Jones Questioned McMahan's Reports Months Ago

By State Report in David Arnett's Tulsa Today
Friday, 30 June 2006

The Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector’s race intensified this week as Gary Jones, Republican candidate questioned the ethics reports of his opponent State Auditor Jeff McMahan.

“McMahan’s numbers just don’t add up,” said Jones, a Certified Public Accountant. “It is not uncommon to make mistakes filling out ones ethics reports but the auditor’s numbers are off by over $70,000.00.

Jones offered a detailed recap of McMahan’s final report of his 2002 campaign reporting. Jones said the report shows McMahan had total monetary receipts of $364,464.16 (line 10 form C1R) and had expenditures made of $289,880.02 (line 17 form C1R). Based upon those numbers, Jones said the fund balance should be $74,584.14 on line 25 of the report. Jones noted that the actual figure on McMahan’s report is $2,573.59 – a difference of over $70,000.00 The $2,573.59 figure was carried forward and reported as the starting balance on McMahan’s 2006 campaign.

Jones pointed out that by McMahan not carrying forward a figure of $79,806.00 listed as an independent expenditure on an earlier report could account for one possible reporting error. “However, that presents an even bigger problem for the State Auditor since independent campaign expenditures are prohibited and illegal from candidate committees,” Jones continued.
Jones also noted that according McMahan’s 2002 campaign report, as of March 31, 2002, McMahan had raised $99,169.00 and spent $17,072.16 leaving him a balance of $81,989.79.
McMahan’s March 31, 2006 report shows he has raised $204,122.19 but only had $52,559.39 funds remaining, indicating McMahan is showing to have spent over $150,000.00 compared to just over $17,000 at the same time four years ago, Jones said. “This becomes of real concern when one notes the number of expenditures for personal reimbursements to both Jeff McMahan and his wife,” Jones added.

“I believe how a candidate manages their finances in a campaign and how they report them is very important. Jeff McMahan should immediately correct his math and acknowledge his poor bookkeeping to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission,” Jones said.

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