The Delaware Coalition for Open Government (DelCOG) calls for a public explanation from gubernatorial candidate Bethany Hall-Long on campaign finance discrepancies.
Reporting from WHYY and the Associated Press uncovered a Dept. of Elections commissioned forensic review of the current lieutenant governor's campaign finances, which found its financial reporting to be “incomplete, inconsistent, and often inaccurate.”
The report identified 109 unreported checks made to Hall-Long’s husband and former treasurer, Dana Long, totaling close to $300,000 and found the couple had paid themselves over $33,000 more than what they had reportedly personally loaned to her campaign among other discrepancies.
Delaware Coalition for Open Government board member John Flaherty argues all of Hall-Long’s campaign checks should have two signatures to promote transparency.
“When you have a campaign of this stature and you have the husband of the candidate operating as a treasurer, you need to have somebody looking over his shoulder. That's why you need a second signature for the checks," Flaherty said.
Emails provided via a Freedom of Information Act request show Elections Commissioner Anthony Albence provided the report to Hall-Long last week, and did not intend to publicly post it or pursue criminal charges by referring the case to the Department of Justice.
But Flaherty says the Department of Elections’ assigned attorney should weigh in.
“This is the second time that this particular campaign has had campaign irregularities reflect on them, and they've had plenty of time over the last year to take corrective action. So it's very, very disturbing.”
Flaherty is referring to a November audit of her campaign finances, which Hall-Long did not release, but said it found no wrongdoing or violations, and instead amended filings that indicated around $308,000 in loans were misreported as expenditures.
In a statement, Attorney General Kathy Jennings says she agrees with Albence’s conclusion that Delaware code’s definition of campaign finance crime "is too narrow to prosecute."
"Delaware’s code does not contain a criminal statute that adequately describes the campaign’s actions in light of the State’s extremely high burden of proof, and of a defense attorney’s ability to credibly attribute the committee’s errors to carelessness. We cannot pursue charges where the law does not provide the standards to do so; but neither should we abide a precedent that flouts the spirit of the law when committees demonstrate negligence," Jennings said.
She goes on to say the Department of Justice will be working to "recommend reforms to the General Assembly that would seal these gaps and enable the kind of accountability that warrants the public’s trust in our campaign finance rules.”
Hall-Long released a statement Friday arguing contrary to the report, her and her husband have loaned the campaign more money than they were reimbursed for, but have decided to “forgive that remaining loan balance.”
Flaherty says Hall-Long should address the expenditure inconsistencies publicly before the Sept. 10 primary election.
"If you want to run a successful campaign, you have to have the confidence and the trust of the donor class — the people you're getting the money from, and if you lose their confidence that the money that they're donating is not being used wisely and according to law, it's gonna dry up really quick. So I think that the this campaign needs to address these issues publicly," he said.
