Feb 6, 2018 5 min read

Tim Murphy resigned his seat in Congress amid scandal last year, and while his re-election committee has refunded thousands of dollars worth of campaign contributions, more than $50,000 in donations from Murphy’s coffers have been made to other political entities.

Both the Washington County and Westmoreland County Republican committees were recipients of $5,000 donations before year’s end, according to a 47-page list of Murphy’s itemized disbursements filed Jan. 31 with the Federal Election Commission.

“There were no specifications with it,” said David Ball, vice president of the Washington County Republican Party. “It was given to us for operating expenses and whatever we needed to spend it for.

“Rick (Saccone) is undoubtedly benefiting from what Washington County Republicans do,” he said of the GOP’s nominee for the special election to fill the remainder of Murphy’s term.

“We do not donate to his campaign. We try to support rallies for him, volunteers spend time on phone banks and going door to door and putting up signs,” Ball said. “We do things that every Republican committee in the country probably does.

“We have a lot of campaigns in this county, and we work for them all – all the Republicans.”

Along with Saccone, a state representative from Elizabeth Township, candidates in the March 13 special election for the 18th District seat are former federal prosecutor Conor Lamb of Mt. Lebanon, a Democrat; and Drew Gray Miller, a Pittsburgh attorney and Libertarian.

“Tim Murphy’s contribution to the Washington County Republican Committee has no connection to Rick Saccone’s campaign,” wrote Patrick Geho, campaign manager for Saccone, in an email.

“Rick has not accepted any contributions from Mr. Murphy and he urges the Washington County Party to immediately return the donation in question.”

Michael Korns, Westmoreland County Republican Party chairman, said, “Tim reached out and said he was sending $5,000,” with the message, “You use this money however you see fit.”

Korns, who has been chairman for almost four years, said it’s typical that donors ask about “ongoing needs” but never direct how the money should be spent.

The party’s executive board, Korns said, “has not made any decision on how that money should be spent.”

Korns’ own political committee, “Friends of Korns,” also received $1,000 from the Murphy campaign for the candidate’s run for the state 54th Legislative District seat.

Murphy was a state senator before he was elected to Congress, and the Murphy campaign donated $15,000 to the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Campaign Committee on Dec. 20.

The Murphy campaign gave $10,000 to the Citizens for Qualified Judges of Harrisburg on Oct. 16 as the clock was ticking down to the zero hour on the congressman’s time remaining in the House of Representatives.

Murphy’s campaign finance document also shows $4,000 in contributions to the “Guy For Congress” committee of state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler, who squared off against Saccone at the Republicans’ mini-convention in November in a showdown for the special election nomination that went to a second ballot.

The Guy For Congress Committee raised $22,203 and spent $4,893 in the final quarter of last year, according to its FEC filing.

Aaron Bonnaure, Reschenthaler’s spokesman, said the senator was in session Tuesday for Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget address, but Bonnaure answered questions about Reschenthaler’s potential status as a congressional candidate this year. Candidates for a full term representing the 18th District will be running in the May primary.

“Guy is not a candidate for Congress. He strongly supports Rick Saccone in his campaign,” Bonnaure wrote in an email.

“The Guy for Congress committee account still being open is merely an accounting formality as he pays off bills from the nominating process.”

While Reschenthaler lost the nomination to Saccone as the Republican candidate for the March 13 special election, the state senator, whose district includes Peters Township in Washington County, “will likely be voting on the redistricting bill when it comes back from the House of Representatives.”

The Pennsylvania Department of State elections division announced Monday it had changed filing deadlines for congressional candidates only in light of the recent state Supreme Court decision ordering state lawmakers to produce a new congressional district map for the state. The last day to circulate and file nominating petitions had been March 6, a week before the special election.

Under the new deadline – March 20 – potential congressional candidates will presumably know not only the outcome of the March 13 special election, but its redrawn boundaries, which could certainly affect their decisions to challenge a newly elected congressman if, for example, they no longer live in a particular district. However, residency in a district is not a legal requirement to seek a U.S. House seat. Pennsylvanians meeting all other requirements can run in any congressional district within the state.

Details of the Tim Murphy for Congress Committee’s most recent filing, due Jan. 31, also show it gave back $91,550 in political contributions, some to individuals and some to political action committees.

Among those receiving a refund of $2,000 was Ryan for Congress Inc. of Janesville, Wis., the political committee of House Speaker Paul Ryan, who issued the news on Murphy’s resignation from Congress. Murphy initially announced he would remain in the House of Representatives while not seeking re-election this year.

Murphy, who was a vocal opponent of abortion, had reportedly urged his mistress to abort during a pregnancy scare that surfaced during her divorce case.

The Murphy campaign’s filing of expenditures also shows $826 spent at the U.S. House gift shop in the Longworth office building on Capitol Hill the day after Murphy’s resignation took effect Oct. 18. Its purpose was listed as “donor acknowledgments.”

Back in Pittsburgh Oct. 20, the campaign reported spending a total of $1,458 on food and beverages, at none other than the Capital Grille, 301 Fifth Ave., a long way from Capitol Hill.