If Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) was a dog, he just might be a rabid Chihuahua. That is his questioning style, rapid-fire questions intended to rattle his questionee. Truly, Jordon gives lawyers a bad name, but now he is in big trouble.
No, this is not about the time that he turned the other way as the wrestling team’s doctor molested young college men. The former wrestling coach and current lawyer has to explain his campaign’s accounting discrepancies.
It appears that the corrected report his campaign committee filed this year is remarkably different from the one it filed several years ago. The campaign claims that no money ever went missing from its accounts, but there are inconsistencies.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) sent his campaign four letters requesting the following information, according to Cleveland.com:
- The ‘increase in disbursements totaling $122,706.60 on its 2018 post-general election report.
- The decrease in disbursements totaling $130,319.97 on a report of the campaign’s income and expenses during the final weeks of 2018.
- The decrease in receipts totaling $111,950.54 on Jordan’s campaign finance report for the first quarter of 2019, and
- The increase in disbursements totaling $38,822.23 and a decrease in receipts totaling $164,342.47 on a report of the campaign’s income and expenses in the second quarter of 2019.’
Jordan’s campaign must respond by April 5. If it does not, the consequences “could result in an audit or enforcement action.”
The campaign blames the discrepancies on Jordan’s meteoric rise once he tied his shirtsleeves to Donald Trump. It said his donations soared. The committee had to file over a dozen corrected reports for FEC at the end of January.
Jordan’s campaign manager Kevin Eichinger released a statement that read:
‘The campaign has filed an amendment with the FEC to correct its campaign finance reports going back to 2018. There was never any money missing from the account. In fact, the campaign’s cash balance is actually higher than previously listed on the campaign finance reports.’
‘The error occurred when the former campaign treasurer inadvertently double-reported certain fundraising expenses. When the error was discovered, the campaign hired an outside expert to conduct a comprehensive audit and file the appropriate amendments.’
Before Trump became president, Jordan raised “$733,416 for his re-election, spent $422,967, and ended up with $1.3 million in his treasury.” PoliticalMoneyLine determined that in the next two years, “his campaign took in $1,241,417 and spent $1,809,464.” Most of his donations came from Ohio donors.
Then, between 2019 through 2020, he raised “$18,637,140, spent $13,268,968, and finished with more than $6 million in the bank.” That was when California donors gave more than those in Ohio. Florida donors nearly equaled those in California.
Eichinger reported that the committee took in “over 500,000 donations from roughly 300,000 individuals in 2020, with an average donation of $35.”
Eichinger continued:
‘The outpouring of nationwide support for our message is why we are raising a ton more money It wasn’t like we were actively looking to raise more money. There was an organic outpouring of support. We needed to put in place the operation to handle that kind of influx.’
The campaign hired Thomas Datwyler to serve as its treasurer last July. He is a Washington D.C. attorney specializing in campaign finance trouble. Brett Kappel. said that the treasurer is just one of a small number of FEC accountants for the “upper-echelon of Republican political committees” and added:
‘Discrepancies of $100,000 or more frequently result in a referral to the (FEC) enforcement division for an investigation.’
Of course, Jordan has no trouble attacking Democrats from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on down, The Washington Post reports.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
