Countywide : Gallegly Discloses He Wrote 5 Bad Checks

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) disclosed Friday that he actually had written five bad checks, not two, as he initially thought.

Gallegly said the House bank told him in October that he had overdrawn his account twice and he was recently told that he had three other overdrafts. The five bad checks were written over a five-year period, he said.

“I take full responsibility for it, even though I had no knowledge of it,” Gallegly said. He said the House bank never notified him of any problems with his account.

Gallegly learned of the first two bad checks in October when he asked the bank for a letter stating that his record was clean. The other three came to light after a complete audit, Gallegly said.

The five checks exceeded the amount of money is his account by a total of about $847, Gallegly said.

The problems stemmed from the fact that he was told his paycheck would be automatically deposited in his account by the end of each month, but the House delayed paycheck deposits for five days, Gallegly said. During that lapsed time, some of the checks he wrote would be cashed and he did not have the funds he assumed he did, Gallegly said.

The House bank would wait a few days and redeposit checks he wrote and by that time, the money would be in his account, he said.

“They were not bounced checks,” he said. “It was an honest mistake.”

Gallegly is running for reelection in the 23rd Congressional District that covers Carpinteria and all of Ventura County except Thousand Oaks. His Republican primary opponents, Daphne Becker and Robert Shakman, could not be reached for comment.

Kevin Sweeney, a Ventura Democrat who hopes to challenge Gallegly for his seat, issued a statement as soon as he heard the news. “Bounced checks are just the tip of the iceberg, but they reflect the detached reality that many members of Congress now are used to,” Sweeney said in the statement.

Kevin Looper, Sweeney’s press secretary, said Gallegly’s disclosure was “a calculated attempt to defray the issue of his ability to hold the voters’ trust. Would he have said anything except for the fact that the House Committee is expected to release a full report?”

Anita Perez Ferguson, another Democratic candidate, could not be reached for comment.