Former Virginia Candidate Indicted for False Campaign Finance Reports

LEESBURG, Va. – A candidate who lost a Republican primary contest for the Virginia Senate failed to report some donations and turned in campaign finance reports riddled with inaccuracies, a prosecutor said.

Mark D. Tate, indicted May 22 on 11 felony counts, lost by nearly a 2-to-1 ratio to Jill Holtzman Vogel in the June 12 primary.

For the first time, the accusations were publicly detailed Monday at a hearing in Loudoun Circuit Court.

"There are literally hundreds of misfiles in this case," said Matthew J. Britton, the commonwealth's attorney from King George County, who is serving as the special prosecutor.

In two campaigns for state Senate, Tate failed to report some donations, reported others multiple times and often reported wrong amounts or dates, Britton said.

Tate, 41, a Middleburg restaurateur, is also accused of writing bad checks, court documents show.

Tate's attorney, Edward B. MacMahon Jr., has said that none of the errors in Tate's campaign filings rose to the level of a crime.

"He's clearly made mistakes before in filing returns, and so have many, many, many other candidates before him," MacMahon said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Judge Charles H. Duff rejected a motion by prosecutors to have MacMahon dismissed from the case. Prosecutors had hoped to call MacMahon as a witness because he donated hundreds of dollars to Tate's campaigns.

Tate is next scheduled to appear in court July 10.