Eight people have now been charged for a scheme in which campaign staff for Connecticut Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan's U.S. Congressional campaign said Donovan would kill legislation for campaign money, reports Fox New Haven:
The new indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court Thursday, adds detail to a scandal that has grown since May into perhaps the biggest obstacle to Donovan's front-runner quest for the Democratic nomination to run for Congress in western Connecticut. A primary for the party nomination is scheduled for Aug. 14. Opponents on both the Democratic and Republican sides of the contest were trying to get mileage Thursday from the day's developments.
At the center of the indictment is an alleged scheme in which Donovan campaign staffers were willing to use what are known as conduit, or straw, contributors to hide the fact that roll-your-own tobacco interests in Waterbury were responsible for $27,500 in contributions to the campaign over about half a year.
"By trying to conceal $27,500 in campaign contributions, as alleged in the indictment, the conspirators struck at the principles of transparency and fairness embodied in our campaign finance laws and upon which the integrity of our electoral system relies," U.S. Attorney David B. Fein said in a statement released by his office.