Here ya go flaEsq:

Detert finds replacing cash not that easy

The $94,000 from her campaign could be tied up for six months.
By JEREMY WALLACE

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Congressional candidate Nancy Detert is having a difficult time replacing money that was stolen from her campaign bank account and then returned.

Detert, a Venice Republican, wants to put the $94,000 back into the bank and keep campaigning, but she's already been warned that she should clear it with the board of the Federal Election Commission.

Now, Detert is worried that the money will be tied up for six months while her attorneys and FEC attorneys haggle over campaign finance regulations.

Meanwhile, opponents for the 13th District seat -- who were already outpacing her in fund-raising -- will gain even more ground, she fears.

"This is almost getting impossible," Detert said. "I can lose my election because I got robbed?"

FEC officials say they just aren't sure how to handle the money being paid back to Detert because they've never seen a case like this.

Randy Maddox, who was Detert's campaign treasurer, took $97,000 from the congressional campaign early this month and flew to South America.

He was in Argentina for nine days before his parents talked him into returning to the United States, according to Detert.

When he returned, Maddox, 42, said he lost $27,000 while in Buenos Aires, so he couldn't restore the full amount he had taken.

His parents agreed to pay the rest of it back, according to Detert and an attorney representing Maddox.

But FEC officials say returning the $27,000 to the candidate could violate campaign donation limits that prevent individuals from giving more than $4,200 to a candidate per election cycle.

FEC spokesman George Smaragdis said that since the parents are paying the money back, it's a complicated legal question.

Also, Maddox hasn't been convicted of stealing, or even charged.

Detert now has to find an attorney to draw up a formal request for an advisory opinion from the FEC and try to find a way to get her money restored.

Detert, who is a state representative, is in Tallahassee until early May. She said she doesn't really have the time for all this back and forth.

She said she pleaded with the FEC, but that FEC officials told her that her best option is to loan her campaign $94,000 while she waits for a ruling on the fund-raising question.

Detert said she doesn't have that kind of money.

Her competitors in the campaign include Republicans Vern Buchanan, Tramm Hudson and Donna Clarke.

The 13th Congressional District seat is being vacated by Rep. Katherine Harris, who is running for U.S. Senate. The district includes all of Sarasota, DeSoto and Hardee counties, plus most of Manatee and part of Charlotte.