Election code violation filed against treasurer of Pittsburgh political action committee

Allegheny County police on Thursday charged the treasurer of African Americans for Good Government, a political action committee active in Pittsburgh, with a single count for failing to properly file a campaign finance report.

The misdemeanor Election Code violation was filed against Leeretta Payne, 64, of Crawford-Roberts, via summons.

Under the code, the treasurer of a PAC must file reports for any amount received or expended exceeding $250.

In the case of African Americans for Good Government, donations were made by the Western Pennsylvania Laborers PAC totaling $60,000 but only $50,000 worth were accounted for in the annual 2020 campaign finance report, the criminal complaint said. In addition, the remaining $50,000, according to Michael Peairs, an inspector with the Allegheny County police, were listed on a campaign finance report under the names of other entities. A $10,000 check cashed on Feb. 13, 2020, was not listed by African Americans for Good Government at all, he said.

“Considering that there may have been bookkeeping errors, detectives found that there was still no explanation for the remaining $10,000,” Peairs said. “The banking records revealed that the $10,000 check was cashed and was never reported regardless of whether Ms. Payne mislabeled the other $50,000 in contributions.”

During an interview with investigators, Payne said she had managed the PAC since 2013, and that she controls the distribution of money received from outside entities, including other political candidates or PACs.

She also said, however, that Moses Nelson, the PAC’s executive chairman and campaign manager for Democratic Pittsburgh mayoral candidate Edward Gainey, can disburse money. Nelson did not immediately comment on the charge against Payne and said he would be issuing a statement.

According to Peairs, banking records also uncovered that the PAC received other contributions that were not reported by Payne to include $1,600 in checks written from the “Friends to Elect Edward C. Gain [sic].”

According to Gainey’s campaign finance reports, he received $2,500 in contributions from the PAC.

In a written statement, Tené Croom, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said that Gainey’s state legislative PAC made several contributions to African Americans for Good Government in early 2020 to support its work to increase voter turnout for that year’s primary.

Later that year, that PAC donated $2,500 to Gainey’s mayoral PAC. No payments were made to African Americans for Good Government during the 2021 mayoral race, Croom said.

“The charge announced yesterday suggests that there were some errors in AAGG’s financial reports, which is unfortunate and should be corrected, but we’ve seen nothing to suggest that those errors were intentional, and Rep. Gainey remains proud of the work that he and other elected officials have done with AAGG over the years to increase political participation in Black communities.”

Croom said that neither Gainey nor anyone else from the campaign team were questioned by investigators in the Payne case.

Messages left for Payne were not returned.

Gainey, who defeated Mayor Bill Peduto in the May primary, is running against Republican candidate Tony Moreno in the November mayoral election.