Newly elected Republican Ross Spano's financial forms raise questions about loans

LAKELAND — Ross Spano is a newly elected member of Congress, but questions linger about loans totaling more than $100,000 that he made to his own campaign for the U.S. House District 15 seat.

Spano, a Republican from Dover, captured 53 percent of the vote Tuesday to defeat Democratic opponent Kristen Carlson of Lakeland.

Carlson, a former general counsel for the Florida Department of Citrus, outraised Spano by a large margin during the campaign. Carlson collected more than $1.3 million, a total that included contributions from such political groups as Emily's List and the Blue Momentum PAC.

Spano received $587,720 in donations, including $159,200 from other political committees. But it is another figure in his financial disclosures to the Federal Election Commission that has drawn scrutiny.

Spano, 52, reported receiving $104,500 in loans, all of them from himself. He reported loaning himself money on four occasions from May through September, with the largest being a loan of $35,000 in June.

As the Tampa Bay Times recently reported, Spano filed his personal financial disclosure form, something required of congressional candidates, two days before the election — and more than 3 ½ months late.

Candidates face no limits on the amount they can contribute to their own campaigns, but must use personal funds. Spano's FEC filing says he drew on personal funds for the loans to his campaign.

The Times reported that forms Spano had filed as a member of the Florida Legislature showed that he didn't appear to have enough cash to loan himself the amount shown in his FEC records. Spano told a Times reporter those limited state forms, covering a period through the end of 2017, failed to show his wife's assets.

Spano hinted that his wife could have loaned him such an amount but didn't confirm that she had done so.

Sandi Poreda, a spokeswoman for Spano, said there appeared to be miscommunication with the Times and that Spano's wife did not provide him with the money for the loans.

The disclosure form Spano filed Nov. 4 listed promissory notes for loans to Spano from two people who also contributed to his campaign. Spano consultant Brock Mikosky said they were longtime friends of the candidate, the Times reported.

Those three loans, granted to Spano in June, August and September, were each for amounts in the range of $15,001 to $50,000, the form shows.

A personal loan to a candidate is considered a campaign contribution if it is meant for use by the candidate's campaign.

Federal law limits individual campaign contributions to $2,700 per election cycle, or a combined $5,400 for the primary and general campaigns.

Anthony Pedicini, a well-known Republican political advisor in Florida, tweeted: “What on Earth is Ross Spano thinking? This is all against the law.”

The Times reported that Pedicini worked on the campaign of Lakeland's Neil Combee, who lost to Spano in the Republican primary race.

Poreda addressed the issue Friday.

"We’re currently meeting with federal campaign finance experts to determine whether there were any inadvertent issues and if so, how we can proactively address them," she said by email. "As soon as we’re able, we’ll provide an update."

The Times reported that an official with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had called for an investigation of Spano's campaign finances by the FEC. That official couldn't be reached by The Ledger on Friday.

Carlson said Friday that she hasn't filed a complaint with the FEC over the matter.

Judith Ingram, a spokeswoman, said the FEC could only confirm having received a complaint if provided the name of the person who filed it. The agency would not reveal if it has begun an investigation, she said.

The FEC has no authority to conduct a criminal investigation, Ingram said. The agency can refer a case to the Department of Justice, which can bring criminal charges.

Ingram said commissioners must vote at various stages on whether to conduct an investigation and what steps to take. She said the FEC is required to conciliate with any candidate who is the subject of an investigation. On average, a complaint takes about 15 months to resolve, Ingram said.

Ingram provided records showing that the FEC conducted 151 investigations in fiscal year 2017. Those resulted in civil penalties totaling nearly $1.4 million and averaging $57,679 in cases closed with a conciliation agreement.

In 200 cases that resulted in administrative fines, the average fine was $2,358.

In a separate matter, a Kathleen resident asked the Florida Elections Commission to investigate Spano for two episodes that occurred during the primary campaign.

In her letter to the agency, Melissa Nichols said Spano's campaign paid for the concealed weapons permitting courses of 100 people who RSVP'd for the July 21 event. Nichols said Spano promoted the event on his Facebook page.

Nichols also complained about an event on Aug. 23 at which Spano offered nickels to people buying gasoline at a Kathleen gas station. The stunt was intended to highlight Combee's role in approving a five-cent-per-gallon increase in gas taxes when he was on the Polk County Commission in 1999.

Poreda said Spano discussed the concealed weapons classes with a lawyer and was told there would be no issue because of the "nominal benefits" and the fact that the event was open to anyone, not just potential voters.

Spano will be sworn into the House of Representatives on Jan. 3.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.