WARREN — The Trumbull County Board of Elections will consider its next step April 2 after the county prosecutor’s office declined its request to ask, on the board’s behalf, three state agencies and a federal one to investigate the actions of a political action committee.

The elections board voted March 19

, the day of the primary, to request that the county prosecutor file a complaint on its behalf regarding the TCR Grassroots PAC not filing a designation of treasurer and campaign finance reports.

The board’s request, which subsequently was denied, was to file complaints with the Federal Election Commission, the Ohio Elections Commission, the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Board Chairman Mark Alberini said the prosecutor’s office told the board that it doesn’t file complaints such as these on behalf of their clients.

The elections board will consider at its next meeting, April 2, whether it will proceed with filing a request on its own with any of those entities to review the PAC, Alberini said.

“The board can decide to do that,” he said. “It’s unclear what are the appropriate bodies. We don’t have enough information.”

Alberini said this was the first time he can recall the board taking it upon itself to seek an investigation without a formal complaint.

There were a number of informal concerns expressed about TCR Grassroots PAC, he said.

“We received the information, and it was our obligation to handle it appropriately and accordingly,” Alberini said. “We didn’t dig into it to see if it’s an issue. There’s a process and procedure for designating PACs. Based on what was presented to us we need to have it reviewed to determine if it needs to be looked into further.”

The board itself will not examine the concerns because it is not an investigative agency, Alberini said.

The issue is TCR Grassroots PAC not filing disclosure reports with the county board of elections, said Stephanie Penrose, elections director.

She said: “If you’re a local PAC, you have to file a designation of treasurer and finance reports with your local board of elections. None of that was done.”

The PAC filed a statement of organization with the FEC on March 11 – nine days before the primary – with Regina McManus, a political consultant, as its treasurer and designated agent, according to a document on the commission’s website. The document lists email addresses for McManus and David Engler, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary for county domestic relations / juvenile court judge and was on the PAC’s slate card of endorsed candidates.

Penrose said the board received complaints about the PAC before it filed with the FEC.

In a prepared statement, McManus said: “Our greatest right as an American is free speech. A political action committee was created and registered with the federal government called TCR Grassroots PAC. The goal of the PAC is to promote strong Republican conservative values in our local political system. As a federal PAC, there is no coordination with any candidate or candidates. We had an exceptionally successful (primary) night. We take seriously any local board attempting to impair our First Amendment rights.”

The PAC distributed slate cards of recommended candidates, primarily for county and judicial offices as well as for two state House seats and a single U.S. House seat.

McManus was photographed outside the board of elections during early voting passing out the slate cards and holding a sign reading: “Republican sample ballot.”

Rick Hernandez, who beat incumbent Commissioner Niki Frenchko in the Republican primary and was backed by the PAC, publicly thanked McManus as his campaign manager on his personal Facebook page and posted photos of them together. Also, Hernandez listed $500 worth of in-kind political consulting from McManus during the preprimary reporting period.

Specifically asked if she saw an issue coordinating with local candidates, including running Hernandez’s campaign, McManus wrote in response: “Pursuant to both Ohio Revised Code and federal law, a slate card is not an expenditure. This seems to be Niki Frenchko not understanding that the public did not want her back in office. I am happy, however, that Niki and the Democrats on the board believe I carry such power. It’s on to November.”

Frenchko said: “Dark money undermines the transparency of the election process. I hope the candidates and PAC leaders who broke the law are prosecuted for their efforts to subvert the election outcome.”

Frenchko added: “Unelectable Democrats crossed over to our party for political gain. These criminals broke the law to confuse Republican primary voters into believing they were the endorsed candidates.”

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