Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown's campaign manager charged with wire fraud
John McDaniel, former campaign manager for City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown's political action committee, was charged Wednesday morning with one count of wire fraud after the U.S. Attorney's Office accused him of stealing about $100,000 from the PAC.
Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown's campaign manager charged with wire fraud
Chris Brennan
John McDaniel, former campaign manager for City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown's political action committee, was charged Wednesday morning with one count of wire fraud after the U.S. Attorney's Office accused him of stealing about $100,000 from the PAC.
McDaniel was charged in an information document, which means he waived his right to have his case presented to a federal grand jury. That typically means a defendant is negotiating a deal with prosecutors.
Mayor Nutter fired McDaniel last week from his $87,125 per year job managing a volunteer program at the Philadelphia International Airport after the city's Board of Ethics released a settlement with the political action committee. Brown, cited for campaign finance violations that included a personal loan disguised as an election expense, agreed to pay a $48,834 fine.
McDaniel also worked as a paid consultant on Nutter's 2011 campaign for a second term.
Brown, who had been mentioned as a potential candidate for mayor in 2015, said she cooperated fully with the Board of Ethics and took responsibility, while blaming McDaniel for the many of the problems with her political action committee during her 2011 run for a fourth term.
The information released Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office said McDaniel used a "scheme to defraud" the political action committee, which included withdrawing money from automated teller machines, writing checks to himself, writing checks to the Progressive Agenda PAC, another political action committee he worked for, and filing false and incomplete campaign finance reports by omitting some withdraws and creating fake expenses.
Brown is identified in the information only as "Person 1."
Perhaps the Board of Ethics can compare campaign donor records with City employee records to determine how many of people like John McDaniel got a needless job just because he gave money or campaigned for the Mayor and his political associates.— swonderful- Get rid of the scum!
www.recallblondellreynoldsbrown.org— SPENDSPEND - This comment has been deleted.— b,ill at,kins
- i pray to God mcdainel rolls on BRB and turns state's evidence. this criminal (BRB) belongs in jail. all this so she can pretend she's a rich suburbanite sending her daughter to a fancy main line school at 16k/yr
— hannibal barca - The purpose of hiring a toad like him was so that he could take the blame IF the corruption was discovered. It is a standard ploy of politicians. Research any of the local scandals and you will find an appointed person taking the blame while the elected offical pretends to have not known a thing...
- Because we know that no Republican has ever blamed his crimes on a subordinate, this is just a D problem, right?
- When will Blondell Brown be charged? If she is not charged, the stupid people from her disrict will vote her back into city council again, and again. We have dumb voters in Philadelphia. You gotta pay to play.— misterpond
Blondell has to go!!!!!!!!! Accept nothing less.- I'm shocked to hear that corruption exists in our political system.— Jeff Dowder
- did he schedule his appearance on Oprah yet.— frank1121
- Another idiot that thinks government is for the enrichment of themselves and their friends. Off with her head!— Wildman Bill
Blondell looks like one hot cougar! That'll help in jail with the good sisters.— The Monk- And why is she still not in jail?— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- The guy got a patronage job and he steals money. They all need to go from Squidward (Nutter) down.— alihajishank
- When Czar Peter the Great found bureaucrats that were stealing from the treasury, he had them "broken on the wheel". Tied to a large wagon wheel, their arms,legs and other bones were broken...and they would often take a week to expire in agony. Imagine if we had such similar barbaric punishments for our civil servants....held right out on City Hall. Cruel and unusual? Yes. But would it end this kind of almost constant thievery by knaves and politicians? One thing is sure: The current punishments for looting the money the taxpayers sweat to add to our revenue is NOT sufficient....and we need something that will truly deter these thieving magpies. Esp. the politicians.— Henry Howard Earl of Surrey
- the people of phila vote for color not for qualifications so enjoy what you have tax stealing political hacks— BYEPHILLY
- Wow, 87k/year to manage volunteers? That same job at an upstanding nonprofit would probably pay 40-55k/yr, less for a small organization.— buca
- On June 2, 2011, DA Seth Williams announced the formation of a "public corruption task force", led by former Attorney General's prosecuter Patrick Blessington. Has anyone seen or heard from them since?— tlee
- Is there a definitive line that delineates where the Ligambi clan ends and city government begins, or is everything just murky blurry in this town?— stephensacks
- Someone will find a place for John McDaniel to land. The mayor will refere him to Econsult.— Mezike23
There are more comments here than when Tayoun got caught fixing a ticket.— Cuddles- that was before the internet. nice try — hannibal barca
- http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/Jimmy-Tayoun-made-calls-to-top-Traffic-Court-judge-federal-indictment-says.html — Cuddles
- Why does an $87,000/year job "managing volunteers" even EXIST?— WizardofBoz
- "It's not me. It's not my way of doing things." Love it. Well then, let's find out who it was, and lock them up for a couple of years for betraying the public trust. Perhaps Ms. Brown can lead the investigation!— Fletch Bowman
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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