Either the state Democratic Party was doing precious little to help John Kerry win Florida, or it was violating federal election laws.
Such was the impression left by the party's federal campaign finance reports for most of this year, which prompted the Federal Election Commission twice to question whether the Democrats were failing to comply with campaign finance requirements.
Despite those FEC inquiries, Florida Democratic chairman Scott Maddox said Friday the party just realized its "clerical error" and is about to file amended reports.
"We caught it when you said that," Maddox said after the St. Petersburg Times asked the party about its reports. "Our problem was a reporting problem, not a compliance problem."
Through July in this presidential election year, the party reported - wrongly, it turns out - that it spent less than $3,000 on federal political activity. In contrast, the state Republican Party in July alone reported spending nearly $310,000 on federal activity.
Because national parties are barred from raising unlimited political contributions and Florida parties are not, laws require the state parties to separate federal and state campaign spending. Any employee devoting at least a quarter of his time to federal activity must be paid entirely out of federal campaign money.
That's why state Republican chairwoman Carole Jean Jordan has been paid entirely out of federal funds since January, and today 63 of the state GOP's 85 staffers are paid with federal money.
A review of federal reports filed by the Democratic parties in 15 other battleground states shows all of them reported employees spending at least a quarter of their time on federal campaign activity. Florida was the only exception.
Maddox said he only started spending significant time on the federal campaign after the Democratic convention in late July. But Maddox said at least two state party staffers, including a spokesman and Gwen Graham, daughter of Sen. Bob Graham, have been focused on the Kerry campaign since spring and should have been listed as being paid with federal money. He said their salaries were not properly reported that way.
"You will see in the next report a very big federal number," Maddox said, referring to the more than 140 staffers in Florida being paid through the state party.
Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com
