Belknap County Republican Committee denies violating campaign finance laws

LACONIA — The Belknap County Democratic Committee is accusing the county’s Republican Committee of withholding information about the source of funds. Belknap County Republican Committee Chair Paul Lange said any allegation against them is being handled, and no deception was ever intended.

Allegations

Johnna Davis, chair of the Belknap County Democratic Committee, wrote in an email, on Oct. 21, that she leads a group of “ordinary citizens” who volunteer time to ensure there are choices in “free and fair elections.”

While researching campaign financing, they found something was off with the BCRC filings, and allege around $40,000 in funds was documented only as raised from the fundraising cruise aboard the M/S Mount Washington.

This didn’t sit well with the BCDC members, who paid for an advertisement on The Laconia Daily Sun website, to direct readers to their website and claims. The site went live at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 21.

“Over the past several years we’ve noticed the Belknap County Republican Committee has done some serious fundraising and has been spending some serious money but have seen no real accountability,” Davis said. “With the influx of dark money being spent in current elections, we believe the public deserves to know who is funding these campaigns so we can all make informed decisions when we vote.”

In an email to The Daily Sun, BCDC members accuse the BCRC of not recording more than $40,000 in contributions by name of an individual person or business. “Even the Secretary of State does not know who these donors are or how much they donated,” the email reads.

The BCDC email refers to state RSA 664, which requires political candidates and committees to report specific information about donors. This includes names, addresses, and often employment information.

Committee members did note there are limited exceptions, like collecting donations of less than $50 at “campaign booths at fairs, festivals, or other events, donations to raffles, passing the hat, and other fundraising activities."

Tickets for the cruise reportedly cost $100 per person, or $175 per couple, and the committee was suspicious. The website post last week highlighted their concerns.

“Did the BCRC have 646 people on its M/S Mount Washington cruise in 2026?” the BCDC website states. “Did they offer all of them heavily discounted $50 tickets to attend the event?”

A press release about the matter states county Republicans didn’t file reports on Aug. 19, or Oct. 14, but filings from June 17, Sept. 2 and 16 show multiple contributions marked “Fundraising income from cruise” that came from the BCRC itself.

Democrats provided statements and receipts of expenditures, showing on March 31, there was a donation reported of $4,343.50; on April 30, there was a donation reported of $9,308.03; on May 31, a donation of $7,838.40 was reported; and on June 14, a $10,681 contribution was reported. The other contributions reported in 2026 were $400 from Douglas Robinson and $100 from Cameron Thompson.

The Democratic committee also noted a contribution of $8,251.91 was reported on Dec. 1, 2025, with the description “Bank Balance at the start of the reporting period.”

The website, with a header of “Transparency and Accountability,” calls it a “mystery starting balance.” The committee provided records that show no contribution reports were filed with the state from 2021 to 2025. The website also states there were no filings from the 2022 and 2024 election cycles, as well as none for 1.5 of the two-year 2026 election cycle.

“Where did this money come from if the committee had raised and spent no money in the preceding 5 years (2021-2025)?” the website states.

Davis said the committee is not made up of lawyers, but they “simply want to share what we have learned.”

“We will leave it to the voters and the experts in the offices of the secretary of state and attorney general to draw their own conclusions,” Davis said. “Campaign finance laws are complex, and change from time to time, so errors and omissions do occur despite good-faith best efforts. We always strive to uphold the highest standard of transparency and compliance with both the letter and the spirit of the law.”

Davis wrote, on Oct. 24, her concern was holding one another to the same standards, and for years, the BCRC had not.

“We have reported them in the past, and nothing seems to get done,” Davis wrote. 

Davis said voters deserve to know whether candidates are getting a boost from "dark money," especially if it is coming from out of state.

Davis acknowledged it is “quite possible” the funds were raised as filed, but she questioned it. She also said the BCRC hosts a picnic, which includes gun raffles, and she assumes they “make a pretty penny,” but no information about it has been filed.

“They spend hundreds of dollars on ads in the LDS and social media,” Davis wrote. “Is it all legitimate? It might very well be, but their committee has been boasting about transparency and accountability for the past couple years yet have been anything but transparent. They should probably practice what they preach.”

Response

Lange said once he was aware of the situation, the BCRC made sure to address it. He said this wasn’t an attempt to deceive anyone, adding they don’t care if people know who their donors are.

“We have nothing to hide,” Lange said Oct. 22. “If there’s a mistake, we’ll fix it. If there wasn’t, we’ll leave it, and just move on, moving on talking about the issues that matter.”

Anna Sventek, spokesperson for the New Hampshre Secretary of State’s Office, said Oct. 21 her office didn't know about the situation.

“We are not aware of any campaign finance violations by the Belknap County Republican Committee,” Sventek wrote in an email. “However, such allegations may have been reported directly to the Attorney General's agency."

The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to requests for information about the subject. Lange said the Attorney General’s Office had not reached out to his committee.

Lange said, on Oct. 22, BCRC Treasurer Travis O’Hara had reached out to the NH Secretary of State’s Office. Lange said if there was an error in the filing, it will be corrected, and “it’s not a big deal.”

“Candidates do it all the time, as far as changes go,” Lange said.

Lange was annoyed, saying Democrats aren’t talking about policy, but rather are pointing out a “missing or inaccurate report.”

He said the committee takes the allegations seriously, and “want to get to the bottom of it with the Secretary of State.”

“We will just file the addendums and make it right.”

Lange also said when examining the BCDC campaign fund filings, they aren’t perfect either.

“I never looked at their financial filings, because I don’t care, but I did after I saw the ad, and they have quite a few missing, as well,” he said.

He thinks this was a political stunt, given the timing of the accusation. Lange finds it funny the BCDC would “waste an ad” when there are real issues going on in New Hampshire.

He called it a case of “deflecting before an election.”

“I think it is a distraction, because they can’t focus on the issues that people care about in Belknap County,” Lange said.

“Their house isn’t clean either. I’m not saying ours is dirty, but we’ll work through our problems.”

The General Election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Rep. Mike Bordes (R-Laconia), who also serves as mayor of Laconia, addressed an accusation regarding donations to his mayoral campaign last year.

The BCDC website states Bordes received $2,500 from Liberty & Prosperity for NH PAC less than two weeks before the 2025 mayoral election. A social media post by the committee questions why he failed to report this. Bordes said, “there is no legal requirement to report municipal election donations.”

“The claim that I failed to report campaign contributions is simply false outrage,” Bordes said. “Under New Hampshire law, municipal mayoral races are not subject to campaign finance reporting. There was no reporting obligation to ignore, no filing to withhold, and no violation of any law. Voters deserve honest debate about issues affecting our city, not political attacks based on requirements that do not exist.”