CO GOP Falsely Reports State Party Treasurer’s Employee and Occupation Info
The Colorado GOP continues to bungle their FEC reporting with the release of their October filing. One of this month’s notable mistakes is falsely reporting the employee and occupation information of Bob Balink—who happens to the be Colorado Republican Committee’s Treasurer.
The FEC filing lists Balink’s employer as El Paso County (Colorado) and his occupation as County Treasurer. However, Balink’s stint for El Paso County ended in 2014 when Mark Lowderman was elected as his successor. Lowderman was sworn in as the new county treasurer in January of 2015.
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This is the second time that the Colorado Republican Party misreported Balink’s employee and occupation information. One can only presume that either this was done knowingly since Balink as the party’s treasurer must examine and certify the reports or that Balink has been negligent in his duties as treasure.
Balink was appointed treasurer under the previous chair Ryan Call and was retained under current chair Steve House.
Balink’s electronic signature is on each monthly report, certifying that he examined the respective reports and that the report to the best of his knowledge is “true, correct, and complete.”
How does the former El Paso County treasurer and current state party treasurer certify the reports as correct when his own personal information on the reports is in error? That may well be just another mystery of the Colorado GOP and their infamous disregard in abiding to federal reporting requirements.
The Colorado GOP’s FEC filings have a reputation for being plagued with errors, despite the party hiring a paid financial director (Ann O’Donnell) and a professional compliance consultant (Utah Republican Party’s former treasurer, Mike McCauley) to work alongside Balink in his position as state party treasurer.
A sampling of observations for this month’s report raised by party activists include:
- No payments were made on loans or debt this period.
- The line of credit (Centennial Bank loan) continues to be reported as secured, yet original loan document to the FEC shows it as unsecured. There have been no amended filings to prove secured status.
- Rent expense is not reported as either an in-kind donation or an expenditure.
- RNC transfers increased by $12K, but RNC staffer Ian Lindemann has not been reported as receiving a paycheck for the September and October filing periods.
