
As far back as 2003, Don McClintock was wary of the campaign work he was doing in Philadelphia for John Perzel. He "joked on several occasions about it being illegal and wondering if his daughter would ever turn on the news and see him being put into a police car," a worker for a state-contracted computer firm told a statewide grand jury.
Six years later the joke may come true.
Mr. McClintock, 41, of Voorhees, N.J., was manager of former House Speaker John Perzel's campaign office in Philadelphia and worked with Samuel "Buzz" Stokes, Mr. Perzel's brother-in-law, to implement a voter tracking system in Mr. Perzel's re-election bid in 2002. Mr. Perzel had squeaked out a victory in 2000 by only 92 votes, and part of his motive in harnessing campaign technology, according to the grand jury, was to keep that from happening again.
Mr. Stokes had the ultimate authority in the campaign office, yesterday's presentment said, but Mr. McClintock aided him in "a relentless usurpation" of taxpayer resources from 2001 through 2006. Despite being the clear second-in-command at the office, it was "well known" to Mr. McClintock that public funds were being used on the effort, the presentment says.
He was still on the Friends of Perzel payroll as of last year.
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