Conservative Party official pleads guilty to using party funds for personal expenses

Jason McGuire, a Conservative Party official and former pastor who became a prominent voice in Albany opposing same-sex marriage and other issues, has been convicted of illegally using campaign money and using it on restaurants, clothes, beauty treatments and other personal expenses, according to the state attorney general.

McGuire, 49, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors stemming from his transferring of more than $16,000 from the Livingston County Conservative Party to accounts held by himself and his wife, according to Attorney General Letitia James, whose office prosecuted the case.

The attorney general's office said McGuire attempted to cover-up the illegal transfers by filing false campaign reports with the state Board of Elections.

McGuire issued a statement late Friday, disputing the characterization of the guilty plea and his organization called it errors of omission regarding campaign filings rather than stealing.

McGuire, a Lima, Livingston County resident who leads an evangelical advocacy group, has been a known figure in New York State politics. He led an unsuccessful lawsuit to overturn the state's same-sex marriage law. He was a plaintiff in a lawsuit that sought to challenge a provision the state’s concealed weapons law that prohibited firearms in churches.

He serves as executive director of the New York Families Action, an evangelical-based lobbying group formerly known as New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms. Besides same-sex marriage, the group has weighed in frequently on issues such as gambling, marijuana legalization and physician-assisted suicide. It opposed a 2024 law that removed adultery as a crime under the state penal law.

The group’s website states: "New York Families Action is your Christian voice in the State Capitol."

Beyond the religious group, McGuire served as vice chairman of the New York State Conservative Party and chairman of the Livingston County Conservative Party.

In those roles, the attorney generals office said: "McGuire had check-writing authority and signed documents linking the committee accounts with a personal bank account he owned with his wife.

"In total, McGuire transferred $16,706.26 from the LCCP account to his personal account throughout 2020 and 2021, which he used to pay for clothes, restaurants, entertainment, fitness centers, beauty treatments, and household expenses. McGuire covered up these transfers by not reporting them on campaign finance reports as required by New York election law," the attorney general’s office said.

In a statement, James said: "Our investigation revealed that Jason McGuire abused his position in the New York Conservative Party to line his own pockets with party funds and cover up his theft."

Sentencing is set for July.

 McGuire issued his own statement later, saying: "The (attorney general's) statement from earlier today bears almost no relationship to the actual facts of my case. Making honest mistakes on financial disclosure forms is not theft."

An official with the New York Families Foundation, affiliated with New York Families Action, called James' statement "false and misleading" and said the board had full confidence in McGuire.

Foundation policy director Stephen Hayford said: "As the attorney general knows perfectly well, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors arising out of errors in campaign finance paperwork. He didn’t steal anything."

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy