Madison Cawthorn’s campaign disclosure woes continue after misreporting his own donation

WASHINGTON — Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s troubles with the Federal Election Commission continued this week when he reported to the agency that he had failed to disclose an additional $235,566 he gave his campaign in the most recent quarter beyond what he told them three days earlier.

Cawthorn already drew the regulatory agency’s ire by failing to turn in his campaign finance report due July 15 that was meant to show donations and expenses between April 28 and June 30. The FEC sent Cawthorn a letter on Aug. 1 — his birthday — telling the freshman congressman that for every day that passed since it was due he was incurring a hefty fine.

Cawthorn submitted that report Sunday, the last day the FEC would have accepted it before deeming it so late that there was no hope of receiving it. That would have created bigger problems for the Republican.

But on Wednesday, the additional cash, the use of his former treasurer’s signature on the document and paying off debts to three companies forced him to amend his already month-late campaign finance report.

Brett Kappel, an attorney with Harmon Curran focused on campaign finance, lobbying and government ethics law cases, said that the signature issue is more of a problem for his former treasurer than for Cawthorn.

“The bigger problem for them will be that when he first filed this report, he was like 29 days late, and then he admitted two days later to disclosing … contributions that he hasn’t reported earlier in the week,” Kappel said. “Whenever you file an amended report with a discrepancy like that, you get a letter from the FEC that says, ‘Your amended report shows an increase in contributions of $200,000. Would you care to explain that?’”

What Kappel said he doesn’t think the FEC will be bothered by is who signed the original document, though he said it shows incompetence in Cawthorn’s campaign.

After he lost his May 17 primary to a Republican opponent, state Sen. Chuck Edwards, Cawthorn parted ways with his treasurer, Thomas Datwyler, for unknown reasons. Despite that, Datwyler’s electronic signature had shown up on the report Cawthorn filed Sunday.

Cawthorn named himself treasurer after Datwyler’s departure — a risky move that means Cawthorn is now directly responsible and at fault for any problems with his reporting. Once Cawthorn failed to turn in his report on time, he began accruing a fine that is now above $17,000.

“A normal and competent campaign, when they replace the treasurer, they would have gotten a new treasurer,” Kappel said. “It is not all that uncommon when someone is a failed candidate, or is going to be leaving Congress, for the former member to take over as the treasurer, although if they had a lawyer who was competent, they would advise them not do that because they are exposing them to personal liability.”

Kappel said since Cawthorn was already a month late on filing, he had ample time to get his own username and password so Datwyler’s name didn’t show up on the form. He said Cawthorn should have contacted the FEC to find out how to file a report. Then the FEC would have given him a username and password so he could electronically sign the forms and submit them.

Kappel said that although the FEC likely won’t be bothered by this, Datwyler could have been held liable for any problems in the reporting since his signature was used.

There was one other key difference between the two reports.

On Sunday, Cawthorn owed EMP Strategies LLC and Harris Media a collective $225,566. On Sunday, those debts were paid off, without explanation, even as his own contribution increased by roughly the same amount.

EMP Strategies is owned by Cawthorn’s chief of staff, Blake Harp, and collected $183,991.35 from the campaign between Sunday and Wednesday.

Cawthorn made a $10,000 loan repayment to himself in the latest form. The campaign still owes Cawthorn $100,000, despite listing the outstanding debt as $0.

“He’s definitely going to be receiving some letters from the FEC,” Kappel said. “They might be long letters.”

Cawthorn stayed consistent on one line item in his reports: he has just $1,504 cash on hand, despite receiving $675,202 this quarter and collecting $4.5 million this election cycle.

Cawthorn refunded $248,098, he reported. The majority of the refunds were sent back to people who gave him money for the general election, before his loss made donations Cawthorn collected for the November election moot.

Cawthorn, elected at just 25 years old, lost his reelection bid after a series of scandals — beginning when he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a thug” — plagued his campaign in the months before his primary.

Edwards, a 61-year-old Republican from Flat Rock, faces Democrat Jasmine Beach-Ferrara in November.

Cawthorn’s campaign isn’t alone in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District in receiving a letter from the FEC.

On the same day Cawthorn submitted the original version of his report, the FEC sent a letter to Results for NC Inc., a political action committee supporting Edwards. The letter cited the super PAC, saying it failed to file four 24-hour reports regarding ads airing just days before the primary.

Two of the ads opposed Cawthorn and two supported Edwards. The ads aired May 2, May 16 and May 17 and cumulatively cost around $105,000.

A response from the super PAC is due by Sept. 19.

Meanwhile, the FEC is finally seeing how Cawthorn used his money.

Even the new campaign report is messy, though, sometimes using addresses that appear to be wrong. On the night of the primary, Cawthorn hired multiple local officers to work security at his campaign event but instead of listing their address as the Hendersonville Police Department’s, he used the address of both the U.S. Capitol and the office building that houses the Democratic National Committee. He also ate at a Hendersonville-based restaurant but listed an address in Wisconsin.

Cawthorn spent a lot of money on food.

In 18 days, he spent $529.15 at a Chick-Fil-A in Arlington, Va. In an overlapping 20-day period, he spent around $600 at Papa’s & Beer restaurant in Hendersonville.

But neither can top the $1,814 spent at Casablanca Tobacconist, a store in Hendersonville that sells spirits, wine, beer and cigars.

Luke Ball, Cawthorn’s spokesman before he lost the primary, received a $500 payment marked salary. Cawthorn’s cousin, Stephen Smith, who also works in his congressional office, made $5,600 for campaign consulting.