and serve as state Assemblyman... In some twisted way, he thought it was OK." In November 2006, McLaughlin was removed from his post as CLC president. He had already announced in January 2006 that he would not be running for re-election to the New York State Assembly. In August 2007, it was reported that McLaughlin, who was out on bail pending trial, had been "last spotted a few months ago working as an electrician again for the first time in a quarter-century - this time making $46 an hour at an apartment house under construction on Manhattan's West Side." He was quoted as saying, "I'm back at work because I need to work." Trial In March 2008, McLaughlin entered a plea of guilty in exchange for a reduced potential sentence. Asked her opinion of this development, Weingarten said, "Brian McLaughlin was a colleague and a close friend... this is a sad day for him, his family, and the labor movement." At his trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, prosecutors "charged that Mr. McLaughlin had misappropriated more than $330,000 from his own re-election committee; $185,000 from the New York City Central Labor Council, which he led; and more than $35,000 from the State Assembly. They said he had created fictitious jobs within the labor council and on his own legislative staff, and took kickbacks from the jobholders." After McLaughlin was found guilty in May 2009, federal prosecutor Daniel A. Braun asked for leniency, saying he had provided substantial assistance to the government. McLaughlin's lawyer, Michael F. Armstrong, said, "This is someone who at core is a good person who went terribly wrong, and who realizes that, and realizes it fully." McLaughlin apologized to the judge for his "improper conduct and criminal activity," saying that he made no excuses for it, but adding, "over the last three, three and a half years, I've had the opportunity to live the way I'd like to live my life." The New York Times described this as "an apparent reference to steps he has taken toward rehabilitation like attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, as well as cooperating with the government." Judge Richard J. Sullivan, however, rejected requests for leniency, and sentenced McLaughlin to ten years in prison and a $25,000 fine. "You had every opportunity," said Sullivan, "and you used those opportunities and squandered them for your own benefit on a monumental scale." The prosecution's request