Presto! Stockman campaign finds some missing money

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Official portrait of Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, in front of blue background
Steve Stockman file photo. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.

In an amended campaign disclosure filed Tuesday, the Friends of Congressman Steve Stockman Committee has notified the Federal Election Commission of some contributions that had gone unreported for more than nine months until Sunlight flagged them as missing. On Jan. 7 we noted that some $16,000 in contributions to the campaign were nowhere to be found in the committee’s financial reports. The congressman’s spokesman, Donny Ferguson, denied the receipt of all but one of these donations, despite the treasurers of several PACs citing evidence that their checks had been cashed. Now, after hiring a new campaign treasurer, the committee has released an amended report that accounts for three of these contributions —which are now all dated Mar. 25, 2013. This is the seventh time Stockman’s campaign committee has amended its report for the first quarter of 2013.

The new filing acknowledges the receipt of $5,000 from the Citizens United Political Victory Fund, $1,000 from Arent Fox LLP PAC and $500 from the Government is Not God (GING) PAC. Representatives from both Citizens United and GING PAC had previously affirmed that their originally reported contributions to Stockman had cleared their banks. However, a number of other contributions that political actions committees reported giving to the Stockman campaign have yet to be reported to the FEC, including a$1,000 contribution reported by the Calpine Corporation PAC on March 26.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the political committees for Arent Fox and Exxon Mobil had to reissue checks to the campaign as the original copies were lost. The Friends of Congressman Steve Stockman campaign also amended its second and third quarter reports to account for having more cash on hand after adjusting the first quarter’s take upwards.

The Republican’s congressional committee now reportedly raised $264,507 in the 2014 cycle, though Stockman will not be running for reelection in Texas’ 36th Congressional District. Instead he’s mounting a primary challenge to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. His congressional campaign still owes $69,010 in backpay to staffers and $94,000 in loans from the candidate himself. The congressman has yet to answer questions raised by the Chronicle concerning  the source of $350,000 in salary he claimed in his personal financial disclosures in 2011 and 2012.

A voicemail left for Jon Noltie, the campaign’s new treasurer, was not immediately returned.