Hoffman's $200,000 goof

Douglas L. Hoffman's campaign finance reports show a $200,000 donation from a Minnesota man, but it appears the Conservative Party candidate in the 23rd Congressional District race is the victim of an accounting error instead of the beneficiary of a wealthy engineer.

Roger D. Raudio, a Monticello resident who works for Xcel Energy, is alleged to have made the donation, which is $197,600 above the maximum allowable contribution.

“It's obviously a typo,” said Robert H. Ryan, Mr. Hoffman's spokesman, who said the error was missed by multiple people checking the report before it was filed Dec. 3.

Mr. Ryan said he was told by Mr. Hoffman's bookkeeper that the mistake has no effect on the candidate's net contributions figure or his cash on hand because the report's figures are matched with the campaign's bank balance. Mr. Hoffman's contributions, minus refunds he issued, are $1,703,751. His cash on hand is $291,628.

The spokesman said he could not explain where the difference between Mr. Raudio's reported contribution and his actual contribution was until the bookkeeper has a chance to review the documents, correct the report, and file an amendment with the Federal Elections Commission.

Mr. Ryan said the bookkeeper could not immediately say what Mr. Raudio's actual contribution was. Mr. Raudio could not be reached for comment because he is not listed in the local phone book, according to a woman who answered the phone at the local Chamber of Commerce.

UPDATE: Mr. Ryan said Tuesday that Mr. Raudio's actual donation was $2,000. The $198,000 difference must be, therefore, in the "under $200s," he said the bookkeeper told him.

The FEC allows candidates to package all contributions under $200 together and report it as one total.

Mr. Ryan said the campaign's bookkeeper knew what her cash on hand was at the start of the reporting period. She knew what the bank balance was. So once she logged all the contributions and subtracted all the expenses, she had a difference of $637,958. She recorded that number as the amount of contributions under $200.

Of course, the perils of doing it that way is that you can accidentally log $2,000 as $200,000 and not notice it. So Mr. Hoffman's new unitemized contribution total is $835,958. That means there must have been at least 4,200 donors that gave less than $200. Wow. Hard to believe, right?