01312018 - News Article - Portage mayor's campaign report includes $41K for criminal defense related to bribery charges

Portage mayor's campaign report includes $41K for criminal defense related to bribery charges
Chicago Tribune
January 31, 2018
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-campaign-report-st-0201-20180131-story.html
In an off year for municipal elections, Portage Mayor James Snyder raised and spent about $102,000, according to his 2017 campaign finance report.

The 32-page report, filed Monday and on the Porter County government website Tuesday after a preliminary form was filed two weeks ago to meet a filing deadline, shows $41,000 in legal fees to two attorneys related to his November 2016 federal indictment, as well as $15,000 in payments to his wife for office work.

The form also reflects a $10,000 loan from John Cortina, Snyder's co-defendant in his criminal case and the fact that $2,000 of that loan has been forgiven.

Snyder and Cortina, owner of Kustom Auto Body in Portage, were both indicted in November 2016 on bribery charges. Authorities said Snyder allegedly solicited money from Cortina and an unnamed individual and gave them a towing contract for the city.

The two have pleaded not guilty. Their trials are scheduled for June.

"I believe my campaign finance reports are the most transparent in the region, and they demonstrate that myself, my campaign and my staff – we do things right," Snyder said.

The legal fees have appeared on Snyder's campaign finance reports for the past few years because he was being investigated before he was charged, he said.

The 2017 form reflects $21,000 in fees paid to Thomas Kirsch, who was Snyder's attorney before he was named as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana in October, and $20,000 for his current attorney, Jackie Bennett Jr. of Indianapolis.

"I have been under investigation and there were legal fees to Thomas Kirsch" in 2015, 2016 and 2017, Snyder said, "and you've written about it each year so it's nothing new."

Kenard Taylor, Snyder's treasurer and the person who prepared the report, admitted the legal fees were "a lot of money."

The fees are justifiable as a campaign expense, Taylor said, because Snyder is defending himself against charges related to his job as mayor. If Snyder is found not guilty, he added, the mayor could ask the city to reimburse him for the legal expenses.

Under Indiana Code and the state's manual on campaign finance, which mirrors the code, campaign funds can be used for "activity related to service in an elected office."

Whether legal fees fall under that category is unclear.

"Some things are judgment calls. If I were giving advice, I would probably advise against it," said Dale Simmons, co-general counsel for the election division of the Indiana Secretary of State's Office, adding his perspective might be different if a defendant was acquitted.

Misuse of campaign funds is a Class A infraction, Simmons said, a civil penalty that could result of a fine of up to $1,000, though that would be up to a local election board.

Snyder said his wife Deborah made more in 2017 than in past years working for him than she has in previous years, something Taylor confirmed. Snyder's 2016 form reflects $12,000 in payments to Deborah Snyder.

Snyder's office staff from his previous employer used to handle some of those tasks, Taylor said, and Snyder's wife is now doing that work.

The work, Snyder and Taylor said, involves the mayor's roundtable donors, for whom he schedules events with quarterly. Those donors, who include Cortina and make up a large portion of his campaign funds, donated $2,000 each year.

"You can imagine there's a lot of work to what we do," Snyder said.

Campaigns often hire workers, Simmons said, and there is no nepotism clause in the state statute that prevents those running for office from hiring relatives.

"But I know how people look at that," he said. "People raise an eyebrow. Some of those things are made campaign issues."

Some of Snyder's campaign funds were used for lunches and other details for city employees, according to the form, and also include $790, spent on Dec. 2, for carriage rides for the city's Christmas festival.

In the past, Snyder said the lion's share of what he's raised has gone back to city employees and fundraising, though that's changed since the indictment.

"Now because of the situation we have, it's less," he said. "A lot of expenditures outside of legal are for fundraising and to take care of the city because a lot of mayors have promotional budgets, and I don't."