Two Democratic Pennsylvania mayors (one former) face charges of fraud and bribery.
The Republican Party of Pennsylvania is condemning Democrats after last week’s indictments of Allentown’s mayor and Reading’s former mayor, along with a guilty plea by a campaign aide to a former 1st Congressional District candidate.
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski faces 54 counts of fraud, bribery and extortion. He is running for re-election this year.
Former Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer was indicted on bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy charges.
Carolyn Cavaness pleaded guilty to a charge of causing false statements to the Federal Election Commission in connection with the 2012 1st Congressional District primary.
Cavaness admitted that Jimmie Moore, whose campaign she worked on, withdrew from the primary pursuant to an agreement with U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, who promised to pay Moore $90,000 from his campaign funds to be used to repay Moore’s campaign debts.
Cavaness admitted that she was aware that under the applicable law, a contribution from one authorized campaign to another could not exceed $2,000 for the primary election, and that the FEC required campaigns to file periodic reports itemizing the campaign’s contributions and expenditures during the reporting period.
Cavaness routed the payments through two political consultants, who created false invoices to generate a paper trail intended to justify the payments.
Moore and Brady, chairman of the Philadelphia Democratic Party, have not been charged.
“It’s clear Democrat corruption in southeastern Pennsylvania runs rampant. This is exactly the kind of despicable behavior that arises when Democratic political machines are able to dominate local politics through single-party rule. Pennsylvania voters will hold the Democrat party accountable for its culture of corruption,” said Greg Manz, communications director for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania. ••
