It’s Australia’s Fault, Mcdermott Man Says Treasurer Says Finance Report Was Lost By Foreign Mail Service

Republicans say it’s a variation on an old theme - the equivalent of “The kangaroo ate my homework.”

But Rep. Jim McDermott’s campaign treasurer, back from a vacation Down Under, says it’s all a misunderstanding.

McDermott’s campaign spending report was late because of a mix-up with the Australian postal service, aid Jerald Farley, campaign treasurer for the Washington Democrat.

GOP claims to the contrary are “absurd and stupid,” Farley said Monday.

At any rate, McDermott’s campaign has filed a replacement report on fund-raising for the first six months of this year after the original apparently got lost somewhere between here and Australia.

The National Republican Congressional Committee filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission last week, noting that McDermott’s midyear report, due July 31, was more than two months late.

“Rep. McDermott conceals campaign funding. Promise of reports made in letter from Australian Casino,” the headline on a NRCC news release said.

The headline refers to a July 31 letter that Farley mailed from the Sheraton Breakwater Casino-Hotel in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, to notify the FEC that McDermott’s report was in the mail.

Farley says he mailed the report to the FEC and another box of his materials to his own address in Seattle.

Neither has showed up, he said Monday.

Farley said he paid the hotel $192 to send the packages air express, but they apparently were sent “through the Australian Post Office, regular, like through the U.S. Post Office.”