Pima Dems file complaint over Rawson’s money flip

by David Safier

The Pima County Democratic Party has upped the ante on Republican City Council candidate Jennifer Rawson's campaign contribution antics. After commenting last week on her "I pay you, you contribute to me" scheme, the party has filed a complaint with the Tucson City Clerk's office.

It seems six contributors gave money to Rawson's campaign, and the campaign gave them the same amount of money back. Her campaign thinks those "contributions" are worthy of matching funds. Chair Jeff Rogers says, that could amount to a felony.

Here's the Media Release.

Pima County Democrats File Complaint Against Rawson for Misuse of Taxpayer Matching Funds.

The Pima County Democratic Party has filed a complaint today with the Tucson City Clerk's office against Republican City Council candidate Jennifer Rawson, over claiming $2,650 in refunded campaign contributions is eligible for taxpayers to match.

The money was returned on Aug. 3 to six contributors the same day of they donated to Rawson's campaign. However, the Rawson campaign called those refunds “expenditures,” as if they remain matchable donations.

In fact, these refunds were the single largest expenditure during the reporting period of July 1 to Aug. 10.

“This would appear to be an attempt to increase her campaign coffers with fake contributions and shady accounting,” said Pima County Democratic Party Chair Jeff Rogers. “Whether she is knowingly misappropriating taxpayer money or simply negligent, Rawson has demonstrated that she can’t be trusted with taxpayer dollars.”

The move also would appear to violate the Arizona criminal code (ARS — 13-2310) dealing with “fraud, schemes and artifice,” a Class 2 felony, Rogers said.

“It's just sloppy book keeping until the moment she applies for matching funds,” Rogers said. “That's when she tries to turn imaginary money into cold, hard taxpayer cash.”