Fuzzy Campaign Finance Math in NC House District 79

WASHINGTON – Earlier this year when highlighting some interesting races for the state legislature we happened upon some violations by Democratic candidate for N.C. House District 79 Jerry Langley and reported on the hot water he was in with the State Board of Elections. Langley, of course, is up against tax specialist and no nonsense conservative Keith Kidwell, who is sure to shake things up on Jones Street should he be victorious.

Well it turns out that Langley’s reporting to the state board of elections is still out of whack, and even though his campaign is no longer suspended for violations as it was earlier in the year, there are certainly some questions to be asked about some basic math.

In his latest disclosure report for money raised and money spent, Langley’s campaign seems to have provided numbers that don’t make sense.

In the right column you can see totals for the election cycle. The top section is receipts, or funds raised for the campaign, and the bottom is expenditures.

Is it just us, or is something a little off there?

According to this report, Langley’s campaign has raised a little more than $14,000. So far, so good. Then, Langley’s campaign reports that it has spent nearly $33,000. Wow, so they’ve dug a little hole there trying to win a seat in Raleigh, right?

Well, no, according to this report, after raising $14,000 and spending $33,000, Langley’s campaign has more than $16,000 in cash on hand.

Now, this could be some common core math technique that we are not familiar with, OR something is askew with the Langley campaign finance reporting.

Are we missing something?

You can look for yourself, access to all of Langley’s reports to the state board of elections is here.