#ncga: Finance is HARD.
He’s chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and vice-chairman of the House Finance Committee. He’s got a lot of say in the financial affairs of state government (as well as all of us.) Well, an audit of NC Rep. Nelson Dollar’s campaign finances shows that even Jones Street finance gurus struggle with the whole dollars and cents thing sometimes:
- […] A number of PAC contributions appear to have exceeded the maximum contribution limit per election cycle. For some of the contributions,the overage had already been refunded and reported on a subsequent report, however the following were showing as over the limit, with no resolution:
Here’s another interesting finding: 
- […]A contribution from Cigna PAC appears to have been received during a Legislative session. The contribution in question was for $400.00, and was reported as received on 07/24/14. The session covered from 05/14/14 to 08/20/14 – Rep. Dollar advises that although the check date was 07/24/14, this was received on 08/30/14, along with the attached letter. The date has been corrected on the 2014 Third Quarter Report.[…]
Hmmm.. Dollar’s colleague in leadership and on the Appropriations and Finance Committees, Jason Saine, had a very similar issue.
Oh, and there’s this:
- […]Contributions were reported by Carolinas AGC Inc PAC, Greater Hickory Anesthesiologists PAC and NC Veterinary Medical PAC; however, these contributions were not reported as received by the committee – Dollar advises he can find no evidence that these three contributions were received. Conversations with the PACs in question determined that none of these checks had cleared the PAC bank accounts. The PACs will show these checks as refunds on their next reports .[…]
For what it’s worth, Civitas had Dollar ranked as THE most liberal Republican in the recently completed legislative session.
Dollar originally ran as a conservative primary challenger to David Miner, one of Richard Morgan’s inner circle. In the years he has been in the legislature, Dollar has morphed into Miner (except perhaps as to Miner’s bizarre personal life). Dollar is now a poster boy for term limits as he has become the most liberal Republican in the House (and would be even more so if Civitas had done a proper rating and including some key conserative vs, liberal bills like the HB2 repeal). I don’t think Nelson Dollar has met a special interest that he does not want to brownnose for money.
Dollar had a spirited primary challenge last time, during a presidential year election when a lot of voters come out who do not focus below the top of the ballot. This coming election will be the opposite with a low turnout and those who go to the polls more focused on issues. It will be a great chance to do to Dollar what Dollar did to Miner.