U.S. Sen. Rob Portman has donated to charity the $250 he got from the head of a white supremacist organization linked to the killing of nine black people in a South Carolina church last week. But another Ohio politician says he's already spent his donation from the group and can't return it.
Both the contribution to Portman’s 2010 campaign and another $1,500 to the 2012 Senate campaign of Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel came from Earl Holt III. He’s the president of the Council of Conservative Citizens.
In a diatribe on his web site denouncing blacks and other minorities, the alleged gunman, Dylann Roof, cites the work of the council.
Portman learned of the contribution Sunday night and is giving the money to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund to help the victims of the shooting.
According to the Northeast Ohio Media Group, a spokesman for Mandel says the money has been spent and can’t be returned. Federal Election Commission filings show Mandel’s campaign fund still had nearly $50,000 in it as of April.