Offered $1,000 after promising his vote on Toledo City Council for a permit for an internet gambling business on Central Avenue, at-large councilman Gary Johnson instructed the businessman to put it in the form of a contribution to his campaign fund, but in somebody else’s name.
“If you can do that... get a check from somebody else to write the check [sic], and then donate it to the campaign,” Mr. Johnson told the person who was secretly a confidential source for the FBI while they were at a Toledo restaurant Jan. 6.
The exchange, reported in a 40-page affidavit detailing a sweeping federal bribery probe that targeted four Toledo councilmen and one Toledo lawyer, is typical of many of the detailed furtive interactions between FBI sources and those accused of taking bribes.
Investigators say councilmen Yvonne Harper, Tyrone Riley, Larry Sykes, and Mr. Johnson, all Democrats, engaged in pay-to-play for council votes. They were arrested June 30 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on federal bribery and extortion charges and are being pressured to resign from office immediately or face removal by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Also charged is Toledo lawyer Keith Mitchell, who allegedly coordinated bribes to Ms. Harper.
Up to $34,260 changed hands between business owners, the councilmen, and Mr. Mitchell during the course of the federal investigation, according to the complaint.
Several local politicians and campaign experts, however, contend the line between what constitutes a campaign contribution and what constitutes a bribe may be fuzzy to some because of a culture in which politicians and businesses, interest groups, and unions symbiotically support each other through campaign contributions and favorable votes on legislation.
Others agree that money infuses politics, but say no one can be confused about the absolute ban on promising to vote for something in exchange for something of value.
The affidavit, signed by FBI Special Agent Matthew Cromly, outlines multiple references to exchanges the councilmen characterize as campaign contributions but the feds say were bribes:
- Mr. Johnson on April 22, 2020 pocketed $2,000 in twenties from a local internet cafe owner who was working as an informant after Mr. Johnson told the man he needed $2,000 for his campaign. He also allegedly arranged with the person seeking the permit to give him a $1,000 campaign check, but to put it in someone else’s name to conceal their relationship.
- One of the FBI’s confidential sources and a third businessman, with the initials A.M., went to a Harper campaign fund-raiser June 6, 2019, after securing Ms. Harper’s support for a permit for an internet cafe on Manhattan Boulevard and handed over a $5,000 check at the front desk made out to Ms. Harper’s campaign committee. He also provided a $1,500 check for Mr. Mitchell, according to the complaint.
- At one point, Mr. Riley accepted $600 in cash, and then told one of the FBI’s confidential sources that he was going to return the cash and would take instead a $500 check paid to his campaign. Mr. Riley got the check, but returned only $400 of the cash.
- Mr. Sykes accepted $800 in cash in the parking lot of a restaurant July 17, 2019 after discussing the source’s request for his support for a permit for an internet cafe on Central Avenue and a moratorium on new, competing internet cafes. He said he would take the money as a “campaign contribution.” The money never showed up in his campaign account.
Mr. Johnson, in response to a question from the media as he left Toledo’s federal courthouse June 30, professed confusion over the difference between bribes and campaign contributions.
“I don’t know what their idea of a bribe is or what my idea of a campaign contribution is,” said Mr. Johnson, who was raising money for his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Lucas County sheriff at the time many of the events detailed in the criminal complaint took place.
Campaign managers say candidates are warned not to take cash.
“I always advised the maximum cash you can take is $100 and it has to be reported,” said John Irish, who managed Mr. Johnson’s campaign as well as other campaigns in the past.
Mr. Irish said he doesn’t recall whether he gave that same advice to Mr. Johnson, but “generally when I work with someone I say that.”
Mr. Irish said he believes “greed” played no part in Mr. Johnson’s alleged behavior.
“I think you’ll find when the smoke clears most of these issues will be campaign-finance reporting issues. Gary’s overzealousness to raise money for his campaign may have been part of the problem,” Mr. Irish said.
Mr. Johnson lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for sheriff in the spring primary election to Oregon Police Chief Mike Navarre.
Joe Kidd, a lawyer and former Republican political operative who was an informant for the FBI about money laundering by Tom Noe in the 2004 re-election campaign of President George W. Bush, said the trading of money for political influence is pervasive, but often done legally in the guise of campaign contributions.
