Financial issues in ‘controversial’ New Hampshire Senate race

The seat currently held by 62-year-old Chandley in District 11 has changed hands between parties in each of the last three elections. Chandley, a former state representative from Amherst who is in her second term in the Senate, unseated the Republican incumbent in 2018, lost to him in 2020 and then defeated him again in 2022.

“I recognize that I need to earn every vote in every election,” Chandley said.

As McGough and Chandley tout their plans to improve the lives of Granite Staters, financial statements obtained by The Boston Globe raise uncomfortable questions for each of them.

Public records show that McGough failed to pay his federal income taxes in full on time for 18 different tax years, that he was sued multiple times for allegedly failing to pay consumer debts and that his previous campaign wrote off a nearly $25,000 deficit without disclosing that he was a source of funds.

The reports also show how Chandley benefited from her husband’s lucrative work in a real estate investment business that was accused of predatory behavior.

McGough has worked in medical device sales and marketing for much of the past two decades, most recently as a consultant working on the commercialization of new tests and devices, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Public records show he had long past due tax bills ranging from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars for each of the 17 tax years from 1988 to 2012, according to four federal tax liens on file with the Hillsborough County Register of Deeds. and an underpayment on his 2016 tax bill, according to U.S. Tax Court records.

In 1998, a lien was placed against him in the amount of about $7,500 for unpaid balances from six previous tax years; the $48,700 lien was filed in 2009 for six additional tax years; a $72,300 lien was filed in 2012 for three tax years; and a $12,400 lien was filed in 2015 for two tax years.

Public records confirm one lien was satisfied and released, and McGough said the other three were also “dissolved.”

McGough fought the 2016 tax bill in court and eventually settled the case earlier this year. The stipulated ruling said McGough’s total tax liability for 2016 was approximately $20,800 higher than the amount he originally withheld to cover taxes for that year. He was also on the hook for $4,900 for failing to file and pay on time.

An Internal Revenue Service spokesman said federal employees cannot disclose information about whether an individual has met his or her tax obligations.

McGough called the outcome of his lawsuit against the IRS a victory.

“The original return was filed under a properly granted extension common to many filers and was audited,” he told the Globe in an email. “I fought and beat the IRS and never went to trial.” (McGough’s lawyer acted on his behalf, and the agreement meant there was no need for a trial.)

While that case was pending, McGough was sued by a debt collection agency in 2022 for about $3,100. The agency said he stopped making payments on the consumer loan account, although McGough claimed the debt was “assigned to another party” in a divorce decree several years ago, according to court records.

The debt collection agency voluntarily closed the case in 2023 for unspecified reasons and then sued McGough again in 2024 for about $1,000, alleging he had stopped making payments on another consumer credit account. The agency voluntarily closed the second case in September for unspecified reasons.

McGough said he has paid off those debts and that he has established himself as someone who is working to ease the cost of living burden for everyday Granite Staters.

“I think there is no doubt that I am a fighter for everyone, that I have experienced ups and downs like every person, that I am a self-made man, that I am successful,” he said.

McGough bristled at questions about his financial history and said the topic was far from the primary concern of voters who would decide the race.

“The campaign issue is, ‘How are people going to pay their $240 grocery bill?’ That’s the question I hear in houses,” he said, “not, you know, ‘What’s your credit score?’

McGough said his opponent’s finances also deserve close attention. He called Chandley an “elite one-percenter” and “one of the largest slumlords in the country” who has “profited off the backs of some of the poorest Americans in 20 states.”

McGough was referring to the fact that Chandley’s husband, Thomas J. Sylvia, was an executive at VineBrook Homes, a real estate investment company that bought thousands of single-family homes in the Midwest and turned them into rental properties.

Sylvia is treasurer of Chandley’s political committee and has contributed $15,000 to her current re-election bid, according to her campaign finance disclosure.

Complaints about VineBrook’s aggressive eviction tactics and their impact on the housing market have received widespread news coverage over the past two years. Ohio Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown has publicly expressed concern that VineBrook’s “opaque, investor-driven business model generates enormous profits by exploiting taxpayers and their families.”

