Current:Home > MarketsDelaware gubernatorial candidate calls for investigation into primary rival’s campaign finances -MoneySpot
Delaware gubernatorial candidate calls for investigation into primary rival’s campaign finances
View
Date:2025-04-16 20:04:52
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The chief executive of Delaware’s largest county is calling for a federal investigation into the campaign finances of the state’s lieutenant governor, who is his chief rival for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer held a brief news conference Monday to respond to a forensic review commissioned by the state Department of Elections that uncovered significant improprieties in the campaign finances of Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long.
“Delawareans, all of us, deserve to be able to trust our elected officials and know that rules and laws apply to everyone, and apply to everyone equally,” Meyer said, decrying what he called Hall-Long’s “near-decade long illegal conduct.”
The forensic review, conducted by a retired FBI senior executive who is a certified fraud examiner, found that Hall-Long and her husband had received payments totaling $33,000 more than what she purportedly loaned to her campaign. It also found that Hall-Long’s husband and former campaign treasurer, Dana Long, wrote four campaign checks to himself but falsely reported that they had been written to someone else.
Jeffrey Lampinski, the fraud examiner, also determined that, from January 2016 to December 2023, Dana Long wrote 112 checks from his wife’s campaign committee account to himself or to cash, and one check to his wife. The checks totaled just under $300,000 and should have been reported as campaign expenditures. Instead, Lampinski found, 109 were never reported in initial finance reports, and the other four, payable to Dana Long, were reported as being made to someone else.
“The report found that Ms. Hall-Long broke the law,” Meyer said. “The report provides evidence that she tried to cover it up, and was still covering it up until the last moment, when she asked our state election commissioner to keep the report detailing the illegalities confidential and not to release these findings to the public.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware declined to comment on Meyer’s call for a federal investigation.
Hall-Long’s campaign released a statement describing Meyer’s remarks as “totally unjustified.”
“Matt Meyer’s press conference today was a desperate political attack to distract the voters from the issues that matter most,” Hall-Long said in the statement. “As I’ve always done, I have voluntarily cooperated with the Delaware Department of Elections and I will continue to do just that.”
Hall-Long has been under intense scrutiny since September, when she abruptly announced the postponement of a campaign event with Democratic Gov. John Carney that was to be held the next day, saying she needed to “attend to a personal, private matter.”
In reality, her campaign was in disarray after people brought in to lead the campaign discovered major discrepancies while reviewing years of finance reports. The scandal led to the resignations of Hall-Long’s campaign manager, chief fundraiser and campaign treasurer — who had replaced Dana Long as treasurer only five months earlier.
In late September, Hall-Long said she was working with “independent campaign finance experts and forensic accountants to thoroughly audit the finances.”
In October, she issued a “campaign audit update” declaring that an accounting firm hired “to audit records and receipts” found “no wrongdoings or violations.” She has refused to release a copy of the purported audit.
In fact, according to documents included in the report commissioned by the state elections commission, the firm hired by Hall-Long relied exclusively on information that she provided, conducted no audit, and made no determination about wrongdoing.
“We will not audit or otherwise verify the data you submit to us,” Karen Remick, owner of Summit CPA Group, wrote in a Sept. 21 letter to Hall-Long’s campaign committee.
“Our engagement does not include any procedures designed to detect errors, fraud, theft, or other wrongdoing,” Remick added.
In November, Hall-Long submitted amended campaign finance reports covering a period of several years, acknowledging that she and her husband had made campaign-related expenses using personal credit cards and loans that had not been properly reported.
According to election officials, however, the amended reports still do not bring Hall-Long into compliance with state campaign finance laws. In an email earlier this month, election commissioner Anthony Albence assured Hall-Long that he would not refer the matter to Democratic Attorney General Kathy Jennings, but that he expected Hall-Long’s committee to take “prompt corrective action.”
veryGood! (12)
Related
- Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
- 36 Unique Hostess Gifts Under $25 To Make You the Favorite Guest as Low $4.99
- Phaedra Parks Reveals Why Her Real Housewives of Atlanta Return Will Make You Flip the Frack Out
- Newly released Coast Guard footage shows wreckage of Titan submersible on ocean floor
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Found: The Best Free People Deals Under $50, Featuring Savings Up to 92% Off & Styles Starting at Just $6
- Texans' C.J. Stroud explains postgame exchange with Bears' Caleb Williams
- Pennsylvania state senator sues critics of his book about WWI hero Sgt. York
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- Veteran CIA officer who drugged and sexually assaulted dozens of women gets 30 years in prison
Ranking
- Bodycam footage shows high
- Connecticut aquarium pays over $12K to settle beluga care investigation
- New Orleans Regional Transit Authority board stalled from doing business for second time this year
- MLS playoff clinching scenarios: LAFC, Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake can secure berths
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- Zachary Quinto steps into some giant-sized doctor’s shoes in NBC’s ‘Brilliant Minds’
- Woman suffers leg burns after hiking off trail near Yellowstone Park’s Old Faithful
- Target Fall Clothes That Look Expensive: Chic Autumn Outfits on a Budget
Recommendation
Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
Kentucky lawmaker recovering after driving a lawnmower into an empty swimming pool
Authorities find body believed to be suspect in Kentucky highway shooting
Man says he lied when he testified against inmate who is set to be executed
Trump's 'stop
Ohio officials approve language saying anti-gerrymandering measure calls for the opposite
Families of Americans detained in China share their pain and urge US to get them home
4 Albany officers suffer head injuries when 2 police SUVs collide