JACKSON — Second-term Mississippi Auditor Stacey Pickering is defending his campaign spending on travel, vehicles and a garage door.
Pickering told The Associated Press on Friday he believes his Republican primary opponent, Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler, is trying to mislead people about his record before the Aug. 4 primary.
“I think this is just last minute, desperate politics on the part of my opponent,” Pickering said.
In a separate interview, Butler said finance records show that since 2007, Pickering has used campaign money to pay tens of thousands of dollars in living expenses.
“Mr. Pickering is doing exactly what he is arresting other people for doing, and he has been caught red-handed,” Butler told AP. “The record is there. He has used his campaign funds to live off of for years. He has used it as a slush fund. He can say whatever he wants to say. The people of this state deserve an explanation of his actions.”
Pickering is scheduled to speak to the Columbus Rotary Club on Tuesday.
He said he has not tried to hide anything. For example, he said, his campaign bought a used BMW 325i from a former campaign worker, Tiffany Parrish of Laurel. He acknowledged Friday that the purchase is listed on a campaign finance report as a June 2011 payment of $8,900 to Parish for “fundraising,” but he said that was a clerical error he intends to correct.
The Clarion-Ledger first reported Thursday that Parrish said she had been interviewed by the FBI about Pickering’s campaign spending. She confirmed that in an email to AP on Friday, saying agents contacted her in March.
“I was asked a number of questions regarding many items on his campaign finance reports,” Parrish said in the email.
FBI spokesman Jason Pack said bureau policy is to neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation.
Pickering, who has worked with the FBI to investigate public corruption allegations by other state officials, said the federal agents have not asked him about how he has spent campaign money.
Parrish was paid more than $13,600 to work for Pickering’s 2007 campaign and has been paid $535 by Butler’s campaign this year for consulting and travel, according to the candidates’ finance records.
Asked about how Pickering listed the BMW purchase on his 2011 finance report, Parrish told AP: “I question his assessment that it was simply a clerical error. However, I’m confident the FBI’s investigation will bring out the truth.”
Pickering said has never tried to hide that he bought the sedan for campaign use. He said he paid out of his own pocket for the car’s taxes, title, license plate and insurance.
Pickering said when he bought the sedan from Parrish, it was eight years old and had already been driven about 120,000 miles. He said he let his daughter take the car to college last year, when the resale value on it was about $1,500. He said it is being used for campaign travel again this summer.
Butler has said in speeches that she believes Pickering is paying for personal expenses out of his campaign fund, including vehicles and a garage door for his home in Laurel.
Pickering said Friday that he consulted a personal attorney who told him it would be acceptable to use campaign money to pay for the garage door. Pickering said he bought the door for the safety of his family and his property. He said his truck had been broken into at the home before the door was installed, and someone had stolen his auditor’s badge, which was later recovered. He also said his daughter was worried about her safety because a newspaper published a photo of a state car parked in his garage before the door was installed.
Pickering also said he used campaign money to pay for a small recreational vehicle so he, his wife and their four children could travel together during campaign trips. His finance reports don’t specifically list payments for a vehicle. Instead, they show a series of payments to Regions Bank as “travel expense.”
The Republican nominee for auditor will face Democrat Joce Pritchett of Jackson and the Reform Party’s LaJena Walley in the Nov. 3 general election.
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