Jeffrey Thompson. Photo from CSPAN.A Philadelphia businessman pleaded guilty today to one misdemeanor count of violating campaign finance laws in an expanding federal probe of political donations made to federal and local D.C. lawmakers. Stanley Straughter, 71, admitted in U.S. District Court that he funneled $132,600 in donations to candidates for federal and D.C. offices over a six-year period.
According to documents read in court, donations were made under Straughter’s name and those of his family members, but were in fact paid for by an individual identified by federal prosecutors as “Executive A,” the chief executive and principal owner of “Company A,” an accounting firm based in D.C. “Executive A” has been identified by numerous people familiar with an ongoing investigation as Thompson, a District businessman with ties to numerous federal and local office holders.
Straughter’s firm, Oak Lane Consulting, was hired to consult for Thompson, Bazilio, Cobb & Associates.
According to a statement of offense filed by the office of Ron Machen, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Straughter used his name, his relatives’ names, and his company’s to make at least $58,600 in donations to federal candidates between 2007 and 2012 another $49,000 was donated to candidates in District elections between 2006 and 2011, and another $25,000 to local candidates around the United States during a similar period. In all those instances, Straughter admitted, the donations were made at Thompson’s behest with the understanding that he and Oak Lane would be reimbursed for the funds.
Straugter acknowledged to Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that he knew corporate contributions to federal candidates are illegal and that it was illegal for him to be reimbursed for the donations.
The District candidates Straughter has donated to include several current and former D.C. Council members, including Michael A. Brown, Kwame Brown, Vincent Orange, Yvette Alexander, and Muriel Bowser. He, his relatives, or his company are also listed in D.C. campaign finance records as donors to the mayoral campaigns of Linda Cropp, Adrian Fenty, and Vince Gray.
Federal campaign finance records show donations made by Straughter to members of the U.S. House and Senate including Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C), the late Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Thompson last year sold his 78 percent stake in Thompson, Bazilio, Cobb & Associates, which now does business as Bazilo Cobb Associates. (The renamed firm is also trying to distance itself from its former owner.) Thompson is also suspected of being the funder of a “shadow campaign” that was waged on Gray’s behalf in 2010, in which $653,000 was spent but not reported in that year’s mayoral election.
Straughter is the second former associate of Thompson in as many weeks to plead guilty to campaign finance violations. Last Thursday, Lee C. Calhoun, an executive with Bazilio Cobb, pleaded guilty to funneling more than $160,000 in straw donations he said were paid for by Thompson. Straughter was also charged that day, just hours after Calhoun entered his plea.
As part of his plea, Straughter agreed to cooperate with Machen’s investigation as it continues to comb through the campaign records of numerous local and national elected officials. He will also serve up to one year in prison and up to one year of supervisory release. In accepting Straughter’s plea though, Kollar-Kotelly did not make him surrender his passport just yet. Straughter will be permitted to go on two business trips next month to Liberia and Nigeria before turning in his passport, after which he will be restricted to the Philadelphia and D.C. areas.
