Oswego, NY -- Allen Manwaring had to perform 100 hours of community service three years ago for sexually harassing a teenage girl.

Picking up litter? Working at a soup kitchen? No. Manwaring spent most of his hours campaigning for the Oswego County Republican Party.

Manwaring, 45, put in 80 of his hours by raising money for Republican candidates, putting up political signs and strategizing with candidates, according to court records and interviews.

That’s not the way the law works. The state penal law requires defendants to do community service for a public agency — meaning government — or nonprofit organization. The Oswego County Republican Party is neither.

The revelation of how Manwaring performed his community service came two weeks ago in a federal court trial over a sexual harassment lawsuit against Manwaring and the grocery store he once managed in Oswego, Paul’s Big M.

Manwaring pleaded guilty in January 2008 to second-degree harassment, a violation, for sticking his tongue into the mouth of a female cashier.

Oswego City Court Judge James Metcalf, a Democrat, told Manwaring he could do the community service for any nonprofit organization, Manwaring testified last week in the federal trial. “It was 2008, a big election year,” Manwaring testified. “There was a lot of work to be done.”

Manwaring, a former member of the county Republican Committee, said in an interview he was unaware until a reporter told him Thursday that the party isn’t a registered nonprofit. “I didn’t know that, because I don’t see where the Republican Party’s profiting in any way, shape or form,” Manwaring said.

Manwaring said he never heard any objections from Metcalf about his community service and maintains it was appropriate. “There is no better community service than helping elect good, honest, decent people to run our government,” he said, “because our government has had so many corrupt, so many bad politicians.”

Manwaring ran unsuccessfully for public office twice — in 1993 for county legislature and in 1999 for Pulaski school board. He wrote in a letter to Metcalf two years ago that he’d done part of his community service organizing a family picnic for Oswego County employees to help Louella LeClair in her re-election bid for county legislator.

LeClair, a Republican who lives in Fulton, said she knew Manwaring was working off his court sentence. She would not say specifically what he’d done. She said she didn’t believe the allegations against Manwaring.

The county’s Republican Party chairman, Fred Beardsley, said Manwaring actually worked for the town of Hannibal Republicans. The GOP chairman in Hannibal at the time, Terry Wilbur, wrote a letter to the judge in December 2008.

“Mr. Manwaring worked on local and state campaigns, as well as the presidential campaign of John McCain,” Wilbur’s letter said. “He helped with fundraisers, sign distribution, campaign strategy, and get-out-the-vote efforts.”

The Hannibal party’s treasurer, Joe Ukleya, also signed the letter to the court. Ukleya works as night manager at Paul’s Big M. “I don’t know if it was legal or not,” Wilbur said last week. “That’s not my determination.” Ukleya agreed: “I’m not the judge. If the judge didn’t like it, he should’ve said something.”

Metcalf wouldn’t comment. But after The Post-Standard called his office, he contacted the state Office of Court Administration and explained his actions, according to the agency’s spokesman, David Bookstaver. Metcalf didn’t know in advance that Manwaring worked for a political party, Bookstaver said. When notified, Metcalf researched the law and considered it legal, Bookstaver said.

“The judge had his concerns,” Bookstaver said. “He went above and beyond to research it.”

The court’s chief clerk, Cassie Kinney, said she didn’t recall what happened in the case. She said defendants must submit paperwork on their completed community service. Either the judge or someone on his staff reviews it, she said. If the staff spots a problem, he or she reports it to the judge, Kinney said.

If it turns out the defendant didn’t do the work for a nonprofit, he would be ordered to return to court or his lawyer would be contacted, Kinney said. That has happened in other cases, she said.

State law lists “political” as an acceptable purpose to form a nonprofit, Bookstaver said in the judge’s defense. Neither the county nor Hannibal Republican parties are registered as nonprofits, according to state not-for-profit records. Political parties typically are not charitable organizations for which donations are tax-deductible.

A judge cannot choose the organization for community service, Bookstaver said. It was up to the county District Attorney’s Office to approve Manwaring’s choice, Bookstaver said.

District Attorney Donald Dodd, a Republican, did not answer questions about the case. He said in general it’s up to the judge and the defendant to decide where community service is performed. “We make volunteer service oftentimes a condition of a disposition,” Dodd said. “A judge ultimately decides whether the volunteer service performed complies with the condition of disposition.”

Syracuse City Court Judge James Cecile said he’d never heard of work for a political party being community service. He said one defendant worked his community service at a barber shop. Cecile rejected it, he said.

Marsha Weissman, executive director of the Center for Community Alternatives in Syracuse, said she’d never heard of it either. Her agency regularly works on community service. “It would never cross our minds to ask for a placement like that,” she said. “The intent of the law is to have someone give back to the broad-based community, to promote the public good. Political entities don’t fall into that category.”

The state Division of Criminal Justice Services, which was not involved in the case, says on its website that the purpose of a community service sentence is “restorative justice.” “It enables offenders to achieve a better understanding of how their actions impact the community, be held accountable for their offense, and learn pro-social behavior,” the website says.

Manwaring testified in the federal trial that he accidentally touched his tongue to the 17-year-old cashier’s lip in 2007 after he stumbled while sticking out his tongue at her in the store’s break room.

He sobbed on the witness stand as he talked about pleading guilty. The girl told police she was on her cell phone when Manwaring bent over beside her and touched his tongue to her, according to a police report. He walked away laughing, the girl told police.

That incident is one of many alleged acts of sexual harassment in the federal trial. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Manwaring, the store’s owner, Karen Connors, and her business, KarenKim Inc. The agency presented testimony from 13 women who are former employees claiming Manwaring frequently touched them inappropriately and made sexual comments and advances between 2001 and last year.

Connors, who’s been engaged to Manwaring for nine years and had a child with him, fired him last year over sexually inappropriate comments he made to a female employee.

Manwaring denied all of the harassment allegations. He said there was a joking, flirtatious atmosphere that was often initiated by the women who filed the lawsuit. Two of them often slapped his buttocks at the store, he testified. The allegations from multiple women didn’t surface until after he was charged in criminal court in 2007, he said.

Contact John O'Brien at jobrien@syracuse.com or 470-2187.