City Clerk agrees with Pima Dems on Rawson’s campaign money flip. The Star hears crickets.

by David Safier

I looked through the Star today, hoping to find a story about Jennifer Rawson's "You pay me, I pay you" scheme to get city matching funds for her campaign. Nothing. True, the allegations came from the Pima County Democratic Party, but they were relying on public records. The Star could have checked the records, then called Rawson for a comment. That's pretty easy. And this is a genuine local campaign story of some import, since it speaks to the character and/or attentiveness of a candidate for City Council. It definitely deserves coverage.

Now comes the word the City Clerk agrees with the Pima Dems. I just checked the Star website. Nothing there yet. I'll be looking for a story in tomorrow's paper, complete with either a comment from Rawson or a "Rawson did not return our calls."

Here's the Pima Dem Media release about the City Clerk's resolution of the complaint.

Pima Democrats Applaud Clerk’s Finding That Rawson Inappropriately Asked for Matching Funds.

The Pima County Democratic Party applauds the Tucson City Clerk’s office’s swift resolution of our complaint against Jennifer Rawson and finding that she indeed, inappropriately requested more than $2,600 in city taxpayer matching funds.

On Aug. 3, Rawson paid contributors between $260 and $430 apiece to and in return those supporters donated her campaign that exact amount back to her coffers. The result was $2,650 dollars in faux “contributions,” that Rawson claimed were eligible for city matching funds.

City Clerk Roger Randolph found that she had requested those funds inappropriately. These funds amount to 18 percent of her total campaign donations, as of the last reporting period.

“This is just more of the Keystone Cops’ operation that we’ve seen from Republicans all year long,” said Pima County Democratic Party Chair Jeff Rogers. “They can’t get their names on the ballot, they’re soliciting city workers on the job and now they’re asking for taxpayer dollars she’s not entitled to get. Who’d trust these Tea Party candidates to run the city?”

While Rawson's actions appear to violate several state statutes, including fraud schemes and artifice, Pima County Democrats have no interest in seeing Rawson prosecuted.

“We just want these guys to follow the rules is all,” Rogers said. “Whether it’s honest mistakes or outright incompetence, the ham-fisted Republicans this year are definitely keeping us busy.”