Friday, June 4, 2010
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
CLEVELAND
The $10,000 John J. Cafaro was accused of illegally giving for the benefit of his daughter’s ill-fated congressional campaign and not reporting to elections officials was intended as a loan to her campaign manager to pay his law-school tuition debt, Cafaro’s defense lawyer said in a court filing.
Cafaro, 58, of Hubbard, retired Cafaro Co. vice president, will be sentenced at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Kathleen O’Malley in Cleveland.
Cafaro pleaded guilty to making a false statement concerning a contribution he gave for the benefit of the 2004 Congressional campaign of his daughter, Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd, who is the Ohio Senate minority leader.
John Cafaro caused his daughter’s campaign committee to falsely report to the Federal Election Commission that he had given only $2,000 to her campaign, when, in fact, he gave an additional $10,000 in the form of a loan to Robert J. Schuerger of Columbus for the campaign’s benefit, the U.S. attorney said. The legal limit for campaign gifts by individuals is $2,000.
The elder Cafaro learned that Schuerger, known as B.J. Schuerger, was concerned that if he became campaign manager and halted his law studies at Ohio State University, he could face a significant obligation to repay his student loans, the defense filing said.
“Therefore, J.J., unilaterally, and without the knowledge of anyone else associated with the campaign, loaned Mr. Schuerger $10,000 for use in meeting his student-loan repayment obligation,” according to the filing by Cafaro’s lawyer, Ralph E. Cascarilla of Cleveland.
Schuerger couldn’t be reached Thursday by The Vindicator to comment.
Capri Cafaro declined to comment about the matter until after her father is sentenced. But she said in February that she “was not involved in this transaction.”
The elder Cafaro sent Schuerger a check for $10,000, together with a promissory note and an envelope in which the signed note was to be returned. “Although Mr. Schuerger never returned the signed note to J.J., J.J. still considers the funds to be due and owing,” Cascarilla wrote.
There is no evidence Schuerger used, or intended to use, any of the loan money as a contribution to the campaign or that the loan to Schuerger was intended to influence the candidate, Cascarilla said.
Schuerger has not been charged with any crime.
Despite the elder Cafaro’s 2002 conviction for bribing former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., Cascarilla’s memorandum said federal sentencing guidelines call for Judge O’Malley to sentence Cafaro to up to six months’ probation and fine him between $500 and $5,000.
However, at Cafaro’s arraignment, Cascarilla and U.S. District Judge John R. Adams, who later recused himself from the case without explanation, agreed that Cafaro likely faces up to six months in prison for the falsification offense.
Justin Roberts, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting Cafaro, declined to comment on the defense’s version of the intent of the loan to Schuerger or on what sentence the prosecution would recommend for Cafaro.
The defense memorandum filed Tuesday asked the judge to consider the elder Cafaro’s role as the principal investor in, and sole owner of, the new Brookfield-based home-decor retailer Linens & More, which is scheduled to open its first store next month in Howland.
“Although J.J. has no corporate office or title with the company, he is a driving force behind the company’s plans, and his personal involvement is crucial to the continued development of this nascent enterprise,” Cascarilla wrote.
The company has 14 headquarters employees and expects to employ 35 at the Howland store before opening five more stores in five states later this year and 12 more stores next year, the filing said.