Herschel Walker, the Georgia Republican nominee for the US Senate backed by former President Donald Trump, is facing intense scrutiny for failing to report more than $3 million in income over a five-month period in as part of its federal financial disclosure.
According to Business Insider: “Walker’s original candidacy report, filed in December 2021, indicated that he and his wife cumulatively earned $927,886 from the end of 2020 through the end of 2021 through various companies, including a salary of $100,000. $ from ‘Renaissance Man Food Services, LLC’. “
Five months after filing the candidate’s initial report, Walker reportedly amended it to include that he raised an additional $3.2 million through a company called “H. Walker Enterprises.” Business Insider’s review of the altered documents says he “changed his overall income in the disclosure to $4.1 million, more than four times more than the candidate’s original report.”
According to the H. Walker Enterprises website, the company has stated that its mission is “to establish a business structure capable of serving foodservice, businesses and retailers with a variety of products nationwide.” However, it remains unclear what Walker’s role at the company is, as his campaign report describes “partnership distributions”.
Speaking to Business Insider, Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, who is the government affairs manager for the government surveillance project, weighed in on Walker changing his reports. According to Hedtler-Gaudette, Walker’s decision to do so at such a late stage in the campaign “undermines ‘the basic pact between someone running for office and the people they are trying to recruit to support them’.”
“It’s possible that a voter who finds it bearable has already contributed money based on the information they had at the time,” Hedtler-Gaudette said. “But as we see now, that information was incomplete.”
Under laws set forth in the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics, all candidates are required to submit candidacy reports that disclose “their fee payments, income, assets, liabilities, compensation, and… ‘other personal financial details within 30 days of their application’. by Insider.
Applicants who fail to do so may face a number of different penalties, including, but not limited to, a fine or an investigation initiated by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
