A conservative watchdog group has filed an ethics complaint accusing Maryland Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat, of submitting fake financial reports in apparent violation of federal law.
The Virginia-based National Legal and Policy Center filed an ethics complaint on Monday, focusing on how Alsobrooks improperly claimed tax discounts she did not qualify for, including one designed for senior citizens, on her former property in Washington, D.C. The September disclosure resulted in Alsobrooks receiving a $47,000 tax bill, a portion of which she paid just before Election Day on November 5.
The National Legal and Policy Center is now urging the Senate Ethics Committee to conduct an investigation, according to a copy of the complaint submitted on Monday. According to the watchdog, Alsobrooks failed to disclose her tax liability on reports filed with Congress. Candidates are required to submit liabilities in excess of $10,000.
“All these omissions and irregularities are sloppy reporting at best for a former prosecutor who should know better or are substantive violations which she has yet to correct in an amended report, particularly the failure to report her liability to the D.C. tax authorities,” the watchdog organization’s attorney, Paul Kamenar, wrote in the complaint filed against her.
The watchdog’s allegation comes as voters in Maryland and throughout the country cast their ballots in the 2024 elections. Alsobrooks is vying for Maryland’s open Senate seat against former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. She makes more than $220,000 per year as the county executive of Maryland’s Prince George’s County, despite missing the Oct. 31 deadline to pay her $47,000 tax bill in full.
“You know, we paid $17,000,” Alsobrooks explained to a reporter last week. “We paid the amount of the credit that I received, and I’m working to pay off the interest.”
ELECTION 2024 NEWS: After dodging @ScottTaylorTV’s questions about missing an Oct. 31 payment deadline set by DC for unpaid property tax bills, I spoke to the Senate candidate @AlsobrooksForMD during a campaign stop in Baltimore.
She said she's “working” on it. @FOXBaltimore pic.twitter.com/ei2snpaQgS
— Gary M. Collins (@realgarycollins) November 2, 2024
Kamenar stated in the complaint that candidates who knowingly and deliberately submit misleading information on their disclosures may face civil and criminal penalties of up to $50,000 each.
The National Legal and Policy Center’s counsel, who frequently files complaints with Congress, the Federal Election Commission, and the IRS against nonprofit organizations, noted that Alsobrooks filed three cumulative disclosure reports in September and August.
“A comparison of all three reports shows a number of omissions and irregularities,” the complainant said. “For example, her original filing lists five assets in Part 3.” The final asset indicated was a Prince George’s County Defined Benefit Pension Plan worth between $15,001 and $50,000.
“However, that asset was missing from her annual report filed on August 13, 2024, as well as her amended report filed on August 29, 2024. “Whatever happened to it? According to the Financial Disclosure Instructions, if she liquidated that retirement account as she appeared to do, that is a reportable transaction,” the complaint stated.
The watchdog also said Alsobrooks neglected to disclose her link with the University of Maryland’s law school.
“Regarding the list of her outside positions in Part 8, she listed on her amended report that from Jan. 2021 to the present, she was an officer at the University of Maryland Law School Board of Visitors, which was missing from her report just two weeks earlier but which appeared in her original September 2023 report,” according to the accusation.
In June, the conservative watchdog Americans for Public Trust filed an FEC complaint alleging that Alsobrooks misappropriated state campaign funds to assist her federal campaign. The Democrat described the charges as “bogus.”
Hogan predicted this week that the Senate race will be the “biggest surprise upset” in the country come Election Day, despite the fact that Alsobrooks has significantly outperformed him in polling.