For Fattah, numbers slow to add up

WASHINGTON - Rep. Chaka Fattah failed to report tens of thousands of dollars in legal debts that mounted in 2014, as he ran for reelection and faced an FBI investigation, campaign filings show.

It wasn't until the next year, after the Philadelphia Democrat was safely sworn in to an 11th term, that his campaign revised its previous reports to reflect the steadily growing bills, the records show.

Fattah's diminished campaign fund has already strained his attempt to defend against federal racketeering conspiracy charges, and left him short on money as he faces four challengers in an April 26 primary.

But the financial trouble may be worse than it first appeared.

His latest report, filed Jan. 31, showed $1,785 in debt. A closer look suggests the red ink might be tens of thousands of dollars deeper.

The quarterly filings to the Federal Election Commission are required by law and designed to ensure transparency by candidates as they raise and spend the money - often millions of dollars - it takes to win a seat in Congress. Even legal expenses must be included.

For nearly two years, the FEC has peppered Fattah's campaign with questions about its filings, asking about numbers that don't match up, or suddenly change from the end of one report to the start of the next.

In interviews last week, Fattah said many campaigns receive questions from the agency. Still, he acknowledged his campaign's financial struggle, without putting a specific number on it.

"What we're talking about here is a campaign that is short on money and has some debt - that's the big picture," he said. "The crossing of the t's and dotting the i's will get worked through by people who do that."

The fact that his team has made amendments to correct the record and reveal his debts, he said, shows they "do everything we can to be in compliance."

Questions about campaign filings might seem like a small concern for Fattah, who faces trial for allegedly siphoning public money to help his son and friends, and to pay off a $1 million loan to his 2007 mayoral campaign.

Fattah has said he will be exonerated. And there is no indication that his campaign filings or lingering debt violate campaign finance laws. But the wrinkles in his reports show new depths of his long-standing money woes.

Last month, lawyers on his criminal defense team asked to be removed from the case because they said he hasn't paid them. (A judge refused their requests.) On top of that, Fattah's primary rivals all lead him in campaign cash.

Accounting errors are common in campaign filings, as are FEC requests for clarification - more than 6,500 have been sent to House and Senate candidates in the past two years. But the number and frequency of questions to Fattah is unusual, said Larry Noble, a former FEC general counsel who reviewed the recent reports when asked by The Inquirer.

"That's not routine. That can either signify a campaign that frankly doesn't have control over what it's doing, in terms of its records . . . or it could reflect that there's something more serious going on - they're trying to disguise something," said Noble, now general counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

As Fattah ran in 2014, coasting to another easy reelection, his campaign reports showed no outstanding debts.

But in amendments filed after his election, the campaign disclosed expenses from July through September 2014 owed to a legal consulting company, a legal staffing firm and lawyers Riley Ross and Luther Weaver, who have represented him during the criminal probe.

The fees are allowed: Campaign accounts can pay for legal expenses related to an elected official's job.

In one interview last week, Fattah said he couldn't explain why the debts were not reported earlier, since "I don't do the forms." But he hinted that there may have been a communication problem.

"Debts can only be recorded when they are noticed and they are given to the treasurer," he said.

When the debts were first incurred, his campaign treasurer was Bonnie Bowser. She has since been indicted alongside Fattah as part of the alleged loan repayment scheme.

The amendments noting the obligations were filed by a new treasurer and congressional chief-of-staff, Roger Jackson.Noble, the former FEC counsel, questioned how the debts could have been overlooked, since later reports show that Fattah's camp was adding new amounts and making payments.

One possibility is that Fattah did not originally intend to pay his legal fees with campaign funds, but changed his mind, Noble said. Another is that he did not want to reveal the debts, or that his staff simply erred.

Since May 2014, the FEC has sent Fattah's campaign 10 letters requesting more information or corrections.

One questioned how a $37,000 debt to Weaver at the end of one reporting period morphed into "-$13,133" at the start of the next; the numbers should match. Another asked for an explanation of why the 2014 debts were not reported at the time.

The summary page of Fattah's last filing, covering expenses and fund-raising through December, shows $7,673 on hand and $1,785 in debt. But those numbers don't reconcile with the line-item data in the 20-page report.

They show that the campaign owes $19,648 for legal debts stretching to 2014. It also owes Fattah $1,700 for a loan he gave.

Another line indicates that Weaver, one of Fattah's lawyers, is owed more than $23,000 - though the correct amount remains unclear.

Also unclear is how much the FEC will care. In the case of serious filing problems, the commission can audit reports, seek a settlement that includes a fine or file a lawsuit, Noble said.

But the agency moves slowly, and prioritizes instances in which candidates have hidden illegal activity, rather than sloppy bookkeeping.

And, he added, it may simply defer to prosecutors when a criminal case is already ongoing.

Staff writer Chris Brennan contributed to this article.

jtamari@phillynews.com

@JonathanTamari www.philly.com/capitolinq