Peggy Lowe at Total Buzz is reporting that she met with Hoa Van Tran and His campaign manager Edgardo Reynoso Monday to discuss the revelation of campaign finance reporting irregularities.
According to Reynoso, the campaign “did not do anything improper†and the failures were the fault of the former staffer who disclosed (some of) them. So according to Reynoso, forgetting to report the expenditures paid by check numbers 1006 through 1015 between the 8th and 15th of March was not improper.
Reynoso claimed in his interview that they had hired a professional Treasurer, but did not name the Treasurer. The LiberalOC has learned that the campaign’s previous accountant offered to do the necessary amendments to the paperwork, but neither Reynoso nor Hoa Van Tran ever gave them the information.
As of Monday afternoon, that accountant is no longer affiliated with the campaign. If the campaign hired a professional Treasurer, is this the same treasurer Reynoso referenced on May 2nd when interviewed by Bolsavik? If so, they have already passed the ten day period that they have to report the change. No change has been reported.ÂÂ
Since this story broke, Reynoso and Tran have been telling high ranking officials in the Democratic Party of Orange County that they would file amendments. As late as Friday last week they were claiming that their accountant “treasurer” was already working on the amendments. But is this the same accountant who never received the documentation or a new Treasurer?ÂÂ
As Liberals and Democrats, we are in a position to provide support for Hoa Van Tran in this election for the First District BoS seat now held by a conservative Republican with her own issues of timely financial reporting. Hoa Van Tran may not be the best candidate the Democrats could have fielded, but he is the only one. The other Republican in the race, Dina Nguyen, also has a bad track record on reporting campaign finances. Can anyone in this race get their paperwork done correctly or on time?
We are beyond disappointed with the handling of the Hoa Van Tran campaign. Campaign manager Edgardo Reynoso has proven to be less than trustworthy. As Matt Cunningham points out on Red County, if the Hoa Van Tran campaign did nothing wrong with paperwork, then why is Reynoso explaining that any problems with the paperwork can be fixed quickly. Complaints were filed last week, and they have known about the problems since at least April 9th. Surely it can’t take more than a few hours to properly record campaign expenditures?
Obfuscate, obfuscate, and obfuscate some more. Never give a straight answer to a question and blame someone else if you are caught. That is Edgardo Reynoso’s method of operation. It is a version of the John McCain double-talk express.ÂÂ
If Hoa Van Tran actually doesn’t know what is going on in his campaign, he has shown he is a poor judge of character. If he does know what is going on, at best he isn’t worthy of a single vote. If Edgardo Reynoso claims that there is nothing wrong and that no intentional errors in reporting have been made, then why are they taking so long to correct the omissions?
Chris,
I think that the new treasurer might be Kindy Dirky. Thats my guess.
Paul.
I know for certain that the New Treasurer is NOT Kinde.
What puzzles me is, the unreported expenditures are non-controversial. In fact, most expenditures tend to be non-controversial. So what’s the problem? Is there something like one very sinful expenditure that they’re hiding? Or are there some questionable contributions? Or are they just frozen like a deer in headlights and can’t take any action?
I could not agree more, Bolsavik. It is very likely these expenditure reports are not a big deal. It’s too bad Reynoso is hurting his boss by stalling. The longer he waits, the more it will look like corruption. That and blaming other staffers lower on the totem pole is just dumb. The Hoa camp needs to take reponsibility or “cowboy up” and get this messed cleared. Otherwise, where does the buck stop?