BHL’s Potemkin Village Campaign
If you don’t look closely at her run for Governor, it appears that it has all the trappings of a normal campaign.
If you examine it, really examine it, it looks more like a Potemkin Village, with perhaps one or two people keeping the skimpy scenery standing. Presumably political hack Ann Farley and that guy from the Democratic Lieutenant Governors’ Association. And perhaps Val Longhurst stopping by when she’s supposedly ‘working’ at her PAL job.
We know that a bleepload of the people who worked on her campaign have left the campaign, leaving nothing but stories of a shit-show in their place. We’ve been told that virtually nobody is left. We know that her husband, who had served as her treasurer since she first ran for office, was forced out of that role earlier this year. He was replaced by a so-called campaign compliance expert, who either left or was terminated. She was replaced by a clerk who has no serious accounting experience.
We know that Dana Long has been a walking scandal for close to 10 years now, having advanced from stealing signs to using confidential info on Section 8 residents in BHL’s district for political purposes to turning his inside Section 8 connections into an LLC in partnership with BHL’s then-top aide. (A brief aside: Can you imagine how many signs Dana Long had to steal in order to impel BHL’s opponent to take the step of installing a camera?)
We know that Bethany Hall-Long has admitted to improperly categorizing over $300K in loans as donations. You know, because they had such a hard time transitioning from a ‘mom and pop kitchen table’ campaign to a statewide campaign (although she saw no reason to replace her ethically-compromised husband/treasurer until she had to this year). We know that she suspended her campaign for about a month to supposedly audit those campaign finance records. We know that she hired a one-person firm to conduct that audit, and that said one person had no background in auditing campaign finances. We know that BHL is retroactively submitting updated reports that supposedly will comply with campaign finance law. The audit? She won’t release that. Answering questions? She won’t do that.
Her message? ‘I’m done answering questions, let’s move on.’ Yet another brief aside: Some of the information about her campaign has to have come from people who used to work or volunteer on her campaign. It could have come from nowhere else. We have verified some of it, but it’s time for those of you with direct knowledge to stop holding our coats for us and to come forward right here on DL. If you really believe that her election would be disastrous for Delaware, then tell us what you know. On the record.
Now. Let’s look at the recent Collin O’Mara boomlet in the wake of a fading campaign from the once-presumptive leader. You can’t beat somebody with nobody. John Carney’s enmity for Matt Meyer is well-known. If he now sees that BHL ain’t gonna fly, could O’Mara be an alternative? Sure, if he runs. Al is dubious, but it seems likely that someone wants him in the race. I’m not talking Richard Korn or Dennis E. Williams, either. I think the Leg Hall lobbyists and former Bethany Hall Long supporters are searching for an alternative.
Why? Because they see that BHL’s campaign is in its death throes, likely to expire around the time that the year-end campaign finance reports come out.
Time to strike the set.
As I continue to mix with normal Delawareans, I’m no longer shocked by how little they know or care about who is trying to become the next Gov.
Right now it feels like BHL could win with 500 votes. Not by 500 votes, with 500 votes.
While perhaps true, it won’t be the case once the campaign begins in earnest.
In a race between BHL and Matt Meyer, money is gonna matter. I’m really skeptical as to how much BHL can raise in the aftermath of what appears to have been the evisceration of her operation and a similar evisceration of her reputation.
Collin is not going to work out. His hydrogen gambit is too big to set aside for a questionable run, and his base has dissipated since he left the Markell administration.
Carney could actually do better by calling on one of his cabinet members — one who already has a viable campaign in place.
John, how about asking Eugene to shift lanes?
No, John won’t do that. Eugene might actually be a better candidate and governor than BHL … and that wouldn’t be good for John’s legacy.
I had raised that very issue with someone close to Eugene’s campaign.
They told me at the time that he was committed to the House run and that that, in fact, is what he wants to do.
It’s possible that Carney did the same thing and got the same answer.
My question is this – since I don’t know how political campaign financing works – if she is “donating” funds to her campaign from personal coffers wouldn’t that be a tax write off for her personally? And if so and she claimed those as such wouldn’t she be in a shitload of irs trouble if she didn’t amend those returns and pay those taxes? Isn’t what she did basically tax fraud?
I’m far from an expert, but it’s apparent she violated campaign law. Whether or not there are sanctions for her actions is beyond my pay grade.
Shouldn’t be beyond the AG’s pay grade, though.
I confess I’m far from an expert either.
But what I understand she claims did is she paid for campaign expenses using her personal funds, making them a loan to the campaign – but listed them as expenses paid by the campaign, without first listing them as loans. If she had been running a more thinly funded campaign, the math wouldn’t have added up – her books would have been out of synch and expenses wouldn’t have matched income.
I’m not sure what the exact legal problem is other than Crappy Accounting. And I have no idea why they didn’t just quietly amend the reports, if what she claims happened is true.
Anyone else have the same understanding?
Agree w SussexWatcher ^^^.
Campaign donations are not tax deductible, so she could not get a tax write off on the loans.
I don’t know why they didnt just quietly amend the return as many do all the time. Seems like an innocent error to me.
There’s no such thing as an innocent $300K campaign finance error.
It seems near certain that they were funneling contributors’ dollars into their own personal accounts.
They somehow got caught (I’m guessing by the campaign finance compliance expert who came in to try to clean things), and had no choice but to construct the flimsy story they’ve presented to the public. A story, BTW, with no input from any ‘forensic accountant’, which is what BHL solemnly promised./
FWIW, I believe that contributions to political campaigns are NOT tax-deductible.
