Davis campaign notes Powers was charged with disorderly conduct in 2004
Powers staff says he is the victim of "the lowest form of politics"
Democratic congressional candidate Jon Powers took a pounding Thursday from both Democrats and Republicans, as one intra-party rival revealed that Powers was cited for disorderly conduct in 2004, and the GOP assailed his handling of the War Kids Relief charitable foundation.
Powers was charged with disorderly conduct in Ohio after a confrontation with a police officer, Davis' campaign revealed.
A Powers' representative said that revelation represented “the lowest form of politics,” while calling the claims of four Republican county chairmen amounted to “politics at its most base.”
The Davis campaign produced documents showing that Powers, a graduate of John Carroll University in Cleveland, was cited by a Cleveland Heights, Ohio, police officer on Oct. 23, 2004, for disorderly conduct. In his citation, the officer accused Powers of directing obscene comments at him.
“People need to know this is the real Jon Powers,” Davis spokesman Luke Vaughn said. “He flagrantly disrespects a police officer, is found guilty of disorderly conduct and never tells anyone. After 10 years of scandal and embarrassing headlines, we don’t need more of the same — we deserve a congressman who will tell the truth.”
But Powers spokeswoman Victoria Dillon saw the incident differently. She said Powers was with college friends and fellow veterans in the area, and denied at the time and denies now that he ever used obscene language in addressing the officer. She also offered to produce witnesses to back up Powers.
“At a time when he’s under investigation and running from revelations of election fraud and bribery, the Davis campaign is practicing the lowest form of politics by distorting simple facts,” Dillon said. “Jon was written a ticket for jaywalking, never arrested and never showed any disrespect to law enforcement.”
But a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Heights Municipal Court said Powers changed his plea of not guilty to the original Class 4 misdemeanor charge to “no contest” in connection with a minor misdemeanor on Jan. 11, 2005, and that there was no mention of jaywalking in the final disposition of the case.
Dillon disagrees.
“When you look at the full statute, jaywalking is part of that statute,” she said.
A review of the Ohio criminal code defines a number of offenses that would constitute disorderly conduct — but not jaywalking.
Dillon, however, countered that it would refer to a section outlining “hindering or preventing the movement of persons on a public street.”
Powers was fined $25 and assessed $65 in court costs.
On the Republican side, six Western New York GOP chairmen issued a statement calling on Powers to publicly release documents disclosing the expenditures of his nonprofit War Kids Relief organization. They cited recent stories and editorials in The Buffalo News that outlined critics’ contentions that Powers’ War Kids Relief, originally intended to aid Iraqi youths who might be influenced by Islamic radicals, had accomplished little.
The critics questioned Powers’ emphasis on the organization during his campaign for Congress. Powers has consistently maintained that while War Kids never accomplished its original goals of funding youth centers and orphanages because Congress failed to appropriate the money, he said it did raise awareness to the problem both at home and in Iraq.
“All of the Western New Yorkers who contributed to Powers’ organization deserve to know exactly how their money was spent,” said Erie County Republican Chairman James P. Domagalski. “We need leaders in Congress who believe in transparency and accountability.”
“These issues have cast a cloud over Jon’s candidacy for Congress, and the citizens of the community deserve answers,” Niagara County Republican Chairman Henry F. Wojtaszek added. “Jon has made ‘leadership by example’ the slogan for the campaign. This is an opportunity to allow his actions to meet his words.”
The chairmen asked Powers to answer questions about how much money was raised for the organization, how much was spent in Iraq, what programs were established in Iraq, how much money was spent on administration, and if he was afforded benefits in connection with the salary he took running the program.
Erie County Democratic Chairman Leonard R. Lenihan issued his own response:
“I wonder how many people at that press conference put their lives on the line in Iraq. How can they criticize someone who braved the horrors of that war and then willingly returned to help the many children from families that were killed or displaced by the war?
“The fact that Republicans are intervening in a Democratic primary indicates their desire to avoid facing Jon Powers in November,” he added. “Haven’t we had enough of this swift boat sleaze?”
The Powers campaign previously indicated it planned to file documents with the Internal Revenue Service that are due today and would answer many of the GOP questions.
