Campbell: Fiorina Campaign in the Red

Wednesday afternoon, Tom Campbell’s campaign released an investigative report on rival candidate Carly Fiorina’s campaign finances. Campbell’s campaign dug deep into Fiorina’s quarterly FEC statement and found some items of note.

Among the discoveries made by the Campbell campaign:

1. Fiorina’s campaign spent over $715,000 more than they raised in the last quarter. Her cash burn rate is currently at 141.8%.
2. Fiorina’s campaign owes over $768,000 dollars in unpaid bills.
3. Fiorina’s campaign spent $2.4 million before running a single TV advertisement.
4. Half of all consultants (19) hired by Fiorina’s campaign have not been paid on time.

“If Carly, Inc. were a real business, it would be a credit risk,” reads the statement distributed by Tom Campbell’s press shop. “In fact, Carly, Inc. looks a whole lot like today’s Washington: spending money like there’s no tomorrow on boondoggles with no results (or measurable progress in the polls).”

Another interesting fact that was dug up by Campbell’s campaign: the now-legendary Demon Sheep and HindenBoxer ads cost Fiorina $230,000. With Fiorina still marginally behind in the polls, her campaign must be wondering, ‘was it worth it?’

Fiorina’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But it is worth noting that, when questioned about her campaign finances on Monday, Fiorina told FrumForum: “while I’m not going to get into specific tactics about our campaign, what I will tell you is this: money is meant to be spent.”

UPDATE: "Minus all debts and money for the general... we have $1,738,000 on hand - a million [dollars] more than Campbell does, and we're raising money at a fast rate. We’ve also prepaid a bunch of expenses, which the Campbell campaign may not have done," noted a source from within Fiorina's campaign.

UPDATE #2: The Fiorina campaign released the following statement this evening:

"Instead of working up news releases based on creative accounting and wishful thinking Tom Campbell should really spend some time figuring out how he's going to explain his record of support for higher taxes and bigger government to Californians.

We will have the resources to communicate effectively with voters from today through election day and came into this final stretch with more than a 1 million advantage over our opponents. Tom Campbell's innovative mathematical effort to try to make his weak fundraising shine really can't change that fact."

– Julie Soderlund, Deputy Campaign Manager for Communications, Carly for California