Former state senator James “Jimmy” Dillon spent nearly $10,000 from his campaign committee on the Philadelphia Phillies last year, but doesn’t appear to be willing to say what the purchase was for.

Documents available from the state campaign finance disclosure website show Dillon, a Northeast Philly Democrat who lost his re-election bid in November, spent $8,400 with the Phillies in late February, followed up by another $1,352 in early March.

The timing and amounts of the transactions have all the markings of a season ticket purchase, but attempts to get more clarity have not been successful. As part of requesting comment for this story, Broad + Liberty emailed two persons listed as treasurer for Dillon’s campaign, and texted a phone number listed for Dillon on publicly available documents. Those communications were either not returned or were not successful.

Unless the money was spent on some kind of fundraisers — an idea that is doubtful mainly because of the time of year — then the purchases are another in a line of examples in which Pennsylvania lawmakers have used their campaign committees more for personal enrichment than for advancing their candidacy.

A 2019 exposé by Spotlight PA unearthed numerous other examples.

“The campaign of Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D., Allegheny, spent nearly $15,000 on partial season ticket packages to Pittsburgh Penguins games over three years, which his campaign said he gave away as gifts,” the report said. “His public disclosure forms listed them as ‘expense reimbursement – event items,’ ‘expense reimbursement – event prizes, etc.,’ and ‘expense reimbursement – misc./labor lunch/breakfast mtg & event items.’”

Using Pennsylvania campaign finance law, Broad + Liberty filed a request with the Department of State in an effort to obtain the underlying receipt for the purchases. But the Dillon campaign did not provide a receipt, and instead only provided copies of bank transaction memos.

Dillon cannot exactly be described as a politician by choice. It was Jimmy’s brother, Shawn, who had the taste for politics.

Shawn Dillon was poised to take over the senate seat being vacated by John Sabatina when Sabatina won a judgeship in 2021 and was sworn in in early 2022. Dillon, however, was disqualified when he failed to file a statement of financial interests with the State Ethics Commission.

When Shawn’s candidacy was over, Philly Democrats turned to his brother, Jimmy, who was better known for his undergraduate days of playing basketball for Notre Dame than for public policy.

Jimmy won a special election in 2022 by a sizable 56-43 margin.

However, his re-election campaign in 2024 capsized when old posts to X surfaced showing Dillon using the n-word. He later claimed someone else authored the posts.

About a month before the election, Broad + Liberty published an article showing thousands more in questionable expenses by Dillon’s campaign and government office.

Expense reports from his senate office showed numerous gas fillups at stations along the Jersey Shore in summertime. His campaign finance reports, meanwhile, showed Dillon spending more than $1,900 on flowers in both 2023 and 2024 — a highly unusual campaign expense. Dillon did not respond to requests for comment to that article.

Republican Joe Picozzi beat Dillon in November in a tight race, winning by 835 votes in Senate District 5, which leans Democratic in terms of voter registration but can still sometimes swing Republican.

The issue of using campaign funds for sports tickets recently cropped up for Pennsylvania’s top elected official.

According to Spotlight PA, Gov. Josh Shapiro used his campaign account to pay for tickets to the interstate matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers. 

The governor’s spokesman, Manuel Bonder, “didn’t answer a question about whether the governor used money from his sizable campaign war chest to buy the ticket or if the ticket itself was donated,” the report said.

Todd Shepherd is Broad + Liberty’s chief investigative reporter. Send him tips at tshepherd@broadandliberty.com, or use his encrypted email at shepherdreports@protonmail.com. @shepherdreports