Chandley said her husband no longer works at VineBrook and she has never worked in the business.

“I don’t believe it was ever a creature that could be called a ‘slumlord,'” she added.

Chandley said she was “interested” that her opponent mentioned VineBrook in the current context. She declined to comment on McGough’s tax records.

Chandley, a mother of four, said her husband had long been the main breadwinner for their family and she had not worked in recent years. She said their financial situation allows them to live a “comfortable” lifestyle at this stage, attributing their success to hard work and some luck.

Property records illustrate Chandley’s wealth: The foundation that bears her name and owns her Amherst home also owns a multimillion-dollar residence on Block Island, a popular summer tourist spot in Rhode Island.

While she doesn’t personally experience financial problems, Chandley said she grew up in a working-class area and listens closely to her constituents to solve problems on their behalf.

“My father was a fireman. My mom worked in the school cafeteria,” she said. “I worked a lot of jobs to put myself through college and worked quite a lot until I had my second child. … I haven’t always been in the position I’m in now, but that doesn’t stop me from understanding the challenges people face.”

Democratic Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka of Portsmouth, who has a history of prioritizing workforce and affordable housing efforts, said she could vouch for Chandley.

“When it comes to housing, I know Senator Chandley is always thinking about how she can best serve her residents in her district,” she said.

This semester, Chandley and Perkins Kwoka worked together on several bills related to housing affordability.

Despite recent disputes with the IRS and creditors, McGough has largely self-financed his political campaigns.

Following his successful race for state representative in 2022, McGough’s candidate committee reported that he had spent $33,100 but raised only $8,350 (including a $5,000 loan from McGough), meaning the committee still had a deficit of almost $25,000.

The committee, called Friends of Tim McGough, reported in May 2023 that it had received $24,741.21 in donations since the election – the exact amount it needed to wipe out its deficit – but it did not report any receipts during that period, so source these funds are not disclosed.

More than a year later, on August 12, Democratic state Rep. Rosemary Rung of Merrimack publicly criticized McGough for his failure to report the deficit at the end of his 2022 campaign.

Two days later, in a revised filing, McGough’s committee said it received $24,741.21 in a single contribution on Dec. 6, 2022. The contributor was listed as “Friends of Tim McGough”, which would mean the committee contributed the funds to themselves. . In other words, his campaign still hasn’t revealed where the money came from.

When asked about it, McGough told the Globe he personally contributed money to help cover his 2022 campaign deficit.

“It was my own money,” he said. “It’s always been self-financing.” He said his campaign finance disclosures were accurate.

In an interview, Rung said McGough should have been more forthcoming.

“Money is such an important element of political campaigns these days that committing tens of thousands of dollars to your campaign is questionable,” she said.

Aaron McKean, an attorney at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, said it’s perfectly fine for a candidate to spend as much of his own money as he wants on his campaign.

“But we need to know this information,” he said. “It’s not enough to just name some committee without knowing where the money came from.”

A spokesman for the New Hampshire Department of Justice said the Justice Department’s Election Law Division has not previously received complaints regarding financial disclosures from McGough’s 2022 campaign. The spokesman said the Justice Department would first review the facts and decide whether to open an investigation.

In the 2024 election cycle, McGough’s campaign finance disclosures clearly attribute several large contributions to him personally. Of the $147,400 in donations his campaign has received as of Oct. 16, more than $90,000 has come from McGough himself, according to his committee filings. This includes a $20,000 loan.

Another $5,000 contribution came from McGough’s partner, Julie Miles, who is his campaign treasurer and is running for state representative. Business records indicate the couple resides together in Merrimack.

After spending $99,600, McGough’s campaign has a positive balance of about $42,600, including $20,000 he lent to his committee, according to his latest filing.

Meanwhile, Chandley’s campaign reportedly raised $176,200 and spent $139,700, leaving her with a positive balance of about $36,500, according to her latest filing.

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Stephen Porter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @reporterporter.