State officials report campaign finances
Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Lt. Gov. Bill Halter retired another $ 34, 000 in campaign debt, reducing his outstanding balance to $ 464, 935. 91, according to reports filed Tuesday.
“We’re reaching out to folks and asking them for their help, and they have been terrific,” Halter said.
At the end of 2006, his campaign’s reports showed it owed him $ 1. 05 million. When asked if having half his debt unpaid has caused him to regret loaning $ 1. 17 million to his campaign, Halter replied: “I don’t spend a whole lot of time looking in the rearview mirror.”
Most of the state’s other constitutional officers also filed reports for the April 1-June 30 quarter.
In addition, the campaign of Attorney General Dustin Mc-Daniel announced late Tuesday that it’s conducting an internal review of campaign books from his 2006 race after discovering “accounting errors.”
The campaign has notified the state Ethics Commission, but no investigation by that agency or anyone else is under way, said Brett Kincaid, a campaign spokesman.
“We wanted to get out in front of it,” Kincaid said.
The errors didn’t violate any laws, and no one contributed more than the legal limit during the election cycle, Kincaid said.
The campaign hired a forensic accountant to review the books. Once the audit is complete, amended reports will be filed, Kincaid said.
In the future, all campaign reports will be reviewed by a certified public accountant “to avoid future discrepancies,” according to a statement from the campaign.
McDaniel was on vacation and unavailable for comment.
McDaniel’s Leadership PAC had a balance of $ 69, 540. 75 after $ 57, 050 in contributions for the quarter.
Contributors who gave $ 5, 000 each to McDaniel’s PAC include GGNSC Administrative Services LLC of Fort Smith; Teddy Bear Inc. of Benton, Southwestern Energy Company PAC of Fayetteville and Entergy of New Orleans.
McDaniel gave $ 2, 500 to various candidates in the quarter, including $ 250 each to Rep. Mark Pate, D-Bald Knob, in his race for district judge, and Courtney Henry of Fayetteville for her successful race for the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Tiffany Rogers, a Democrat from Stuttgart who won the May 20 primary for House District 14, received $ 1, 000 for that race.
Also receiving $ 500 McDaniel PAC money for the Nov. 4 general election was Thomas Akin, a Democrat running for House District 68 in Russellville, and Jim Nickles, a Democrat running for House District 43 in Sherwood and North Little Rock.
McDaniel’s own quarterly campaign report listed $ 28, 309. 89 cash on hand after $ 2, 076. 19 in expenses.
Gov. Mike Beebe also filed a carry-over campaign report listing $ 11, 787. 32 in expenses. Nearly all of that money was spent on food from Wolfgang Puck Catering of Hollywood, Calif., for a fundraiser in the summer of 2006, said Matt DeCample, the governor’s spokesman.
Beebe has $ 55, 515. 60 left in his campaign account.
State Treasurer Martha Shoffner reported raising $ 4, 000 in the quarter, lowering her outstanding campaign debt to $ 3, 526. 72.
Commissioner of State Lands Mark Wilcox reported spending $ 142. 66, leaving him with $ 18, 939. 02 in his campaign account.
Halter, as usual, filed three reports — one each for the primary, primary run-off and general election. In all, he reported raising $ 66, 521. 66 and spending $ 32, 334. 45, leaving him with a net debt reduction of $ 34, 186. 81.
Among reports filed for June, in the state’s lone contested state Senate race, Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, reported raising $ 50, 400 and spending $ 26, 405, leaving him with a balance of $ 223, 285 in his June campaign finance report.
His opponent, Democrat Joe White of Conway, reported raising $ 20, 007. 08 in his June report and spending $ 5, 265. 12, leaving a balance of $ 180, 981. 53. Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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