Paul Bass Photo
Karen DuBois-Walton with Deputy Treasurer Robin Golden at March 8 announcement of exploratory campaign committee.
(Updated on Saturday afternoon) Mayoral challenger Karen DuBois-Walton has decided to return over $74,000 to her campaign contributors so that she can continue to run for office through New Haven’s public-financing system.
DuBois-Walton made that announcement in an email press release sent out Saturday morning.
The weekend decision puts to bed a dilemma DuBois-Walton faced regarding the money she raised during the “exploratory” phase of her challenge to first-term Mayor Justin Elicker.
The issue in question was whether or not DuBois-Walton could transfer $74,000-plus from her exploratory committee to her official campaign committee and still participate in the local public-financing program. The Democracy Fund is the city’s clean elections program that provides matching grants to mayoral candidates who cap individual contributions at $390 each and who don’t accept money from political action committees.
Mayor Elicker’s reelection campaign filed a financing complaint against DuBois-Walton’s campaign around that very issue, arguing that she should not be allowed to transfer those funds.
That debate now appears to be moot, as DuBois-Walton has committed to giving the $74,000 she raised during her exploratory campaign back to her campaign contributors, who can now donate that money back to her official campaign committee in $390-a-piece, Democracy Fund-eligible chunks.
“The Democracy Fund was created so campaigns could spend less time talking about money and more time talking about the most important issues facing the city,” DuBois-Walton is quoted as saying in the press release. “It’s why I chose to participate in the Democracy Fund in the first place and why I will continue to make good on that promise. …
“While a formal process has begun to resolve this, the work of our campaign is too urgent. That’s why I’ve directed my campaign staff and my Treasurer and Deputy Treasurer to immediately return the surplus exploratory committee funds to our contributors.”
DuBois-Walton also criticized Democracy Fund staff for providing her campaign with “inaccurate” information about the whole process of if and how to roll over exploratory funds into a Democracy Fund-eligible official campaign.
Fund Administrator Aly Heimer told the Independent that she recommended that the DuBois-Walton campaign spend all of the money it raised during its exploratory phase before she announced her official mayoral campaign challenge.
See more below for an earlier version of this story.
DuBois-Walton Faces $74K Conundrum
Mayoral challenger Karen DuBois-Walton may have to choose between giving up $74,000 or continuing to run for office through New Haven’s public-financing system.
At least she may face that decision if an expected financing complaint prevails from incumbent Mayor Justin Elicker.
DuBois-Walton is challenging first-term Mayor Elicker for the Democratic nomination this year.
Both candidates have signed up and raised enough money to qualify to campaign through the public-financing Democracy Fund, which offers a grant and matching funds to candidates who agree to limit individual contributions to $390 (rather than $1,000) and forswear political-committee donations. In return the candidates receive a $20,000 grant and 2 – 1 matches of the first $30 in contributions from registered New Haven voters.
Wednesday night the Democracy Fund Board agreed that DuBois-Walton has qualified for a first round of $10,786 in matching funds. That check is expected to be cut on Friday.
But a question is looming about whether she will still qualify for the money if she holds onto money she raised earlier this year in the “exploratory” phase of her campaign.
DuBois-Walton raised money from an “exploratory” committee before registering her official mayoral campaign committee candidacy on May 3. Then she closed out the exploratory committee — with $74,726.55 left in the bank, according to the committee’s final, May 14 filing.
The Elicker campaign orally informed the Democracy Fund that it objects to her being able to use that money and continue to participate in the Fund. Under the city ordinance creating the fund, a campaign may not make use of donations from “political committees.”
The issue actually arose in 2013 when … Justin Elicker first ran for mayor and first formed an exploratory committee. At the time he concluded that it violated the law to use money from such a committee in a Democracy Fund-backed campaign, so he decided to pull the plug on fundraising until his official announcement. Read about that episode here.
Wednesday night the Democracy Fund board was already discussing the need to update the ordinance, including addressing the issue of exploratory campaign funds.
Fund Administrator Aly Heimer told the Independent Thursday that the Democracy Fund plans to recommend that DuBois-Walton return any surplus from her candidate committee to her contributors, a charity, or the Democratic Town Committee, as spelled out in the law. She can request that the contributors write a new check to her campaign after returning their money, as long as they haven’t reached the $390 maximum aggregate limit, Heimer noted.
The Elicker campaign intends to file a formal complaint, according to strategist/advisor Michael Farina. He said the campaign will ask that DuBois-Walton’s exploratory committee money not roll over to her general campaign.
The money “would obviously give her an unfair financial advantage. It’s against the spirit of the Democracy Fund as well as the letter of the law,” Farina said.
He pointed to memos then-Fund Administrator Ken Krayeske wrote spelling out why the money shouldn’t roll over. Read the memos here and here.
Update: On Friday, Elicker Campaign Manager Kimberly Agyekum did file a formal written complaint. Click here to read it.
DuBois-Walton said that while this issue is examined, she is putting the surplus exploratory committee money in escrow.
She said Thursday that her treasurer, deputy treasurer and campaign manager came away from Democracy Fund training session with the understanding that the exploratory donations “would roll over to the election phase, would not be counted against the $390 cap, and would not qualify for any matching funds.”
“My recommendation to them was that if they raise money during an exploratory phase, that they spend all that money before declaring” an official campaign for mayor, Heimer said.
DuBois-Walton said her campaign has also “had ongoing conversations” with the State Elections Enforcement Commission about “the transition from an exploratory committee to a campaign committee.”
“The funds in question have been placed in escrow as we await resolution on this issue,” DuBois-Walton stated. “We are completely committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections and we will continue to communicate with all the appropriate agencies until the matter is resolved.”