Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long said her campaign is making “progress” since the initial publication of past campaign finance reports last fall.
The Hall-Long campaign amended its campaign finance reports in November to reflect an audit that found it had incorrectly reported more than $300,000 in loans as expenses in its reports from 2016 to 2022.
The campaign says the revised report also reflects that about $200,000 of those loans have been repaid, and Hall Long personally gave the campaign about $101,000. This means that the loan has not yet been repaid.
At the time, the campaign claimed that the revised report “fully conveys the results of the internal audit,” but the audit itself has not been made public despite requests from government transparency groups and others.
When asked by Delaware Public Media about releasing the audit this week, Hall-Long referred people to the revised financial report.
“I'm not ignoring this issue,” Hall-Long said. “Quite frankly, we want the public to have access to a searchable campaign finance review location in their campaign finance report. We're excited to let everyone know that we have all the information. ”
Hall-Long also denied reports in the News Journal/Delaware Online and “WHYY” that she lost staff after canceling fundraising events last fall to address the issue.
“I didn't lose a single staff member. All of my official office staff remains the same. There was someone who helped me launch my presentation, and that person has moved on to another opportunity. But the opportunity comes. Anyone who has run a campaign will tell you that there are different people coming and going.”
Hall-Long also said he had never considered withdrawing from the race over the issue.
“I have never considered being the next governor of Delaware,” Hall-Long said. “We identified the problem. We fixed it and are moving on. It's out there publicly. And the billionaire opponents who are putting their own money behind it. Unlike me, I am not.”
Hall Long will face New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer in the Democratic primary for governor, but former DNREC Director and current National Wildlife Foundation CEO Colin O'Mara is still considering running in the primary are doing.
Based on campaign finance reports from the end of 2023, the fundraising in that race shows Meyer with a clear advantage.
Meyer's report said he had just over $1.7 million in cash on hand, of which $580,000 came from campaign loans.
O'Mara's report said he had $870,000 on hand, most of which was a $750,000 loan to himself.
Hall Long's 2023 year-end report showed just over $688,000 in cash on hand, including $101,000 from misrepresented loans that were never repaid.
Hall-Long said she can't believe she was put at a disadvantage by pausing fundraising last fall to review and revise past reports.
“Money has never bought voters in Delaware. I'll be frank with you, we took a little break from fundraising as a personal decision. It wasn't forced. An internal review decision was made. We did a great job with our fundraising efforts. In the last month of our campaign, we have raised $171,000 in donations. [We’re] We’re not self-funded,” Hall-Long said. “If you look at other people who have been in the race, they each have loaned over $500,000.”
Delaware Public Media's interview with Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall Long will be broadcast this Green Friday at 3pm and 7pm.
