Kasunic II to clarify campaign spending
A magisterial district judge candidate claims he did not violate any campaign finance reporting laws as alleged by an earlier challenger for the same position.
Richard A. Kasunic II said Tuesday that statements made by Soni Shaner Mancuso that he did not appropriately document expenditures regarding signs used during his primary campaign are unfounded, as the costs are included in the reports filed with the Fayette County Election Bureau.
“I complied with the law,” he said. “I did nothing wrong. The items in question were reported properly.”
Earlier this month, Shaner Mancuso reported to the Pennsylvania Department of State/Division of Campaign Finance and Lobbying Disclosure that Kasunic II did not document the reuse of his father’s senatorial campaign signs within his campaign finance reports or the purchase of stickers to cover over the reference to the elder Kasunic’s re-election campaign.
Longtime Democratic Sen. Richard A. Kasunic of Dunbar is the father of the magisterial district judge candidate.
Shaner Mancuso alleged that despite the covering of the senatorial reference, some voters may have been “misled” into believing the senator was the candidate for the magisterial office.
It is unclear how many signs were erected during the May primary race.
Kasunic II garnered both the Democratic and Republican party nominations over Shaner Mancuso, incumbent Magisterial District Judge Jesse J. Cramer, Kenneth Jaynes and George Stash in the spring election.
The new magisterial district will combine those once served by Cramer and retiring Magisterial District Judge Dwight Shaner, the father of Shaner Mancuso.
The state election bureau, meanwhile, returned the matter to the local election bureau for investigation. A letter was sent to Kasunic II last week asking him to “amend” or “clarify” his campaign finance reports before Nov. 5.
“The election board is asking for more information, and I will comply with that request,” he said.
Kasunic II said that he believes Shaner Mancuso’s motives in reporting the information to be political, rather than fact-based.
“In my opinion, it was done for political reasons,” he said.
Shaner Mancuso, who fell five votes short of appearing on the GOP ballot in the general election, plans to wage a write-in campaign.
Kasunic II, meanwhile, said the information will be submitted to the county election bureau before the deadline.
“We’re working on it now,” he said.