Despite Charleston massacre, Ohio treasurer keeps white supremacist donation

Jewish politician Josh Mandel refuses to return grant from organization said to inspire gunman who killed 9

Josh Mandel, the Ohio state treasurer (Citizens for Josh Mandel/JTA)
Josh Mandel, the Ohio state treasurer (Citizens for Josh Mandel/JTA)

Josh Mandel, the Jewish Ohio treasurer who ran for the US Senate in 2012, will not return a campaign donation from a white supremacist.

An array of Republican candidates who have received donations from Earl Holt, the president of the Council of Conservative Citizens, are returning his donations in the wake of reports that the man alleged to have killed nine black worshipers in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, was inspired by the group.

Mandel, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in 2012, will not return the $1,500 his campaign received, Chris Berry, Mandel’s spokesman, told the Toledo Blade on Tuesday.

“The money he donated was spent over two and a half years ago, so it cannot be returned,” Berry said. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was reelected in 2012.

April 2015 photo released by the Lexington County (S.C.) Detention Center shows Dylann Roof, 21. (Lexington County Detention Center/via AP)
April 2015 photo released by the Lexington County (S.C.) Detention Center shows Dylann Roof, 21. (Lexington County Detention Center/via AP)

Dylann Roof, the 21-year old in custody, is not known to have had any ties with Holt’s group.

A number of Republicans, including presidential candidates Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), have returned the funds to Holt or donated their equivalent to a charity, including one in memory of the nine victims.

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