National Legal and Policy Center
1309 Vincent Place, Suite 1000
McLean, Virginia 22101
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 12, 1998
CONTACT: Dan Rene 703-847-3088
WASHINGTON DC -- In a complaint to the House Ethics Committee filed today,
the National Legal and Policy Center cited new evidence showing that Rep.
Jon Fox pushed public works projects through the House Committee on Transportation
and the Infrastructure favoring a group of Fox's major donors, including
Bruce Toll, the real estate developer who lent Fox $25,000.
NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm stated, "It's beyond debate. Fox took a $25,000
secret loan from a developer in 1992, never paid back a penny, pushed through
projects benefiting the developer with over $10 million in taxpayers' funds,
and then denied knowing that Toll owned land in Towamencin Township near
the site of the proposed project. According to a Gannett News Service article
on April 29, 1998, Fox not only knew about Toll's ownership of land near
the Lansdale exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but spoke on the property
in February of this year in a meeting set up for Fox at Toll's urging and
arranged by Toll employees."
Fox told Times Herald reporter Margaret Gibbons on April 24, "I
am not aware of any property owned by Bruce Toll or Toll Brothers in Towamencin."
Yet the Gannett News Service story of April 29 quoted Bob Dehaan, president
of the Walnut Meadows Community Association on the Toll land in Towamencin,
"Toll asked Fox to come by to meet with the people," he said.
"We didn't seek this out. Toll's people came to us and said,"hey,
how would you like to have breakfast with Jon Fox?"
The complaint to the House Ethics Committee also cited a $10,000 loan which
Fox received from a campaign donor, attorney Richard McBride, in 1992.
According to a Statement of Financial Interest Fox filed with the Pennsylvania
State Ethics Commission in 1993, the loan carried a 6% interest rate. Fox
acknowledged in a January 23, 1998 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer
that he did not pay back the loan until 1997. The complaint attaches as
exhibits Fox's Financial Disclosure Forms filed with the Clerk of the U.S.
House of Representatives from 1992 through 1996 indicating that Fox never
disclosed his loan from McBride. The 6% interest puts Fox's balance over
$10,000, the threshold for reporting liabilities.
Boehm stated,"The $25,000 Toll loan and the $10,000 McBride loan both
came from major donors during a campaign, both were over the $1,000 limit
imposed by the Federal Election Campaign Act, both were never reported
to the Federal Election Commission and both were not properly reported
on all appropriate Financial Disclosure Forms filed by Fox. The Fox explanation
that loans for personal expenditures to candidates from campaign donors
are legal is flatly contradicted by the law and every decision made by
the Federal Election Commission on the issue. The fact that Fox put more
than $6,000 of his own money in his 1992 campaign according to his own
FEC reports while taking $35,000 in illegal personal loans is a clear sign
he used the loans to be able to afford to put money into his race. Finally
Fox continues to refuse to release bank records on the loan and has falsely
told reporters he knew nothing of Toll property in Towamencin when he had
a recent speaking engagement on that very land set up by Toll employees
at Toll's urging. These actions are consistent with someone who has something
to hide. This story is far from over."
NLPC promotes ethics and accountability in government through distribution
of the "Code of Ethics for Government Service," and through research,
education and legal action.
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For interviews to facilitate your coverage please contact Dan Rene at (703)
847-3088 or drene@nlpc.org