A county prosecutor called a request for an investigation into Doug Mastriano’s campaign for governor ‘shameful’

A county prosecutor on Friday blasted a Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate’s request for a criminal investigation into rival Doug Mastriano, calling the idea “frivolous” and “shameful.”

Franklin County District Attorney Matthew Fogal said there’s no evidence Mastriano committed perjury in campaign finance reports he submitted this month — despite suggestions by state Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman’s campaign.

“This is a political stunt and I have more important work to do for the citizens of Franklin County,” Fogal said in a statement Friday evening. “Even a negligent attempt to politically weaponize a District Attorney is dangerous and that is what has occurred in this instance. Please understand that this is abnormal and beyond the guardrails, like so much in our civic discourse at this time.”

Fogal’s remarks came two days after Corman’s campaign lawyer wrote a letter asking the district attorney to investigate Mastriano’s campaign for possible violations of state law. The letter noted that Mastriano, a state senator from Franklin County in the south-central part of the state, had failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of contributions and expenditures in a year-end filing that was due Jan. 31.

» READ MORE: Jake Corman wants a prosecutor to probe Doug Mastriano’s campaign for Pennsylvania governor

Mastriano this week filed an amended report showing he raised about $1 million last year, three times as much as he initially disclosed. The report said he spent $215,000 in 2021, about 15 times the amount he first reported. Mastriano filed the report hours after The Inquirer reported on his campaign’s omission of basic expenses.

Mastriano’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Dave La Torre, a Corman spokesperson, said voters “deserve to know that their candidates for governor are transparent and comply with the law.”

“There is a very clear campaign finance violation here, and we followed the law for reporting it to the appropriate authorities,” he said. “Everyone in this race is following our campaign finance laws except for one candidate.”

The letter Wednesday from Corman campaign lawyer Zachary M. Wallen alleged Mastriano “may have committed flagrant and willful violations” of state law by “submitting an obviously deficient and incomplete campaign finance report.”

The Corman campaign also sent the letter to state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who is also running for governor.

But Fogal said Friday that the revisions did not amount to perjury, as Wallen had suggested.

“That is not to say there may not be consequence,” he said. “In ordinary times, such conduct would be appropriately addressed in our free press, which this has, and potential voters would be able to exercise their critical thought as to whether this type of conduct inspires confidence in a candidate’s fitness.”