#hayesscandal: Lt. Dan corrects campaign report in re: Lindberg donation

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Okay, before we get started here, I want to stress something.  I KNOW that there are quite  few people who read this blog and happen to either (a) struggle with reading comprehension or (b) just don’t understand how  a blog works.

 

What I am about to present to you is an  excerpt of a N& O report that — believe it or not — DOES appear to have some factual basis.  (So, please read it carefully, and think really carefully, before banging out  your angry emails to me questioning my patriotism, Christianity, conservatism and so forth.  I did not write this.) :

 

Campaign finance reports show multiple financial ties between North Carolina’s lieutenant governor and Greg Lindberg, a political donor recently indicted on conspiracy and bribery charges.

 

But, at least until recently, those financial reports didn’t show all of their ties.

 

The campaign for Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, a Republican who plans to run for governor in 2020, told The News & Observer that it failed to report what is known as an in-kind contribution from Lindberg in 2017. That is generally required for a contribution of something other than money. The acknowledgment comes less than a month after The N&O reported that Lindberg hosted an event for Forest in August 2017 and that campaign finance reports found no mention of an in-kind donation associated with Lindberg’s property. 

 

[…] Campaign finance laws don’t require Forest to disclose the use of a residence for a fundraiser, Forest campaign spokesman Hal Weatherman told the N&O when it reported on the photo. But, on Monday, Weatherman said the campaign should’ve reported $3,761 in catering services provided by Lindberg.

 

“In looking into this matter, I discovered that an in kind contribution was not submitted for food and beverage provided at the event,” Weatherman said in an email. “We have amended our filed report with the (NC elections board) to reflect the update.”

 

The omission is a “bookkeeping error,” Weatherman said. It “would make no sense to report over $2.4 million in contributions and then willfully try to conceal $3,761 for food and beverage at a fundraiser that we publicly posted on Facebook,” he added.

The North Carolina elections board has been in contact with the Forest campaign as part of a standard, ongoing audit of campaign finance disclosure reports, board spokesman Patrick Gannon said on Monday. The campaign is unlikely to face a penalty as a result of the error, he said.

 

“A typical remedy could be the amendment of reports,” Gannon said.

 

After this story was published, Robert Howard, a spokesman for the North Carolina Democratic Party, suggested Forest deliberately withheld information about the donation.

 

“Dan Forest lied about his connections to an indicted donor and then tried to cover them up, only revealing the truth when forced. Forest continues to show he’s unfit to lead our state,” Howard said.[…] 

Team Forest, like the rest of the Raleigh NCGOP, can keep burying their heads in  the sand and hoping the Lindberg matter will go away.  But it’s clear this thing is far from done.

 

 

As we’re seeing, there are folks on the other side of the aisle who are more than happy to talk about it.   State Republicans can take decisive action to clean up the Lindberg / Hayes mess, or they can hear more about it during the GOP primaries, from the other side in the general elections, and quite possibly the voters.

 

This IS a problem.