat and spared the public a trial with her guilty plea.

But she admitted guilt only because of a plea bargain that saved her from indictment on more serious charges of fraud and racketeering.

Mansho got into trouble because she believed she was entitled to special privilege as an elected official. Now she's asking the court to extend her special sentencing privilege for her service as a former elected official.

She needs to be taught that elected office carries special responsibility, not special privilege.

David Shapiro can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net.

Correction: Circuit Judge Dan Kochi will sentence former City Councilwoman Rene Mansho. A previous version of this column contained incorrect information.