Rep. Harold Love Jr. spent thousands of dollars in campaign money illegally, audit finds

Tennessee state Rep. Harold Love Jr. illegally used campaign money to pay for dry cleaning, purchases at a jewelry store, trips to meetings and more than $13,000 in food and beverages, according to a newly released audit. 

Love's expenditures were among a slew of findings identified by the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, which also determined the Nashville Democrat had inadequately maintained his campaign finance records. 

Admitting some fault, Love defended many of his purchases and said the audit process was at times unwieldy. 

The audit comes after the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee identified hundreds of questionable expenditures in 2017 on everything from Sam's Club memberships and car washes to food and alcohol. That review noted Love spent donor's money on food, air travel and utilities. 

CAMPAIGN CASH:Why you should care about how lawmakers spend your donations

And the new audit also comes nearly two years after the panel released a review of expelled former lawmaker Jeremy Durham, who spent thousands of dollars in campaign funds illegally. Durham was fined $465,000 for hundreds of violations.

Although not as often as Durham, the registry found Love — who last year unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Nashville — had broken the state's campaign finance laws on multiple occasions over a two-year period.

Overall, the 16-page audit of Love's finances had seven main findings. They include:

• Failing to report $7,830 in donations.
• Not providing enough data for $1,215 in contributions.
• Failing to itemize $12,865 in expenditures.
• Failing to itemize $2,690  in contributions.
• Failing to retain sufficient expenditure records.

On his spending, the audit found Love made 300 transactions totaling $13,400 on food and beverages. The purchases ranged from $2.50 to more than $1,200.

"The volume of transactions and small dollar amounts of individual transactions appear to indicate individual meal purchases or snack type purchases instead of catering or food purchases for campaign events," the audit states. 

The audit noted that on days lawmakers receive allowances for their legislative work, or per diems, they are prohibited from spending campaign money for "non-campaign related meals or lodging" for themselves and other members of the legislature. 

"If any of these are for the candidate, they would appear to be personal in nature and therefore unallowable," the audit concluded.

In an interview, Love admitted that he spent campaign money on food for himself but the policy mentioned in the audit wasn't in place at the time.

"I can be out campaigning and take my crew out to eat but I can't knock on doors and buy myself food," he said. 

Nonetheless, Love vowed to refrain from such actions in the future. "Buying a Vitamin Water is illegal with campaign funds," he said. "For me, that's one thing that I vow to do better."

Beyond the food and beverages, the audit found Love spent $2,847 inappropriately. The purchases include:

• $956 at gift shops during trips.
• $382 at a jewelry store.
• $200 to a "servicer" that facilitates online transactions.
• $122 for dry cleaning.
• $83 at college campuses and college bookstores, including $20 for parking at Nashville State Community College, where parking is free.
• $78 on "collection department fees."
• $50 to State Farm, an insurance company.
• $38 for an apparent background check expense.
• $25 to pay a physician.

It is illegal to use campaign funds for personal purposes. 

Love offered explanations for several of the purchases, many of which he said were for constituents.

The jewelry store payment covered the cost of creating custom cuff links for a constituent. The dry cleaning and background check was for another constituent. The bookstore expenditures were at a gathering of the Congressional Black Caucus.  

But Love did admit some fault. "There may have been one or two instances where there may have been expenditures that should not have been on there," he said. 

He pointed to the payment for a physician, surmising it may have been to cover the cost of a physical at a CVS to comply with the state's insurance program. 

Spending during trips

Love also spent more than $911 in campaign funds on two separate trips to gatherings affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Love is a pastor of Lee Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church.  

During a 2015 trip, Love spent $156, including on an airline ticket. For a 2016 conference, he spent $754 in campaign money. 

Love said to auditors that both trips were for legitimate purposes. But the audit disagreed. 

"Without a campaign or office holder expense purpose, the trip would be considered unallowable," the audit states. 

On Thursday, Love said because of his attendance at the gatherings, he sponsored legislation, making the expenses legitimate. 

The USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee included both trips in its 2017 review of lawmaker expenditures, with Love offering the same explanation then. 

That review also found Love had more than 500 unitemized expenses — purchases totaling less than $100 — on everything from utilities to auto expenses. 

In the registry's audit, Love's utility payments, as well as office rent, drew attention. The audit found $3,500 in unreported in-kind contributions for rent and utility payments. 

Love said he tried to offer an explanation to the rent and utility payments but was pressed to the point where he became too frustrated to respond. 

Overall, the audit found Love "improperly reported" 211 unitemized expenditures totaling more than $12,800.

After identifying the issues, the registry said Love amended several of his 2015 and 2016 campaign finance reports. 

Love said because the audit covered such a lengthy period dating back to 2015, he has not been able to easily locate several of his receipts. 

Legislative leaders confident in how members spend campaign cash

The audit's release comes after another USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee review of lawmaker expenditures this week found they spent campaign money on a new car, French hotels and cigar bars.

But legislative leaders, including Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, and House Speaker Glen Casada, R-Franklin, say they're confident that lawmakers are using campaign money for legitimate purposes. 

On Thursday, one day after the Love audit was released, Casada said it was too early to judge the Nashville lawmaker. 

"I know him to be an honorable man," Casada said. "Let's investigate (this) before we draw conclusions."

The latest audit is just one in a series of reviews of lawmakers' campaign finances that officials will do in the next two years. 

Drew Rawlins, executive director of the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, said Wednesday others who will be audited include Reps. Timothy Hill, John Ragan, Charlie Baum, Darren Jernigan, Curtis Halford and Dwayne Thompson, and Sen. Katrina Robinson.

In 2017, lawmakers approved a measure to increase the number of audits it performs.

In the registry's audit of Durham, they found he made at least 55 illegal purchases, including on an airplane ticket for his wife, custom suits, spa products and sunglasses.

After the audit, the registry fined Durham a record $465,000 for violating the state's campaign finance law more than 300 times. Durham is currently appealing the fines. 

The registry could similarly assess civil penalties against Love. 

Calling the audit process "frustrating" at times, Love said he will offer a formal response to the registry, which did not tell him about their final report. 

"I'm open to going forward being even more efficient in my responses and even more intentional in keeping of records," he said. 

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Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.