Kwame Brown’s 2010 campaign for D.C. Council chairman owes nearly $14,000 more than it received in donations as he continues to make payments from a 2004 campaign account, according to campaign finance reports. Council Chairman Brown has been answering questions about his campaign finances since August when his rival for the chairman’s seat, Vincent Orange, voiced concerns over Brown’s accounting. Orange successfully pushed the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance to start an audit of Brown’s 2004 election and 2008 re-election campaigns. Those audits are expected to be completed within the next few months. When they are, they might explain why Brown’s 2004 campaign owed more than $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Service and why his 2008 campaign was still making payments in 2010.
| Follow the bouncing dollars |
| Dec. 10, 2010: $8,454 cash on-hand |
| Jan. 25, 2011 (amendment to Dec. 10): negative-$33,815 cash on-hand |
| Jan. 28, 2011 (amendment to Dec. 10): negative-$12,775 cash on-hand |
| Source: Reports filed by Kwame Brown’s 2010 chairman campaign: |
A campaign finance report filed by Brown’s campaign for chairman on Jan. 31 shows that the campaign spent $733,608 and received $719,757 in donations — leaving it with $13,851 in unpaid expenditures. An earlier report filed on Dec. 10 at first showed $8,454 on hand, but an amendment to that report filed on Jan. 28, showed the campaign had negative $12,775 on hand.
On the campaign trail, Orange repeatedly attacked Brown for Brown’s personal-finance issues, questioning whether Brown could handle the city’s $10 billion budget if he couldn’t handle his own cash flow. At the time, Brown owed $700,000 on his credit cards and his mortgage on his Hillcrest home. Three credit card companies had sued him for nonpayment.
Brown told The Washington Examiner that his campaign has no debt and that “the Office of Campaign Finance is working to reconcile the amount shown in the January 31st report as negative cash on hand.” Campaign finance office spokesman Wesley Williams said auditors review every campaign finance report, but he couldn’t comment specifically on Brown’s report.
Meanwhile, finance records show that Brown’s 2004 election campaign paid $645 to consultant Charles Hawkins on Jan. 19, 2011.
City finance rules require candidates to close out debt-free accounts six months after an election. Any surplus must be contributed to nonprofit groups or political parties.
Williams said Brown filed a report to close the 2004 campaign last month, but it’s still being reviewed.
On Jan. 12, the campaign finance office sent its preliminary conclusions on the ongoing audits of the 2004 and 2008 campaigns to Brown, Williams said. He has 30 days to respond.
“We have given them every document they have asked for,” Brown said. “When the facts are out, we’ll be vindicated.”
