Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez campaign short hundreds of thousands after campaign accounting errors
Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, a Democratic candidate for governor, said Monday her campaign has hundreds of thousands of dollars less than she thought after her campaign manager double-counted contributions.
The admission came a day after Rodriguez fired the manager, Kara Spencer, citing “serious mismanagement and inaccuracies” in the campaign finance reports Spencer prepared.
The end result, Rodriguez said, is that her campaign has about $200,000 cash on hand in its account, considerably less than expected with the Aug. 11 primary less than a month away.
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The revelation comes two days before reports are due from all candidates covering the first half of the year.
Asked how she’d allowed such a glaring discrepancy, Rodriguez said she was given bad information.
“I met regularly with my campaign manager about how the campaign was going, and based on the information that I received and the information that our partners received, it looked accurate,” Rodriguez said at a press conference in Madison. “I trusted her to do the job that I had hired her to do, that she had done for her entire career, and I regret placing my trust in that individual.”
Spencer’s work for Rodriguez dated back to her campaign for lieutenant governor in 2021. Spencer did not respond to a request for comment.
Rodriguez’s campaign announced last week that it would spend $1 million on TV ads, a significant sum in a fractured primary. Rodriguez is one of five Democrats running to replace Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is not seeking a third term.
Rodriguez said her ads were supposed to start on TV last Tuesday, and when that didn’t happen, she started to ask questions.
“By Wednesday, I also received a call from my media team to flag that the media invoice had not been paid,” Rodriguez said. “By Thursday afternoon, I saw that the total cash was far lower than I had expected. I will generally say that there were hundreds of thousands of dollars less than I thought.”
Rodriguez said it was her campaign manager’s decision to promise the $1 million ad buy.
“I cannot get inside her head as to why she made that announcement,” Rodriguez said.
Asked in a variety of ways what she would say to Wisconsinites who heard about these discrepancies and were questioning her ability to be governor, Rodriguez said admitting her campaign’s mistakes was a sign of leadership.
“You want a leader who’s going to be transparent and who’s going to take accountability when things go wrong,” Rodriguez said. “And that is what I am here today standing in front of you doing.
Campaign finance reports covering Jan. 1 to June 30 are due Wednesday, and will likely be viewed as a barometer of candidates’ viability headed into the home stretch of the primary contest.
Democratic rivals say the mistake shows Rodriguez can’t be governor
The news from Rodriguez, who had seemingly been riding a wave of positive momentum, prompted the sharpest attacks of this primary from her Democratic opponents.
“It’s never been more clear that Sara Rodriguez isn’t ready to serve Wisconsin as our top executive,” said Darby O’Connor, campaign manager for former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. “Sara Rodriguez only noticed hundreds of thousands of dollars missing when she didn’t see her face on TV. This level of gross mismanagement of finances and staff is unheard of in professional politics.”
Madison state Sen. Kelda Roys said Rodriguez’s actions were part of a “pattern” of statements she’d had to walk back.
“This recurring pattern shows that Rodriguez is unprepared for the rigors of a general election or governing,” Roys said.
Former Evers cabinet secretary Joel Brennan asked Rodriguez what she’d say to supporters who had donated to her campaign.
“Will you be able to refund donors who request their money back?” Brennan asked. “How is this not disqualifying?”
The winner of the primary is all but certain to face U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, in the general election. He, too, attacked Rodriguez in a statement on the social media platform X.
“Voters deserve a full explanation of what the ‘inaccuracies’ were and how they happened,” Tiffany wrote.
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