Feds warn her to follow the rules
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
Republican congressional challenger Patricia Morgan remains under threat of a federal audit over missing information in her federal campaign finance reports, according to a series of written warnings by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
UpriseRI
The trio of Aug. 21 letters give Morgan, who is one of two Republicans challenging Democratic U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse for his seat, until Sept. 25 to correct omissions in three separate campaign finance reports over the last year.
“Failure to adequately respond by the response date noted above could result in an audit or enforcement action,” Lauren Schleyer-Hinchey, a senior campaign finance analyst for the FEC, wrote in the Aug. 21 notices to Morgan’s campaign treasurer.
It’s not the first time Morgan has run afoul of federal campaign finance rules; the two-term state representative from West Warwick has faced a string of similar, federal campaign finance warnings since jumping in the U.S. Senate race.
The latest letters show that two of those previously flagged reports — for the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter 2024 report — are still not complete, despite revisions Morgan already submitted. In both cases, Morgan’s revised reports made changes to specific donations, such as the date received, compared with her initial submission and failed to include requisite identifying information from one or more donors who gave over $200. The 2023 report also fails to include the identifying details for a $15,000 loan Morgan made to her own campaign.
Meanwhile, Morgan’s second-quarter submission, submitted in July, has also raised red flags with federal financial regulators for failing to include the identifying information from one or more donors.
Morgan has until Sept. 25 to submit updated reports with the required information.
In an interview on Friday, she shrugged off the warnings.
“It’s not a violation, it’s just a few details missing,” she said, adding that her treasurer mistakenly entered incorrect dates for certain donations received. “Every single contribution has been reported. Every single donation has been disclosed.”
Morgan’s prior FEC warnings flagged more serious errors, such as accepting donations over the $3,300 per-person max per election cycle, and transferring money from her state campaign account to her federal one in violation of campaign finance regulations. Those violations were not mentioned as outstanding concerns in the latest FEC letters, suggesting the errors had been corrected.
Myles Martin, an FEC spokesperson, said in an email Friday that the agency could not comment beyond the documents listed on Morgan’s campaign account page.
Final fundraising push
Morgan faces Republican rival Raymond McKay in the bid to unseat Whitehouse. Based on new financial reports filed Thursday, the two Republicans are neck-and-neck when it comes to final fundraising, though Morgan’s campaign account is eight times larger than her opponent, thanks in part to a $28,500 personal loan.
Meanwhile, Whitehouse maintains a nine-figure account balance, 15 times the size of Democratic challenger Michael Costa.
The newly filed campaign reports, reflecting donations and spending from July 1 through Aug. 21, represent the final, regular reporting deadline for congressional candidates ahead of the state primary.
Whitehouse, who has represented Rhode Island since 2007, continues to lead the fundraising game, bringing in more than $234,000 during the seven-week reporting period. He maintained $3.6 million cash on hand after spending nearly $424,000 on his campaign in the same time frame, with no outstanding loans.
Costa, who did not start fundraising until after the prior reporting period, ending June 30, relied entirely on personal contributions and a $200,000 loan to set up his campaign fund, with no outside donations reported. He had $201,000 cash on hand as of Aug. 21, $200,000 of which was the personal loan.
Morgan is also boosting her campaign through personal loans, adding $6,000 to bring her total, personal loans to $28,500. Morgan reported more than $144,000 cash on hand at the end of the filing period, reflecting nearly $30,000 in donations and more than $35,000 in expenses.
McKay outraised Morgan in the seven-week filing period, with just over $31,000 in contributions. However, his account is a fraction of his Republican rival’s, with $17,800 cash on hand, including an outstanding $435 loan.
The September primary also features both state seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, where incumbents Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo remain well ahead of Democratic and Republican challengers, financially.
Magaziner, who won election to represent the 2st Congressional District in 2022, sat atop more than a $994,000 cash pile, raising more than $105,000 in the seven-week reporting period, with nearly $46,000 spent. His campaign did not include any outstanding loans.
Republican challenger Steven Corvi, failed to raise or spend more than the $5,000 minimum requiring a quarterly campaign finance report, Corvi said in an interview on Friday.
Corvi said he had raised “some money,” along with in-kind donations.
However, his lack of finances was, to some degree, philosophical, he said.
“Campaigns are all about money and that’s problematic to me, to some degree,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo, also running unopposed in the Democratic primary for his reelection bid to represent the 1st Congressional district, had $776,000 cash on hand as of Aug. 21, after raising $188,000 and spending over $58,000. Republican challenger Allen Waters, who ran against Amo as a Democrat in last year’s 12-way special congressional primary, finishing with 1.3% of the vote to Amo’s 32.4%, had a little over $4,300 in his campaign account, after raising $1,400 and spending $1,100.
Rhode Island’s senior senator, Jack Reed, was not required to file a pre-primary campaign report because he is not facing reelection until 2026. The five-term Democrat previously reported more than $1.9 million cash on hand as of June 30.
The primary is Sept. 10, with early voting continuing through Sept. 9.
Members of Congress earn $174,000 a year, with two-year terms for representatives and staggered, six-year terms for senators.
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