Kerry-Edwards Campaign Audit

A draft audit report of the Kerry-Edwards 2004 campaign is to be considered by the FEC tomorrow. Because the Kerry campaign received public funding in 2004 for the general eleciton, the audit of the committee is required by law.

One of the issue of greatest contention is the assertion by the FEC audit staff that the Kerry campaign violated the rules for payments related to customizing two aircraft that were used by John Kerry and John Edwards. See pages 14-22. Make sure you drink some coffee and have a pen and paper handy to understand what is going on. From what I can discern, the Kerry campaign and the FEC disagree over what accounting standards should apply to the costs of customizing the aircraft for use. For the accounting junkies out there, there are disagreements about depreciation, which FEC regulations apply and which accounting rules apply. All very important stuff I tell you.

While some of the audit findings I can agree with, by in large, this finding about the aircraft borders on the silly. While there are limits on what a campaign can spend on the general election due to the receipt of public funds, this eight page discussion is rediculous.

Politico.com reports that Kerry attorney Marc Elias

says the campaign stayed within the limits and accused the commission’s auditors of taking “an unsupportably aggressive view of the law.”

The commission – a statutory panel of three appointees from each party, now with one vacant Republican seat – can reject or amend parts of the audit before voting on it.

And Elias said “I believe that at the end of the day the commissioners will look at the draft audit report and reject novel legal theories than can’t be justified.”

If commissioners agree Kerry-Edwards overspent, though, Elias said the campaign, which had $5.3 million on hand at the end of March, likely will appeal the decision rather than pay the fine.

This is an arugment for not having public funding of campaigns if there ever was one.