So, WHAT HAPPENED to the money?

What appears to be typical for politicians who will no longer campaign for office is that their campaign accounts – once all business is completed — are CLOSED. Here are a few examples:

 

This brings us to former state representative David Lewis (R) of Harnett County.  Lewis served in Raleigh from 2002 to 2020.  He rose to be chairman of the House Rules Committee – one of the General Assembly’s most powerful posts.  Lewis was often in the middle of some of the state capital’s biggest political stories.  

In July 2020, Lewis announced his “retirement” from the North Carolina House. This announcement came amidst public reports of various lawsuits and a federal investigation.

Lewis has been off the political radar since that time.  But THIS is the status of his state House campaign account as of RIGHT NOW:

That’s right, ACTIVE. Five years after he “retired” from the General Assembly.

If you drill down into his campaign finance records, you notice the last campaign finance report he and his team filed with the state was in July 2020 — for the period ranging from January 1 to June 30 2020. 

Keep that in mind as you visit the campaign records of state Rep. Howard Penny (R-Harnett), who replaced Lewis in the House.  Specifically, look at Penny’s third quarter report for the year 2020:

THAT donation was made AFTER the Lewis campaign filed its last report with the state elections board. How many other donations — how much more money movement involving this account — have occurred since the last report was filed with the state?

The Lewis campaign account is still ACTIVE.  State board of elections officials appear to have taken some notice:

The fine for not turning in reports — according to state documents – is $250 per day.  Sooooooo –  $250 x 365 x 5 =$456,250.

Here is some interesting information from the last campaign finance report we have on file from the Lewis campaign. (Remember this is AS OF June 30 2020) :

Here is a link to the full report in PDF format. 

Democrats were in control of the state board of elections for most of the period we’re talking about here.  The General Assembly has implemented dramatic changes recently at the state board.  It’s now under control of the state auditor – currently Dave Boliek (R).  The current state board has a Republican majority and the staff reports to Boliek.

It’s pretty clear – at least from looking at Howard Penny’s report — that money was transferred from Lewis’s campaign account AFTER the last report was filed in 2020. What happened to the rest of the money shown on Lewis’s last report?   Did any more money COME IN after this report?  DID any more GO OUT?

Why aren’t the penalties being enforced against Lewis?  (We hear the state can use the money.) 

We don’t have enough information to know.  Legislators have passed further laws keeping us in the dark about the work of the state board of elections.

Currently, there is a lot of goodwill being shown by the public toward Boliek — who was recruited into GOP politics and whose campaign for office was managed by the Phil Berger political machine. 

A good clarification / explanation for all of this could go a long way for the rookie auditor and further increase the public’s confidence in him.