Finally had a chance to sit down and look through the amended report.

The amended report was prepared by Xavier Martinez, an Escondido accountant and Democratic donor of moderate size.

The "total contributions" crept a bit higher, from $46,800 to $46,950.

The chasm between "total expenditures" on the original report and the amended report.'

New Expenditures
As I noted previously, the Hoa campaign managed to omit a whopping 82% of expenditures from the original report.

The newly reported expenditures include:

$7,401.56 to the OC Registrar of Voters (candidate filing and statement fees, two small expenses identified as office expenses)

$5,233.50 to Costco (for the purchase of computers, printers, etc.). Chris Prevatt of the TheLiberalOC.com previously related the Coscto shopping excursion here. According to former Hoa political director Misha Houser, Edgardo Reynoso's brainstorm was to return the purchases too Coscto after the election, get the $5,000-plus refunded and never report it because it was never really, permanently spent, anyway. Genius!

$551.70 to Misha Houser (salary and expense reimbursement). According to Houser, the campaign still owes her money, but she's not fooling herself that she'll ever see it -- and I'm not fooling myself it will ever be listed on Hoa's reports  as an unpaid bill. What a candidate for the working man, huh?

$1,116.13 to Staples.
 
$500 for someone named "Mike Smith" for "professional services."

$3,000 to Imaginaction, the consulting firm Edgardo Reynoso formed with Jesus Cardenas, and Kimchi Nguyen.

Ms. Nguyen also works on the Hoa Van Tran campaign in some capacity -- whether paid or unpaid, i don't know. Maybe the $3,000 covers her, as well.

Amended Report Still Incomplete
But even the amended report is sloppy annd inaccurate.

For example, a $750 payment to BC Communications that was listed in the original report is missing from the amended report.

There were only three expenditures in the original report. How hard is it to copy them into the new one?

Also, the Hoa campaign purchased $2,936.19 worth of campaign signs from Nationwide Printing Services of Santa Ana. They were delivered prior to the March 17 reporting deadline. Hoa's  campaign paid $2,500 to Nationwide on March 18. Obviosuly, they had the signs and the invoice prior to reporting deadline, and that $2,936.19 should have been reported on Schedule E as an unpaid bill.

Reports Reflect The Character Of Hoa's Campaign
Failing to report 82% of campaign expenditures goes beyond accidental, or even the monumentally incompetent. There are only 16 expenditures to report. It isn't rocket science.

Furthermore, it shouldn't take more than a day -- two days, tops -- to have amended this report. As Chris pointed out, it took God 40 days to flood the Earth. It's hard to believe Hoa needed the same amount of time to list 13 additional expenditures.

That's assuming the amended report accounts for all the expenditures -- or contributions, for that matter. Hoa failed to report 82% of his expenditures;; we're supposed to take his (or rather, Edgardo's) word that all the contributions have been reported?

The Hoa campaign's continual dishonesty and evasiveness has reduced its credibility on the issue to zero.

About That Ramada Inn Edgardo's Staying At...
Lastly, Chris Prevatt gets into the issue of Edgardo's living arrangements. 

Since coming up from San Diego to run Hoa's campaign at the beginning of March, Edgardo has been staying at the Ramada staying as a guest at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Garden Grove, which is partly owned by the ubiquitous Phu Do Nguyen, who has emerged as sort of the Sith Lord of the Hoa campaign. Phu is Hoa's boss, campaign office landlord, maximum contributor and was the treasurer for the infamous first campaign report.

The rack rate for a room at the Ramada Garden Grove is $115. (I'm assuming Edgardo has a standard room, and not a suite). That means it would have cost Edgardo nearly $2,000 to stay there during the time period covered by the January 1 - March 17 report.

Let's assume he got the promotional rate of $69 the Ramada is offering today.  That would come to $1,137.

Mind you, Edgardo  -  or rather,, his consulting firm -- were paid $3,000 in this period. After paying for his room at the Ramada, gas for his car, food, etc., there'd be nothing left to put in the bank or pay whatever bills he has.

My point being, it is highly unlikely Edgardo is paying for the room at the Ramada -- and whoever is paying for it isn't disclosed on the campaign report. And even then, such an in-kind donation exceeds the $1,600 contribution limit.

To a certain extent, campaign disclosure laws functions on an honor system.

There's really no way to find out if a campaign is paying workers in cash, or if a donor is illegally subsidizing the campaign manager's housing.  

To that extent campaign disclosure is an honor system, it relies upon candidates and their staff to be honorable. Unfortunately, in the case of the Hoa Van tran campaign, the honorable people seem to have left.