Sen. Steve Goss racked up nearly $19,000 worth of mileage on his car over three years, but his campaign paid him for it over the course of four months.
That's not how campaign finance is supposed to work, according to State Board of Elections officials.
Goss, a Democrat from Boone, received three payments for mileage between October of last year and January of this year that totaled $18,800, according to campaign finance records. At the current federal reimbursement rate of 55 cents a mile, that's about 35,000 miles.
Goss told Dome that during his first campaign, in 2006, he didn't want to deplete his campaign account by paying mileage.
"That goes all the way back to 2006, when I started this," Goss said. "I never had enough money to pay myself travel."
Instead, he said, he kept a log of the mileage, including driving around his district on official business after he was elected. By late last year, when he ran for re-election, that mileage had added up.
In October 2008, Goss paid himself $4,000 in campaign money for mileage, and in November another $5,800. He paid himself another $9,000 in January of this year.
But state elections officials said mileage should be paid during the reporting period in which it is accrued. Candidates file quarterly reports during election years and semi-annually in non-election years. Goss could have recorded the mileage in each report as a loan to his campaign and then paid himself after building up enough in the campaign account, said Gary Bartlett, the elections board's executive director.
Bartlett said Goss will have to amend his reports to correct the information.
Doughnuts for donations
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr has been busy raising money of late.
Burr held his annual Krispy Kreme breakfast this past week in Washington, D.C., and he was honored at a fundraising dinner by the financial services industry.
Burr, a Republican, hails from Winston-Salem, home of the gooey sweet concoctions known for their Hot Now! signs.
The fundraiser was held at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, about a block away from Burr's Senate office.
Political action committees who served as hosts paid $1,000 to attend, while other PACs received entrance for $500.
Individuals, according to the invitation posted on Sunlight Foundation's Party Time blog, could pay what they could afford.
The doughnut breakfast followed a dinner the night before hosted by the financial services industry in Burr's honor.
That fundraiser, at a Washington seafood restaurant, cost up to $2,500 for PACs and $1,000 for individuals.
Burr campaign consultant Paul Shumaker said the senator's campaign raised $25,000 to $30,000 at the Krispy Kreme breakfast, with 40 to 45 guests attending. Twenty to 25 guests attended the dinner Wednesday night, he said, which raised $20,000 for Burr's re-election effort.
Coble scores with NFL
U.S. Rep. Howard Coble is among the top recipients of campaign money this year from the National Football League, according to a report from the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks spending in Washington.
Coble, a Greensboro Republican, was one of seven House members to receive $5,000 this year from the organization's PAC.
That amount eclipses even the donation to U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat who used to play quarterback for the Washington Redskins. Shuler received $1,000 this year, according to the study.
Coble spokesman Ed McDonald said the NFL held a breakfast for Coble early this year.
McDonald said it makes sense the NFL would support Coble. He is the top Republican on the Judiciary subcommittee that handles matters of antitrust.
By staff writers Mark Johnson and Barbara Barrett
