City Ethics Board accuses political-action committee of failing to report contributions

The city Ethics Board has sued a political-action committee funded primarily in 2007 by Gov. Rendell for failing to report $64,050 in contributions to other candidates and claiming $20,000 in contributions that it never made.

"This is a political committee that is well-financed and politically connected that has been operating outside the law," Ethics Board Executive Director Shane Creamer said yesterday. "I've really never seen anything quite like this PAC's omissions and misstatements."

The treasurer of the committee is Kevin Watson, an aide to Sen. Arlen Specter.

But several sources said that the committee, called Pennsylvanians for Better Leadership, was run primarily by Charles Breslin, a business consultant who was Rendell's driver during his 2002 gubernatorial campaign.

"I'm involved, along with a few other people," Breslin said in a brief telephone interview yesterday. Breslin declined to say who besides Watson was involved in the committee, but he acknowledged that it got money from Rendell and that he sometimes consulted the governor about which candidates to support.

Breslin, a well-liked and colorful character in Rendell's circle, made news after the 2002 campaign when he was charged with heroin possession after driving a Lincoln Town Car over a curb near the VA Hospital in West Philadelphia.

Breslin entered a rehab program, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession charges and served a year's probation.

Attorney Greg Magarity, representing Breslin and Watson, declined to comment on the suit yesterday.

Pennsylvanians for Better Leadership, like all other PACs, are required to report their contributions and spending.

In 2007, the committee contributed to many Philadelphia candidates, including four of the five major Democratic candidates for mayor.

But its reports were a mess, the Ethics Board charges.

Besides omitting 14 contributions to candidates totaling $64,050, the reports failed to report $30,000 in contributions that it received from insurance executive Andre Duggin. It later misreported a $2,000 contribution from Duggin as a $22,000 donation, the board says.

And perhaps most strangely, the committee reported making three contributions to Philadelphia candidates or committees totaling $20,000 that it never made.

The Ethics Board was able to check the committee's actual contributions and spending after investigators subpoenaed its bank records.

Rendell's spokesman, Chuck Ardo, said the governor "supports candidates both directly and indirectly, and donated to the PAC as a way to help support candidates that the PAC chose."

He said Rendell knew nothing of the committee's alleged irregularities.

In the hotly contested 2007 mayor's race, Rendell declined to endorse a candidate, saying he was friends with all five leading Democrats.

The Pennsylvanians for Better Leadership PAC gave and properly reported two contributions to Nutter totaling $5,500. But the Ethics Board charges that the committee also gave a $10,000 contribution to state Rep. Dwight Evans, a $5,000 contribution to U.S. Rep. Bob Brady and a $2,000 contribution to U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, all of which it failed to report.

Businessman Tom Knox got nothing from the committee.

In 2006, the committee had a wider fundraising base and supported a variety of candidates around the state.

Kate Kelly, a spokeswoman for Specter, said in a statement that Watson had not disclosed his involvement with the PAC when he was hired last February.

Kelly said Specter's office "is reviewing the matter with the Senate Ethics Committee and has directed Mr. Watson to fully cooperate in any investigation or litigation." *