Former Honolulu Councilman Rod Tam was ordered Tuesday to serve a two-day jail term but has a chance to have his record cleared of stealing money from the city and violating campaign spending laws if he stays out of trouble for a year.

Part-time Honolulu District Judge Randal Shintani also ordered Tam to perform more than 300 hours of community service.

Deputy Attorney General Lori Wada, who had asked Shintani to impose a six-month jail term, called the outcome "a shock and a travesty."

Tam, 58, apologized in court and said he regrets what happened. "I’ve made mistakes and I’ve learned from it," he told the judge.

He later declined to comment.

His attorney Nelson Goo had asked the judge for "compassion" and "mercy," and said he was "very pleased."

Shintani ordered Tam to start his two-day term at Oahu Community Correctional Center at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 30 after Goo said his client’s unemployment compensation might be jeopardized if he went in earlier and would not be available for work.

Tam told the judge the unemployment compensation expires at the end of the year.

Tam served 32 years as an elected official, including two four-year Council terms, which ended at the start of this year.

He was barred from running for the same office because of the two-term limit.

The hearing culminated court proceedings that began nearly a year ago when Tam pleaded guilty to 26 misdemeanor and petty misdemeanor counts of theft and falsifying documents.

The charges were related to overcharging the city $8 to $267 for meals at Honolulu restaurants from 2007 to 2009.

In June, Tam pleaded no contest to eight misdemeanor counts of violating campaign spending laws by falsely claiming he had a meal with a volunteer at a restaurant, failing to report two campaign contributions, misusing campaign funds and failing to maintain receipts to verify expenses.

Shintani did not explain the reasoning for why he granted Tam’s request to defer accepting the guilty and no-contest pleas to the 34 charges, which means the cases will be dropped if he abides by conditions similar to probation and isn’t convicted of another crime for a year.

The judge ordered Tam to serve two days in jail as a condition of having the cases dismissed.

Under state law, deferrals are reserved for first-time offenders who are deemed unlikely to engage in future criminal conduct.

Four supporters spoke in behalf of Tam, including his sister Noreen Clement, who said her brother cares for their bedridden mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, and father, both 83.

Goo told the judge he wasn’t trying to minimize his client’s charges, but said compared with other public corruption cases, "this is not that bad."

"It’s not widespread public corruption," he said.

Wada told the judge that the charges all involve "crimes of dishonesty."

"This is a huge violation of public trust," she said.

She opposed granting the deferrals and asked that Tam be sentenced to probation and six months in jail.

Goo later said more than 50 people submitted letters and nearly 200 signed a petition supporting Tam.

"We are a nation of second chances, and I hope the public gives Mr. Tam a second chance," Goo said. "The judge gave him a second chance."

Wada said she was disappointed by the outcome.

The deferral means that Tam will get a clean record with no evidence of the years of public corruption, she said.

Wada also said the two-day jail term won’t serve as a deterrent to any politician who might engage in the same type of conduct.

But she said she is pleased that Tam must serve a jail term that has him behind bars at the start of New Year’s Day "to remind him that these type of things will not be tolerated by the state of Hawaii."

Hawaii News Now video: Former councilmember Rod Tam heading to jail