Audit reveals Delaware needs greater transparency
We join Delaware Common Cause and the Delaware Coalition for Open Government in calling on Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long to release an audit of her campaign finances — even though she is not required to do so by Delaware Law.
Hall-Long, who seeks the governor’s seat in 2024, has called the audit an act of transparency, but she has continued to decline to release the document itself. The audit, undertaken shortly after Hall-Long announced her campaign, was prompted by what HallLong has said were “reporting issues requiring attention.”
Instead, she has said that amended campaign finance reports filed Nov. 10 “fully convey” the audit’s results.
Hall-Long campaign audit found reporting irregularities
What did those reports reveal?
As staff writer Amanda Fries reported earlier this week, the recent campaign finance disclosures showed that Hall-Long had loaned more than $300,000 to her campaign’s coffers over six years — hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the Committee to Elect Bethany Hall-Long had reported in earlier filings. As Fries wrote, Hall-Long paid for campaign expenses with personal credit cards and those expenditures were not properly reported in earlier findings, according to the campaign.
Gaps in information surrounding Hall-Long’s campaign finances — along with the reality that Delaware campaign finance law can allow for such gaps — has sparked conversations across the First State.
John Flaherty, a former president of the Coalition for Open Government and a current board member, told Fries that while Hall-Long was not legally obligated to disclose the audit, conducted by Dover-based Summit CPA, she should.
“They announced that they were going to do an audit, and I would hope they’d release the results of that audit,” Flaherty said. “There is no harm in releasing what should be an effort to convey to the public that they have checks and balances in their campaign. They should release it in the spirit of openness and transparency.”
We agree.
What has Hall-Long’s campaign said?
For her part, Hall-Long and her campaign have contended that Summit found no “wrongdoings or violations. The campaign did concede that “reporting errors were made” — Summit found that Hall-Long and her husband and campaign treasurer, Dana Long, had used personal credit cards and made loans and expenses that weren’t “accurately reflected.”
As Flaherty said, “you would assume they would want to release (the audit) to allay any concerns.” We would assume, too.
Claire Snyder-Hall, Common Cause Delaware’s executive Director, joined Flaherty in asking Hall-Long’s campaign to disclose the audit.
“The audit confirms the campaign’s claim there is no wrongdoing, so sharing that would go a long way to rebuilding public trust,” Snyder-Hall said.
Snyder-Hall also pointed to a need for Delaware to amplify its regulation of campaign finance, calling for harsher penalties and more frequent reporting — priorities we continue to share.
The state Department of Elections, too, which reports to the administration that Hall-Long serves in, should move to press her campaign to release the audit.
Lieutenant Governor, do the right thing and release the audit of your campaign’s finances.