Aftab Pureval spent $30K from his clerk campaign account this year. Was some for his congressional race?

Sharon Coolidge | Cincinnati Enquirer

Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval has a campaign war chest of $1.5 million as he pursues Ohio's 1st Congressional district seat.

But publicly available campaign finance reports appear to show Pureval used his clerk of courts campaign account for expenses in his federal congressional race.

And that's a campaign no-no. Using a county account in a federal race could be a violation of election laws, because the rules for each differ.

Pureval spent $30,000 in the first six months of this year out of the clerk campaign account – even though a potential run for re-election wouldn't come for another two years when Pureval's term is up, according to a campaign finance reports filed Tuesday at the Hamilton County Board of Elections. Pureval was elected clerk in 2016.

On Feb. 5 – five days after Pureval announced he was running for Congress – the clerk's account cut a $360 check to Mark Byron for media. Byron is a Cincinnati-based photographer who has previously worked for Pureval. Byron's photography website shows he photographed Pureval's Jan. 31 congressional race kick-off. There is no payment to Byron from the congressional campaign, records show.

View Bryon photography: https://www.byronphoto.com/Aftab-Pureval-for-Congress/

Pureval declined to comment. Pureval's congressional campaign manager Sarah Topy told The Enquirer all donations and expenses from the clerk campaign account are related to the clerk's office. She declined to comment on specific spending, including the photography expense and specific other expenses related to the congressional campaign.

Hours after The Enquirer's story was posted Thursday on Cincinnati.com, Brian G. Svoboda from Perkins Coie LLP in Washington, DC, and counsel for Aftab's campaign, sent a statement that said:

"The claim that Aftab Pureval engaged in any kind of 'campaign no-no,' as the Enquirer insinuated on its web site today, is unsupported by fact and law. Federal Election Commission rules expressly allow individuals to run campaigns for federal and local office at the same time. They also expressly allow individuals to raise funds for both their federal and local campaigns. Doing so has been a common practice for more than forty years, and the FEC has repeatedly allowed state and local campaigns to divide their costs appropriately. The FEC has repeatedly rejected allegations like those here. It has repeatedly declined to pursue claims that federal and local campaigns improperly allocated salary payments, polls, communications and other types of expenses. In one advisory opinion, the FEC even warned that paying a local officeholder expense out of a federal campaign would itself trigger a violation. These allegations would fail to meet the minimum threshold even for FEC administrative review."

Then Friday, Pureval filed an amended clerk of courts 2017 annual report with the Hamilton County Board of Elections. No corrections were made to this year's report, but the amended report shows Pureval – after this story was published online – is doing a detailed accounting of his books.

On the original 2017 report, Pureval detailed contributions of $8,000 for the first half of 2017. Now, he reported, he was given $8,750 in that same time. While the difference is less than $1,000, it shows there were contributions not accounted for.

His campaign did not return three requests for further comment Friday.

Democrat Pureval announced on Jan. 31 that he would challenge Republican Steve Chabot in Ohio's First Congressional District this November.

1st Congressional District Race in 30 seconds Here's what you need to know about Steve Chabot and Aftab Pureval in 30 seconds

After that, the clerk of courts campaign report shows two large donations from Pureval's mother, Drenko Pureval, and spending on travel, media and consulting from the clerk campaign account.

One day after the congressional announcement, according to his clerk's office campaign report, Drenko Pureval, donated $15,000 to Pureval's clerk of courts campaign.

On the same day, she donated $5,400 to Aftab for Ohio, Aftab’s Congressional campaign account – the office her son is seeking this year, his federal campaign reports shows. That is the maximum amount permitted to be donated to the congressional campaign. There is no limit for donations in county races, including to the clerk campaign account.

Drenko Pureval then wrote a second $15,000 check to her son's clerk of courts account on April 11, the clerk report says, bringing the total she donated to that campaign to $30,000.

In the midst of those donations, on April 4, Pureval paid $16,400 to Washington D.C.–based polling firm GBA Strategies for consulting, the clerk's campaign report said. GBA is a Democratic polling firm. Pureval had never before used the firm in the clerk's race. GBA did a congressional poll for Pureval in January, according to a polling memo distributed to supporters from the congressional campaign, which was obtained by The Enquirer.

More: PX column: Aftab Pureval builds war chest as outside groups spend big money attacking Chabot

More: Who is Aftab Pureval? 5 things to know about Rep. Steve Chabot's new challenger in Ohio

More: Pureval has gained on Chabot in the minds of some experts. One sees race as a toss-up

The clerk of courts campaign finance report covered donations and expenses between Jan. 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018. The report shows Pureval started the reporting period with $10,691 in the clerk account. He raised $31,320 – $30,320 on the day of his congressional announcement and after the announcement. In that same time, he spent $28,380.

Pureval has filed three campaign finance reports in the congressional race, reports in April, May and July. He raised roughly $1.5 million.

Attorney Evan Nolan serves as treasurer for both Pureval campaigns. He declined to comment.

If Pureval did use the county account for his federal race, such use could violate federal and state campaign finance laws. Violations of federal and state campaign finance laws can carry criminal penalties, including jail time.

Peruvian's clerk campaign finance report shows multiple expenses for travel, consulting and other work.

A look at the Hamilton County Board of Elections report shows:

· Pureval paid NGP VAN, a company that provides fundraising software to Democrats, $3,910. The software is the industry standard and used by nearly every Democratic congressional campaign. Pureval used the same company in the clerk's race, but at a much lesser cost. Typically, the bigger the race, the larger the cost of the software.

· Valentine Strategies, which is consulting on Pureval's congressional campaign according to his federal campaign finance reports, was paid $578 on May 9. The money was reimbursement for supplies.

· Pureval's clerk account made multiple payments to Brianna Ledsome, who according to LinkedIn, currently works for Aftab for Ohio, the congressional campaign. Pureval’s most recent congressional campaign report does not show that any payments have been made to Ledsome from Pureval’s congressional campaign account.”

Cody Rizzuto, a spokesman for Chabot, said, "Based on his finance reports, it couldn’t be more clear that Aftab violated campaign finance laws. Aftab has a lot of explaining to do."

Topy countered, "There is no story here."

"All of these expenditures were appropriate and legal. Any insinuation otherwise is simply wrong," she said. "It shouldn't surprise anyone that Steve Chabot wants to try and change the subject because he doesn't want to run on his record so he's looking to stir up non-stories where there aren't any."