The charges against then-Cincinnati Council members P.G. Sittenfeld, Tamaya Dennard, and Jeff Pastor sparked huge headlines when they dropped in 2020.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation had been looking into Cincinnati City Hall for two years by that point. All three cases involved allegations the Council members had taken money from donors in exchange for votes or other official actions. Beyond that, however, they were unconnected and their cases had some key differences.
Dennard and Pastor eventually pleaded guilty. Sittenfeld and his attorneys, however, tried to fight his case all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
Northern Kentucky University Law Professor Ken Katkin says that fight is likely the biggest reason why Sittenfeld netted a pardon from President Donald Trump this year — and why his colleagues have yet to get similar treatment.
"The quality of Sittenfeld's lawyering made the Justice Department question whether this was a wrongful conviction or not," he says. "Because Dennard and Pastor, A., didn't have that quality of lawyering and B., plead guilty, they never really raised arguments that troubled the Justice Department too much."
Sittenfeld's case
Sittenfeld's attorneys argued the then-mayoral candidate did not promise any specific quid-pro-quo in exchange for campaign contributions given to him by undercover FBI agents posing as developers. Instead, he was simply meeting with people he thought were developers and assuring them of his commitment to supporting Downtown development.
Federal prosecutors alleged Sittenfeld took the bribes in 2018 in the form of four checks from LLCs to his political action committee. Those contributions came with an understanding, prosecutors alleged, that Sittenfeld would deliver a veto-proof majority on approvals for a development project at 435 Elm Street.
The prosecution used taped conversations between the agents and Sittenfeld, including one in which he stated, "I can deliver the votes," to convince the jury.
Sittenfeld deposited the money into campaign accounts and reported it properly, his attorneys pointed out during trial. They argued he did nothing illegal.
Sittenfeld received a 16-month sentence for his bribery conviction. He served roughly four-and-a-half months of that sentence before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered him released in May 2024 as an appeal proceeded. The 6th Circuit ultimately denied his appeal, but in its decision, judges sounded notes of skepticism about the case's outcome, saying there were still "substantial" questions about whether what Sittenfeld did constituted a crime that should be considered by the Supreme Court.
"I think in Sittenfeld's case, you've really got a pure issue of law," Katkin says. "There's no difference between what the Justice Department said Sittenfeld did and what Sittenfeld said he did. They completely agree about what he did. The question is whether that's illegal or not."
Dennard's case
Dennard's case came with a different set of facts. Prosecutors alleged Dennard asked for $15,000 from developers in exchange for positive votes on projects. Dennard initially pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, attempted extortion, and honest services wire fraud. She eventually took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Dennard's guilty plea and the fact it didn't stem from an FBI sting operation — a key point of contention in Sittenfeld's case — are at least part of the reason she hasn't received a pardon, Katkin explains.
Pastor's case
Though Pastor's case did involve FBI informants posing as donors, other factors make a pardon less likely for him, Katkin says. Federal prosecutors accused Pastor of taking $55,000 in exchange for agreeing to take official actions as a Council member.
The allegations said Pastor used that money for personal gain, not just campaign purposes. Court filings also contained details including paid junkets to Miami, Florida, on a private jet and visits to nightlife establishments Pastor took with the FBI informants that were not disclosed in campaign finance documents.
Pastor pleaded guilty to one count of honest services wire fraud in 2023 and was sentenced to two years in prison. He was released this April.
Pastor has recently asked publicly for a presidential pardon, saying he'd be interested in serving on City Council again.
"Everyone deserves mercy," he told WCPO recently. "A pardon is not an entitlement. A pardon is mercy and reform in action."
Katkin says that's not impossible, but details from his case would make a pardon a "messier" proposition politically.
"I think it [a pardon] doesn't perfectly fit the Pastor case because he was taking the trips to strip clubs in Miami and things like that," he says. "It wasn't just campaign funds."
What's next?
Convictions for all three mean they can no longer hold public office. But that could change for Sittenfeld. Federal attorneys recently filed motions in both the U.S. Supreme Court and federal district court seeking to have charges against Sittenfeld dropped after the fact. If granted, Sittenfeld would have the court record of his conviction expunged and his full rights restored.
That would end the possibility of a Supreme Court review of the case — something Katkin thinks is strategic on the part of the Justice Department.
"We want him to be in the same position as best we can get him to as if he'd never been convicted at all," Katkin says of the DOJ's likely reasoning. "But we don't want to get into the merits of the case or have the Supreme Court make a ruling about whether it was a rightful or wrongful conviction."
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