Longtime activist accused of forgery on nominating form
Kromko
Political activist John Kromko confirmed Friday evening that he has been charged with identity theft and forgery connected to nominating petitions he filed in an unsuccessful bid for a state House seat last year.
Kromko, 68, ran unsuccessfully against Phil Lopes and Olivia Cajero Bedford in the Democratic primary for the two state House of Representative seats in District 27.
Kromko said he has been charged with nine counts each of forgery and identity theft and one count of fraudulent schemes.
According to a copy of the complaint filed by the Pima County Attorney’s Office and provided by Kromko, he is accused of stealing the identities of 29 different people.
The charges stem from an investigation of his nominating petitions, he said.
“I knew that there was some concern about this a long time ago, but I thought it was all taken care of,” he said. “Apparently there are . . . signatures on my petition that they say that I wrote but I didn’t.”
A representative of the County Attorney’s Office could not be reached Friday evening.
“I needed 400 signatures and I had almost 800,” Kromko said. “It doesn’t make sense that I would bother to do that because I had so many signatures and as far as I can tell, they were all good.
“I can’t imagine that I would get convicted on this but you never would know, I guess.”
Kromko has been active in local politics for 40 years and served in the state Legislature from 1976-1990.