Grayson Misstated Financial Records
Rep. Alan Grayson's (D-FL) campaign overstated the amount of money it had in the bank in the run-up to his '08 win over then-Rep. Ric Keller (R), according to an FEC audit.
Grayson's committee reported it had $71K more on hand than he actually did at the beginning of Jan. '07, the FEC audit found. By the end of the year, the committee had overstated the amount in its coffers by $67K.
The amount overstated is just a fraction of the $3.2M Grayson spent in his race against Keller. Grayson won a competitive primary by a 20-point margin, then beat Keller by 4 points in the Orlando-based district.
In fact, most of that money came from Grayson himself. The FEC audit showed Grayson loaned his own campaign $2.65M. In the wake of the audit, Grayson's campaign corrected its filings at the FEC's recommendation.
"The audit identified minor discrepancies between the committee's FEC reports and bank statements. These discrepancies have been rectified and the appropriate amendments filed," said Julie Tagen, a senior advisor to Grayson's campaign and his Congressional chief of staff. "No fines or penalties were levied, and there is no indication that the FEC intends to take any further action as the result of this audit."
Grayson's is the second '08 campaign to have an FEC audit become public. Last year, the agency unveiled an audit of ex-Rep. Bill Sali's (R-ID) campaign. Each year, about 2 dozen campaigns are audited.
Updated with Tagen's comments.
Why do these people use simply substandard pol accounts/FEC experts! Now has given small slam to oppo. Probably one of top Pol/FEC accounts is in LA. David Gould: David Gould Company. Handles 100's of committees and is welcomed in DC with open arms.
Come on! No excuse for this poor accounting.