The charitable foundation now-Cincinnati City Councilmember Jeff Pastor ran during the 2017 council elections gave out more than $300,000 to churches and other religious institutions during that election year, federal tax filings show.
The Charles L. Shor Foundation for Epilepsy Research, Inc.'s form 990 IRS filings come after reports that Pastor handed out checks to a number of churches — in some cases, during the election. Some of Pastor's opponents at the time complained the practice was aimed at currying favor with congregations attending those churches, many of which are predominantly African-American.
According to the forms, the foundation gave $25,000 to Bloc Ministries, Corinthian Baptist Church, Greater New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, Inspirational Baptist Church, New Friendship Baptist Church, New Jerusalem Baptist Church, New Prospect Baptist Church, New St. John Baptist Church, Southern Baptist Church, Truth And Destiny Covenant and Zion Temple First Pentecostal Church. It is unclear how many of those donations came during the election.
Those donations represent more than 20 percent of the foundation's $1.4 million in charitable giving in 2017. The Cincinnati Zoo, the Hillel Society at Miami University, the Cleveland Clinic and other organizations also received sizable contributions.
Pastor, a Republican, won the ninth and final seat on council by a margin of 223 votes over Democrat Michelle Dillingham.
Hamilton County Democratic Party Chair Gwen McFarlin slammed the donations in a statement.
"It's always good to give to a church for the right reasons, but it appears Councilman Pastor shifted money away from epilepsy research as he ran for office into churches whose members he was trying to sway," she said. "I call that shameless.”
Local Republicans, meanwhile, say there is nothing wrong with the contributions.
Former city council member Laure Quinlivan, who ran against Pastor in the November election, said during the 2017 race that she witnessed Pastor deliver a check to the Greater New Hope Baptist Church in Walnut Hills less than a month before voters took to the polls; leadership at other churches, including Corinthian Baptist Church, acknowledged that they also received checks.
That could not be confirmed during the election, but last year, leadership at another of those churches, New Prospect Baptist Church, acknowledged to CityBeat that Pastor did visit the church to deliver a check from the Shor Foundation. But Rev. Damon Lynch III said Pastor was not permitted to campaign when presenting the money.
CityBeat first requested the foundation's 2017 990 forms from the IRS last year, but was told that they had not been submitted yet. The Cincinnati Business Courier first reported the forms had been released yesterday.
The donations from the foundation are just one part of the complex connection between Pastor and Charles Shor, a conservative philanthropist who inherited Northern Kentucky-based DuroBag, the world's largest paper bag manufacturer. In 2014, he sold the company, which was founded by his father, to South Carolina-based Hilex Poly Co. LLC after a long, contentious fight over the company between Shor and his sisters.
In September 2017, two months prior to the election, Shor hired Pastor to be the executive director of the foundation. Shor has suffered from epilepsy since the age of 25.
Campaign finance filings show that Pastor loaned his own campaign $54,000 days after he was hired. The foundation's 990 lists Pastor's compensation for his full-time role at $37,469.
Shor also wrote a $500,000 mortgage and another $50,000 loan last year for a $500,000 home Pastor bought in North Avondale.
All of those monetary connections have raised some questions from Pastor's former opponents and others, as have the church appearances.
Pastor last year acknowledged the contributions from the foundation and the fact that he presented them to churches.
"I have presented several checks to further the outreach missions of African-American and white churches in my capacity as executive director of the foundation,” he said in an email responding to questions about the donations last year. “The churches cannot as a matter of law get involved in politics in the pulpit. It is shameful these allegations are being lobbed at pillars of the African-American spiritual community."
New Prospect’s Rev. Damon Lynch III says he did not permit Pastor or any other candidate to campaign at the church but did let him appear in front of the congregation and speak about the Shor Foundation’s work.
“Charlie (Shor) got mad at me,” Lynch told CityBeat last year. “I didn’t allow one politician to campaign in our church, and that includes Jeff.”
It was Shor’s close ties with New Prospect that landed Pastor the job at the foundation, Pastor and Lynch say.
“I actually introduced Jeff to Charlie and recommended him for the foundation job,” Lynch says. “He’s been a benefactor to our church for a couple years now. At that point, Charlie had given us close to $250,000. My congregation was aware of Charlie Shor and the Shor Foundation. His largess is huge. He’s given millions to University Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati State. We introduced him to Jeff and obviously, they hit it off. They both share the same beliefs.”
The Shor Foundation gave New Prospect $181,500 the year prior, according to the nonprofit’s 990 tax forms. None of the other churches the foundation gave to in 2017, the council election year, had previously received donations from the nonprofit.
Previously, the foundation donated almost exclusively to epilepsy organizations and a few local foundations. It gave heavily to a number of schools, religious institutions and nonprofits in 2016, including hundreds of thousands of dollars that year to Cincinnati’s Sycamore Community Schools, Blessed Sacrament School in Fort Mitchell, DePaul Cristo Rey High School, Miami University, United Way and others.
