Candidate admits US rep's campaign paid him for leaving race

In this Monday, Sept. 11, 2017 photo, U.S. Rep. Robert Brady speaks at a news conference in Philadelphia. A lawyer for former Philadelphia judge Jimmie Moore, who ran against Brady in 2012, says his client will plead guilty to concealing a $90,000 payment from the incumbent's campaign made in exchange for him dropping out of the race. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

PHILADELPHIA— A onetime challenger to U.S. Rep. Bob Brady pleaded guilty Monday to hiding a $90,000 payment from the powerful Philadelphia Democrat’s campaign in exchange for dropping out of a 2012 primary.

Jimmie Moore, a 66-year-old former city judge, pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of filing a false campaign finance report, and agreed to cooperate with any investigations related to the primary campaign.

“I don’t disagree with what the government said I did,” Moore told Judge Jan DuBois.

Moore met with Brady shortly before exiting the race and the two discussed the arrangement, according to the plea agreement. They decided that the payment would be disguised, partly as the purchase of a campaign poll that Brady already had in his possession, according to the court documents.

Brady hasn’t been charged with a crime. A message left Monday for his lawyer, James Eisenhower, wasn’t immediately returned. Eisenhower has previously denied there was an agreement to hide the source of the money.

The money was supposed to be used to cover Moore’s large campaign debts, prosecutors said.

Moore’s lawyer and federal prosecutors wouldn’t say whether the investigation was leading to Brady.

“There’s a vast amount of evidence out there. Whether it tends to point to Congressman Brady as doing something illegal, or tends to exculpate him, I don’t know,” said Moore’s lawyer Jeffrey Miller.

Moore will be sentenced Jan. 11.

He was released on $25,000 bail and will be permitted to travel within the United States. He told the judge he needed to travel to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for prostate cancer treatment.

Moore’s campaign aide and then-fiance Carolyn Cavaness has already pleaded guilty to concealing the payments on Moore’s campaign finance reports.

Both she and Moore face up to five years in prison.