Ortega Campaign Finance Report Debacle: Mishandling of Finances
Does Steve Ortega have the skills to provide
competent oversight of taxpayer money?
Editorial
Steve Ortega filed an amended report for each of the 3
filing dates. He filed the 30th and 8th day before
election reports on May 16, 5 days after the May 11 General Election.
The 30th and 8th day before election reports
had an additional $38,250 in contributions that had been omitted from the
original filings.
What is disturbing is it is painfully obvious that the
totals on the summary sheet do not add up.
That should have been the first clue to Ortega that his
“corrected” reports may still not be correct and if necessary to seek some math
help.
Based on his handling of his campaign financial reports, does
Steve Ortega have the skills to provide competent oversight of taxpayer money?
This week’s recent debacle with the Downtown Ballpark
costing more than actually predicted adds fuel to the fire.
There are important questions regarding Ortega’s campaign
finance reports.
And these question are not necessarily about who contributors are as we have touch
upon in previous post and as we touch upon on our next post. But -- we'll mentioned them anyway.
Did Ortega delay filing corrections so that voters would not
know how much money he had on hand before the May 11 general election?
Did Ortega omit Paso del Norte Group (PDNG) donors to hide their
influence on his campaign?
The table lists the omitted donors totaling $38,250. $37,500 of this $38,250 are from PDNG Members or their family.
|
Date
|
Last
Name
|
Amount
|
|
|
11-Mar
|
Sanders
|
$4,000
|
PDNG
|
|
12-Mar
|
Francis
|
2500
|
PDNG
|
|
12-Mar
|
Francis
|
2500
|
PDNG
|
|
12-Mar
|
Hoy
|
2500
|
PDNG
|
|
12-Mar
|
Robison
|
5000
|
PDNG
|
|
15-Mar
|
Brown
|
5000
|
PDNG
|
|
19-Mar
|
Cardwell
|
4000
|
PDNG
|
|
25-Mar
|
Houghton
|
5000
|
PDNG
|
|
25-Mar
|
Stewart
|
2000
|
PDNG
|
|
29-Mar
|
Wallace
|
750
|
|
|
1-Apr
|
|
2500
|
PDNG
|
|
22-Apr
|
Hunt
|
2500
|
PDNG
|
The Table below is the summary sheet he signed and filed for
each amended Campaign Finance Report.
It is obvious from a visual scan that Total Political Contributions
Maintained as of the last day of the each report do not “look” correct,
particularly for the 30th and 8th day before election
reports.
Given the totals Ortega submitted, below is what one would
expect to be reported as the summary totals, particularly for the Total
Political Contributions Maintained as of the last day.
Based on the values provided, the actual contributions
maintained as of the last day would have been $84,318.52 on hand rather than
$23,162.41.
An underreport of
$61,156.11 !
|
|
January
15th
|
30th
day
|
8th
day
|
Totals
|
|
Tot
Political Contributions
|
54,385
|
80,774.88
|
147,300.5
|
282,460.4
|
|
minus Tot Political Expenditures
|
12,905.37
|
36,251.11
|
201,296.49
|
250,453
|
|
minus In-Kind Donations
|
125
|
1559.88
|
7429.5
|
9114.38
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
equals Tot Political Contributions Maintained
|
41,354.63
|
84,318.52
|
22,893.03
|
22,893.03
|
Below is a table of the difference in amounts reported and
expected for each amended Campaign Finance Report for Total Political
Contributions Maintained as of the last day of the each report.
|
|
January
15th
|
30th
day
|
8th
day
|
|
Tot
Political Contributions Maintained
|
125
|
-61,156.11
|
603.21
|
Additionally, Ortega’s political contributions were checked multiple
times and the summary totals do not add up to reported line item totals.
The largest is $6,121.00 in contributions that could not be
accounted for in the 8th day before election report.
Overall, it appears there is $5,546.00 in donations with no
line item donors but is included in the final summary page total.
________________________________________________________________
Tot Political Contributions 54,285 80774.88 147,300.5 282460.4
Tot Political Contributions 54,060 81,674.88 141,189.5 276914.4
Calculated
Difference 325 -900 6121 5546
Does Steve Ortega have the skills to provide competent oversight of taxpayer money?
