TRUMBULL COUNTY Board probes commissioner's campaign donors

Tsagaris said the checks are from 'special funds for elected officials.'
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- It will likely be weeks before the Trumbull County Board of Elections determines if county Commissioner James Tsagaris accepted thousands of dollars in corporate campaign contributions in violation of state law.
Documents filed by his campaign with the board of elections this week include five years' worth of bank records and copies of canceled checks that appear to be written on corporate accounts. The records were submitted in response to a request by the county elections board for a list of under-$25 donors.
Candidates are required to keep a list of under-$25 donors, although they don't normally have to submit it to the board of elections.
The thick stack of bank records submitted by Tsagaris does not appear to answer the board's request.
"It doesn't appear just at first glance that these contain contributions of $25 and less we were looking for," said Lyn Augustine, the board's deputy director.
"If that is the case, we will certainly refer it to the [Ohio] Elections Commission."
Bank records
However, the bank records appear to show dozens of campaign contributions from corporations, including many that used the abbreviation for incorporation right on the checks.
Buena Vista Cafe Inc., William Zamarelli Inc., L.H.A.G.S. Inc., Interlink America Ltd II Inc., Jim Skiffey Inc., National Marine Inc. and Mahoning Valley Dental Service Inc. were some.
"They are not corporate checks. They are from special funds for elected officials," Tsagaris said.
Officials say the local board will investigate to determine the sources of the checks.
Although the checks were drawn on corporate accounts, in at least some cases they appear to be listed under an individual's name on Tsagaris' regular campaign finance reports.
For example, a $500 donation drawn on a Buena Vista Cafe Inc. bank account does not appear under that name on Tsagaris' campaign finance reports.
However, on the same date, a $500 donation is listed from Nick Frankos, a Warren School Board member and agent for the corporation.
Commissioner's response
Tsagaris referred questions about specific donations to his campaign treasurer, William Watson, who could not be reached.
"I don't have any idea," Tsagaris said. "I don't take care of that stuff at all."
When Tsagaris and fellow Commissioner Joseph J. Angelo Jr. failed to meet an earlier deadline to furnish the under-$25 contributor lists, the elections board set Wednesday as the deadline, after which the matter was to be turned over to the state elections commission.
Angelo had not submitted anything to the board by Wednesday afternoon. Earlier in the day, he said he intended to respond to the request with a letter.
In 2001, the Ohio Elections Commission made Sheriff Thomas Altiere's campaign committee return thousands of dollars in corporate donations and fined Altiere himself $2,500 for accepting the donations, as well as for keeping inaccurate campaign finance records and failing to track donors who gave less than $25.
siff@vindy.com