Campaign finance reports detail Guckian’s cash flow woes; ad war between Block and Foulkes escalates

Nearly one month after Republican Aaron Guckian boarded a private plane to Florida in search of donors for his dwindling campaign account, he still hasn’t submitted the requisite paperwork showing his travel expenses.

Meanwhile, the GOP nominee has less than $3,000 cash on hand — a tiny fraction of what Democratic nominee and frontrunner Helena Buonanno Foulkes has available — in the final week before the Nov. 3 general election, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Rhode Island Board of Elections. 

Candidates for state and local office were required to submit reports detailing campaign donations and expenditures for the 21-day period that ended Oct. 26 by midnight Tuesday — the last snapshot of campaign finances before the election.

Guckian submitted his report early Wednesday — nine hours after the midnight deadline. And the value of this ride on a private plane owned by Henry Mellon, cousin of billionaire and GOP donor Timothy Mellon, is not in his latest submission.

Mike Fahey, a spokesperson for Guckian’s campaign, said in an interview Wednesday that Guckian is working with the state elections board to submit the documentation for the private plane he took from Delaware to Florida on Sept. 30. He flew commercial on the way home, with a rental car snafu delaying his arrival in Rhode Island and forcing him to miss two gubernatorial forums. 

The cost for the private plane should have been reported as an in-kind donation in an earlier campaign finance report due Oct. 6. 

Guckian’s GOP primary opponent, Elaine Pelino, filed a complaint with the elections board over Guckian’s failure to report the cost of the plane ride and other travel expenses associated with his three-day trip to West Palm Beach for a private fundraiser.

In an Oct. 20 Facebook post announcing her complaint, Pelino alleged Guckian’s omission was intentional. 

“What concerns me most is that Guckian continues raising money from Republicans, including seniors on fixed incomes, without disclosing whether their contributions could ultimately be used to pay off expenses associated with his private jet travel,” she wrote.

Pelino is endorsing Block in the governor’s race.

Guckian defended his delayed accounting during an Oct. 20 debate — hours after Pelino announced the complaint — explaining that reporting of in-kind travel-related donations requires calculating total miles traveled divided by the number of people on the plane.

“It was an administrative thing,” Guckian said during the debate. “People don’t really want to talk about administrative things.”

The complaint against Guckian remains confidential, pending an audit or investigation that ends with evidence of a campaign finance violation, said Chris Hunter, a spokesperson for the board of elections. The elections board is scheduled to meet on Election Day morning, but it’s unclear whether the meeting will include any details about Pelino’s complaint or a resulting investigation. There is no meeting agenda posted as of Wednesday.

What is clear: Guckian’s cash flow woes have deepened since his last-minute trip to Florida to rub elbows with deep-pocketed GOP donors. Guckian reported one, $2,000 donation from a Clearwater, Florida, resident in his latest campaign filing, but it was unrelated to his trip to West Palm Beach earlier this month, Fahey confirmed.

In total, Guckian raised $5,400 from individual donors in the 21-day period that ended Oct. 26, boosting his campaign with a $7,000 personal loan. He spent nearly $17,000, mostly on consulting services and Facebook ads. 

Foulkes leads in donations

In contrast, Foulkes raked in more than $452,000 in donations during the same time frame, including nearly $30,000 from political action committees, with another $237,000 from in-kind contributions. She spent more than $541,000 to end the reporting period with just over $120,000 cash on hand.

Independent Ken Block, who trails Foulkes by 11 points in the latest public poll, reported $14,700 in individual donations, supplemented by a $20,000 personal loan. He spent a little over $234,000, leaving a $64,000 balance in his account.

The two have taken their fight to the airwaves with a series of increasingly contentious attack ads, the latest of which hit local broadcast stations on Tuesday.

Foulkes links Block, a former Republican, to President Donald Trump, describing the two men’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act as “horrible.” Block calls Foulkes a “puppet” based on her support from powerful labor unions and party officials.

Foulkes has spent more than $1.2 million on TV ads since the primary, with another $198,000 in broadcast ads on her behalf via the Alliance for a Better Rhode Island, a political group backed by the Democratic Governors Association, according to filings with federal regulators.

Block has spent over $127,000 on TV ads during the general election cycle, federal filings show.

Guckian, meanwhile, has not appeared on public broadcast networks at all, though he aired commercials on the New England Sports Network during the Boston Red Sox home opener in early April along with $3,600 worth of radio spots in the final week of the September primary. 

Foulkes has a $1.8 million outstanding loan from her 2022 primary run against Gov. Dan McKee. Block has a $1.2 million loan balance dating back to his first gubernatorial campaign in 2010.

Early voting continues through Monday, Nov. 2. The race also includes independents Jay Gotra and C.D. Reynolds, neither of whom filed the pre-election campaign finance report as of Wednesday afternoon.

Reporter Christopher Shea contributed to this story.