Ex-lawmaker Margo Davidson fined over campaign law violations

HARRISBURG — A former Democratic state lawmaker who pleaded guilty to theft and campaign finance violations in December was fined $150 on Monday by a county judge in Harrisburg.

Margo Davidson, who had represented a Delaware County district in the state House before she resigned after being charged last year, had pleaded guilty in December to theft by deception, solicitation to hindering apprehension or prosecution and three campaign law violations.

The case involved expense reimbursements from the House and from her campaign. Prosecutors said her plea prevented her from again holding public office in Pennsylvania.

Her defense attorney, Keir Bradford-Grey, said Davidson expressed remorse during the sentencing hearing. She had already paid more than $6,000 in restitution.

“Let’s just say Margo is now moving forward,” Bradford-Grey said. “So I think she’s been very graceful and very humble.”

Davidson, 59, of Upper Darby, had been the ranking Democrat on the busy State Government Committee when she was charged in July.

Prosecutors have said she got reimbursed for hotel stays, parking, tolls and gas by both her campaign and by the House from 2015 to 2019, and put in for reimbursements for hotel stays that never actually occurred.

Davidson was first elected in 2010 and had been in her fifth term.