This campaign funding hanky-panky isn’t going to get her into any trouble with the IRS but it should make voters think twice about whether she’s fit to make suggestions on how the state should spend your taxpayer dollars.
Definitely not at all tax deductible.
Also, the accusation isn’t that she was giving money to the campaign. It’s that she/her husband were taking money OUT of the campaign and putting it in their personal bank accounts. Checks are being written from the campaign (donor money) to her husband for perhaps personal use.
The reason she wants to go back and claim campaign expenses were loans, if they’re loans then a candidate is allowed to re-pay the loans with cash.
So it’s a way to post-hoc justify $200k of checks from campaign funds to her/her husband’s personal accounts.
This was my thinking, TomTom, based on the Karl Baker story. Set up LLC. Get inside scoops on Section 8 properties. Use the cash in the campaign account to flip houses. Could this be the scandal?
No. It’s (at least) TWO scandals.
Old Sussex Dem and a long time reader
I’m amazed how absolutely no one down here will even discuss this.
Even the old hacks over in her Sussex homelands leave it alone-when I bring it up they just shrug – and say she’ll run anyway.
It’s a terrible example of integrity and leading by example-it’s things like this that make me wonder why we even have a Lt. Governors office at all for a State our size.
It’s not the size that counts.
I get what you did there. Warrants a musical response:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvrupRQD44I
You’re welcome.
Delaware
Laws/rules: 15 Del. C. §§ 8040 – 8046
Agency(ies) handling campaign finance issues: Department of Elections
Agency(ies) with enforcement power: Department of Elections; Attorney General
Reporting and Enforcement Powers:
The Department of Election: the state election commissioner make rules and regulations necessary to implements and enforces the Campaign Financing Act of 1990 and the 2012 Delaware Elections Disclosure Act. It handles all the reporting processes. The commissioner investigates violations of campaign finance law, issues rulings and penalties/fines for reporting violations.
Private person: any civil remedy on behalf of any injured person may be filed in the Court of Chancery.
Attorney General: prosecutes criminal violations. The Delaware Superior Court has jurisdiction over all criminal violations of campaign finance law.
You’re all cooking with gas, now.
I LIKE it.
Regarding the audit; Summit is a CPA firm, but in order to perform audits or any other type of “attestation” work, under state law, they would need to be enrolled in a peer review program. Peer review is an onerous, expensive, and at times punitive process – many CPA firms do excellent bookkeeping and tax work but steer clear of attestation services and do not need to have a peer review done. I don’t see any sign that Summit has had a peer review done (there is a peer review public file maintained by the AICPA) and they don’t advertise attestation work on their website. My guess is whatever work Summit did here is being mischaracterized. Summit would be prohibited from commenting because of client confidentiality issues but I’d be livid if that were done to me.
So, it sounds like you’re saying that Summit would have been ineligible to conduct such an audit if, say, the Department of Elections needed a firm to audit BHL’s finances. Is that right?
Meaning, the only reason that Summit could have conducted this audit is/was b/c BHL is a private citizen and thereby not required to use a firm that has been through the peer review process?
Let me know if I got that right.
Mostly right – the term audit is often used generically but has a specific meaning to a CPA. It is one type of work under the broader term attestation, generally rendering an opinion or reaching a conclusion. If a firm is not enrolled in a peer review program, it is not allowed to perform any attestation work for anyone. Summit’s been around for a while and almost certainly understands that distinction.
Potentially Summit was engaged to go through credit cards and other records looking for potential campaign expenses that were paid personally and came up with a list, but that’s bookkeeping. If a report was issued, it would likely studiously avoid the word “audit” and may even say “This was not an audit”.
Let me crystal clear – there is absolutely no campaign finance oversight in Delaware beyond getting a notice if your filing is late.
It’s literally up to a campaign’s adversaries and diligent citizens to ferret out any discrepancies.
My guess is BHL knew that even a basic review of her filings would throw up red flags, so she cleaned it up nice and early in the cycle.
Not disagreeing, but this might be more than “red flags.” Saying there was no victim is akin to what Trump is arguing in New York – no harm, no foul. But you can’t use your campaign fund as a revolving door piggy bank without detailing the transactions. It reeks of potential abuse.
I seem to recall, back in the ’90s I think, a politico who went to work for the highway department who got canned for using the toll receipts as a piggy bank. IIRC he even left IOUs, and the sums weren’t large. He wasn’t prosecuted, but he was fired.
To put it in Premier League terms, this isn’t a yellow-card offense. This one draws a red. Out of the game.
The Premier League refs have really blown it several times this season with yellow and red cards, and the state literally blows it every time with campaign finance violations.
She’ll walk with a slap on the wrist and the onus will be on the voters.
You are justifiably pessimistic as a longtime observer of the Delaware Way.
However, she’s not gonna be able to raise money. She’s currently w/o a campaign manager and a fundraising pro. Her previous donors can’t help but be suspicious of giving her more money as it’s not clear where the money would go.
No, I think the party’s over. Boom boom, out go the lights.
One ref even got demoted for blowing a penalty call so badly. A lesson for them all, in and out of the Premier League.
She announced the audit AFTER the Campaign Compliance expert who had been brought on as Treasurer resigned b/c BHL wouldn’t provide access to the bank records.
And then didn’t conduct a forensic audit. And has refused to release the results of the ‘audit’ from someone who was not qualified to conduct such an audit.
There’s no more benefit of the doubt to be accorded her. Except from, I guess, Stephanie Hansen.
Are you the only source of genuine investigative journalism in the state? Delaware Liberal is stellar by any comparison but surprised Mrs. Shady McPolitico isn’t under more scrutiny.