Photograph Illustration by Kelly Caminero/The Every day Beast/Getty
Convicted Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) punctuated his plunge from political grace with a marketing campaign finance report for the ages, taking out a house mortgage and promoting his personal marketing campaign automobile for fast money after authorized bills torched a whole bunch of 1000's of dollars of his donors’ cash.
A federal disclosure submitted final week exhibits the Fortenberry marketing campaign chucking practically 1,000,000 dollars right into a authorized sea over the primary three months of the yr, about $100,000 greater than it had within the financial institution to start with. The overwhelming majority of that cash vanished into prices related to the Republican’s failed authorized protection, together with practically $600,000 in lawyer’s charges within the months earlier than his March trial.
Had Fortenberry not taken private steps, these bills would have busted the marketing campaign earlier than payments got here due on the finish of March, coincidentally simply days after a Los Angeles jury convicted him of mendacity to the FBI about unlawful marketing campaign contributions. To make ends meet, Fortenberry took out a house fairness mortgage, tapped his closest remaining allies, delay some payments, and even liquidated the marketing campaign’s automobile—to himself.
The marketing campaign began the yr with about $895,000 available. However earlier than the top of February, Fortenberry had already burned by way of the above-mentioned $600,000 in authorized charges, plus $250,000 for a public relations blitz and $30,000 for communications consulting. He capped all of it off with a last sting of $13,600 in funding losses.
Donations couldn’t come near that tempo, particularly for a congressman beneath indictment. After doling out about $39,000 in refunds, Fortenberry closed the quarter with a complete $55,315 within the financial institution.
However Fortenberry wasn’t tapping the marketing campaign solely to pay his attorneys. He additionally dipped into the account for journey and meal bills for himself and his household throughout the trial. ($1,000 at a DoubleTree and $690 on the LAX Westin.) He even used donor funds to cowl journey prices for one among his personal witnesses—his chief of workers Andrew Braner, who was reimbursed $875 for transportation and lodging.
By the day the trial opened on March 17, the account regarded bleak. That day, Fortenberry did one thing he hadn’t finished since his first bid for Congress in 2004—he loaned his marketing campaign cash, $61,000 that he in flip had borrowed from a house fairness line of credit score.
However because the trial rolled on, the nine-term Nebraska Republican received just a little string from some remaining political allies, together with Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV), Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who all injected 1000's of dollars into his marketing campaign account on March 23, the day earlier than jury deliberations started.
The following day, after assembly for simply two hours, the jury convicted Fortenberry on all three counts, two for mendacity to the FBI and one for making an attempt to falsify or conceal proof.
The identical day he was discovered responsible, Fortenberry purchased his marketing campaign’s automobile for $13,500—the precise value the marketing campaign paid for it in 2018. The money didn’t even offset the funding losses.
Over the subsequent few days, quite a few marketing campaign payments got here due, together with workers payroll, consulting bills, and tens of 1000's of dollars in contribution refunds—together with to Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy’s Majority Committee PAC. When the books had been settled on the finish of the quarter, the marketing campaign had simply $50,143 within the financial institution.
That quantity, nonetheless, consists of Fortenberry’s HELOC mortgage, which comes due in 2023. As of March 31, the marketing campaign is in debt. With out the mortgage, the marketing campaign would have ended the quarter $10,000 within the gap.
Curiously, regardless of the weeklong trial, the marketing campaign committee didn’t report any authorized prices after late February, and it’s unclear whether or not Fortenberry shouldered these bills personally or struck an settlement along with his attorneys.
Whereas it’s not abundantly frequent for campaigns to choose up private authorized bills, Fortenberry’s case is the exception that proves the rule. Candidates are permitted to attract on donor funds for bills that they might not have incurred in the event that they weren’t a federal official or candidate. And Fortenberry’s trial occurred to heart on the very cause campaigns have financial institution accounts within the first place—donations.
In Fortenberry’s case, they had been impermissible donations. The congressman had lied to the FBI about when he first realized that $30,200 in contributions from a 2016 fundraiser had flowed by way of straw donors from an unlawful supply: a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Fortenberry knew and met a number of instances.
Whereas neither Fortenberry nor his marketing campaign had been prosecuted for knowingly accepting the illicit funds, the marketing campaign didn’t disgorge them till 2019, after his second interview with the feds. If Fortenberry had held on to the cash, it nonetheless wouldn’t plug the $50,000 gap the marketing campaign is in at present because of that duplicity.
Fortenberry resigned on March 31. His sentencing is scheduled for June 28, and he has stated he plans to attraction. Every of the three counts carries a most of 5 years in jail.
The Every day Beast reached out to Fortenberry and his public relations agency, however obtained no reply.