Posted on 01/13/2010 10:05:17 AM PST by flutters
ATHENS, Ohio -- The chairwoman of the Athens County Democratic Party has resigned following her conviction on two misdemeanor charges of falsifying campaign-finance reports.
In a letter to the county Board of Elections dated yesterday, Susan Gwinn announced that she had resigned Monday and turned over control of the party to Vice-Chairwoman Debbie Perry in accordance with party by-laws.
Visiting Judge William H. Wolff Jr. filed his verdict in Athens County Common Pleas Court earlier Monday.
The judge found that Gwinn falsified two campaign-finance reports in connection with her run for prosecutor in 2008: a pre-primary report, by not including $20,000 from her brother and $7,000 from another donor; and a post-primary report, on which she incorrectly listed the $27,000 as a personal loan from herself to her campaign.
Wolff found her not guilty of five more serious charges: two counts each of theft in office and unauthorized use of property, and one of money laundering. He dismissed two bribery counts during a bench trial last month.
Wolff scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 15. The maximum sentence for two first-degree misdemeanors would be one year in jail.
State Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern had called on Gwinn to resign after she was indicted in November and announced Monday that the state party would remove her from its executive committee.
Perry, now serving as interim chairwoman, scheduled a meeting of the county party's executive committee for next Tuesday to address the issue of electing a new, permanent leader.
Neither Gwinn nor Perry could be reached for comment today. A call placed to Gwinn's law office prompted the message from a receptionist that Gwinn was not taking calls.
Gwinn had served as party chairwoman for 14 years.
She got off easy, one year is the max, what is the minimum?
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