Deadbeat campaigns, committees and PAC’s currently owe the Delaware Department of Elections (long pause to change the batteries in my calculator)…$769,240. I count 258 individual fines that have been assessed, but never collected.
Some of the outstanding fines are gargantuan. Some appear to have close correlation to key political events, so the committees involved not only owe the money, they have some ‘splainin’ to do.
Since the largest fines have been imposed on the Sussex County Democratic Executive Committee, and since they date back to the year (2008) when an incredible array of resources were poured into the race to elect John Atkins to the General Assembly, possibly cementing a D majority in the House, and since not a nickel has been paid back, I can only ask, “Why?”. Why no action? (Late-breaking news: According to both the Commissioner of Elections and the current Sussex County chair, that $160,000-plus fine has now been labeled an ‘error’. Because, as we all know, $160,000 fines are levied in error every day. Where is Rose Mary Woods when we need her?)
Here’s how the system is supposed to work, according to sources both within the State Department of Elections and the Office of the Attorney General. After about 60 days or so, uncollected fines/violations are turned over to the Attorney General’s office for follow-up, according to Elaine Manlove, Commissioner of Elections. It is clear that little to no follow-up has occurred since, well, 2008, at least. Multiple sources have told me that they have not even received any notification from the AG’s office that they are in violation. Not that they shouldn’t already know, but still…
Here’s what Carl Kanefsky of the AG’s office says of the way it’s supposed to work:
“Under Section 8044 of the Elections Code, the State Election Commissioner is given authority to impose fines for the late filing or non-filing of campaign finance reports. Those decisions are assigned to the State Elections Commissioner. If the State Elections Commissioner imposes fines on candidates for late or non-filing of campaign finance reports, and is unable to collect those fines, the Department of Justice will seek to collect those fines via civil action upon request from the State Elections Commissioner, as the Department would do for any other state agency unable to collect fines that it had properly assessed. Because the Attorney General just took office in January, we have asked the Commissioner to let us know which fines it wishes the Department of Justice to pursue through legal action. There are some fines related to late filing of 2012 and 2013 campaign reports that are already the subject of civil action request from Elections.
Under Section 8043 of the Elections Code, the Department of Justice has the discretion to allege misdemeanor criminal charges for the late filing or non-filing of campaign finance reports. The decision whether to bring criminal charges is within the discretion of the Department of Justice. Although we are not aware of any instances where misdemeanor charges have been filed in the past for such violations, the Department will consider whether to bring such charges under appropriate circumstances for reports filed in 2015 and going forward.
Here’s what’s not clear to me. If all candidate committees, political committees and PACs in violation of the Code have had their files forwarded to the Attorney General, why is it then up to the Elections Commissioner to pick and choose which ones to go after? Hardly sounds like equal justice to me if indeed that’s the process. Manlove told me that all uncollected fines are forwarded to the AG’s office so, is that the end of it from DOE, or is subsequent contact required by the AG’s office to determine which fines DOE reallyreally want to collect? Or is the alleged ‘process’ just bureaucratese to maintain a system enforced jointly by Alfonse and Gaston?
Here’s what’s become clear to me: Somewhere between the Commissioner of Elections and the Office of Attorney General, there is a big black hole where election fines go to disappear. Meaning, there’s no enforcement of our laughably-weak statutes, at least there wasn’t during the ‘Beau Years’. Here are some of the biggest beneficiaries/scofflaws (over $10 K in fines not collected), according to the Department of Elections:
Sussex County Democratic Executive Committee, circa 2008: $162,700. Now labeled an ‘error’.
Friends for Becnel (2013): $11,700
Friends of Pam Thornburg (2012-14): $15,400
Short for State Senate (2013): $11,700
Citizens to Elect Vincent M. White (2013): $11,350
Friends of Ernest Trippi Congo (2013): $11,350. At least he’s consistent.
Opaliski Campaign (2013-14): $12,500. Law-abiding in every sense of the word.
Citizens for Fran Swift (2013-14): $11,750
Committee to Elect Karen Minner (2013-14): $12,050
Friends of Joseph O’Leary (2013): $11,500
Friends of Marion Jones (2013): $11,250
Victoria Kent Campaign Committee (2013-14): $11,600
Committee to Elect David R. Brown, Jr. (2013-14): $12,050
Friends of Tyler Brooks (2013-14): $12,050
Hovington for Senate (2013): $11,350
Denise 4 Dewey (2013-14): $12,050
Committee to Elect Rebecca Powers (2013-14): $14,000
LEADPAC (2013-14): $26,800. 5 separate violations. Charlie Copeland‘s signature is on the reports.
Delawareans for Economic Growth (2013-14): $31,000. 5 separate violations. Small PAC, headed by Chamber lobbyist Joe Fitzgerald.
Delaware Liberty: (2013-14): $12,050. A ‘Patriot’ organization.
EPIC PHARM PAC of Delaware (2013-14): $24,350
Wilmington’s Future PAC: $12,050 Would’ja believe that Tom Carper donated $25K to this PAC? He did. This PAC was active during the Wilmington mayoral campaign of 2012. Who did Carper support?
Republican State Committee of Delaware: $11,950. 4 separate violations.
34th Democratic Committee: $78,100 !!! Hmmm, yet another ‘error’?
10th RD Democratic Committee (2012-2014): $98,950!!!. 5 separate violations. The final one for the primary 2014 report. And here I thought Dennis E. Williams was an accountant.
There are scores of smaller fines. Just click on the first icon on the right at the bottom of the snippet we’ve provided at the top of this article (the icon with the down arrow), and you can open the entire file in Excel. Or, click the icon furthest to the right and the file should show up in Excel Online format. Find out how many of your favorite politicians are scofflaws. Come back and share your stories. BTW, why has this information not been made readily available to the public prior to this? And why are committees permitted to move forward as if they are not in violation even though they have not settled up?
This system is broken. The state is out somewhere between $600,000 and $760,000 of revenue that no one has taken steps to collect.
Matt Denn: You’re now on the clock.