WASHINGTON – Former Pennsylvania Democrat Ozzie Myers was charged with bribing election officials to add votes during the primary to candidates he favored or paid as a campaign consultant, the Justice Department revealed Thursday.
Myers, 77, served two terms in Congress from 1977 to 1990. He is accused of bribing Domenick Demuro, the top election official in District 39 of South Philadelphia during the primaries between 2014 and 2016.
A court filing said Myers sometimes paid Demuro in cash and said, “If there was ever a question, Dom … you know you would say, well, I gave the money on Election Day.” [to get out the vote]”
Demuro pleaded guilty to electoral fraud charges in March. His sentence has been scheduled for September.
A grand jury indictment said Myers was a political consultant and “would request monetary payments from his clients, candidates for elective office, in the form of cash or checks as ‘consulting fees.'” After receiving payments, Demuro would add votes that were never actually cast to the candidate totals, known as “votes.”
Prosecutors said Myers would pay Demuro as much as $ 5,000 per election, but sometimes vote fraud was much cheaper, as little as $ 300.
Myers helped clients running for federal, state, local and party offices, according to court documents, including three candidates running for local judges. The documents did not say whether those candidates won their elections.
“If only one vote has been illegally withheld or fraudulently entered a ballot box, the integrity of the entire election is undermined,” said US Attorney William McSwain. “Votes are not things to buy and democracy is not for sale.”
The case could mean a return to prison for Myers. He was caught up in the Abscam scandal and videotaped taking a $ 50,000 bribe from an undercover FBI agent.
“Money talks about this business and the bull walks,” said the famous man on the tape. He was expelled from the Chamber in 1980, convicted of bribery and conspiracy, and sentenced to three years in prison.
