Campaign Contribution From Opponent Leads To Suspension

A false statement conviction of a former judge involving his run for Congress and acceptance of benefits from his opponent drew a four-year retroactive suspension by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Respondent had failed to report the payments in FEC disclosure documents.

From the Disciplinary Board report

Respondent, along with [his campaign manager] Ms. Cavaness, used a portion of these funds for personal expenses that included the purchase of a Cadillac and vacations in Canada and Florida. N.T. 262-265; ODC-4, pp. 5-7; ODC-8(a), p. 166.

 In Respondent’s June 22, 2020 Answer to Petition for Discipline, he stated he “did not know what his opponent] Mr. Brady was proposing was illegal.” Answer at ¶ 16.

Although there was some inconsistency as to when Respondent knew it was wrong for his Congressional campaign to receive $90,000 from Rep. Brady’s campaign, Respondent ultimately admitted that he knew it was a crime to participate in the scheme proposed for Respondent to receive $90,000 from Rep. Brady’s campaign to pay off Respondent’s campaign debts. N.T. 48-49, 108-110.

At the disciplinary hearing on October 8, 2020, Respondent testified on cross-examination that he knew at the time he agreed to accept $90,000 from Rep. Brady that it was a violation of federal law and “initially I probably felt that it was the wrong thing to do.” N.T. 110.

Respondent cooperated with the government after he was contacted by the FBI in April 2017, and assisted by wearing a wire and testifying against [Brady’s political consultant] Mr. Smukler. N.T. 49, 51, 76, 154, 156, 253, 256, 257.

Sanction

The record established that in 2012, Respondent struck a corrupt deal to withdraw from a Congressional campaign in exchange for $90,000 from his opponent to pay off Respondent’s campaign debts. The scheme was multi-layered in that it required setting up a shell company, creating three “dummy invoices” and sending the “dummy invoices” to Rep. Brady’s various political consultants, who then sent monies by three separate checks to the shell company for Respondent to distribute. Although Respondent was not the mastermind of this scheme, the record evidences that he was all too willing to go along with it in order to rid himself of his debt. Respondent was responsible for either implementing the details of the scheme himself or directing Ms. Cavaness to set up the “dummy” corporation and prepare the “dummy invoices.” Upon receipt of the $90,000, Respondent made distribution to vendors, to Ms. Cavaness and to himself. Thereafter, to conceal the scheme Respondent knowingly filed false campaign finance reports with the that failed to disclose his receipt of any funds from Rep. Brady’s campaign, any money that Respondent received personally, or the fact that vendors were paid. Respondent admitted that he alone was responsible for filing the false campaign finance reports. Respondent used the monies for personal expenses, including vacations and a car.

His cooperation in the criminal case was a mitigating factor. (Mike Frisch)