After Enid and Joe Waldholtz lost two top 1994 campaign aides who warned that Joe was mishandling finances, Enid told their replacement specifically that Joe would still handle all the money and not to ask too many questions about it.
David Harmer, who became the new campaign manager, said, "At Enid's direction, financial matters were exclusively under Joe's control . . . . Not only did I not have any signing authority on any of the campaign checks or accounts - Joe did that - I had access to no information whatsoever on any of the accounts."Current and former aides say from then on, the Wald-holtzes isolated themselves from outside advice and involvement on finances - and Joe began to increasingly control access to his wife, which they say allowed him to solely handle financial and other matters and to intercept any resulting complaints.
With that situation, Harmer says he is unable to say whether Enid knew what Joe was doing with their finances - because they both insisted on keeping him in the dark about them.
Harmer was hired after campaign aides Steve Taggart and Kaylin Loveland left after warning Enid in June 1994 that Joe appeared to violating federal law with the way he was handling her campaign finances. They also persuaded state GOP leaders to urge her to replace Joe as the campaign treasurer, which she refused.
Problems that later came to public light include that campaign accounts were apparently empty at times Joe reported they had hundreds of thousands in cash; some people listed as donors never gave money; money used may have come illegally through loans from Enid's father or from money Joe embezzled; and Enid has claimed Joe embezzled money for personal use from campaign accounts.
When Harmer arrived in August 1994, he was told by Enid that Joe would remain in charge of all campaign finances - even to the unusual point that Harmer would have no clear idea about exactly how much money the campaign had as it successfully struggled to rise from third place to win in just four months.
Harmer said in an interview that after Taggart and Loveland had seen Joe's financial juggling and raised questions about it, "Obviously Joe wasn't going to repeat the mistake. When he was doing anything financial, the door to his and Enid's office was closed."
He added, "I learned pretty early on, my efforts to institute a more conventional cash management or cash flow system were beyond unwelcomed."That included his recommendation too that Enid hire an outside professional to be the campaign treasurer because "it didn't seem prudent to me to have the candidate's spouse act as treasurer."
He said he found himself in an unusual position of not knowing how much money he had for campaign operations, or exactly from where it came.
"Usually the campaign manager operates like a chief executive officer - you oversee the fund raising, the disbursements" as well as campaign operations. But he said, "In terms of money, I was never in a position where I could say anything at all."
He said Enid and Joe started putting big sums of money into the campaign shortly after he arrived. Harmer remembers the first check at around $500,000. Ultimately, they would put in $1.8 million.
He said, "I assumed when the heavy personal money started coming in that that was the reason they had kept me in the dark. They wanted to make sure there were no leaks. Their ability to spend personal money was a strategic advantage that they wanted to capitalize on with the element of surprise."
Harmer added, "I just didn't understand their big deal with secrecy. Many candidates spend their own money on their campaigns. They were very secretive about their personal and their campaign finances."
Ironically, Harmer said because of his ignorance of campaign finances - an ignorance Joe and Enid demanded of him - "I can't help Enid today" by swearing she knew nothing of what Joe was doing with the campaign accounts.
Harmer went to Washington, D.C., after the victory to become Enid's chief of staff - but left that post after only four months and doesn't want to talk about his time there.
But other current and former staffers said Harmer and others were told that Joe would not be working in Enid's congressional office beyond a short start-up, transitional period - and that he would not be involved in her House office operations.
However, Joe did remain and become a permanent but unpaid staff member with a desk near her door until he disappeared for six days earlier this month before surrendering to the FBI amid questions over his financial dealings.
"There's no question that he controlled access to Enid, which was a great frustration to many staff members," said one source. Several said he insisted that most calls to her be routed through him, which they say allowed him to intercept complaints about their finances possibly without the knowledge of his wife.
Some said that when Harmer left, Joe essentially became Enid's chief of staff. Others dispute that, saying Enid, legislative director Linda Toy and press secretary (and later formal chief of staff) Kate Watson formed a management team overseeing office operations and policy.
But aides say Joe did largely control access to Enid - as well as taking care of her personal needs, including ensuring she didn't become too tired during her pregnancy.
One person who worked closely with the pair said: "Enid tends by nature to be suspicious. The two of them always had a siege mentality. The media was out to get them, the powers that be in the (Utah Republican) Party were out to get them. Everyone was out to get them. Obviously, on camera and in newspaper interviews they were all sweetness and light. But in a closed room, by nature, they were mistrustful and suspicious."
Of note, Enid said in a speech at a GOP women's summit last month in Washington that she and Joe were an ideal team because she liked to focus on policy - which Joe liked to avoid. But he liked to focus on strategy and details of running an office and campaign - which she preferred to leave to him.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Enid agrees to unseal part of divorce records
After complaints and lawsuits by the press, Rep. Enid Greene Waldholtz, R-Utah, said Thursday she has decided to unseal part of her divorce proceedings. In letters to the Deseret News, Salt Lake Tribune and KTVX, Walholtz said she accepts their position that financial information in her divorce proceedings - which may relate to possible illegal campaign and personal transactions - should be made public. However, Waldholtz said she will continue to try to keep sealed proceedings relating to the custody of her daughter, Elizabeth. Jeff Hunt, an attorney for the Deseret News, said the newspaper is reviewing the congresswoman's offer and will decide later whether to accept it or pursue the opening of the whole divorce proceedings.