Boraski campaign issues referred to DA Khan; Harvie still silent

A year ago, Jeff Boraski quietly filed campaign finance reports admitting he accepted almost $30,000 in previously undisclosed campaign donations. Most of that money came from one prominent labor union, and the Democratic former Falls Township supervisor reported paying roughly two-thirds of it to himself as “reimbursement.” 

Such massive self-payment raises a question: Can he show he spent that money on himself for legitimate campaign purposes?

So far, no. 

Now, for the first time since Broad + Liberty brought Boraski’s unreported finances to light in September 2023, Bucks County officials have signaled a potential response.

Pennsylvania law requires state and local election campaigns to retain receipts for three years for all expenditures of over $25, and permits anyone to obtain copies of those records. Last November, The Independence filed such a request with the Bucks County Board of Elections, whose current chair, County Commissioner Bob Harvie (D), served as a Falls Township Supervisor at the same time as Boraski. According to a January 14 email from board staff, “[Friends of Jeff Boraski] acknowledged receipt of the request and requested an extension until February 1, 2026.”

That deadline came and went. Emails to the elections office on February 9, 13, and 17 asking whether Boraski provided the documents went unanswered. Bucks County’s press office replied to a February 25 email, revealing the election board received nothing new from the former township lawmaker.

When The Independence visited the Bucks elections office on March 2 and inquired about next steps to get answers from Boraski, staff responded that they had referred the matter to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. The new Democratic district attorney, Joe Kahn, did not respond to an email asking what consequences Boraski might face. An email to the former township supervisor as well as his wife and treasurer Dawn Boraski asked about his failure to fulfill the voucher request and elicited no reply. But one regional institution offered thoughts about what should happen when a campaign cannot or will not prove it spent its funds properly.

“These sort of egregious violations and appearances of impropriety undermine the public trust at a moment where trust is already at an all-time low,” said Lauren Cristella, president of the Philadelphia-based Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for government reforms locally and statewide. “These failures are inexcusable and ought to carry serious financial fines on the candidate and campaign treasurer. Now that the Bucks County Election Officials have submitted their findings to law enforcement, we expect the District Attorney’s Office to do a thorough review of this matter and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. Voters should question whether a candidate who failed to do these most essential and basic tasks is worthy of the public’s trust.”

Boraski raised another curiosity about his already shadowy fundraising last March when he declined to seek reelection: Why take campaign money for a nonexistent campaign? (He ultimately backed a fellow Democrat who won his seat in November.)

Many of the “reimbursements” Boraski lists on his reports bear no description. He worded others with superfluous terms like “reimbursement – election,” “reimbursement – expenses,” and “reimbursement – fundraiser.” Elsewhere, he gets a bit clearer, e.g., “reimbursement – parade,” “holiday toy drive,” and “reimbursed – fundraiser ticket.” In one instance, he reported paying himself $506.13 in February 2022 and left the description space blank. 

Boraski’s reporting problems don’t end there. When he finally turned in overdue disclosures last year, he left a $5,000 donation unmentioned, having turned in no reports for 2021. 

While state law is clear that candidates must state the money their campaigns raise and spend, holding them accountable for questionable spending that they do report can be tricky. Pennsylvania statute broadly and defines campaign expenditures as those undertaken “for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election.”

Most of the money Boraski took into his campaign fund came from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) federal political action committee which properly disclosed all of its donations to his effort. And while the ex-supervisor racked up $27,850 in contributions from the labor organization since 2020 while repeatedly failing to file campaign reports until last year, his fellow Supervisor Jeff Dence (D) got an even greater total from the same federal PAC since 2021. While Dence, unlike Boraski, generally submitted his campaign disclosures on time, he did not mention any of that five-figure sum in those filings. Boraski and Dence are both members of IBEW Local 269. Neither that organization nor its federal committee answered requests for comment. 

Local 269 is embroiled in a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe regarding the conduct of union and Falls Township officials. The investigation concerns allegations that the municipality impeded the permitting process for companies at the IBEW’s urging to cow the businesses into hiring union workers. Harvie, who served for several years with Boraski and Dence and once shared a campaign committee with the latter, has reportedly given grand jury testimony on the subject. The IBEW PAC is a top campaign contributor to Falls Democrats, having given $82,850 to Boraski since 2012 and contributed substantially to Dence, Harvie, and other local candidates.  

Harvie’s disinterest in Boraski and Dence’s campaign problems belies the “transparency” promises Harvie’s Democratic county commissioners majority has made over the years.

“Since taking office in January 2020, this administration has sought ways to pull back the curtain on county government to make it more accessible for residents, taxpayers and voters,” County Commissioners Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia (D) said in an June 2024 statement. She then announced several changes, including online posting of campaign finance reports for public viewing.

Last November, The Independence filed a right-to-know request asking the county for “copies of all correspondence… [since] January 1, 2021… between Bucks County Board of Elections employees and Jeff/Jeffrey Boraski or Jeff/Jeffry Dence, including their campaigns, representatives, or affiliates.” County administrators responded with documents showing the county assessed late fees against the Boraski campaign last year after “our staff became aware of possible missing reports from 2019 for the Friends of Jeff Boraski” when “our office was working on campaign finance maintenance….”

Dawn Boraski responded in February 2025 by asking for an extension, soon granted, to pay late reporting fees. Disclosed correspondence indicated the Boraskis planned to close their committee.

Bradley Vasoli is the senior editor of The Independence.