With one week away from Ohio’s special primary for the 11th Congressional District, the Democratic candidate Shorter Brown may be in trouble.
In April, The Intercept reported that Cuyahoga County Councillor Brown voted to award a multi-million dollar contract to a company related to her romantic partner and campaign donor. Emails reviewed by the Daily Poster show that the Ohio Auditor’s Office reviewed the allegations in the article and recently referred the matter to the State Ethics Commission.
According to Ohio law, public officials shall not knowingly authorize or use their power or influence “to ensure that any public contract in which the public official, family member of the public official, or any business partner of the public official has an interest is authorized.” A violation of the law is For a felony, punishment may include imprisonment.
Brown’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Brown is participating in the Democratic primaries, with former Ohio senators and Bernie Sanders Acting Nina Turner (Nina Turner) won a public seat in Congress.Brown, who has served on the county council since 2015, also serves as the chairman of Cuyahoga County Democratic Party And got the strong support of the Kuomintang establishment.
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In recent weeks, Brown’s campaign and her efforts to portray Turner as a bad Democrat have benefited from the high-profile support of the former secretary of state’s Congressional Black Caucus PAC. Hillary ClintonAnd the House of Representatives majority party whip Jim Clyburn, DS.C.
Brown has also received strong support from corporate lobbyists and external groups, the most famous of which is DMFI PAC, which is a pro-Israel super PAC. Its largest donor is an oil and gas executive and a huge fossil fuel wealth. Heir.
Third Way, a corporate think tank, recently approved legislation to encourage more states to cut unemployment benefits related to the federal epidemic. Last week, it participated in the Cleveland competition and invested $250,000 in digital advertising against Turner.
In addition, after a poll in early June showed that Turner had an overwhelming advantage in winning the primary election, some outside groups also came to help Brown. In the fierce attack on Turner by the Democratic establishment, Brown’s campaign team released survey data last week showing that she has risen by 26 points since April, a far cry from Turner.
Brown even got from Donald Trump Ally Robert Kraft, The billionaire owner of the New England Patriots.
But Brown’s corporate-funded scorched earth movement also drew criticism from critics. On Monday, local councillor Walter Stewart of Cuyahoga County released a video saying that he would withdraw support for Brown because he called it “fake politics,” “big business,” and “a tit-for-tat negative campaign.”
Instead, Stewart said, “We need someone who insists on solving problems. This person is Nina Turner.”
The Intercept reported in April that Brown promised to avoid contracts involving her partner Mark Perkins “when necessary”, and that she used her position as Cuyahoga County Commissioner to help transfer the $17 million contract to Perk. Perk was founded by Perkins’ uncle, but is now owned by the Cifani family. The Cifani family has a long-term business relationship with the Perkins family and supports Brown’s campaign.
The Intercept noted that in February 2017, a few weeks after one of the $7 million contracts was approved, Perk organized a fundraiser for Brown’s re-election campaign.
According to an email provided to the Daily Poster, the Intercept story in April was forwarded to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. The following month, an official from the Attorney General’s Office pointed out in an email that she had discussed the matter with an attorney in the State Auditor’s Office. “We all think that the audit by the auditor’s office is justified, and we also think that this may eventually become a case mentioned [the] Ethics Committee,” the official wrote.
Intercept’s report has been forwarded to the Office of Auditors. According to an email from a representative of the Office’s Special Investigation Team on June 2, the matter has been sent to the Ohio Ethics Commission, Ohio’s official public corruption monitoring agency, for review.
“The recommendation of the Special Audit Working Group is to submit the matter to the Ohio Ethics Commission for review and consideration,” the e-mail noted. “The national auditor strives to ensure that all matters are referred to the authority having jurisdiction. Therefore, the national auditor submits the matter to the aforementioned institution.”
According to the information provided in the email, the person who sent the story to the Office of the Attorney General and the Audit Office has nothing to do with the Turner campaign.
Representatives of the Ohio Ethics Commission will not confirm or deny any allegations or investigations, and pointed out that under state law, the only public investigation document is a settlement agreement, and there is currently no such agreement on related matters.
