Democratic Aide Charged With Paying His Bosses Rival To Drop Out Of Primary Race…

In hindsight, would you want to be represented by someone who’d drop out of the race because someone paid him?

Via Philly.com:

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady’s longtime political strategist has become the latest target in a widening federal probe of a $90,000 payment the congressman made to a primary challenger in 2012 to convince the man to drop out of the race.

Ken Smukler, whom prosecutors have accused of helping to secretly funnel some of that money to the rival campaign, is expected to be indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday, according to four sources familiar with the matter.

But unlike the others already charged in the probe, Smukler has not agreed to plead guilty or to cooperate with the investigation, the sources said.

Prosecutors have not signaled whether Brady, one of the city’s most powerful Democrats, might face charges himself. But the case against Smukler moves their investigation from one primarily focused on the failure of Brady’s campaign rival — former Municipal Court Judge Jimmie Moore — to accurately report the source of the $90,000 on his campaign finance filings to a probe of a larger alleged conspiracy to hide that information directed in part by members of Brady’s camp.

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