A grand jury has indicted three local political operatives on charges of election law violations. G. Steven Pigeon, Kristy Mazurek and David Pfaff each face two felony counts for what prosecutors say was unlawful coordination with handpicked candidates for the Erie County Legislature back in 2013. They were previously arraigned this past April in State Supreme Court.
The indictment charges the three individuals with knowingly engaging in illegal campaign coordination on behalf of two unauthorized political action committees they created. Unauthorized coordination, which the New York Attorney General's Office says led to candidates exceeding the allowable contribution limit, is a crime.
“Today’s indictment sends a clear message that we’ll continue to aggressively enforce our state’s election and campaign finance laws,” said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, in a statement Friday. “As we allege, the defendants illegally coordinated with their own handpicked candidates for office, using a political committee to circumvent the law and undermine the integrity of our elections. These actions aren’t just illegal – they erode the public trust, and we intend to hold them accountable.”
Each of the three defendants faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison if convicted on either count.
