Harper, Meijer face ethics complaints over lacking disclosures of personal finances

Washington — The nonprofit Campaign Legal Center has filed ethics complaints against eight U.S. Senate candidates in Michigan, seeking an investigation into their failure to publicly disclose "legally required" details about their personal finances.

One of the complaints filed Thursday with the Senate Ethics Committee targets the actor Hill Harper of Detroit, a Democrat who filed an incomplete disclosure form in November claiming he holds no bank account and earned no income in 2022 or during the first 10 months of 2023, despite self-funding his campaign with at least $463,000.

Harper, who stars in the ABC drama "The Good Doctor," in the report also listed no ownership of any stocks, bonds, money market funds or cryptocurrency ― though he has touted the benefits of the digital currency and founded a crypto trading platform in 2021.

The complaint filed with the Senate ethics panel said Harper "knowingly and willfully" failed to file an accurate report in violation of the Ethics in Government Act, noting public records of his employment via the website IMDB (Internet Movie Database) during the reporting period and the contributions and loans he made to his campaign.

The complaint also pointed to a statement to The Detroit News last fall by a Harper spokesman acknowledging that the report doesn't reflect certain "revenue streams," but that the candidate doesn't plan to file an amended disclosure until Feb. 28, which is beyond "any allowable 90-day extension."

"Voters have a right to know the financial interests of the people hoping to represent them in electoral office,” Kedric Payne, the Campaign Legal Center's general counsel and senior director of ethics, said in a statement.

“Failure to timely file financial disclosure reports or omitting the required details altogether not only deprives voters of this critical information, but in some cases may conceal a campaign’s true sources of funding from law enforcement and the Senate Ethics Committee itself.”

The CLC complaint said that if the committee finds that Harper knowingly and willfully omitted information about his finances from the report, the case should be referred to the U.S. attorney general for investigation. Harper launched his campaign last July, and his report would have been due within 30 days.

Harper's campaign did not respond this week to multiple requests for comment.

The annual disclosure form is required of sitting senators and Senate candidates and asks them to disclose certain assets, debts, income and positions. The reports can provide the public with information about potential conflicts of interest.

The group's second complaint to the Ethics Committee focuses on seven other U.S. Senate candidates who haven't filed any financial disclosure reports at all.

They are former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids Township; businessman Nasser Beydoun, a Dearborn Democrat; Ann Arbor attorney Zack Burns, also a Democrat; GOP businessman Michael Hoover of Laingsburg; Republican attorney Alexandria Taylor of Romulus; and Republicans Sharon Maureen Savage and Sherrell Anne O'Donnell.

The Ethics in Government Act requires Senate candidates to file their personal financial disclosures with the Senate Ethics Committee generally within 30 days of becoming a candidate, though candidates may request time extensions.

Those reports filed more than 30 days after a report's due date must pay a $200 penalty unless that fine is waived by the committee.

The complaint said that previously the committee has enforced the requirement for candidates to file timely disclosures and referred "willful" violations to the Justice Department, "even when the candidate lost the election."

The CLC said it's "more important than ever" for the committee to "transparently" enforce the rules in the wake of the expulsion of former U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-New York, in part based on his fraudulent financial disclosures filed with the U.S. House of Representatives.

Meijer's campaign said he will be filing a "complete and accurate" financial disclosure in the near future, accompanied by the $200 fee for filing late. Meijer launched his campaign in early November, so his report is over two months late.

"We are currently working to ensure the accuracy of reporting his complex holdings," Meijer senior adviser Scott Greenlee said.

In 2022, Meijer was the last member to file his financial disclosure, doing so three days before his term's end, according to the website Legistorm that tracks the reports. 

Beydoun also said his campaign is in the process of filing his disclosure report. Beydoun launched his Senate campaign last April.

"It is very extensive and taking a little time to complete," Beydoun told The Detroit News. "But hoping to submit it in the next week or so."

mburke@detroitnews.com