A Pennsylvania parental rights advocate is facing criminal charges for giving alcohol to minors at a birthday party she hosted for her daughter.
Clarice Schillinger, a former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, is facing charges of assault, harassment and furnishing minors with alcohol, including vodka and rum, in connection to a September party she hosted in her Bucks County home, according to a police complaint obtained by Newsweek.
The complaint says that Schillinger “not only provided the alcoholic beverages, but poured shots and drank along with the minors, even participating in drinking games.” It also alleges that she punched a partygoer several times in the face.
Despite Schillinger’s claims that the charges were dropped, a spokesman for the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office told Newsweek that the charges have not been dismissed and the case is ongoing.
As of Thursday, the case is awaiting a January 29 preliminary hearing. Schillinger’s attorney denied all charges to USA Today and said she will fight them in court. Newsweek reached out to Schillinger via email for comment.
Schillinger, who made an unsuccessful run to be Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor last year, began her advocacy work during the COVID-19 pandemic when she started the political action committee Keeping Kids in School, which funded school board candidates who prioritized in-person education.
She is currently the executive director of the Back to School PAC, which she launched in 2021 with Bucks County venture capitalist and Central Bucks parent Paul Martino, and has spent more than $800,000 in state school board races. Although the PAC claimed to be bipartisan, most of the candidates endorsed have been Republicans focused on opposing COVID restrictions and fighting left-wing ideologies in schools.
The criminal complaint said that the birthday party for Schillinger’s 17-year-old daughter was not the that first time law enforcement was called to her house. The previous weekend, someone called about a possible underage drinking party and officers responding to the call observed “multiple beer cans” around the property and in the street and “approximately 20 minors” fleeing the house when they arrived.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images
Authorities said there were about 15 to 20 minors at the party related to Schillinger’s charges and that at one point in the party, Schillinger’s boyfriend punched a 15-year-old in the face and that Schillinger’s mother also punched another teen in the eye.
The documents said that several teenagers wanted to leave the party but that Schillinger ordered them to stay. Investigators said cellphone footage corroborated the interviews conducted with the partygoers.
“A video from the evening was provided, which shows multiple minors gathered in a front foyer area of the residence with Clarice Schillinger quickly lunging at a subject and subsequently having to be restrained,” the affidavit of probably cause says.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.