Judge approves prison delay for Whittemore

A federal judge in Reno says ex-Nevada lobbyist Harvey Whittemore can remain out of prison until the U.S. Supreme Court rules in a pending campaign-finance case.

Whittemore was convicted last year and sentenced to two years for violating campaign laws by using straw donors to pump more than $130,000 into the campaign of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2007.

He was scheduled to begin serving his sentence this month.

But in a motion filed in December, Whittemore’s lawyers argued the one-time political powerbroker should be kept out of prison until the high court rules in an Alabama case challenging individual campaign limits.

The high court heard arguments in the case in October.

U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks granted Whittemore’s motion in an order signed on New Year’s Eve.