"The memo below was written to bring some perspective back to the misinformation, misconceptions, and falsehoods surrounding the “Missing” $250,000.
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M E M O R A N D U M
TO: TDP 2006 Delegates, Alternates & Activists
FROM: Dennis D. Speight, Vice-Chair of Finance, Texas Democratic Party
DATE: May 22, 2006
RE: The "Missing" $250,000 Donation, or,
How Boyd Richie Fixed Charles Soechting's Money Problem.
During Molly Beth Malcolm's chairmanship, a very generous woman by the name of Mrs. Hughes donated over $250,000 to the Texas Democratic Party. When the donation was first made, the State Democratic Executive Committee voted to set aside $250,000 in an account to be used to invest in a permanent home for the party. This vote was taken while Molly Beth was still chair and while Charles was the General Council (I was not on the SDEC at that point). Molly Beth complied. From the time that Charles Soechting took the reins from Molly Beth Malcolm, it was fully known by the SDEC and chair that this money had been set aside.
In January of 2005, after the 2004 elections, the SDEC Finance Committee, which I chair, was asked to perform an internal audit of the party's finances. We appointed a Sub-Committee on State Party Finances for this purpose. Several members of the finance committee were appointed to this committee and approved by the full SDEC to carry out the audit.Boyd Richie was appointed to Chair the Sub-committee with additional members including JoAnn Jenkins, Latrice Sellers, John James, Mike Wise, Treasurer and myself, Dennis Speight, Vice-Chair of Finance.
In late 2004 and January 2005, Sub-Committee Chairman Boyd Richie called a meeting to study the books with the Comptroller of the party both with the presence of the State Chair and without. The sub-committee discovered the party was clearly in bad financial shape after the 2004 elections. We also discovered that the $250,000 that was voted to be set aside for a future home for the TDP had been spent. It had been spent on normal everyday expenses at the party like payroll, telephones and rent. The party also spent nearly $100,000 on campaign activities like mail during the 2004 election cycle on House races including Hubert Vo, David Lebowitz and Mark Strama, all races that we won.These expenditures had no over-sight from the SDEC, except by the State Chairman himself.
The Sub-committee Chair Boyd Richie and members preceded to (1) inform the State Chairman that he had spent the $250,000 against the SDEC's wishes, (2) kick the fundraising efforts at the state party into overdrive to prevent the party from going further in the hole, and (3) set out new rules changes to prevent this from ever happening again.
Sub-committee Chair Boyd Richie addressed the full SDEC and informed them of our findings and recommended that the SDEC pass a new rule that required our State Party Chair to submit an annual budget for spending to be approved by the Finance Committee and full SDEC each January. That rule was passed and implemented at the January 2005 SDEC meeting.
This past January (2006), again, an annual budget was submitted and approved by the full SDEC. The new rule proposed by the Boyd Richie and the Sub-Committee on Party Finances has worked to ensure that contributions to the state party are spent properly. Unfortunately, the new budget rule does not bring back the $250,000 that was spent against the SDEC wishes. Chairman Charles Soechting publicly apologized for misallocating the $250,000. " |
