Congressional pay records acquired yesterday by The Daily Herald shows a former staff member of the Shuster for Congress campaign was paid an extra $1,200 for work from July 1 to September 30.
Joshua Juda is claiming the “bonus” was for spying on Republican candidate Michael DelGrosso. Shuster’s camp claims the extra money was owed to Juda for extra work manning county fairs.
The records were obtained from the Legislative Review Center and detail Juda’s pay scale since April 2003. Numbers show Shuster paid Juda $3,000 for part-time work from April 1 to June 30; $4,200 for part-time work from July 1 to Sept. 30; and $1,000 for his work in October.
Juda, who was unavailable for comment this morning, has publicly stated the $1,200 increase from July to September was a direct result of Shuster and Shuster’s Chief of Staff Alex Mistri asking him to spy on DelGrosso.
Juda had been tight-lipped about the entire ethics investigation until recently when he spoke of how slow the proceedings have gone.
According to Mistri, Juda’s pay for the months in question, reflects extra work Juda put in during the county fair period.
“Joshua really did a lot for us during that time,” said Mistri. “He deserved more pay.”
Mistri supplied The Daily Herald with an email from Mistri to Amy Hanna, another employee of Shuster, dated Aug. 27, 2003. It read: “I received Josh\’s hours. It\’s too late for a ‘lump sum bonus’ to be included in this check, but I will have it fixed for next (the check he receives end of sept.). (Rob, Amy mentioned that Joshua has far exceeded his weekly hourly quota w/ his help w/ the fairs. We will compensate him for his help.)”
The message was carbon copied to Rob Young, Shuster’s district director.
Mistri also provided an e-mail sent from him to Juda commending him on his efforts with the county fairs. This e-mail read: “Josh – Realize you put in a great deal of extra time during August. Bill wanted to make sure you were compensated for your efforts. Christine, please make sure Joshua\’s check for next month reflects an additional $1200. Thanks again, Josh.”
“My question is why didn’t Joshua produce these payroll records when all this got started,” said Mistri. “What I think has happened is that whoever is coaching him through this, discovered this pay increase and tied it in with when the incidents happened.
“People need to understand that we established booths at fairs all across the district and anyone who has done this knows all the time it takes to get these things up and man them for a week,” Mistri continued. “Joshua put a lot of time in at these fairs and we wanted his pay to reflect that.”
Justin Meyer, DelGrosso’s campaign manager, told The Daily Herald that he didn’t wish to comment on the matter.
The first public indications of the alleged unethical practices occurred in mid-September when neighbors of DelGrosso noticed a suspicious man in a red Volkswagen Jetta parked in their neighborhood. The residents feared for their safety.
Shuster has admitted the person in the Jetta was Juda and that he may have been spying on DelGrosso, but remains steadfast that he, nor any member of his staff, ever ordered Juda to carry on such actions.
Juda claims the September incident shed some light on Shuster’s intentions. He said he didn’t realize it at the time, but three months earlier, was also directed to spy on DelGrosso at a fundraising event at DleGrosso Amusement Park in Tipton.
He said he was asked to find out who attended the event and report back to the Shuster Camp.
In a letter e-mailed to The Daily Herald last year, Juda writes:
“At each occasion, it was my understanding that I was functioning in my capacity as a congressional staff member for which I was being paid through the Congressional payroll. I was not employed by any other outside organization or internal division of Congressman Shuster’s office. I never functioned as a volunteer for the 2004 Shuster Campaign. I was never therefore reprimanded or discouraged from such activity. I was never asked to serve in anyway without pay or as a volunteer outside of my part-time capacity and it was my understanding that all of my activities were covered within my allotted 25 hours per week.
“At the time of these requests and immediately following the state police report, I was also instructed by Congressman Shuster directly not to inform anyone of my activity relative to the observation of Mr. DelGrosso. Further requests were made of me not to use office phones or unsecured lines that could link my observation activities to my official capacity as a congressional staff member.
“I am aware that other staff members in both the district and Washington, D.C. offices knew about and were supportive of the observation campaign of Michael DelGrosso. I never receive formal training or congressional staff manuals outlining rules and regulations governing congressional staff and campaign activities. I am not familiar now was I briefed on any campaign election laws that may apply to such activity. I deferred any ethical or legal issues surrounding these requests to monitor Mr. DelGrosso to senior staff and the Congressman himself.
“I became extremely troubled by this ongoing information gathering campaign of Mr. DelGrosso and deeply disturbed by Congressman Shuster’s response to that campaign. This condition ultimately led to my decision to resign. My decision was completely based on my own conscience and what’s right and wrong.”
