Candidates for treasurer in Pennsylvania argue over campaign finance and investments

The Democratic challenger running for state treasurer is demanding more transparency from her Republican opponent amid accusations of spreading conspiracy theories and failing to properly fill out a campaign finance report.

The race to become steward of the Commonwealth's money is heating up as the Nov. 5 general election approaches. The two major party candidates — incumbent Republican Stacy Garrity and Democrat Erin McClelland — engaged in a political duel this week.

McClelland said she wanted to participate in a public debate with Garrity to address issues affecting the Treasury Department. But she said Garrity declined the two televised debate requests, making it seem like “the only person in the race for treasurer who she thinks should be held accountable is me.”

Garrity's campaign spokesman Dennis Roddy responded: “If Erin McClelland can get her own house in order, we can talk about a public conversation.” At this point she is not a serious candidate. At best it is a serious nuisance.”

He was referring to a discrepancy that emerged in McClelland's most recent campaign finance filing, prompting Garrity's campaign to demand an audit.

McClelland's campaign finance application was found to contain two $10,000 donations from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 5 political action committee, both dated July 9.

McClelland said one of those checks was received shortly after the April primary, but was not deposited into her campaign account until July, when a second donation of $10,000 was received from the same PAC.

She reported the first $10,000 contribution in her post-primary application filed in May, but on the advice of her financial advisors, decided to include it in her final application to indicate the date she deposited the money into her account had paid in. It subsequently amended its earlier filing to reflect this change.

“I think it's a reflection of my ability to be so diligent with records that we were willing to say everything else was reported on a predominantly cash basis and that one check was received on an accrual basis and we corrected that,” McClelland said.

“There was never any misinformation. The donation was reported. We simply moved it to the cycle in which it was deposited instead of the cycle in which it was received.”

The The State Department advises candidates to report donations as they come in, department spokesman Matt Heckel said.

McClelland's explanation does not agree with Roddy's, but furthermore he said it meant that McClelland had an uncashed check for $10,000 for two months.

“If she leaves $10,000 checks lying around uncashed, people should be worried that the Treasury is watching her,” he said.

This isn't the first time McClelland has found herself in disputes over her campaign finance filings.

Democratic Party supporters accused McClelland of displaying a pattern of campaign violations in her previous runs for other public office. However, investigations by the Attorney General's Office and the State Department into these claims resulted in no charges being filed.

McClelland accuses Garrity's campaign of “levying allegations of campaign finance impropriety to distract from their alarming foreign investments in taxpayer dollars.”

In a campaign video on social media, McClelland criticized her opponent for investing Commonwealth funds, particularly pension money for school employees, on the Saudi Arabian stock exchange.

“This is not what we should be doing with our state money,” she said in the ad.

Officials from the Public School Employees' Retirement System, the State Employees' Retirement System and the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System said their plans do not include a direct investment in the Saudi stock market, but rather limited indirect exposure to Saudi Arabia through mixed capital investments.

McClelland isn't convinced. It shared a depository agreement with the Bank of New York Mellon to invest pension funds on the Saudi stock exchange, which was signed by Garrity, among others. She said she wanted to learn more about that contract, why it exists and whether pension funds were invested in Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state oil company that supports its crown prince, who was involved in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Garrity's campaign manager, Jim Tkacik, said: “Erin McClelland's Saudi conspiracy theory is further evidence that she has no idea how the state's pension boards work, nor how the treasury works.”…The Saudi Prince theory is conclusive proof . Stacy Garrity gets her insights from seasoned financial experts on both sides of the political spectrum. Erin McClelland appears to get her knowledge from online conspiracy sites.”

McClelland said she has other topics she would like to examine in a debate and looks forward to her Republican opponent agreeing to one.

Other candidates vying for treasurer include Constitution Party candidate Troy Bowman, Libertarian Nickolas Mark Ciesielski and Forward Party candidate Christopher Foster.

Jan Murphy can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @JanMurphy.