Auditor candidate Doug Hoffer's campaign comes out of the gate with a laser directed at both his primary candidate and the Republican incumbent – and it may well be sharp and tantalizing enough for the semi-engaged legacy media to sit up and take note. From a press release:
Democratic candidate for State Auditor Doug Hoffer today said the July 15 campaign finance reports of Ed Flanagan and Tom Salmon are plagued with errors and that both candidates should file amended reports to clear up the confusion.
“For another office we might think of this as merely unfortunate,” Hoffer said. “But the State Auditor is called upon to inspect the financial reporting of state agencies. I think at a minimum candidates for Auditor should be able to properly complete these simple forms.”
The press release is remarkably thorough, even including links to the filings cited by Hoffer. If this gets any coverage, it could prove a powerful line of attack. Below the fold is the rest of the release.
According to documents available on the Secretary of State’s website, Ed Flanagan’s current campaign finance report is the latest in a series of incorrect and contradictory reports.
· A handwritten note on Flanagan’s July 15 2010 report refers to $27,087.15 in available funds “FROM PREVIOUS CAMPAIGNS.” Going back at least six years, there is no record in any of Flanagan’s previous campaign finance filings documenting this carryover.
· Flanagan’s July 15 2009 report was stamped received by the Secretary of State on June 24, 2010, eleven months late. Flanagan’s signature on the report appears to read July 15, 2010. Again, a hand-scribbled notation refers to previous campaign funds carrying over, but going back at least six years, there is no record in any of Flanagan’s previous campaign finance filings documenting this carryover.
· All six of Flanagan’s 2008 campaign finance reports (dating from July through December) appear to be signed on April 30, 2009. These range in tardiness between 4.5 and 9 months.
· Dating all the way back to Flanagan’s 2006 campaign finance statements, the amount “$0” is listed for carryover from previous campaigns.
· Flanagan’s December 2006 report shows total contributions of $37,708.36 and total expenditures of $32,610.32. No subsequent report reflects the apparent surplus funds.
· Flanagan’s October 27, 2008 report (signed on April 30, 2009) includes mysterious contributions totaling $2,300 for that period but no future reports (which are cumulative in nature) include this. In fact, neither Flanagan’s November 14, 2008 or December 15, 2008 report lists any amount under total contributions for the campaign to date.
Hoffer says that Republican State Auditor Tom Salmon also appears to have erred in his recent campaign finance report. Hoffer said Salmon had details of contributions and expenditures which should not have been included because they had previously been reported by Salmon in his July 15 2009 report – a year earlier. The Secretary of State’s forms are very clear about this.
· In last week’s finance report, Salmon detailed 14 contributions over $100 for the reporting period on page 3, totaling $7,150, but on page 2 reports only $2,200 of these contributions. Eleven of the contributions were previously reported in his July 15, 2009 report.
· Salmon says on page 2 of the report that total expenditures for the period are $2,167.17, but the detailed listing of expenses on page 4 is $3,262.65. It includes two payments previously reported in July 2009.
· Double-counting contributions, even on one page of the report, can give people a false impression of fund-raising success. In fact, Salmon’s proper contributions since July 2009 included only three above the $100 mark (and only one in 2010).
Hoffer suggested that both Flanagan and Salmon should file amended reports to make sure there’s no confusion about their campaign finances.
“These are not transparent filings in my opinion,” Hoffer said. “These are the types of mistakes that give auditors and CPAs headaches.”
