Delaware gubernatorial candidate calls for investigation into primary challenger’s campaign finances

DELAWARE — The chief executive of Delaware’s largest state is calling for a federal investigation into the campaign finances of the state’s governor, who is his main challenger for the Democratic nomination.

New Castle County Deputy Matt Meyer held a brief news conference Monday in response to a forensic audit commissioned by the state Department of Elections that revealed major irregularities in the campaign finances of Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.

“Delawarens, all of us, deserve to trust our elected officials and know that the rules and regulations apply to everyone, and they apply to everyone equally,” said Meyer, criticizing what he called “Hall-Long’s illegal behavior for almost a decade. .”

A forensic audit, conducted by a retired FBI director who is a certified fraud examiner, found that Hall-Long and her husband received payments totaling $33,000 more than what was alleged. he lent his campaign. It also found that Hall-Long’s husband, former campaign treasurer Dana Long, wrote four campaign checks to himself but falsely reported that they were written to someone else.

Jeffrey Lampinski, a fraud investigator, also determined that, from January 2016 through December 2023, Dana Long wrote 112 checks from his wife’s campaign committee account to him or cash, and one check to his wife. The check was for less than $300,000 and should have been reported as a campaign expense. Instead, Lampinski found, 109 were never reported in the original financial statements, and the other four, paid to Dana Long, were reported as being made to someone else. .

“The report found that Ms. Hall-Long violated the law,” Meyer said. “The report proves that he tried to cover it up, and he was covering it up until the last minute, when he asked our state election commissioner to file a report detailing the illegalities. confidential and not to release these findings to the public.”

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware declined to comment on Meyer’s call for a federal investigation.

The Hall-Long campaign released a statement describing Meyer’s comments as “absolutely unfair.”

“Matt Meyer’s press conference today was a desperate political attack to distract voters from the most important issues,” Hall-Long said in the statement. “As I have always done, I am willingly cooperating with the Delaware Department of Elections and will continue to do so.”

Hall-Long has been under intense scrutiny since September, when she suddenly announced the postponement of a campaign event with Democratic Gov. John Carney, who was to be arrested the next day, said he needed to “take care of a personal, personal matter.”

In fact, his campaign was in turmoil after the people brought in to lead the campaign discovered major discrepancies while reviewing financial statements for years. The scandal led to the resignation of Hall-Long’s campaign manager, chief fundraiser and campaign treasurer — who had replaced Dana Long as treasurer just five months earlier.

As of late September, Hall-Long said he was working with “independent campaign finance experts and professional investors to fully review the funds.”

In October, he issued a “diarrhea audit update” announcing that an accounting firm hired to “review records and receipts” found “no errors or violations.” He declined to release a copy of the proposed study.

In fact, according to documents included in a report ordered by the state election commission, the firm hired by Hall-Long relied only on the information it provided, did not conduct an audit, and did not I went to make a decision about the mistake.

“We cannot review or verify the information you submit to us,” Karen Remick, owner of Summit CPA Group, wrote in a Sept. 21 to the Hall-Long campaign committee.

“Our responsibility does not include any methods designed to detect errors, fraud, theft or other errors,” Remick added.

In November, Hall-Long filed amended campaign finance reports spanning several years, admitting that she and her husband made campaign-related expenses using personal credit cards and loans that were not properly reported.

According to election officials, however, the amended returns still do not bring Hall-Long into compliance with state campaign finance laws. In an email earlier this month, election commissioner Anthony Albence assured Hall-Long that he would not refer the matter to Democratic Superintendent Kathy Jennings, but he expected Hall-Long’s committee to take “quick corrective action.”