True Source Of Chenoweth Campaign Loan Disclosed Political Treasurer Admits It Came From West One Bank

The political treasurer for Republican Congressman Helen Chenoweth acknowledged on Tuesday that a $40,000 loan federal financial reports said Chenoweth personally made to the campaign actually came from West One Bank.

Wayne Crow said that an amended campaign finance disclosure statement would be filed to reflect the true source of the loan, as required by the Federal Election Commission.

The bank debt also pushes the cash Chenoweth owes third parties from the 1994 campaign to nearly $100,000.

Under federal election laws, personal loans to a campaign are essentially unregulated since there are no limits on how much personal money a candidate can spend in a campaign. But bank loans are strictly regulated and must be made under the same circumstances that govern all other bank lending. If certain conditions are not met, they become illegal contributions from the bank.

A Chenoweth staffer said last week that Chenoweth took out the bank loan, then loaned the money to the campaign.

West One Bank spokesman Stewart Johnson said the bank was legally prohibited from discussing individual accounts.

The commission has sent the campaign several requests for additional information on its financial transactions since Chenoweth’s decisive victory over two-term Democratic Congressman Larry LaRocco last November. But a commission spokesman said the most recent, in March and April, had to do with the terms of a $60,000 loan Chenoweth did personally make to the campaign in April 1994.

That cash came from the sale of property she owned near Orofino and was loaned at no interest to be repaid a week after the general election. When the disclosure report covering the end of 1994 showed only $4,500 had been paid back, the commission asked why the due date had been missed. The campaign reacted by extending the due date to Nov. 15, 1995.

No questions were raised about the $40,000 loan since it was also designated on the past three financial disclosure reports as a personal loan from Chenoweth and was not due to be repaid until Nov. 23, 1995, at 10.25 percent interest.

But two interest payments were made, March 8 and May 31.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Associated Press Staff writer Betsy Russell contributed to this report.