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Bernero forced campaign staffers to commit perjury

February 2, 2021; updated February 12, 2021

 

"Former Mayor Virg Bernero said today he is planning to run for a fourth term." Lansing City Pulse, January 30, 2021.

The following was adapted from a story I posted 6 years ago.   In October 2013, the City Pulse reported that a complaint had been filed with the Secretary of State alleging that the Bernero campaign had made illegal, back door contributions to the campaign of city council candidate Kathie Dunbar. The complaint was dismissed in March of 2014.   In June of 2013, Bernero made unusually large payments to campaign workers Chris Breznau and Elizabeth Hart. This is from the expenditure section of Bernero's pre-primary report:   Full page

Tanned, rested and ready

The following list of payments to Breznau and Hart during the 2013 campaign shows that these payments were indeed out of the ordinary:

Three days after receiving the payments, each contributed $1000 to the Dunbar campaign. This is from Dunbar's report:

Full page

What apparently wasn't known to the person who filed the complaint or to the City Pulse was that they also contributed $500 each to Jessica Yorko and Tina Houghton, two other city council candidates favored by Bernero. This is from Yorko's report:

Full page

And this is from Houghton's report:

Full page

Full page

So within 5 days of receiving an unusually large paycheck - exactly $2000 more than their next few paychecks - each contributed $2,000 to city council candidates. Breznau was earning about $2,400 a month and Hart was earning about $1,500 a month, so it is unlikely they made those contributions voluntarily.

Section 44 of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act clearly prohibits making a contribution through another person:
 

Sec. 44. (1) A contribution shall not be made by a person to another person with the agreement or arrangement that the person receiving the contribution will then transfer that contribution to a particular candidate committee. . .    (5) A person who knowingly violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both.

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, I got all the documents related to the complaint. Bernero's response to the complaint, prepared by attorney Michael Hodge of Miller Canfield, makes these points:

• The complainant [Sheryl Ayers of Eaton Rapids] neither lives, pays taxes nor votes in Lansing.

• The complainant does not identify the specific sub-paragraph of Section 44 that was violated.

• The $3,200 payment Breznau received in June was his only pay that month [he was paid $1,795.15 on May 31 and $1,200 on July 5].

• Hart's predecessor, Michelle Benson, received $2,400 in May and made no contribution to the Dunbar campaign.

• The campaign was short of funds during that time and staff had to wait as long as 21 days to be paid [the campaign had a balance of $7,305.08 on 12/31/2012 and $60,316.48 on 7/21/2013].

• Hart was an effective fund raiser in June and reaped the benefit of her success [if she was so effective, why were they short of funds?].

• It is no surprise that two politically active campaigners would contribute to other candidates.

The complaint was dismissed because Breznau and Hart signed affidavits saying they were not instructed or directed by Bernero or the Bernero campaign to make those contributions. With no evidence to the contrary, the Bureau of Elections was forced to dismiss.

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Further evidence of Virg Bernero's corruption is his abuse of his 527 account, which has the name "City Administrative Account". From Wikipedia:

On the IRS form used to set up the account in 2005, its purpose was described as follows:

I compiled records of contributions to Bernero's 527 account as well as expenditures charged to the account. Among the expenditures that don't really seem "incidental to the holding of the Office of Mayor" are restaurant meals - a total of 980 of them over his 12 years as mayor. You can see them in my 11-page compilation of expenditures sorted by purpose. The meals start on page 4.

And then there are the purchases from Fortino's Flowers. This is an excerpt from my compilation of expenses sorted by recipient:

How would flowers be incidental to the holding of the Office of Mayor? And why would so many of those purchases be from a flower shop in Pontiac? I'm guessing it's because Fortino's Flowers is owned by family. Co-owner Betty Fortino, who died in 2011 (obituary), was Bernero's aunt. In a 10/8/2010 story by the Associated Press, he named her as his primary political role model. She served as an Oakland County commissioner from 1974-1986 and served as clerk of Waterford Township from 1986-2011. In 2002, she ran unsuccessfully for state representative.

Using contributions to a 527 account to purchase goods and services unrelated to seeking or holding public office is a form of tax fraud. City, state and federal income taxes should have been paid on that income.

Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com or call or text me at 517-730-2638. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.

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