Thread: Dem Campaign Employs Fugitive - John Conyers

Dem Campaign Employs Fugitive

John Conyers / AP

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
May 9, 2014 10:36 am

Another Democratic campaign is in trouble with the law.

A petition circulator hired by Rep. John Conyers’ (D., Mich.) campaign is a wanted fugitive with an ugly criminal record. Court records reveal that Daniel A. Pennington, hired by Conyers’ campaign, pleaded guilt to a second-degree home invasion charge in 2012 and failed to fulfill his probation requirements.

Detroit Free Press reports:

Court records show Pennington pleaded guilty to a second-degree home-invasion charge in 2012 in Battle Creek and did not fulfill his probation requirements.

According to 54A-District Court records in Lansing, Pennington pleaded guilty to providing false information to a police officer and “frequenting a drug house or area” in 2010. He also faced assault and battery charges in 2012 and a bench warrant was issued after he failed to appear in court in Lansing on July 24, 2012.

Pennington is in the middle of a controversy regarding whether Conyers has enough valid signatures to qualify for the Aug. 5 primary ballot. Conyers turned in 2,000 signatures April 18, and Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett’s office found that 1,193 of those signatures were valid.

http://freebeacon.com/politics/dem-c...loys-fugitive/

Petition worker for U.S. Rep John Conyers is a fugitive


12:14 PM, May 9, 2014

By Katrease Stafford
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

A petition circulator hired by U.S. Rep. John Conyers’ campaign has a criminal record and is a fugitive, the Michigan Department of Corrections confirmed Thursday evening.

Daniel A. Pennington, 23, is a probation absconder out of Battle Creek, according to Russ Marlan, spokesman for the Michigan Department Corrections.

Court records show Pennington pleaded guilty to a second-degree home-invasion charge in 2012 in Battle Creek and did not fulfill his probation requirements.

According to 54A-District Court records in Lansing, Pennington pleaded guilty to providing false information to a police officer and “frequenting a drug house or area” in 2010. He also faced assault and battery charges in 2012 and a bench warrant was issued after he failed to appear in court in Lansing on July 24, 2012.

Pennington is in the middle of a controversy regarding whether Conyers has enough valid signatures to qualify for the Aug. 5 primary ballot. Conyers turned in 2,000 signatures April 18, and Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett’s office found that 1,193 of those signatures were valid.

Conyers’ campaign could not be reached for comment.

State law states that Conyers needs at least 1,000 valid signatures and they must come from and be gathered by registered voters.

Garrett confirmed May 2 that she received a letter from Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey saying that Winfrey had determined that the legal voter-registration date of two people — Pennington and Tiara Willis Pittman — who collected signatures for the Conyers campaign should be April 28, 2014, instead of Dec. 13, 2013.

Pennington and Tiara Willis Pittman gathered 317 signatures that had not been crossed off as invalid. By law, the two should have been registered voters when they gathered the signatures. If their signatures are not counted, it would place Conyers below the amount needed to make the ballot. Pennington’s probationary status, however, may have little or no bearing on the question of whether he was registered to vote. Michiganders are disallowed from voting while in confinement in prison or jail but those with criminal records can vote after release.

Garrett is expected to make her final determination by Tuesday.

http://www.freep.com/article/20140509/NEWS01/305090024/