A range of Republican luminaries on the national, state and local level wrote to a federal judge last year urging leniency for former Rep. Chris Collins. 

Among those urging Judge Vernon Broderick to consider Collins's career in business and public service was former House Speaker John Boehner, who is neighbors with Collins in Florida.  

Collins, a Western New York Republican, pleaded guilty last year to an insider trading charge. He faces a year and a day in prison. 

"As human beings, we make mistakes and errors of judgment, and we have to accept the consequences that come with our mistakes and our errors of judgment," he wrote. "Chris, I believe, would be the first to agree with this. I ·write today simply in hopes of sharing my experience with Chris as a fellow American and friend." 

Boehner wasn't the only former colleague of Collins to write on his behalf. Rep. Tom Reed, who represents a neighboring district, praised Collins's career, as did Long Island Rep. Peter King. 

"While I am in no way attempting to minimize the serious error in judgment to which Chris Collins has admitted, I would respectfully request that when imposing sentence Your Honor take into account his many positive contributions in public life and the genuine respect he has earned and the high regard in which he is held by those who have worked with him and know him well," King wrote.