Democratic Party Official Ordered To File Campaign Finance Reports
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia judge has fined a Democratic ward leader's PAC $60,000 for ethics law violations in connection with the 2015 city council election.
2nd ward leader Ed Nesmith's PAC, which is, cryptically, called "C.O.P.S.," got money from four council candidates to work on their behalf, according to a complaint by the Ethics Board, but never filed a campaign finance report about the payments or how they were spent. The Board's executive director Shane Creamer says that violates city law.
"We have some details in our petition that we were able to piece together from our investigation," Creamer said, "but it probably does not reflect the full picture."
Among the details, the PAC paid protestors to attend a rally at City Hall, targeting Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, whom the PAC's client, Ori Feibush was running against. The PAC's failure to disclose such expenditures came to light when Feibush sued the PAC two years ago, but Creamer says it still hasn't filed the reports.
The judge ordered the PAC to file the reports by Thursday.
Neither Nesmith nor PAC officials returned requests for comment.