Chenoweth-Linked Firm Liquidates Consulting Associates At Heart Of Campaign Questions In ‘94

Republican Rep. Helen Chenoweth has finally severed all financial ties with the consulting firm her 1994 campaign had a number of questionable financial transactions with, according to a disclosure statement filed on Monday.

The annual report, filed with the Idaho secretary of state’s office, showed that the liquidation of Consulting Associates Inc. was completed in 1996.

The disclosure covers financial activity for 1996.

Chenoweth treasurer Rich Jackson said Chenoweth received just over $200 in early 1996 for her share in the remaining assets of the company that she ran for years with longtime business partner and political associate Vernon Ravenscroft.

Transactions with Consulting Associates were at the heart of inexplicable transactions with the campaign, Chenoweth and between the campaign and Chenoweth during her initial bid for Congress. Among those were reported campaign payments to Consulting Associates seven weeks after it stopped operating and what appeared to be triple the normal rent payments to sublet part of the business’s offices for campaign purposes.

While the campaign has said a number of the discrepancies were simply accounting or recording errors, it has never explained the reports that show the campaign paid three times as much as the business was paying to sublet part of the office.

The disclosure statement also finally reports the $50,000 loan Chenoweth received from a Consulting Associates client just weeks after winning the 1994 election.

She had disclosed the existence of the loan two months before last fall’s election amid questions about the financing of a condominium she bought after being elected to Congress.

GOP Congressman Michael Crapo’s financial disclosure statement, also filed on Monday, indicated he felt the vagaries of the financial markets. Amounts are recorded only in broad ranges, not specifically.

While most of the investments made by the Idaho Falls lawyer in his third House term remained steady in value and income production last year, income was down from five of the 21 and up from just two.

The value of one of his large retirement accounts jumped to the next range while a smaller investment slipped a category. The net result was that Crapo’s assets ranged between $464,000 and $1.2 million in 1996 compared to $428,000 and $1.1 million the year before.