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Oglesby: Subject Of Lawsuit Regarding Unpaid Campaign Expenses

(Aug. 27, 2010) Beau Oglesby, candidate Worcester County state’s attorney, is being sued for alleged unpaid campaign expenses related to the 2006 election when he narrowly lost to State’s Attorney Joel Todd.

“I just want to be paid,” said Thom Gulyas, owner of ACE Printing and Mailing, who filed a lawsuit against Oglesby on Aug. 19. “I think waiting four years is long enough.”

Oglesby ordered printing and mail advertising that totaled $13,751.62. In November 2006, he made a $4,000 payment, Gulyas said. According to the online Maryland Elections Center at http://www.mdelections.org/, Oglesby made a $1,000 payment to ACE in August, a $4,000 payment to ACE in October and a $3,000 payment in November.

Also according to that Web site, Gulyas made a $4,000 contribution of campaign materials to Citizens for Beau Oglesby in November. The same Web site says Gulyas’ wife, Belinda, made a $2,000 contribution of campaign materials. Gulyas, however, denies that he or his wife ever donated campaign materials worth thousands of dollars, although he did donate some small printed items such as copies and fliers that he often donates to candidates who do business with him. The campaign materials, the envelopes, the mail processing and postage were not campaign contributions, Gulyas said. They were part of a business transaction.

Oglesby

In a press release issued Wednesday, Oglesby said Gulyas was a big supporter of his campaign and in the fall of 2006, “convinced Oglesby to use his services for a direct mailing in the closing days of the campaign.”

The statement said Gulyas was told to limit the scope of the mailing to that which would be covered by the balance in Oglesby’s campaign account. However, the Oglesby release said Gulyas insisted on expanding the coverage of the mailing, agreeing that his estimated $6,000 in additional printing and mailing cost would be viewed as a campaign contribution from his wife and him.”

Also in the press release, Oglesby said he had not seen the lawsuit filing, which Gulyas said contains a copy of an invoice from ACE to Oglesby dated Dec. 13, 2006. It shows the total of $13,751.62, a payment of $8,004.89 and a balance of $5,746.73. It says the terms are “Net 10 Days.”

In December 2006 and January 2007, Gulyas said, he received telephone calls from Oglesby saying he was getting funding together to pay the bill.

Oglesby’s press release said Gulyas contacted him more than a year after the campaign ended and the campaign account had been ended “and requested additional payment for the work that had been contributed.”

Gulyas continued to send bills and continued to be unpaid. Oglesby left his position as a prosecutor in the Wicomico County State’s Attorney’s Office and moved to the Western Shore where he worked as a criminal defense attorney in Montgomery, Prince George’s and Howard counties. Gulyas found his addresses by looking online at the Web site for the Maryland Judiciary Case Search, http://casesearch.courts.state.md/. us/inquiry/inquiry-index.jsp. One of the addresses was for a law firm in Rockville. Oglesby also had a Greenbelt address.

Last spring, Oglesby, who had returned to the Eastern Shore and is now the deputy state’s attorney for Caroline County, called and said he would pay the bill, Gulyas said. Then he e-mailed Gulyas in April and May. In May, Gulyas was fed up and got a promissory note and asked Oglesby to sign it. Nothing happened for a few days, then Gulyas notified Oglesby that he would turn the matter over to his attorney. Oglesby responded with a phone call.

“He lit me up,” Gulyas said Monday. “He was extremely angry.”

The promissory note, Gulyas told Oglebsy, meant that he would drag Oglesby to the courthouse to get paid, but he also told him he would give him 90 days to pay the outstanding balance of $7,746.73.

“He was cursing and swearing at me,” Gulyas said. “He kept ranting and raving.”

According to the lawsuit, “The Defendant’s inability to maintain a civilized dialogue with the Plaintiff severed all further communications.”

In July, Oglesby sent Gulyas a $2,000 payment.

“That’s the last I heard,” Gulyas said.

Oglesby explains the $2,000 payment by saying in his press release that despite the prior agreement in which he had no legal obligation to repay the additional money, he decided he “would refund his donation from my new account as soon as it became active.”

Oglesby said the timing of Gulyas’ lawsuit is political.

“Now that Thom has publicly endorsed my opponent, the timing of this frivolous lawsuit, just two months before the election, a lawsuit that he knows is barred by the statute of limitations, speaks for itself,” he said.

Gulyas said the lawsuit is not politically motivated.

“That’s a damn lie,” Gulyas said. “Business comes first. It’s my money and I want to be paid. It has nothing to do with politics.”

The case is scheduled for Oct. 27 in District Court in Snow Hill.

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