Joe Holleman | Post-Dispatch
Political correspondent/columnist
Where in the world did the $50,000 go?
That’s the question facing U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell’s campaign — whose federal election reports don’t agree with those filed last year by a labor union’s political action committee.
The Midwest Region Laborers Political League gave $50,000 on July 25, 2024, to Ring the Bell, according to the league’s monthly report in August to the Federal Election Commission.
Ring the Bell is a political action committee established in December 2023 to support Bell in his successful run against incumbent U.S. Rep. Cori Bush in the August 2024 Democratic Primary.
The $50,000 contribution from the Laborers PAC, however, is not listed on any of the four reports that Ring the Bell filed with the FEC after the contribution date: the October quarterly report for July-September; the pre- and post-general election reports; and the year-end report.
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The PAC’s official address is a house in Brentwood, and the treasurer is listed as Kenneth Strawbridge.
Strawbridge is a district vice president of the Gateway Region YMCA of ӣƵ. He was unavailable for comment Monday.
On its year-end report, without any notation of the $50,000 from the Laborers, Ring the Bell says it has $26,695 on hand.
During 2024, , for almost $120,000.
The two largest donations, according to FEC reports, were $50,000 from Michael Rayner of ӣƵ, who became active in local politics several years ago, and $35,000 from Reid Hoffman, a Silicon Valley billionaire.
Bell’s PAC, which is listed by the FEC as being required to make quarterly reports, has not filed a report since Jan. 30, FEC filings indicate.
As for expenditures, most were contributions made to other PACs supporting Bell’s campaign against Bush, who served two terms before losing to Bell.
Other money spent by Ring the Bell included $14,925 paid to Tim Person and Associates LLC for consulting services. Person was a top adviser to former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. and now works as the human resources manager for ӣƵ Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler.
The Laborers group is registered out of Springfield, Illinois, and is affiliated with the Laborers International Union of North America. It made a number of contributions during the 2024 campaign season to other PACs and candidate committees.
Sean Stott, government affairs director for the Laborers group, said he recalls that a contribution was made to support Bell.
He said, however, that after the union releases the check and then reports the contribution on its FEC filings, it does not continue to track it.
The $50,000 question is not the first, or only, apparent discrepancy to rise out of the Bell campaign’s accounting practices.
On March 2, the FEC asked Bell’s campaign to clarify its failure to file 48-hour notices for a number of contributions, as well as not listing employer and occupations for donors, FEC records show.
The FEC’s request for more information was in regard to Bell’s main political fund, , and not the Ring the Bell PAC.
In a response on April 7, more than a month after the FEC contacted the campaign, Bell for Missouri treasurer Andrew Madras replied in a letter and said it had just filed a number of reports to disclose previously missing contributions.
Those reports were filed as “48-hour notices,” which FEC rules require to be filed within two days of a campaign receiving donations of $1,000 or more.
The seven 48-hour notices, filed on April 7, accounted for a total of $91,500 in previously undisclosed donations received between July and October 2024.
One of those donations, $5,000, also was from the Laborers PAC.
There even is some disagreement as to when that $5,000 contribution from the Laborers was made: The union’s report lists the donation as being made on Sept. 12, while Bell’s recent 48-hour notice dates the contribution as coming on Oct. 21.
When filing the late reports on April 7, Madras wrote to FEC officials to say the Bell for Missouri committee had “terminated its relationship with the previous compliance consultant and treasurer.
“The committee takes its compliance obligations seriously and has retained the new compliance firm and treasurer on a long-term basis to handle future reporting and revised the committee’s internal procedures and internal controls, ensuring similar errors will not occur going forward.”
Madras became treasurer for Bell for Missouri in January. He replaced Kathryn Drennen of ӣƵ, who served as treasurer since Bell’s campaign began in 2023.
Then on April 16, Madras was replaced as treasurer by Cassie Tinsmon, who works for the same Washington, D.C., compliance firm as Madras.
Jordan Blase, Bell’s campaign manager, said the campaign has no role in administering the Ring the Bell PAC.
As to the problems with the Bell For Missouri reports, Blase said they were discovered in January, when the campaign switched compliance companies.
“When we switched over, we noticed the errors. So we filed the (48-hour) reports and made them right,” she said.
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