“The corrupting influence of money on politics is something that has been with us for a very long time,” Mr. Kidd said. “I’m not saying that people are taking bribes, but I am keenly aware of the role that money plays in politics at all levels. People who donate money to campaigns may have some expectation that they’ll get some favor. It’s part of the nature of what politics is.”
He suggested the city have an ethics ombudsman and a requirement for real-time campaign finance disclosures, rather than waiting up to a year for campaign contributions to be reported.
Ohio has no requirement that candidates and elected officials receive training in managing campaign finance.
The closest they get is an annual lecture given in the Toledo area by the Ohio Ethics Commission, at which attendance is voluntary. The program focuses on laws against appointed or elected public officials accepting gifts from people who have business with them in their official capacity.
Campaign finance is regulated in Ohio by the Secretary of State and the Ohio Elections Commission. Laws against bribery are the domain of state and federal prosecutors.
In Toledo, council members also take an oath of office in which they swear to support the U.S. constitution, the state of Ohio, and the charter of the city of Toledo, along with “faithfully, honestly, and impartially” performing duties according to law and to the best of his or her ability.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the law is clear that officials can accept nothing of value in exchange for official acts, and doubted the need for training on that topic.
“We don’t have required education about theft or assault, either. I fear for the republic if our public officials are so ignorant of their duties that they think they are allowed to trade official acts for campaign contributions,” Mr. Yost said.
He did not agree that the bribes allegedly paid in the Toledo investigation could be interpreted as support for a policy position.
“Of course people are going to support, with their votes and contributions, people who have similar views.... The key is if you say ‘I will give you this for that,’ ” Mr. Yost said.
It is common practice for politicians to seek contributions among those who are going to get business contracts with or seek favorable legislation from the politician in question.
“In politics, you say, ‘OK, who does business with the city?’ That’s where you get your campaign contributions. That’s gone on forever,” Mr. Irish said.
Campaign contribution reports can be found on the websites of the Lucas County Board of Elections and the Ohio Secretary of State.
Michael Beazley, the city administrator in Oregon and a veteran of Lucas County Democratic politics, said corruption is not part of the culture in Toledo, and when it is discovered it is dealt with, as was the case with former Toledo Councilman Bob McCloskey, who served 20 months in prison for bribery after being caught taking $5,000 in an FBI sting in 2006.
“People take campaign contributions from people they agree with, and there's ways to do it legally. You can never do it as a quid pro quo,” Mr. Beazley said.
He said people who have business with local government establish relationships with elected officials, which can include attending their fund-raisers.
“That’s one of the things business people and labor people do. They want relationships. It happens in every city. It happens in Columbus. Every candidate raises money. That’s among the challenges with America’s system,” he said.
Attorney Rick Kerger, who represents Mr. Johnson, said the difference between a bribe and a campaign contribution is in the mind of the councilman.
“Fund-raising in politics happens all the time. Part of a congressman’s job is to sit down and make phone calls to raise money almost on a daily basis,” Mr. Kerger said. “The Supreme Court has wrestled with this. If they interpret it as broadly as the government wants to they’ll do away with all campaign contributions.”
He noted that one of the payments made to Mr. Johnson was after the permit Mr. Johnson pledged to support failed in city council.
“It’s hard to see that as a bribe,” Mr. Kerger said.
Both of the county political chairmen have called for all four councilmen to resign.
Michael Ashford, a former city councilman and state representative who now is the Lucas County Democratic Party chairman, said any contribution in the context of a specific vote is clearly illegal.
“In their affidavit they said to the informant if you give me money I will vote this way. That’s a straight up bribe. If they never said that, that’s a campaign contribution. If you verbally said that, that’s a bribe,” Mr. Ashford said.
Mark Wagoner, the Republican chairman, said the defendants will probably base their legal defense on the claim that they thought they were taking a campaign contribution. But he doubted any of the councilmen was inexperienced enough in politics to think that their behavior was appropriate.
“You cannot make your decision impacted about whether someone has given a contribution or not. That’s where they got in trouble,” Mr. Wagoner said.
First Published July 11, 2020, 11:10 p.m.
