UPDATED: HCRP Chairman's Report Loses Money!

That’s right, who’d a thunk it. Like I said, if you believe their own campaign finance reports, you’d think that they lost money on the big, splashy “Chairman’s Report“. Here is a list of the people that advertised in the “report” and what they paid:

A loss of over $8,000 on a mailer? No way was my first thought. Notice the asterisks for Jeff Brown and Glenn Devlin – the HCRP didn’t report having received anything from these candidates for their ads. But if you check each candidate’s 8 Day Before Election report, you’ll see that Mr. Brown reported paying $7,500 for his half-page back cover ad (same as Leslie Brock Yates) and Mr. Devlin reported paying $6,000 for his half-page ad (same as all other inside half-page ads).

But if you look at any of the three filing accounts (two state, one federal) for the HCRP, you will not find an entry for either of those “contributions”. Okay, so they are really expenses for advertising but in campaign parlance, it is a “contribution” to the receiving entity. Revenue.

And these two transactions turn a reported $8,206 loss into a $5,294 gain. I did attempt to get a comment or phone call from Chairman Woodfill, Executive Director Jeff Yates, Assistant Executive Director Marc Cowart, and Treasurer Josh Flynn. My attempts failed, as they do most of the time with this group.

So once again we are left wondering if we should rename these guys the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.

But I suppose all is well in Chairman Woodfill’s eyes because this mailer, with his full page “report”, was sent out free of charge to his re-election campaign, giving his campaign an estimated $12,500 in free advertising. Can’t beat that with a stick.

Speaking of campaign finance reports and the HCRP, can anyone tell me why they show no monthly rent payments after August of 2009? That’s right, they have lived rent free from September 2009 through February 2010. And then, out of the blue, a payment of $1,628 was sent to their landlord on March 4, 2010 for rent. The monthly rent for January through August of 2009 was $3,045 per month.

Now, it might just be me but methinks something is amiss here. I seem to recall that Mr. Woodfill said something about their landlord agreeing to give them free rent at one of the debates. But aren’t “In-Kind” gifts supposed to be reported? I think so – remember when Woodfill-Pressler paid the salary of the receptionist last year during bleak financial times? They reported that as an “In-Kind” contribution but not the rent.

Six months of free rent is over $18,000! Not chump change in my book. But hey, it might just be me. Or maybe they reworked the lease, dropping the monthly payment and getting a few months free in the bargain. Who knows, maybe they are real slick negotiators over there.

Is it any wonder why Ed Hubbard and Paul Simpson called for a full audit of the HCRP?

Do something useful today: go out and vote for competency – vote Ed Hubbard for HCRP chair.

Disclosure: I gave a campaign contribution to the Hubbard for Chair campaign. If that bothers you, change the channel.

UPDATE 4/12/10 09:45: HCRP Files Corrected Report

Heh. HCRP Treasurer Josh Flynn filed a corrected report after I brought this to his attention – adding the two missing checks, which increased the reported contributions, but had no effect on the Cash on Hand.

This report amended to include two additional contributions erroneously omitted from the original report.

You’re welcome, Mr. Flynn. If I can be of further service, please do not hesitate to ask.