Wednesday, February 15, 2012

More Ethics Problems for Josh Mandel????

Josh Mandel, the Ohio Treasurer that spends more time campaigning for his next job than fulfilling the duties of his current job, might be in some hot water.

Cleveland.com:

The Ohio Democratic Party is filing a formal complaint today against Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, telling the Federal Election Commission that soon after Mandel took state office, he used money from his 2010 state race to help launch his U.S. Senate campaign.

It is illegal to use state campaign funds, regulated under Ohio law, for a federal campaign, regulated under federal law. Simply put, if you want to run for Ohio Dog Catcher (a fictional post), you must follow Ohio law, and if you then decide to run for Congress -- or even just want to consider such a run -- you must file paperwork with the FEC, start a federal account and steer clear of mingling the money you raised running for dog catcher. The law keeps candidates from doing an end-run around federal campaign funding restrictions.....

......the Ohio Democratic Party says that a month after taking office on Jan. 10, 2011, the new treasurer used his leftover state campaign funds to start flying to New York, Washington and Park City, Utah. Mandel was apparently lining up donations for his then-impending Senate race, the Democrats say.....

Of course, Mandel, who has taken campaign contributions from a Nazi re-enactor, doesn't seem to understand things called laws and rules. Josh Mandel did the same thing when he filed his personal financial disclosure six months late.

A search at Campaignmoney.com, found 8 individuals from Park City, Utah that contributed to the Josh Mandel campaign on 5/9/2011 and an additional person from the same location that gave a donation on 6/21/2001. Mandel has been spending lots of energy on flying here, there, and everywhere, while spending little time on his elected position.