Aftab Pureval’s chances have pretty much gone down the drain thanks to his campaign manager. His campaign manager Sarah Topy resigned late Tuesday and he fired two of his staffers after it was learned that Pureval’s campaign had placed a spy in the campaign headquarters of Congressman Steve Chabot, R-Westwood. Pureval refused to go into details, but made sure he told the police it was all Topy’s doing.
Pureval said:
“Yesterday, I learned new information that led me to believe that members of my staff may not have lived up to that standard. We have dismissed those staff members. I do not want this issue to be a distraction in the final days, and therefore have accepted the resignation of my campaign manager.”
The news broke of the staff shakeup on the eve of a hearing Thursday in front of the Ohio Elections Commission about whether Pureval improperly spent money from his local election campaign fund for his federal campaign.
The campaign came under a bigger cloud of suspicion with allegations a worker on Pureval’scampaign posed as a Chabot campaign worker and infiltrated his campaign.
“While the actions of a few are inappropriate, we’re proud of the campaign we’ve run,” Pureval said yesterday.
When asked who will manage the campaign in the final week, Pureval said local political consultant Jens Sutmoller will serve as chief of staff. Topy and Sutmoller didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
Chabot was leading in the polls before the scandal and there is no reason to believe being involved in a scandal will benefit the candidate since it’s not a blue district, where voters appreciate such acts.