Bangstad finance report doesn’t balance by more than $18,000

The January continuing campaign finance report filed by 34th District Assembly candidate Kirk Bangstad failed to balance by more than $18,000 — by far the largest discrepancy among a smattering of unbalanced ledgers found by The Times in a spot check of Assembly campaign finance reports.

The report for Bangstad, who was the 2020 Democratic nominee against Republican incumbent Rep. Rob Swearingen (R-Rhinelander), was off by $18,075.66.

So far, Bangstad has offered no explanation for the discrepancy, though he has told his supporters he has nothing to hide. After discovering the discrepancy, The Times reached out via email on March 1 to David Barnhill, the campaign’s listed treasurer, for an explanation. The newspaper has not received any response from Barnhill, Bangstad, or the campaign.

However, the next day, on March 2, the matter was addressed in a post on the Facebook page of Bangstad’s Minocqua Brewing Company and on his campaign Facebook page, Bangstad for Wisconsin. The post included this reporter’s email to Barnhill. 

Despite that email’s assertion that “probably I am missing some obvious explanation” which would explain the discrepancy, the post said the reporter was trying to “dig up dirt.” Still, the post stated, the campaign was transparent and an answer to the question would be forthcoming.

“He emailed us yesterday trying to dig up some dirt on MBC (Minocqua Brewing Company) owner Kirk Bangstad’s State Assembly race finance report,” the March 2 Facebook posts stated. “The email is attached, and we are responding soon to answer his questions. We’re publishing the email because Bangstad’s got nothing to hide, but this missive came as we were still trying to make more sense of campaign finance reports in general because the reports you find on Ron Johnson and Tom Tiffany on the Federal Election Commission’s website are anything but straightforward, and our aim is to be as straightforward as possible …”

In addition to not receiving an answer, no explanation of the discrepancy has been posted to Facebook since the March 2 posts and no amended campaign finance reports have appeared on the state ethics commission’s website as of this writing.

The specifics 
The newspaper came across the discrepancy in a spot check of campaign finance reports for 2020 elections.

According to the report, a January Continuing 2021 report covering all activity from Oct. 20, 2020, through the end of the year, Bangstad began the reporting period with a cash balance of $25,961.67. That matched his reported cash balance at the end of the previous report, as the state ethics commission says it almost always should.

He recorded receipts during the reporting period from Oct. 20, 2020, through Dec. 31 of $13,027.28, for a total of $38,988.95. The campaign also reported disbursements of $50,248.91. 

According to the state elections commission, the cash balance on hand at the beginning report plus receipts and then minus expenditures should equal the cash balance at the end of the report.

Here’s how the state ethics commission puts it in a training video: “The preview will list your ending balance for the report. CFIS (Campaign Finance Information System) calculates this by adding receipts and subtracting expenses from your reported beginning balance. Compare this number to your reconciled bank balance to verify that your report in CFIS matches your bank records.”

Accordingly, given Bangstad’s reported beginning balance, his receipts, and his disbursements, the campaign’s cash balance at the end of the reporting period would add up to a deficit of $11,259.96. Instead, the campaign reports shows a positive cash balance of $6,815.60. That’s a discrepancy of $18,075.56.

The campaign showed no incurred obligations or outstanding loans that might affect the tally. Two in-kind contributions were also properly accounted for as both receipts and disbursements.

Other candidates
The Times looked at the campaign finance reports for both winners and challengers in the local area — the 34th and 35th Assembly districts, as well as the 12th Senate district — and also reviewed the winners in all 99 Assembly races. A Senate review of all current lawmakers is ongoing.

In the local area, the January 2021 continuing report for Bangstad’s opponent, state Rep. Rob Swearingen, adds up as it should. Swearingen shows a cash balance on hand at the beginning of the period of $101,254.75.

He collected $9,836.32 to bring his total to $111,091.07. He disbursed $19,746.69, which left him with a cash balance at the end of the period of $91,344.38.

Swearingen, who defeated Bangstad in a landslide, also reported unpaid obligations of $7,752.41 at the end of the period.

Over in the 35th Assembly district, Republican Calvin Callahan, the winner of that election, also showed a sizable discrepancy of $6,732.42 in his initial report — though it was only a little more than a third the size of Bangstad’s discrepancy.

However, the error was technical. Callahan’s initial report listed as revenue an in-kind contribution of exactly the amount of the discrepancy, $6,732.42. In-kind contributions are supposed to be listed as both revenue and expenditures, but Callahan’s report did not list it as an expense. If it had, the report would have balanced. 

On March 16, Callahan filed an amended report correcting the oversight, and the finance report is balanced. The campaign report for the other 35th district candidate also balanced.

In the 12th Senate district, state Sen. Mary Felzkowski’s report balanced, but that of her challenger, Democrat Ed Vocke, did not. Vocke’s campaign report was off by a $379.73.

Around the state, the survey of Assembly lawmakers turned up a balance rate of 88.9%, with the reports of 88 of 99 lawmakers balancing. 

There were two districts with no continuing reports listed as filed by the incumbent, and nine district lawmakers showing imbalances.

However, in no instance was the discrepancy anywhere near the size of Bangstad’s. The largest discrepancy found was $2,090.48 in the report of Republican District 3 Rep. Gus Tyler. No immediate explanation for the imbalance was found.

In District 54, Democratic leader Gordon Hintz’s report showed an imbalance of $500, and in District 4, Republican Rep. David Steffen’s account was off by $1,000.

Most of the variances were minor. One campaign appeared to flip the numbers $2,745.24 to $2,754.24. Another campaign was off by two cents. Two others were off by $100 and $200 respectively.

Richard Moore is the author of the forthcoming “Storyfinding: From the Journey to the Story” and can be reached at richardmoorebooks.com.