Delaware election officials communicated with lieutenant governor’s office amid finance scandal

DOVER, Del. (AP) — State election officials in Delaware communicated directly with one or more aides in Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long’s office last year amid a scandal involving her campaign finance reports, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press.

The emails show that Elections Commissioner Anthony Albence, a fellow Democrat, wanted to keep Hall-Long’s office apprised of queries by the AP about amendments to years of campaign finance reports in which Hall-Long failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans.

Albence and Attorney General Kathleen Jennings, also a Democrat, have said they will not pursue criminal charges against Hall-Long or her husband for campaign finance violations uncovered in a forensic audit by a former FBI executive.

Hall-Long is seeking the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in the Sept. 10 primary. She faces New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer and former state environmental secretary Collin O’Mara.

On Oct. 23, the AP emailed election officials with questions about apparent errors in amended filings by Hall-Long. Citing technical issues, officials sent a follow-up response the next day — while also alerting a top aide in Hall-Long’s office.

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“FYI,” Albence wrote in an email to Andrew Volturo, strategic advisor for policy and special projects in the lieutenant governor’s office. The email was sent to Volturo’s Gmail account, not his state government account. It’s unclear how Albence knew Volturo had a Gmail account.

Later that day, Albence directed his staff to send Volturo another update.

“Would you like to let Drew V. know about these updates, so that he is aware?” he wrote in an email to Patrick Jackson, campaign finance manager for the department. Frank Broujos, the deputy attorney general from Jennings’ office assigned to the Department of Elections, was copied on the email.

“Called Drew, who’s now in his happy place,” Jackson responded minutes later. Broujos was also copied on that email, as well as Albence’s reply.

Volturo has previously rebuffed questions from the AP about Hall-Long’s campaign finances, implying he had no involvement in or knowledge about the campaign. He did not respond to emails Thursday.

In November, Jackson informed Albence that Hall-Long and her new campaign treasurer had been advised that they should meet with Albence “to lay things out to you directly.”

“You may, for Caesar’s Wife reasons, want to stay at arm’s length or you may want to hear it … straight from Bethany’s mouth,” Jackson wrote. Jackson’s reference was to ancient Roman accounts of Julius Caesar’s divorce, with the ruler explaining that Caesar’s wife must be “above suspicion.”

After learning of the emails in response to a November FOIA request, the AP submitted another FOIA request in May for all election department communications with six specific employees in Hall-Long’s office, including Volturo. The department said it had no responsive records.

The AP filed a petition with Jennings’ office challenging that assertion, given the records of communications with Volturo it had already obtained. Despite having been copied on those emails, Broujos maintained that the department had no responsive records regarding communications with Hall-Long’s office.

Broujos acknowledged, however, that an election official and someone in Hall-Long’s office had a series of “casual conversational text messages on the department employee’s personal cellphone that were elections-related.” The elections department asserted that the texts were not public records because they were not part of the election official’s job duties, were not done at the direction of a supervisor, and were not necessary to discharge the official’s duties.

In an opinion last week, Jennings’ chief deputy sided with the elections department, describing its records search as both “extensive” and “adequate.”

Meanwhile, Albence assured Hall-Long last month that he would not seek criminal charges in the wake of the forensic audit he commissioned. The audit found that Hall-Long and her husband, Dana Long, had received payments totaling $33,000 more than what she purportedly loaned her campaign.

It also found that, during seven years as campaign treasurer, Long wrote 112 checks to himself or cash, and one to his wife. The checks totaled just under $300,000 and should have been reported as campaign expenditures. Instead, 109 were not disclosed in finance reports, and the other four, payable to Dana Long, were reported as being written to someone else.

Hall-Long has disputed the audit’s findings and described the reporting violations as simple bookkeeping mistakes.

Under Delaware law, anyone who knowingly files a campaign finance report that is false in any material respect is guilty of a misdemeanor. Jennings has said one reason she won’t prosecute is that a defense attorney could credibly attribute the reporting violations to “carelessness.”

Albence did tell Hall-Long she needed to take “prompt corrective action” by filing amended finance reports. But Hall-Long has said those reports may not be filed before the primary. Albence’s office refused to say last week whether he will allow Hall-Long to hide the reports from voters until after the election.