Investing.com -- An Ohio lobbyist pleaded guilty on Friday in connection with a bribery scheme, which involved the funneling of campaign contributions to elected officials in the state in exchange for lucrative red light camera contracts.
John Raphael, 60, Columbus, pleaded guilty to one count of extortion in U.S. Federal Court, Southern District of Ohio, in violation of the Hobbs Act. During a nine-year period beginning in March, 2005, Raphael served as a consultant for RedFlex North America, a traffic safety system based in Phoenix. Raphael, according to court records, repeatedly pressured the red-light camera company to make campaign contributions by advising that the company would lose the contracts if it discontinued the payments. Court filings indicate that both Redflex and the City of Columbus received more than $10 million in revenues from the contracts, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
In June, Karen Finley, the former CEO of Redflex, pleaded guilty to bribing a number of elected officials in Ohio, including Columbus City Council president Andrew Ginther. Finley said she gave Raphael $20,000 in 2011 to bribe an elected official shortly before campaign finance records showed that Raphael made a donation in that amount to the Ohio Democratic Party. Following Raphael's guilty plea, Ginther denied any wrongdoing on Friday afternoon through his campaign office. The city council president is currently a candidate for the Columbus mayoral position.
As part of his plea, Raphael admitted that through his actions Redflex made over $70,000 in campaign contributions in his own name or through his friends, family and other business associates. Weeks after Finley's guilty plea, Columbus halted the red-light camera program in response to the bribery allegations.
The proliferation of red-light cameras has faded, amid opposition from legislators and drivers nationwide. Last December, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said the number of communities employing red-light cameras fell by 13% from the end of 2012 to 469.