Over the last four years, state Sen. Lydia Chassaniol has paid more than $26,000 in campaign funds to herself or her immediate family.
The Winona Republican’s spending has gotten more scrutiny than that of most Greenwood-area lawmakers, although an analysis of campaign finance reports on file with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office shows she is not alone among Greenwood-area lawmakers in using her campaign treasury in ways that have raised questions as to whether that’s what donors intended.
Campaign spending by lawmakers and other state officials has been the focus of a recent series of investigative articles published by The Clarion-Ledger. According to the Jackson newspaper, many lawmakers have found ways to supplement their income or augment their lifestyles through the largely unregulated use of campaign donations.
Chassaniol’s use in 2014 of campaign funds for trips to Chicago and Anchorage, Alaska, that she said were work-related caught the eye of the Jackson reporters. The Commonwealth’s own review of her campaign finance reports from 2012 through 2015 also shows that the incumbent and two family members have received thousands of dollars from her campaign fund.
Chassaniol did not return several calls seeking comment for this article.
In 2012, a non-election year, Chassaniol listed just over $6,000 in campaign disbursements made to herself, most with “reimbursement” or “supplies” listed as the reason.
Payments to herself were substantially smaller over the next three years — between $1,100 and $1,700 annually — but disbursements to Chassaniol’s daughter, Mimi Taylor, whom she employs as an accountant, rose significantly.
In 2012, Chassaniol’s campaign listed $1,350 in disbursements to Taylor. That amount has grown each year since. In an end-of-the-year report filed in January, Taylor is listed as the recipient of more than $6,000 from the Chassaniol campaign during the 2015 election cycle.
Chassaniol has also made two payments over the same four-year period to her husband, Emmett, coming to just over $1,600.
Chassaniol’s campaign finance reports also list at least $1,000 in payments to C Spire for cellphone bills each year since 2012.
Although legislators who live outside Hinds County receive a travel reimbursement of 54 cents per mile, Chassaniol’s campaign expenses included almost $3,000 spent on gasoline in 2012 and 2013 combined, both non-election years.
Although candidates and elected officials are required to file periodic accountings of their campaign spending, the detail and accuracy of the reporting varies from lawmaker to lawmaker.
Chassaniol’s reports are fairly well-detailed, but other legislators provide only the most cursory accounting and sometimes incorrectly fill out the required forms.
Rep. Willie Perkins, D-Greenwood, has not itemized any campaign spending since 2011. His campaign claims to have spent a little under $9,000 over the past four years, but none of it is itemized. State law requires that candidates must provide a breakdown of spending that exceeds $200 in a calendar year to any single person, business or entity.
Perkins did not return calls seeking comment.
The Greenwood Democrat’s campaign is not unique in its reticence. Former Rep. Bobby Howell, R-Kilmichael, listed over $40,000 in disbursements during his last four years in office but itemized less than $4,000 of the total.
About half of the itemized disbursements are from 2015, the year in which Howell retired from the Legislature. That included almost $500 he spent on newspaper ads supporting the candidacy of Karl Oliver, the Winona Republican who won the November election to succeed Howell.
Howell’s final finance report, filed in January, shows that he had more than $19,000 in campaign money on hand at the time of his retirement.
Under state law, when elected officials retire from office, they can declare any remaining campaign money as personal income and have it taxed as such — as Howell said he did — or give it to charitable organizations.
“That’s been the law for years. I’m not breaking the law,” said Howell. “I think I’ve been as ethical as I know how to be.”
Howell said that he did little active fundraising during his years in office and that most of his campaign finances were contributions from private businesses.
A proposal that would have made it illegal for politicians to cash out their campaign accounts upon retirement died in committee earlier this year. It is one of several proposed campaign finance reforms that have gone nowhere during the current legislative session.
Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, and Rep. Kevin Horan, D-Grenada, also listed payments to themselves on their finance reports, although in much smaller amounts than Chassaniol’s.
Jordan reported $475 in disbursements to himself over the last four years, and Horan $400.
Jordan, who has served as senator since 1993, has had relatively low campaign expenses, listing just under $5,000 in disbursements over the last four years.
“I’ve never raised much money,” said Jordan. “I think $14,000 or $15,000 was the highest amount I ever raised.”
Jordan said his long tenure as a legislator and visibility to his constituents have allowed him to run lean campaigns. He has frequently funneled some of the donations he has received to other politicians. He said he doesn’t see anything wrong with giving a portion of his campaign fund to candidates who need the money more.
Jordan contributed to the re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson in 2012 but more frequently supports candidates in local races. In the last four years, he has contributed to Leflore County Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill, T.W. Cooper’s unsuccessful campaign for Leflore County supervisor and Takiyah Perkins’ unsuccessful campaign for circuit judge.
Horan’s campaign expenditures — for the most part itemized — included a $5,000 payment to his sister, Kim Bruner of Greenwood, for the stated purpose of “repayment of loan” in 2012.
In the same year, the Democrat’s finance reports list $750 for a “dinner for district officials.”
Large gatherings with food are a regular fixture of Horan’s campaigns. He said he does cookouts throughout the year and takes constituents out to eat fairly regularly.
Oliver, the freshman legislator, lays claim to a relatively transparent campaign finance record compared to many of his nearby colleagues. He provided itemized lists of disbursements for almost all of the $29,000 his campaign spent in 2015, the bulk of it on advertising, political consulting and printing campaign materials. The reports showed no reimbursements to Oliver himself.
Former Rep. Linda Whittington, who decided not to run for re-election to the House last year, spent less than $2,000 from 2012 through 2015, lower than any of her area colleagues.
The only campaign finance reform that currently remains alive in the Legislature would require candidates to itemize all credit card expenditures. Officials as high as State Auditor Stacey Pickering, Attorney General Jim Hood and House Speaker Philip Gunn have charged up tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars on campaign credit cards without explaining how the funds were actually spent. Critics have claimed that the credit cards are used as a way to dodge the state’s reporting requirements.
No Greenwood-area lawmakers have disclosed payments to campaign credit cards, but given widespread inconsistencies and errors in campaign finance reporting, it is hard to tell whether or not they engage in the practice.
• Contact Nick Rogers at 581-7235 or nrogers@gwcommonwealth.com.
