Mood:
chattyTopic: Lib Loser Stories
It is funny that the Dem representative uses the excuse that they did not have appropriate financial procedures in place. These guys want to run a state? It is ironic how crazy Dems get when Enron and others cooked their books and violated the law. When Dems, at least in Washington, do it repeatedly. Democrats slapped with fine, criticism State campaign-finance regulators fined the state Democratic Party a record $185,000 this week for failing to make timely disclosures of contributions during the 2004 election cycle. The party entered into two agreements with the Public Disclosure Commission, which led to the total fine and avoidance of a possible lawsuit related to alleged violations of finance reporting laws. The Democrats also agreed to pay $2,500 for investigation costs, bringing the total sanction to $187,500, the PDC reported. "Political parties need to be leaders in state politics," Mike Connelly, the PDC's citizen chairman, said in a news release. "And the Washington state Democrats are not setting a good example." The party failed to report the source of $394,544 in contributions it received into federal accounts then transferred to its state accounts during the 2004 election cycle. Democrats also failed to disclose nearly $705,000 in debts and obligations that were outstanding in the election cycle, depriving the public and opponents from knowing the extent of its expenditures on candidate-support efforts until after the campaign. As a result of the 2004 errors, Democrats were slapped with an $85,000 fine. They also agreed to pay $100,000 -- the amount suspended as part of a 2002 agreement related to failures to report the source of contributions of about $6 million during the 2000 election cycle. "Our organization has grown very rapidly," state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said Friday, explaining the errors. "We just have not put the financial management in place to handle that growth, and errors have been made. To solve the problem, we hired a CPA to oversee our financial department." Republican state GOP Chairman Chris Vance said party financial accounting is a complicated business, with up to a dozen bank accounts that have to be managed -- including federal and state accounts, soft and hard money accounts, and so forth. "But," Vance added sternly, "the Democrats have gotten in trouble over and over again. You like to believe these are honest mistakes. But at some point you have to start wondering." The money the Democrats failed to disclose was related to transfers it made on Oct. 22, 2004, from its federally regulated accounts to state regulated accounts. The contributors' names originally were reported to the Federal Elections Commission, which requires lists of contributors but not the occupation of donors. So when the party transferred money to its state accounts it did not include disclosure of the occupations of those who gave more than $100 -- until January of this year. The Democrats have until 2010 to pay the $100,000 sanction, with $25,000 a year due starting Dec. 31, 2007. The party must pay $52,500 of the other fine by Dec. 31 this year with the balance due Dec. 31, 2006. PDC spokeswoman Lori Anderson said the fine was a record amount issued to a single entity by the commission. She added that no other investigations are pending for the state Democratic or Republican parties related to the 2004 campaign cycle. The Olympian ~ Brad Shannon ** Democrats slapped with fine, criticism
Posted by uhyw
at 12:01 AM EDT
