Tasco Alleges Intimidation by Bass Worker

By KARL BIEMULLER

Editor

The race for the Democratic nomination in the 8th Councilmanic District took an unexpected turn on Tuesday, morning, April 5, as candidate Robin Tasco announced on the  internet radio program “The Morning Feed,” hosted by Ed Feldman  at http://gtownradio.com, that she had been approached by Steven Vaughn, a worker for the campaign of Cindy Bass and a convicted felon, who she said had tried to intimidate her into leaving the race and also hinted of possible assistance for her if she did agree to drop out of the crowded field.

In the interview, which can be heard in its entirety at http://www.gtownradio.com/content/blogsection/44/119, Tasco said that she had received a phone call from Vaughn, former chief of staff to incumbent Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, and that Vaughn had asked Tasco to drop out of the race. If she didn’t, she said, Vaughn produced documents and said that action could be taken alleging insurance fraud over an accident that Tasco had had several years ago.

In a brief phone interview on April 6 Tasco said that Vaughn identified himself as a campaign worker for Bass. “What he did was he called me up and said he had some embarrassing information about my campaign and he wanted to meet with me the next day.” She said she met with him that night, March 13. “Basically I didn’t tell him anything. We just listened to him.” Vaughn said, according to Tasco, that he was hoping that she would drop out of the race and that her nominating petitions would be challenged if she didn’t. Of the document that Vaughn allegedly produced, said Tasco, “It was nothing …. I didn’t say anything to him one way or another.”

As of press time, Vaughn could not be reached for comment.

In a brief phone interview on April 6 Bass said that during her campaign, “I’ve talked about the issues and I really feel that it’s a red herring and a complete distraction from the work that we’re trying to do … No one from my campaign has ever intimidated anyone either explicitly or implicitly. I have never operated a campaign in that fashion and never have and never will.”

She added, “I’ve seen Robin numerous times during the campaign and at no time did she ever mention this to me or say that anyone from my campaign did anything like this.”

Vaughn, who was chief of staff to Councilwoman Miller and the head of the Central Germantown Council at the time of his indictment in 2005, was convicted of taking part in a scheme with cleric Imam Shamsud-Din Ali to defraud the city by charging for collection of real estate taxes that had already been paid.

If further information becomes available, visit www.germantownnewspapers.com for updates.