Mayor Of Reading Being Investigated Over Campaign Donations

READING, Pa. (AP) — State prosecutors are investigating allegations of campaign finance violations by the mayor of Pennsylvania's fifth-largest city, Reading.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Kathleen Kane told the Reading Eagle on Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1kwAM4d ) that an investigation into alleged violations by Mayor Vaughn Spencer is underway. She declined to elaborate.

The allegations were made in a report commissioned by Berks County officials. They revolve around a $30,000 donation to Spencer by Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The same day, Spencer reported donating $10,000 to each of two Philadelphia City Council candidates.

The union already had given the maximum amount under Philadelphia laws to one candidate and nearly the maximum to the other.

A Spencer campaign lawyer declined comment. Spencer was elected in 2011.

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