Some Candidates Use Donations To Reimburse Themselves For Travel, Others Don't

Examination of Ethics Commission campaign finance reports by The McCarville Report Online finds that most statewide candidates apparently don't claim reimbursement for auto mileage or vague travel "expenses" from their campaign funds.

The "expenditures" reports filed as part of each candidate's full report give no real detail, with few exceptions, about how campaign funds are expended. Unlike the listings of donors, which require detail as to occupation and place of employment, there apparently is no requirement that expenditure details be anything more than a general entry; the entries seldom list a specific recipient of the money. (In federal campaigns, full disclosure means the expenditures information required is precise and includes the name of the vendor, payment and purpose of the payment.) Some of the travel expenses on the reports could include reimbursements to campaign staff members.

Of the 18 major candidates whose reports we examined, 13 listed no apparent personal reimbursement payments for "mileage" or related travel expenses. The exceptions appear to be Republican Attorney General candidate James Dunn, Republican Insurance Commissioner candidate Bill Case, Democrat Labor Commissioner candidate Lloyd Fields, Democrat Corporation Commission candidate Cody Graves and Democrat Auditor & Inspector Jeff McMahan. Governor Brad Henry and his challenger, Republican Congressman Ernest Istook, are among those who list no personal reimbursements.

Here's what our examination of the expenditures reports show as totals for the major candidates for "mileage" or "travel" reimbursements:

GOVERNOR ~ Governor Brad Henry - 0. Congressman Ernest Istook - 0 (Istook's campaign apparently leases a vehicle in which he travels and the payment is $492 per month.)

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR ~ State Rep. Jari Askins - 0. State Rep. Todd Hiett - 0.

ATTORNEY GENERAL ~ James Dunn - $1,868. Attorney General Drew Edmondson - 0 to $11,396 (This figure includes "Reimbursement-misc expenses" of $1,466 and payments of $561, $2,054, $2,797, $1,636, $143 and $3,300 for "Food/travel/lodging-misc expense"and likely includes expenses for campaign workers as well as the candidate.)

STATE TREASURER ~ Howard Barnett - 0. (Barnett's campaign is the only one we found that lists "travel" reimbursements by the name of the staff member who received them.) Treasurer Scott Meacham - 0.

INSURANCE COMMISSIONER - State Rep. Bill Case - $1,407 for "Fuel, district travel" which Case said is all reimbursement for gasoline. Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland - 0.

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION ~ Bill Crozier - No reports on file. Superintendent Sandy Garrett - 0.

LABOR COMMISSIONER ~ Lloyd Fields - 0 to $16,800 in payments of $3,400, $8,200 and $5,200 for "Capital One-lodging, food, gas" and the credit card payment sums could include campaign worker expenses. Labor Commissioner Brenda Reneau - 0.

AUDITOR & INSPECTOR ~ Gary Jones - 0. Auditor & Inspector Jeff McMahan - $12,979. His report for January 1st to March 31st shows payments to "Jeff McMahan reimbursement-travel/expenses" on January 5, January 12, January 18, January 24, February 8, February 12, February 28, March 10, March 13, March 21 and March 29. That specific entry disappears in his next report, the period April 1st to July 10th, and apparently is replaced by "Professional Expense-campaign expense" payments of $1,500 on April 14, May 1, May 15, June 1, June 14, and June 29. For the period July11th to August 7th, his reports show similar payments of $750 and $1,139.

CORPORATION COMMISSIONER ~ Commissioner Bob Anthony - 0. Cody Graves - $1,734, some of which may be to campaign workers.

Examination of the reports show that Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland has made an effort to comply with reporting requirements for donor information; she has filed amendments to all her reports this year to provide occupational and address information that the original reports lacked.

Share |