Politics

McDonald campaign acknowledges error in cash donations

By Bill Moss, Published: January 28, 2014

Sheriff Charles McDonald said today his campaign made an error in accepting cash donations of greater than $50. Under state law, individuals cannot make cash donations of more than $50. At a golf tournament fundraiser last year, some golfers had paid their entry fee in cash. The campaign had no caught the error at the time, McDonald said.

Here is the news release.

Sheriff Charles McDonald announced today that his campaign made an "inadvertent error" concerning a campaign finance rule. The violation was an unintentional oversight by the campaign team, and stemmed from an overwhelmingly successful golf tournament fundraising event. A number of unregistered teams and individuals showed up to play and an error was made with several golfers paying their entry fees with cash. North Carolina Election law allows cash contributions, but the rules state that no individual can make cash contributions of more than $50.00 to a campaign. Although every contribution was meticulously documented, this was an honest mistake made by those working the registration table. In fact, it was due to the accurate recordkeeping of the campaign treasurer, that the oversight was easily visible when our financial report was taken to the Henderson County Board of Elections for review before its submission. In the statement, Sheriff McDonald said: "I certainly appreciate the staff of the Henderson County Board of Elections and the professionalism and diligence with which they serve the interests of the citizens of Henderson County. I completely understand the State Board of Elections' ruling and will do everything possible to ensure that no such error occurs in the future."