Delaware’s lieutenant governor defends campaign spending
(The Center Square) — Delaware Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long’s gubernatorial campaign is rebutting an independent review of her finance reports, claiming she spent more than she raised.
In a letter to the state Department of Elections, Hall-Long’s campaign attorney argues an independent report that alleges she violated campaign finance laws is “inaccurate” and “contains material inaccuracies and draws inferences based on speculation.”
“The Lampinski Report contains material inaccuracies and draws inferences based on speculation in a manner that permanently damages the Longs reputation just weeks before an election involving the campaign,” Neil Reiff, Hall-Long’s lawyer, wrote. “Any allegation or inference that the Long’s diverted campaign funds for personal profit and/or misreported personal expenditures as campaign expenditures is categorically false.”
The letter sought to address inconsistencies noted in the report, conducted by former FBI senior executive Jeffrey Lampinski, including thousands of dollars in campaign expenditures that investigators found to be unsubstantiated. Reiff provided receipts and other details for campaign expenditures covered in the investigation.
In the report, Lampinski alleges that Hall-Long’s campaign violated state law on multiple occasions from 2016 to 2023 by not disclosing nearly $300,000 in payments to her husband and campaign manager, Dana, and failed to report $266,000 in loans to her campaign.
Lampinski found that the Longs also reimbursed themselves by $33,000 more than the loans they gave to the campaign, among other discrepancies.
In the letter, Reiff said that the claim is “inaccurate” and that Hall-Long loaned her campaign “more than three times” the amount the investigation flagged for being paid out to the Long family.
“We are confident that over the period of 2016-2023, the Longs contributed more to the campaign than was reimbursed for legitimate campaign-related expenses paid using their personal funds and have forgiven the balance,” Reiff wrote.
He added that the lack of receipts for her previous campaign expenditures is “not a surprise” because, under Delaware’s campaign finance law, receipts are only required to be kept for three years.
The state Department of Elections hired the consulting firm in January to conduct an investigation into Hall-Long’s spending after her campaign filed 13 amended finance reports with the state in response to scrutiny from news outlets.
Hall-Long, a Democrat seeking to replace termed-out Gov. John Carney, will face New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer and former state environmental secretary Collin O’Mara in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary.
Meyer has called on state elections officials to investigate Hall-Long’s campaign finances, saying the report shows she “has been lying to Delawareans for nearly a decade and breaking the law and trying to cover it up.”
“A state investigation conducted by a former FBI chief found the Lt. Governor broke the law by paying her husband over $300,00 from her campaign, and now Bethany Hall-Long has brought in a DC attorney in a desperate attempt to vindicate herself 4 weeks before election day,” Meyer’s campaign said in a statement.
