Oliver consultant sent texts against her, police report says
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CANFIELD - Text messages criticizing Republican Christine Oliver during her failed bid for Mahoning County commissioner were sent by her own campaign consultant, according to a Canfield police investigation.
Oliver said Thursday, two days after she lost by 11.5% to Democrat Lauren McNally, that it "was heartbreaking to me the day I found out who did this. I trusted David Spencer. Why would someone do that to their own client?"
Oliver had previously pointed the finger at McNally for the text messages — something that McNally adamantly insisted she did not authorize or send.
McNally said: "This deserves real investigation. It has not been my experience with this campaign that (Oliver) put forth honest statements about me. To ask the general public to believe she had no knowledge of this is quite an ask. This police report is just another telltale sign of how low Republicans will go to get themselves into office. Doing this seems like a page out of their playbook in Ohio."
Spencer said he worked in support of Oliver and denied sending the text messages against her.
"That wasn't us," Spencer said. "I haven't done any text messages against her. No, not us."
Spencer does political work for a number of area Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli; Ralph Rivera, who was elected Tuesday to a judicial seat on the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court bench; and Ed Czopur, who lost a Republican primary for a different common pleas court seat.
But an Oct. 20 Canfield Police Department report, obtained Thursday by The Vindicator, states Detective Scott Bennett went to the texting service provider for the two cellphone numbers from where the messages came and was told the subscriber was Spencer Federal LLC "with a client contact as David Spencer."
Bennett wrote in the police report: "Based on the results, it appears the text messages were sent as a mass text and not directed at Mrs. Oliver with the intent of harassment. This case will be considered closed."
A day earlier, Oliver filed a police report with Canfield stating that on Oct. 12 and 14 she and two others had received "harassing text messages" related "to her political campaign."
Asked why Spencer would send the messages, Oliver said, "That's a good question."
Oliver denied having anything to do with the messages, saying, "Do you think I'd file a police report? Do you know how shocked I am?"
She sought to not disclose the information so Spencer "can be prosecuted and not get away with committing a crime. I want to make sure the right person is punished. There have to be more people involved with this besides him."
Oliver said she fired Spencer the day she found out he sent the text messages, but also said Spencer "has no clue I know this."
Oliver asked a reporter to contact county Prosecutor Lynn Maro.
Maro said Thursday that Oliver told her she filed a police report.
"I'm waiting for Canfield to investigate and refer to me," Maro said. "I'll let the police do their job and after an investigation, we'll take it from there."
In Oliver's postprimary campaign finance report, she disclosed paying $28,942.77 to Spencer Federal of East Liverpool for campaign consulting, campaign mail, signs and text messages. Her postgeneral report isn't due until Dec. 3.
After being accused of sending the text messages without a disclaimer, McNally reported the issue to the Ohio Election Integrity Commission, the Federal Election Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.
Asked if Oliver owes her an apology, McNally said: "An apology wouldn't change anything. But she owes the general public an apology if she lied about anything on the campaign trail. I know I didn't send them. I know I didn't do anything wrong."
McNally said: "Campaign honesty and ethics, I take very seriously because if we don't it will sink further and further into the black hole we're sliding into."
McNally said it is very likely that she lost some votes because of the accusation that she was behind the text messages.
McNally said: "It didn't matter if I won or lost. It was my personal reputation that was questioned. I didn't want people thinking I'd do something like that."
One text message compared DeMaine Kitchen, who is Youngstown's community planning and economic development director and endorsed Oliver for commissioner, to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Kitchen resigned in 2013 as the mayor's chief of staff four days before a report determined he sexually harassed a female employee. The city settled a lawsuit in June 2014 for $120,000.
A second text stated Oliver had locked her mother away in a nursing home and was using her death to get sympathy votes. Oliver filed a wrongful death lawsuit.