Potential conflict at Johnson candidate forum

Posted on Jan 14, 2010 by Gregg Hennigan.

IOWA CITY – I’ve gone through the campaign finance reports (see the previous post) a bit more and found a couple more interesting tidbits.

First, on Pg. 28 of Rettig’s disclosure report, a Robert Welsh of 84 Penfro Dr. in Iowa City is listed as having donated $50 to Democrat Janelle Rettig’s campaign.

Welsh moderated a candidate forum at the IowaCity/Johnson County Senior Center earlier this week. He told me this afternoon that he probably made a “bad judgment” by contributing to Rettig’s campaign, but he said it did not affect his how he ran the forum.

“I am a registered Democrat, and it is more a support of that party than the individual,” he said of his donation.

Welsh has moderated many forums in previous years and is respected by many in the community.

Republican candidate Lori Cardella said Welsh did not share with her his potential conflict of interest, but she was not surprised to hear he supports Rettig.

“It was a very slanted forum,” she said.

I was not there, but the Press-Citizen story indicates it was not without controversy, namely over a question Welsh read about Cardella driving a vehicle with Florida license plates.

Welsh said that was one of several submitted questions he chose not to ask the candidates, but then he thought some might accuse him of censorship, so he decided to read them at the end of the forum.

Rettig said that she believed, in a Democratic process, anyone should be able to participate and she thought Welsh was under no obligation to declare his political affiliation. She also said that she thought Welsh was fair in how he ran the forum and that she didn’t receive any favorable treatment from him.

She also noted that Jim Dane helped organize a Farm Bureau forum and donated to Cardella’s campaign, although he did not moderate that forum.

Also in the report, County Auditor Tom Slockett and Treasurer Kim Painter contributed to Rettig’s campaign. They have long acknowledged that they supported her, but it became an issue for some people because Slockett and Painter were two of the three people in charge of appointing someone to the Board of Supervisors, and they chose Rettig.

State law, however, required they be part of the appointment process. And their donations came a month before Supervisor Larry Meyers died, which created the opening (see Pg. 13 of the report). 

Finally, after Cardella’s campaign started making automated calls to potential voters and sending out campaign literature countywide, there’s been a lot of speculation that she would far outspend Rettig. One person wrote a letter to the editor to the Press-Citizen claiming Cardella was trying to “buy” a seat on the board.

Although Cardella used much more of her own money, Rettig has raised and spent far more.

But wait, there’s more. Apparently, the reporting system is a bit screwy because the special election lands on the regular due date for reports, but reports also are due five days before a special election, which is today.

Long story short, Charlie Smithson, executive director of the Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board, said I should combine the two January reports for each candidate. That changes the numbers reported in the previous post.

The corrected amount raised by Cardella is $5,751, with her spending $3,180. The in-kind contibutions is the same at $9,863.

Rettig’s numbers are $20,601 raised, a $2,000 loan and $18,352 spent.

Smithson said he received a call from someone questioning whether Cardella’s report was accurate, although an official complaint has not been filed. Specifically, the person said they didn’t believe she reported the cost of automated calls her campaign made.

Smithson said he sent Cardella’s campaign an e-mail late Wednesday afternoon but has yet to hear back.

This came after I talked to Cardella about the Welsh contribution, and she did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Rettig said she did not call the state board.