Coburn's campaign reports defecit, debt

Wednesday, May 11th 2005, 6:43 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn's campaign finance report for the first three months of this year showed a negative cash balance, despite a warning from the Federal Election Commission to Coburn's treasurer that a deficit must be explained in the report.

The Oklahoman's Washington bureau reported Tuesday that records show Coburn's campaign reported a deficit in April of more than $73,000 and listed a debt of more than $37,000 in payroll taxes.

Though Coburn's report listed a total deficit of $73,443, the report didn't itemize the debt as federal campaign rules require.

John Hart, Coburn's press secretary, who also worked for the campaign, said Tuesday the report was flawed and the campaign had hired a consultant to work with the agency in clearing up a host of reporting errors.

``The debt is a result of a number of bookkeeping errors and unforeseen expenses,'' Hart said.

In an interview, Hart said the campaign's deficit was not $73,443. He said the true debt at the end of the period covered in the report was $37,754. That amount was listed on the quarterly report as what was owed in payroll taxes.

However, Hart said he thought the back payroll taxes had been paid before March 30, which was the last day of the quarter covered by the report.

``As of today, I'm confident (the taxes) were paid,'' Hart said.

The agency sent a letter to the campaign last month listing several questions about the finance report covering the period from early November through December.

In that report, filed in January, a negative cash balance of $54,460 was listed.

An agency campaign finance analyst wrote, ``This suggests that you have overdrawn your account, made a mathematical error or incurred a debt.''

The letter stated that the campaign should amend the report to explain the source of the deficit.

The agency also asked the campaign to clear up questions about whether it had accepted improper donations from a corporation or labor group; to provide more information about donors' occupations; to clarify whether it was still accepting donations for the general election _ which was over _ to cover debt; to clarify its reporting of contributions from joint fund-raising committees; and to clear up discrepancies in figures between the year-end report and previous reports.

Reports filed by Coburn's campaign last year also generated letters from the agency seeking additional information and clarifications.

Such letters are not unusual; many candidates, including Oklahoma lawmakers, have to file amended reports. However, the nature and extent of the errors in Coburn's reports aren't typical.

The Coburn campaign said it used an accountant last year who had no experience with these reports. Hart said Tuesday campaign software purchased by the campaign to track campaign contributions and expenditures wasn't completely in line with the agency's requirements.