Cincinnati Enquirer sheds more light on Chabot’s history of sloppiness while the scandal rocking the Hamilton County GOP only grows bigger
Anybody checked the Appalachian Trail lately?
Across Southwest Ohio, nobody has seen hide nor hair of longtime Chabot aide Jamie Schwartz.
Schwartz and his father are at the center of the scandal that’s turned Congressman Steve Chabot’s retirement whispers into open chatter among Hamilton County Republicans.
Meanwhile, Steve Chabot won’t say a peep about what he knew and when he knew it. Perhaps it’s because he knows he’ll be held to the same standard he set for how claims of malfeasance reflect on political candidates:
- Chabot’s blog (Oct. 24, 2018): “And I’m sure you’re aware that my opponent […] is currently under investigation by both the Ohio Election Commission, as well as the Federal Election Commission, for serious violations of the law, which could lead to his being fined, or even jailed.”
- Chabot at a TV debate (Oct. 24, 2018): “We’re dealing with a sleazy group of people here and it starts at the top of the ticket”
- Chabot campaign (Nov. 1, 2018): “[He] created a culture in which illegal activity is condoned, if not encouraged.”
- Chabot campaign (Nov. 1, 2018): “He can’t hide behind his lawyers and canned talking points. He owes it to the voters of the 1st District to explain exactly what happened and exactly what he knows.”
- Chabot campaign (Nov. 2, 2018): ““By not holding anyone accountable throughout this campaign, [he] created a culture in which illegal activity is condoned, if not encouraged.”
Well said, Congressman. Famous last words.
By Sharon Coolidge and Scott Wartman
September 11, 2019
U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot was in the race of his life last fall for the seat he’s held for 22 years when his opponent made a series of campaign spending missteps that became the heart of the nasty race.
Anyone watching Cincinnati TV likely remembers the commercial suggesting Aftab Pureval might go to prison, something that was never going to be the outcome of an ethics violation case.
The Chabot campaign painted Pureval as an inept leader and Chabot won, capturing 52 percent of the vote.
What most people don’t know is that the man behind the campaign was Jamie Schwartz, a Republican operative who has been with Chabot’s campaigns since at least 2002, when he was identified as a campaign spokesman.
Schwartz, who graduated Elder High School in 1998, was a hub for Republican politicians seeking consulting services, One local Republican described him as “the only game in town.”
Today, he’s Chabot’s campaign manager. Or he was.
On Sept. 4, Chabot’s lawyer, Mark Braden said in a statement Chabot was the “victim of financial malfeasance and misappropriation of funds,” adding: “Unfortunately, the misappropriation of funds by some campaign treasurers has been far too common an occurrence over the years.”
Braden didn’t elaborate. Between 2011 and 2018, the Federal Election Commission listed Schwartz’ father, James Schwartz Sr., as Chabot’s campaign treasurer. Then in 2019, the campaign treasurer is listed as a Jim Schwartz, according to FEC documents.
When contacted at his Bridgetown jewelry story, the elder Schwartz said he’s not Chabot’s treasurer and doesn’t know why he was listed as such. He declined further comment.
Messages to Chabot and Chabot’s campaign were not returned to clarify the matter.
Neither Schwartz is charged with a crime. Federal officials aren’t commenting.
But Jamie Schwartz did close his consulting firm, Fountain Square Group, and shut off his phone.
The investigation is believed to focus on Jamie Schwartz, multiple sources have told The Enquirer.
Now, everyone in Hamilton County politics — in both Republican and Democrat circles – is left wondering why? And asking, “When did Chabot find out?”
Money is a campaign’s lifeblood. And while there are few answers, this is about money.
Schwartz owns the political consulting firm Fountain Square Group. He co-founded Prime Media, a political consulting company that creates and places political advertisements.
Schwartz has also worked for a slew of candidates with names most people would recognize: Cincinnati City Council members Amy Murray and Charlie Winburn, former Hamilton County Commissioner Chris Monzel, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, Anderson Township Trustee Andrew Pappas. He’s helping Andy Black in his bid to become Hamilton County Commissioner and has worked to promote judicial candidates and countywide levies.
But Chabot was by far his largest client. Schwartz was his campaign manager; his companies were paid by the campaign for commercials and other things.
It’s a treasurer’s job to sign off on all campaign spending. Letters from the Federal Elections Commission between 2013 and 2019 are addressed to the elder Schwartz at Chabot’s Cincinnati office.
Chabot has steered more than $2 million to Schwartz’s Cincinnati-based companies since 2012, according to FEC records obtained through the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Congressional Committee has seized on the problem as a way to attack Chabot. Chabot is running for re-election.
Schwartz’ companies were a one-stop shop for Republican candidates, said Pete Witte, a Republican who is also a West Price Hill resident known as the unofficial mayor of Price Hill
“A litany of who’s who in the Hamilton County Republican Party have used their services,” Witte said. “Every once in a while I asked a seasoned election official why they used them and they’d say, it was the only game in town.”
Chabot was always Schwartz’ largest and best client. Chabot named Schwartz campaign manager and used Schwartz’ company Prime Media as a vendor to make commercials like the one that ran against Pureval.
When an attorney for Chabot last week said in a statement that there was financial malfeasance it sent shock waves through Hamilton County Republican circles.
Hamilton County GOP chairman Alex Triantafilou, who called the development “shocking,” spoke to Chabot briefly after the news broke.
“He told me they were issuing a statement and said he was devastated,” Triantafilou said last week. “He did not share specifics and I didn’t ask. I don’t think Steve knows.”
He is now declining to comment.
Federal Election Commission records show irregularities in the Chabot campaign date back at least six years.
Since 2013 the watchdog agency has asked the Chabot campaign 21 times to make corrections. The most recent letter was sent August 27.
It was the only one to mention the amount of money in question: $123,625.
In addition, Chabot’s campaign has twice come under scrutiny for overpaying Chabot’s son-in-law for work his company did on Chabot’s Congressional campaign, the Enquirer has reported.
The Hamilton County Democratic Party last fall filed a federal elections complaint against Chabot. It alleged Chabot paid his son-in-law’s firm, Right Turn Design, more than $177,000 over the past six years for building and maintaining SteveChabot.com and work on a WinNovember PAC website – much more than it should have cost.
Nothing came of the complaints.
Records obtained by The Enquirer show Chabot and Schwartz were close as far back as the 2008 election. Schwartz was Chabot’s campaign manager for the 1st Congressional District race, Chabot lost to Democrat Steve Driehaus. (Chabot would run again in 2010 and reclaim the seat five more times.)
In the last two days before Chabot left office in 2009, he paid his staff nearly $100,000 in taxpayer-funded bonuses, the records show. For two days of work, 16 staff members working directly for Chabot’s Congressional office or were assigned by Chabot to a Committee and paid a total of $95,218.46.
Additionally, two staff members – one of them Schwartz – were added to Chabot’s taxpayer-funded Congressional staff following his election. Schwartz was named Director of Community Outreach and worked two days, Jan. 1, 2009 and Jan, 2, 2009, for which he was paid $4,977, the pay records show.
“Steve Chabot created a culture and operation that allowed illegal and highly questionable activity to run rampant in his campaigns,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper about the recent allegations. “Given the amount of time and money we’re talking about, the Congressman has a lot of questions to answer.”
When questioned during a debate in 2010 about giving $50,000 in severance pay to staff, Chabot defended it.
“I think it’s appropriate – when you have people that have served our country and their constituents for a number of years and have to look for new jobs – to give a month’s severance pay,” Chabot said.
###