A complaint filed by Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser with the Ohio Elections Commission outlines an elaborate arrangement in which Burer had friends and family donate their money to the Moms on a Mission political action committee during the 2009 election. Then Burer would reimburse their contributions.
According to the complaint, the contributions were later given to the campaigns of Ko, Dan Murray and Mark Morris, both who are current board members.
The FBI uncovered the campaign finance plan and turned the information over to Gmoser’s office, the complaint states.
About $26,000 was given to the PAC through Burer’s employees and relatives. The organization gave Ko, who was a principal of Moms on a Mission, approximately $15,500 in cash and in-kind contributions, according to campaign finance reports. Her running mates, incumbents Murray and Morris — they dubbed themselves the “3 Good Apples” during the campaign — each received $5,355 worth of in-kind contributions, according to their campaign reports.
The complaint links Burer’s $1.5 million vehicle maintenance contract with the Fairfield School District to the campaign contributions.
The Burer Garage, LLC contract with the district was set to expire in 2009 and then-school board member Arnold Engel balked at renewing the contract without seeking competing bids.
The contract was approved 4 to 1, with Engel the lone dissenter. In the complaint, Gmoser said Burer hand picked Ko to run after Engel voted against the contract.
“Tom Burer chose a candidate in targeting Engel for defeat,” Gmoser wrote in the complaint.
Burer Garage, LLC entered into a three-year contract with the Fairfield School District in June 2009 worth $1.5 million to provide vehicle maintenance. Further, Burer’s company was also to be paid $3,421 for each additional bus and $547 for additional road vehicles added to the fleet. The contract expires on Aug. 17, 2012.
Burer pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Common Pleas Judge Craig Hedric’s courtroom. The bill of information states that Burer agreed to plead to the reduced charge — the original charge was tampering with government records — in exchange for the prosecutor’s promise not to prosecute any other individuals. The bill also states Ko has struck her own deal with the prosecutor.
Cincinnati attorney Jack Rubenstein was at Burer’s side Tuesday when he admitted guilt.
“He has admitted reimbursing people who contributed to the campaigns of school board candidates,” Rubenstein said. The attorney said making the contributions in his own name would not have landed Burer in court, but because he passed cash through the Moms on a Mission and his contributions were not disclosed on campaign finance reports, that is what caused the problem.
“He has taken the fall for everyone and accepted full responsibility,” Rubenstein said. “Whether or not he knew what the law was, I do not know.”
Rubenstein said, “There is no allegation that he has attempted to put any pressure on any school board member, including Ko.”
But Rubenstein said he doesn’t know why his client did not just make campaign contributions in his own name.
Gmoser, who has scheduled a news conference Thursday to release more details, said he would not comment further on his discussions with Ko.
Ko, who raised about $31,000 in the 2009 campaign, according to board of elections records, resigned from the board on Aug. 25, citing personal reasons.
The bill of information in Burer’s case states “this agreement not to prosecute other parties does not apply to Sharon Ko who has made a separate agreement with the state involving the condition of resignation from the Fairfield School Board.”
The complaint states that Ko told FBI agents she knew the money was coming from Burer. It does not explain Murray’s and Morris’ involvement. Both could not be reached for comment and Ko has declined to answer questions.
The UTS website has a small note that states Burer resigned effective Sept. 1 and he has no “direct stake” in the company any longer.
Burer is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 27. He faces a possible 18-month prison term and $5,000 fine for the fourth-degree felony.
Cathy Milligan, the former Fairfield superintendent who retired on July 31, was the district’s leader when Ko was elected in November of 2009.
Milligan said he relationship with Ko “was a positive, productive one.”
Asked if she was surprised by the recent revelations, Milligan said, “Yes, any time there’s anything to do with campaign financing around a school board member, it is surprising.”
Milligan said she has not been involved in the investigation. In fact, when a reporter reached her Wednesday afternoon, it was the first time she had been contacted on the matter, she said.
Paul Otten, the present superintendent of Fairfield city schools, said, “We respect the office of the Butler County prosecutor and we will await his statement regarding this matter before releasing an official comment from the district.“
Engel declined comment Wednesday, but added Ko turned out to be “rotten to the core.”
In a letter to the editor printed in the Feb. 25, 2010 edition of the Fairfield Echo, Engel wrote, “The election was bought and paid for by the Moms on a Mission”
“The top contributor to the three tax and spenders (Morris, Ko and Murray) was the Moms on a Mission. Their finance report showed seven contributions that totaled $26,338.37. Five of the seven were contributions between $2,852.60 and $8,923.78. So, here is the $64,000 question, we should all be asking. Just what was it that motivated the top five contributors to spend thousands of dollars to support the candidates who all but promised to raise our taxes?” Engel wrote in the letter.
Engel is among the candidates who have filed to replace Ko. The board is scheduled to make that decision Sept. 15.
Staff Writer Steven Matthews contributed to this report.
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