A battle over the leadership of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County has prompted legal action from one of the region’s highest-profile public officials: the county’s own communications director.
Amie Downs has filed court papers in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court against M J Costello, a leader of the conservative advocacy group TeamRED. The move comes after Costello accused Republican County Chair Sam DeMarco of using party funds to pay Downs, the chair of a local Democratic committee who, in her county role, often speaks on behalf of Democratic County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and his administration.
“I think it’s really unfortunate that people are making false claims and accusations,” said DeMarco, who in recent days has fended off a bitter challenge from Costello and other dissidents in his bid to serve another term as the county GOP chair.
DeMarco bested challenger Doug Austin by a vote of 245 GOP committee members to 214 on Saturday. While he urged “all sides to come together” after a “full and energetic airing of differences,” Downs' legal fight may just be getting underway.
At issue in her filings are statements made last month during an online video appearance by Costello, and in a July 5 blast email sent to TeamRED supporters. In the email, Costello said a campaign finance report filed by the county Republican committee “shows DeMarco paying Amie Downs, Front Porch $30,000+ in 2021. She is the communications director of Democrat County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, and the checks go to her home address.”
Costello made similar allegations on the online talk show, “Up Front in the Prophetic.”
The payments were made not to Downs, however, but to Front Porch Consulting, which DeMarco calls "a Republican consulting firm owned by Paul Towhey." Towhey is married to Downs. State records show that the couple’s home is also Front Porch’s business address, and that the company was formed in 2020 with Towhey as the sole organizer.
And in a July 22 court filing, Downs alleges that Costello’s characterization of the payment “slanders her” because Costello knows she “is a public servant who works for the Democratic County executive.” Downs’ filing also notes that she “serves various roles in the Democratic Party”: Downs is currently the chair of its committee in Dormont.
Costello declined to comment about the dispute. So did Downs, whose attorney did not return phone calls seeking comment over three days.
Downs' early court filings do not fully state the basis for her claim yet, though one asserts that Costello and TeamRED "knowingly made the ... libelous and slanderous statements with the intention of causing harm" to Downs. At this stage of the proceedings, the filings say, Downs intends to depose Costello to establish who “participated in the research, writing, editing and publishing” of Costello’s claims — as well as “all facts or information” which Costello relied upon to make them.
Downs is also seeking “the identity and nature of Defendant TeamRED’s business and/or activities.” TeamRED does not appear to be registered as a political committee, but describes itself on its website as a grassroots group whose mission is “to advance conservative values through the evidence-based fact that our Constitution … is the best covenant ever created for people to govern themselves.”
Costello and TeamRED, who argue that DeMarco should have been more responsive to conservative allegations of voter fraud in 2020. He also holds a seat on Allegheny County Council and serves on the county’s three-member Board of Elections, along with Fitzgerald and Democratic County Council member Bethany Hallam.
But DeMarco said he pays Front Porch for one reason: to help beat Democrats in November.
The firm, he said, uses data to help the party direct its “get-out-the-vote” efforts by helping to determine where best to invest energy to spur Republican voter turnout in November.
Towhey “is very good at what he does,” DeMarco said. “He has been a Republican his whole life, and who he’s married to has no bearing — nor should it — on his work product.”
In her email and her appearance on the online show, Costello also faulted Towhey — who she identified only as Downs’ husband, and not by his ties to Front Porch — for his involvement a decade ago in a scandal involving the use of state computers for political ends in the state House. Towhey, who at the time was a top aide to then-Speaker of the House John Perzel, pleaded guilty to two offenses in 2011 and was sentenced to probation and a $35,000 restitution payment.
“Are we going to ruin somebody’s life for that?’ DeMarco asked. “He was on probation and paid a fine, so he doesn’t have a chance to make a living?”
DeMarco noted that his committee is not Front Porch’s only client. State records show the House Republican Campaign Committee, which seeks to elect GOP representatives to the state House, paid Front Porch $43,000 in 2020, the year the company was established.
“If the Republican Party sees the work he brings in is good and productive,” DeMarco asked, “why should I come to a different conclusion?”
Correction: This story was updated at 1:28 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 2 2022 to correct the name of Republican committee chair challenger Doug Austin.
