OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska attorney general's office is investigating the campaign finances of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Lakers following a number of complaints.
Attorney General Jon Bruning said his office has received complaints from people who believe their names were falsely included on Lakers' most recent accountability and disclosure reports.
Lakers' latest campaign report for a three-week period in April indicates his campaign received $309,000 in pledges, with about $23,000 in cash donations being collected in the same period.
But Frank Daley, director of Nebraska's Accountability and Disclosure Commission, said some people listed as donors on the report have called his office to say they never pledged any money for Lakers' campaign.
"This office will be making an inquiry in the matter," Daley said. "We have also been in contact with the attorney general's office."
Among those who have contacted Daley's office is Carl Sitzmann, CEO of ethanol company E Energy Adams in Adams, Neb. His company is listed on Lakers' campaign report as having pledged $5,000, but Sitzmann says he has never discussed donating to Lakers' campaign with either Lakers or anyone on Lakers' campaign staff.
"I'm very surprised and disappointed by it," Sitzmann said. "I don't know how somebody can do that."
Sitzmann said he became aware of his company being listed as a Lakers donor when a campaign staffer from Gov. Dave Heineman's office called him Wednesday to ask if he was aware of the donation.
Sitzmann said he has spoken with Lakers within the last couple of weeks, but "the question of campaign contributions was never even brought up."
Lakers, an Omaha investment banker, oversees a fund that makes him a shareholder in E Energy Adams, Sitzmann said, and the two have had other business dealings in recent years.
Reached on his cell phone Wednesday morning, Lakers said he couldn't speak immediately and would call back. He had not called as promised by midday Wednesday, and did not immediately return two subsequent messages left by The Associated Press on his cell phone, nor replied to a request left with his campaign spokesman.
But his spokesman, Chris Stokes, said the timing of the accusations — less than 36 hours after the deadline for the latest campaign reports to be filed — is suspicious.
"As far as we are concerned, all the pledges that we have are accurate and correct," Stokes said. "It just seems odd that the AG's office would talk to the press about this before they'd give us a call."
Bruning, the attorney general, is a Republican and has worked closely with fellow Republican Heineman. Heineman is expected to win next Tuesday's primary and face Lakers in the November election.
The stakes could reach beyond political ruin for Lakers — who is making his first run for public office — if the allegations against him prove true. Nebraska law says anyone who knowingly files a campaign finance statement or report containing false information commits a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Civil penalties also can be levied.
Others contacted by the AP deny having pledged money to the Lakers campaign, including officials with Kappa Ethanol in Minden and Berexco, an oil company based in Wichita, Kan., with various oil leases in the state and an ethanol plant in Trenton.
Both companies are listed in Lakers' campaign filing submitted Monday as pledging $10,000 each.
"There's no way we would have done that; we support Gov. Heineman," said Berexco Vice President Charlie Wilson. "We've had no conversation with anybody from Lakers' campaign."
Kappa CEO Chuck Woodside said his company has pledged nothing to the Lakers campaign and has also supported Heineman in the governor's race — but not to the tune of $10,000.
Like Sitzmann, Wilson and Woodside said they have had some business dealings with Lakers.
