By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Saturday, the Roy Moore Campaign dismissed reporting by the Daily Beast that the former chief justice’s federal and state ethics filings do not match.
“This is another misleading attack on Judge Moore and his wife,” the Moore campaign said in a statement.
“First, the 990 Form, as reported in the Daily Beast story, is a manipulated document,” the campaign claimed.
The Moore campaign provided no further detail on this claim.
“Second, the liabilities Judge Moore disclosed on his Alabama ethics filing were not required to be disclosed on his U.S. Senate filing, which does not require Senate candidates to disclose mortgages on their personal residences,” Moore’s campaign continued.
“Third, all of the Moore Family’s income and liabilities for 2016 were fully disclosed to the State of Alabama Ethics Commission and the Internal Revenue Service by McGriff Dowdy & Associates, a professional accounting service,” the campaign added.
The Moore campaign acknowledged the possibility that they might be filing an amended filing in their conclusion: “Any perceived discrepancy in the reporting of honoraria on the form Judge Moore filed with the U.S. Senate will be corrected swiftly by the filing of an amendment, as provided in Chapter 5 (p. 127) of the Senate Ethics Manual.”
On Thursday, the Daily Beast’s Lachlan Markey reported that there were discrepancies between Roy Moore’s most recent State of Alabama ethics disclosure form and the federal ethics disclosure form that he filed two months later for his U.S. Senate campaign.
“In filings with the Alabama Ethics Commission, Moore, the former chief justice of the state supreme court, listed between $50,000 and $150,000 in honoraria received last year for various speaking engagements. But in a filing with the Senate Ethics Committee two months later, he denied having received any payments last year ‘for an article, speech, or appearance,'” the Daily Beast reported.
Mr. Markey also reported that Moore and his wife reported having no outstanding liabilities last year of more than $10,000. However, in his Alabama filing, Moore listed between $150,000 and $250,000 in liabilities owed to a credit union or savings and loan.
According to the campaign, the Senate form does not require reporting mortgages or liens on homes.
Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions (R) when he was confirmed as U.S. attorney general.
Moore defeated appointed U.S. Sen. Luther Strange (R) on Tuesday, Sept. 26.
The special general election is Dec. 12, 2017.
