The Ohio Elections Commission voted 6-1 on Sept. 20 to take a closer look at the campaign finance practices of Democrat Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval, who is running a tight race to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot in Ohio’s 1st Congressional District.
At the center of the inquiry is whether Pureval used money from his clerk of courts campaign fund for his congressional run. That is a potential violation of federal election laws.
Pureval’s campaign says the money in question — about $30,000 — was for his local clerk of courts reelection campaign in 2020. But some of the expenses — $320 for a photographer who shot his congressional campaign announcement, money for trips out of state and polling expenses— raise questions, opponents say.
Representatives for Pureval’s campaign deny there was any wrongdoing.
"Aftab Pureval acted legally and appropriately with respect to all campaign finance reporting," the Pureval campaign wrote in a statement. "We will take full opportunity to prove that this partisan complaint has no merit, and that we fully complied with the law."
The commission wants to take a closer look, though. Ohio Elections Commission executive director Phil Richter said that there is a “reasonable question” about whether Pureval’s spending was within bounds.
The aforementioned poll had questions about Pureval’s job performance as clerk of courts, but also had questions that were aimed at his congressional race.
The inquiry comes after the Hamilton County Board of Elections held an emergency meeting Sept. 19 to determine why one of its officials blacked out the memo spaces on checks written by Pureval’s congressional campaign, including one for the polling.
The meeting explored why board deputy director Sally Krisel redacted the information on the checks turned in by Pureval’s campaign. There is nothing specifically prohibiting a board employee taking that action, Democrat board chair Tim Burke claimed.
But attorney Brian Shrive, who filed a complaint with the Ohio Election Commission on behalf of conservative activist Mark Miller about payments from Pureval’s clerk of courts campaign fund, says the action was highly inappropriate.
"It is not our practice for the board staff to do that redaction," Burke told The Cincinnati Enquirer before the meeting. "The campaign should do it. It's their filing. I don't think she knows why she did it."
Krisel says she was asked to make the redactions by Pureval’s campaign manager Sarah Topy, but says she should have had Topy make the redactions herself. The purpose of the checks — including one with a memo that said “polling balance,” was also recorded on Pureval’s campaign finance paperwork.
Chabot has been the subject of accusations around campaign finance as well, including claims that he used campaign funds to pay thousands of extra dollars to his son-in-law, who worked on Chabot’s campaign website. That spending — more than $177,000 paid to Right Turn Design — triggered a complaint to the Federal Elections Commission from Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairwoman Connie Pillich in August. Pillich says the work should have cost no more than $33,000, violating federal election laws about overpayment of campaign funds to relative
