The defiant head of New York’s Democratic Party says he is keeping on the Biden delegate who was convicted of falsifying school business records and owes $101,000 in back taxes.
“There’s such a thing called redemption,” party Chairman Jay Jacobs told The Post.
Jacobs had promised to investigate the circumstances surrounding James “Jimmy” Monto III’s selection as a pledged delegate for President Biden from the 22nd Congressional District at the Democratic National Convention, after The Post revealed Monto’s checkered past.
The Syracuse Council in August 2022 appointed Monto to fill a vacant seat despite his baggage. He was then elected by the voters in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.
The local district attorney’s office accused Monto — an employee of the Syracuse school district — of trying to take a tax credit he hadn’t earned, costing the school district thousands of dollars in payments to the IRS before he pled guilty to falsifying records.
Monto also owes $101,000 in back taxes to the state.
Jacobs said he personally spoke to Monto and Democratic leaders in the Syracuse region about Monto’s legal woes.
He said Monto’s criminal conviction was “expunged” and noted he was re-elected to a council seat.
“Someone wanted to cause a problem for the guy. I don’t see the big deal,” Jacobs said of the situation.
He said the Democratic leaders in Onondaga County, which includes Syracuse, selected him.
“I have confidence in their leadership,” Jacobs said.
But a longtime Syracuse Democratic Party activist blasted party leaders for selecting the convicted Monto as a Biden delegate.
Former city Councilwoman Jennifer Schultz, a member of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee, voted against Monto’s appointment to the council and as a Biden delegate, arguing it’s an embarrassment to New York — and the president.
“I refused to sign the petition that would make Monto a NY-22 delegate. Monto is not ethically aligned with what an elected official should stand for and the people of our country deserve better,” Schultz told The Post.
Schultz said Monto should never have been appointed to the council in the first place.
“Six councilors voted yes to his appointment, and I voted no. I did not feel that his actions while employed with the Syracuse city school district aligned with the job requirements of a Syracuse common councilor, specifically as it relates to overseeing the city budget and school district budget,” Schultz said.
“Monto’s plea to a misdemeanor for falsifying records while an employee of the city school district should have disqualified him from a seat on the council. The people of the city of Syracuse deserve better and so do the people of the 22nd NY congressional district and President Biden,” she added.
Monto has held leadership positions with the Onondaga County Democratic Committee, including serving as secretary from 2018 to 2022. He was appointed the Syracuse “city chair” of the county party in October 2022, when the current leadership team was elected.
“Once again, he was appointed to a position that the greater [party] committee (the people) did not have a say in,” Schultz said.
Monto told syracuse.com in 2022 he had no idea how the school district’s payroll records got changed and that he only copped a guilty plea because “I was younger, I was terrified, and I’d never been in trouble before.”