MADISON – Democratic candidate for governor Sara Rodriguez said she has “hundreds of thousands of dollars” less in her campaign account than she previously believed due to “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” by the campaign manager she fired Sunday.
It’s a revelation her opponents say is “disqualifying” and shows she is “unprepared” for the general election, and Rodriguez argues is a demonstration she will meet problems with “immediate action.”
The lieutenant governor, one of five Democrats competing in the gubernatorial primary, declined to share specific numbers because, she said, the campaign is still reconciling its books. She attributed the discrepancies in her account to a combination of double-counting contributions and not recording some of the campaign’s expenses.
The campaign currently has $200,000 on hand, Rodriguez told reporters.
Rodriguez fielded questions Monday afternoon at her campaign office after announcing late Sunday night she had fired her campaign manager less than a month before the Aug. 11 primary election.
“I am hurt, angry and deeply disappointed by someone I trusted to run my campaign,” Rodriguez said. “This was not just a breach of my trust, but the trust of our volunteers, our supporters and the voters who deserve better. But I’m not waiting around. If I were trying to hide something, I wouldn’t be here today, telling you about it.”
The discrepancies in Rodriguez’s campaign account date back to January, when campaigns’ first set of finance reports were due.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviewed those filings after the campaign announced the termination of campaign manager Kara Spencer and found more than $100,000 worth of duplicate contributions, or single donations recorded twice.
Campaign had planned $1 million ad buy
Rodriguez said she first became aware of a problem last week when her ads did not air as scheduled after her campaign announced a $1 million ad buy, and her media team called to tell her an invoice had not been paid.
Asked if anyone had ever raised concerns about the campaign’s finances previously, she said no. A Rodriguez spokesperson said the lieutenant governor believed her campaign had $1.5 million on hand when the ad buy was announced.
Rodriguez said she assembled a team to deal with the problem on Friday, fired Spencer on Sunday and contacted the Wisconsin Ethics Commission on Monday to correct the issues and file amended reports. The campaign plans to “cooperate fully” with the Ethics Commission and work with an accountant and compliance firm to rectify its books.
Spencer did not respond to a message from the Journal Sentinel.
Because they had worked together for several years, Rodriguez said, she had “full trust” in her campaign manager to handle the finance reports.
Asked how the issue went unnoticed for six months, Rodriguez said she received regular reports on the campaign’s finances and to her, “everything looked right.”
“I trusted her to do the job that I had hired her to do, that she had done for her entire career, and I regret placing my trust in that individual,” she said.
Asked what the situation says about her leadership, Rodriguez said, “It says that when I find something, I take immediate action.”
“There are not many political leaders who would stand here today in front of, I don’t know, 12 cameras, and be as transparent and honest as I’m being, because I think that we owe that to the people of Wisconsin as elected leaders, and I think I owe that to my supporters when I found this error,” Rodriguez said.
Democratic rivals say disclosure raises doubts
In a statement after Rodriguez’s news conference, a spokesperson for fellow Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kelda Roys, said, “The public is getting far too familiar with hearing Sara Rodriguez apologize.”
“One year ago, Rodriguez launched her campaign claiming Gov. Evers gave her a special heads-up that he was not running for re-election. We soon learned from Gov. Evers that her claim was false. In the past year, we have repeatedly seen Rodriguez make unforced errors and then ask to be celebrated for apologizing,” Roys spokesperson Jalen Knuteson said.
Joel Brennan, another Democratic candidate, asked in a statement, “How is this not disqualifying?”
Brennan said Rodriguez in her news conference “failed to answer many serious and mounting questions about her campaign’s mismanagement and, more importantly, failed to take responsibility for what unfolded on her campaign.”
Rodriguez said the campaign still plans to put an ad on TV and still believes she has momentum. In recent weeks, candidates David Crowley and Missy Hughes ended their campaigns and endorsed Rodriguez.
“I think we’re still moving forward,” Rodriguez said. “This is a bump in the road for the campaign, but we are going to be as honest and transparent as we can be. That is why I am standing here in front of all of you, in front of all these cameras, and telling you, when I see something that is an error, I make sure that it gets fixed, and I am taking full accountability for what’s happening, before, and moving forward.”
Jessie Opoien and Molly Beck can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com and molly.beck@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Finance errors shrink Sara Rodriguez governor campaign war chest
Reporting by Jessie Opoien and Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Jessie Opoien and Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
