As part of a plea deal, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren agreed to resign before her term ends to settle felony charges that she took steps to evade campaign contribution limits during her 2017 reelection campaign, the Associated Press on Monday.
Warren’s resignation will be effective December 1 and Deputy Mayor James Smith will serve the remainder of her term. Since Warren pleaded guilty on a lesser misdemeanor charge, she is able to keep her pension and her law license.
Along with Warren, her campaign treasurer, Albert Jones Jr., and Rosiland Brooks-Harris, the city’s finance director and treasurer of a pro-Warren political action committee, were also charged with exceeding campaign finance limits. Jones and Brooks-Harris allegedly illegally moved money between Warren’s campaign committee and the PAC.
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