Nevada Dems File Complaint Over GOP CD4 Candidate Tarkanian’s FEC Report

(Sean Whaley/Nevada News Bureau) – [Wednesday], the Nevada State Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding what it says are numerous irregularities in the first quarter FEC report of Danny Tarkanian for Congress.

The alleged irregularities include Tarkanian’s failure to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign debt leftover from his failed 2010 Senate campaign.

Tarkanian, a Republican, is running for the new 4^th Congressional District seat created in the 2011 redistricting process. He ran in a crowded GOP primary in 2010 for the U.S. Senate seat held by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Sharron Angle won the GOP primary but lost to Reid.

The Las Vegas Sun reported last month that Tarkanian failed to include the debt from his Senate bid in his FEC filing for his congressional bid. Tarkanian said he had recently changed accountants and would amend the report to reflect the fact his campaign owes him more than $260,000.

“Danny Tarkanian is basing his candidacy on his supposed background as a successful businessman, but he can’t even fill out simple paperwork correctly,” said Nevada State Democratic Party Chair Roberta Lange. “While Danny Tarkanian may be trying to play fast and loose with his campaign’s finances, we will hold him accountable to the voters, which is why we filed this complaint.”

Among the irregularities alleged in Tarkanian’s report:

– It appears that Danny Tarkanian for Congress has accepted at least one corporate contribution, in addition to contributions from three other entities that appear to be businesses on the face of the FEC report, but no further information is provided.

– Tarkanian for Congress reported 14 contributions from LLCs without any partnership attributions, so it’s impossible to tell if any of the partners exceeded contribution limits. In fact, he may have already accepted an excessive contribution from the partner of Zinkin Entertainment LLC.

– Tarkanian also failed to disclose on his FEC report hundreds of thousands in personal debt lent to his failed 2010 U.S. Senate bid that should have carried over to his congressional bid. In fact, if it hadn’t been disclosed by a local newspaper, voters may have never known of his outstanding debt to himself.

The Nevada News Bureau has asked the Tarkanian campaign to comment on the complaint and is awaiting a response.