Last week, we told you about Public Official #14’s corrupt pay-to-play campaign violation. Now, the allegations have gone a step further, as the Ohio GOP is filing an official complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission. In a release today, the details were laid out:
In a recent story in The Plain Dealer his campaign admitted that it took more than a month to return an illegal $1,000 contribution it received on April 30 from an investment banker that FitzGerald appointed to a board overseeing his job creation agency. The contribution was given one week after the nomination. Cuyahoga County law makes it illegal for a public official to receive donations from appointees.
“Coming off a massive corruption scandal in Cuyahoga County that saw 60 public officials indicted or jailed, it is stunning that Ed FitzGerald blatantly violates county and state law with his campaign fundraising and does nothing but make excuses about it,” said ORP Chairman Matt Borges…
Reporting from The Plain Dealer indicates that the FitzGerald campaign flagged the donation as illegal over a month ago, but as of September 4th still had not returned the donation, well outside the 10-day window required by Ohio Administrative Code.
This is simply a continuation of the corrupt politics that seem to be commonplace for Ed FicksGerald and his Cuyahoga crew. And Ohio voters are supposed to believe him when it comes to his own claims? It’s no wonder the Akron Beacon Journal—one of the state’s more liberal newspapers—said the JobsOhio witch hunt orchestrated by Fitzy and the Ohio Democrats will cause them “to squander their credibility.”
Well, with Fitzy’s acceptance of illegal pay-to-play politics, it’s hard to see how he hasn’t lost his credibility already.