Links to Finance Reports from Senator Flanagan
July 2010 report http://vermont-elections.org/elections1/71510flanagane.pdf
July 2009 report (submitted http://vermont-elections.org/elections1/flanagane71509.pdf
December 2008 (submitted April 2009) http://170.222.200.108:8080/isysquery/9dbef326-52eb-490b-aa45-935ec4493171/19/doc/flanagane121508.txt
November 2008 (submitted April 2009) http://170.222.200.108:8080/isysquery/9dbef326-52eb-490b-aa45-935ec4493171/18/doc/flanagane111408.txt
October 2008 (submitted April 2009) http://170.222.200.108:8080/isysquery/9dbef326-52eb-490b-aa45-935ec4493171/17/doc/flanagane102708.txt
August 2008 (submitted April 2009) http://170.222.200.108:8080/isysquery/9dbef326-52eb-490b-aa45-935ec4493171/21/doc/flanagane82508.txt
July 2008 (submitted April 2009) http://170.222.200.108:8080/isysquery/9dbef326-52eb-490b-aa45-935ec4493171/20/doc/flanagane73108.txt
July 2007 http://170.222.200.108:8080/isysquery/9dbef326-52eb-490b-aa45-935ec4493171/24/doc/flanagane71607.TXT earlier reports available on the Secretary of State’s site
Links to Finance Reports from State Auditor Salmon
July 2010 http://vermont-elections.org/elections1/71510salmont.pdf
July 2009 http://vermont-elections.org/elections1/salmont71509.pdf
This Doug Hoffer seems to know what he’s talking about. I feel his points are valid and I do hope these so called reporters in this state start writing some real news. I looked at a paper today and there was a long dopey story about some guy running for secretary of the state. I am pretty tired of reading resumes and canned comments.
A candidate for auditor who knows how to- and isn’t afraid to- conduct audit’s!!!
Not only a great showing by Doug, but a sad, sad commentary on the other candidates.
With all your free time… maybe you can run through the Dem candidate’s and the Dubie’s filings?
😉
Would be a good public service… thanks for putting this out there.
of not only our present Auditor, but also a former Auditor? Not at all good.
Two weeks ago, the AP and a string of regional papers couldn’t even be bothered to inform themselves that Doug was a candidate for Auditor. Let’s see if they have learned anything from that mistake and will give this story (and Doug) it’s due!
Does anyone with the Sec. of State’s office ever audit these campaign filings? Is there any uniform procedure to verify accuracy?
But it’s going to be rough sledding if the commercial news media don’t start covering the Auditor’s race more competently. Maybe this will help.
Keep it up. I’m extremely impressed.
This doesn’t reflect well on the SOS’s office either. Who is reviewing this stuff? It took Hoffer a few days to uncover stuff that should have been caught -right? It makes this clown wonder.
In California and now Vermont, Thomas Salmon has been a licensed CPA for almost twenty years.
With all of Thomas Salmon’s advanced training, his professional status, his state licenses and credentials, I think it is honorable for him to maintain a humble public persona. Jolly good for him!
Anyone can add or subtract, and it is way, way, way easy for CPAs who are professionally trained add-ers and subtraction-ers to simply work it out with a pencil. Even when they’re drunk or half (that’s 50% for you professionals) conscious this type of “money in and money out” bookkeeping is child’s play for a CPA. Child’s play, that is, for a CPA who just wants to rub our common people noses in the fact that he is so much smarter than we are. We should be thankful that he is not one of THOSE kinds of CPAs who is always trying to show-off by keeping track of what they paid for and how much money they have left over. Pfffffft to that.
Go Thomas Salmon. He is keeping it real. No showing off. No Mr. Fancy Pants. Thank goodness Thomas Salmon remains a genuine Man Of The Peoples in 2010.
So just the hell with all these complaints, I say thank God we still have a few guy left who are willing to just toss some numbers up on a sheet of paper. We get the picture, so he is getting on with the business of being a leader. Kudos to Thomas Salmon for not lording over us all those degrees and awards and certificates and framed parchments on the wall of his office with all those ridiculously useless Latin writing on them. Regular guys like him know that we don’t need another pointy-headed bean counter who is over educated and gets his numbers right all the time. Who really needs a show off who never forgets to carry the 1 or move the decimal point? Am I right? Damn straight I am.
Thomas Salmon may be one heck of good CPA, but bless his heart for not rubbing our noses in it.
Sounds like WCAX is doing a story on this…teaser was on for the 10 and 11 o’clock news.
“This is another classic example of why disclosure and transparency are critical to a functioning democracy.”
AMEN.
And it’s a reminder that We The People are another part of checks and balances…
I am really surprised to read of Salmon’s big no comment and that he hasn’t returned reporters calls regarding his problematic campaign filings.
Here is a quote from a news conference he dedicated to the “warrior in all of us” in which he addressed the issue of openness.
Apparently Salmon’s personal warrior within is off duty for now.
http://rutlandherald.com/apps/…