Saying she felt “enormous shock” at “egregious errors” made by a trusted campaign manager, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez is seeking to minimize the damage done to her hopes of becoming Wisconsin’s next governor, after discovering double-counted campaign contributions that grossly inflated her fundraising total.
Kara Spencer, who has worked for Rodriguez for five years, was fired Sunday when the errors were discovered, according to the lieutenant governor during a Monday afternoon press conference.
“I cannot tell you what was in her mind,” Rodriguez said. “I trusted her to do the job and I regret placing my trust in that individual.”
Rodriguez, whose political career began with her first Assembly race in 2020, said Spencer’s background is in campaign finance compliance, which is why she was shocked when signs appeared last week indicating financial issues. But Rodriguez emphasized that she is staying in the race and believes voters want a leader who will be upfront about mistakes.
“This is a bump in the road,” she acknowledged, “but we are going to be as honest and as transparent as we can be.”
Suspicions began last Tuesday when Rodriguez noticed that an announced $1 million ad buy had not yet begun running. On Wednesday, other members of her campaign team noticed invoices that had not been paid. On Thursday, she discovered her campaign bank account had much less money in it than expected—“hundreds of thousands of dollars,” she said. There were also expenses that had not been reported.
On Sunday, Spencer was fired and Rodriguez said the Wisconsin Ethics Commission had been notified. She said the campaign is working with the commission and an accountant to fix the report she filed last January and prepare a new report due this week.
Rodriguez is in what is believed to be a tight race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination with former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Rep. Francesca Hong, Sen. Kelda Roys, and former Administration Secretary Joel Brennan. Voters will decide in the Aug. 11 primary who will take on Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany to succeed retiring Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
Evers has not made an endorsement in the race, but two candidates who recently dropped out — Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and former WEDC Secretary Missy Hughes — endorsed Rodriguez.
A review of the Rodriguez campaign’s January campaign finance reports by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel showed approximately 900 instances where campaign donations were listed twice — the same dollar amount donated by the same donor on the same day. The contributions ranged from $5 to $5,000 and may have artificially added $100,000 to the $618,000 she reported.
The Journal Sentinel also noted that the January 15 report from Rodriguez was actually filed late, at 2:13 a.m. on January 16 and was then amended 3:23 a.m. and again at 5:01 a.m. The new report due this week covers donations and expenses from Jan. 1 to June 30.
Brennan was the first candidate to publicly call out Rodriguez for the fundraising inaccuracies, asking for details on how it was discovered, what kinds of checks and balances the campaign employed, and whether her recently announced $1 million ad buy ever really happened.
“How is this not disqualifying?” Brennan concluded.
“The public is getting far too familiar with hearing Sara Rodriguez apologize,” said Jalen Knuteson, spokesperson for Roys. ”One year ago, Rodriguez launched her campaign claiming Gov. Evers gave her a special heads up that he was not running for re-election. We soon learned from Gov. Evers that her claim was false.”
Knuteson also referenced what he called other unforced errors, such as “stating she’d write the next state budget ‘behind a curtain’ and taking corporate PAC money from WE Energies after voting for a GOP-authored tax break.”
“I’m staying focused on our campaign,” said Hong in a statement. “But we’ve shown we’re a campaign focused on transparency and accountability. I think it’s vital that everyone running for this position is creating a standard of trust, honesty, and accountability.”
Rodriguez says she does not want to provide an exact number until the report is ready, but says she raised about $1 million in the first half of the year, has about $250,000 cash on hand, and will begin running TV ads next week.
