Reibman Campaign Manager: Money Launderer or Witch Hunt Victim?

Mike Fleck

According to The Reading Eagle and Channel 69, Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer might be in hot water. He may have acted as a straw party in 2011 to disguise illegal contributions from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to two Philadelphia City Council candidates. Philadelphia has campaign finance limits, and IBEW had already maxed out on donations to these candidates. What makes this story very interesting to me is that, at the time in question, Mike Fleck was running Vaughn's campaign. He is now getting paid $5,000 per month to manage Glenn Reibman's primary bid for Northampton County Exec.

According to Vaughn's 2011 post-election campaign report, Vaughn donated $20,000 to two Philadelphia City Council candidates on 11/4/11. The very next day, IBEW donated $30,000 to Vaughn.

I'm a little bothered by this, even though the Fleckster and I have had our differences over the years.This violation, if it is one, would be a violation of Philadelphia's campaign finance laws. Yet it is Berks County's Republican Board, who has hired and paid $8,000 to an attorney to look over Vaughn's records, that is doing the "investigation".

Vaughn is a Democrat.

If Berks County feels so strongly about this, why hasn't it enacted its own campaign spending limits? Commissioners, of course, deny that politics is involved.

And the sky is pink.

I'd feel more comfortable about the motives for this investigation if it were being conducted by Philadelphia or the state AG.

I have called Fleck about this matter, and will update this post with his response when I get it.

Updated 1:30 AM: Mike Fleck had this to say: "Unlike the Berks County elections commission and its staff, I will not comment about an ongoing investigation. When the report is released, I believe in less than a month,  I will have plenty to say about this waste of taxpayer money."