Financial disclosure a little light in one Lealman race
If a candidate without a campaign account ends up with signs or fliers, is that ever legal? It depends on nuances of interpretation.
By ANNE LINDBERG
Published October 13, 2004
LEALMAN - When two of the candidates for Lealman Fire Commission signed up to run, they took advantage of a new state law that says they did not have to open campaign accounts.
County elections officials cautioned them that that meant they could not accept money or in-kind donations and could not spend their own or other money during their run for office. In other words, no signs, no fliers, nothing that cost any money at all.
But at a community forum last week, Vivian Diane Campbell had signs and fliers supporting her candidacy. The disclosure on both said they were "paid for by a private citizen."
Mike Brophy had a four-page handout urging folks to vote for him. His flier had no disclaimer telling who had paid for it.
"As far as I can tell, it's not legal," Deborah Clark, Pinellas County elections supervisor, said of both candidates' materials.
A third candidate, Julie Adams, has a campaign account and therefore no restrictions on producing fliers or signs. But the fliers handed out during the forum lacked any information about the literature's source.
"The whole point of financial disclosure is so the public knows where the candidate is getting money, from whom they're getting money and where they're spending their dollars," Clark said.
Clark's office said that any fines or penalties would have to come out of Tallahassee. It is unclear whether Clark's office plans to take the matter further.
Adams blamed the omission on an oversight.
"Oh, great," Adams said. "I told them to put one on and they didn't. . . . I didn't check it, so that's my fault."
Adams said that only a few of the 3,000 fliers were handed out last Wednesday. Adams said she would add the necessary information to the others before they are mailed out. They will say that her campaign account paid for them.
Three seats are up for grabs in this year's fire commission race.
Seat 1 has incumbent Linda Campbell facing challengers William Kent Litton and Bob Shaffer. All three opened campaign accounts.
Seat 3 has Brophy, the incumbent and current board chairman, facing first-time candidate Julie Adams.
Seat 5 has incumbent Bill Adams facing more first-timers: Marion Boyle and Vivian Diane Campbell. Boyle is the only one of the three with a campaign account. Vivian Diane Campbell voluntarily went without. Bill Adams intended to open an account but submitted his paperwork so late that he had no time to open one.
When Brophy, Vivian Diane Campbell and Bill Adams filed their paperwork, they were cautioned that they could neither spend their own money nor accept monetary or in-kind contributions if they did not open accounts, said Michael Greenman, an elections specialist in Clark's office.
"I said, "You cannot make expenditures.' . . . Basically, you pay your filing fee and that's it, you're on the ballot," Greenman said.
Bill Adams seems to have stuck to that. No pro-Bill Adams signs or campaign literature turned up at the forum or appeared elsewhere in the Lealman Fire District.
But plastic signs supporting Vivian Diane Campbell have been seen in the fire district. One was planted with other campaign signs at last week's forum. And yellow fliers touting her candidacy were on the table of literature at the forum. Both the signs and the flier say "Paid for by a private citizen."
If Vivian Diane Campbell is connected in any way with those signs or the literature, then they are likely illegal, said Clark. But if they were truly done without her knowledge, comment or other guidance, they may be legal.
But even if it is legal for the material to be distributed, the disclaimer should let people know who put it out. If it is truly a "private citizen" and spends more than $100, that person must file paperwork with Clark's office and identify him- or herself on the material, officials said.
Vivian Diane Campbell said she called Tallahassee and a woman named "Susan" told her the signs and fliers were "in-kind" contributions and legal, even though she does not have a bank account for her campaign, as long as she reports them. She said she had done so.
The signs, she said, came from James Allison. The fliers, from her sister.
"Susan" told her, "It's a donation in kind and that it is perfectly legal as long as I fill out and report it and the report says who paid for it."
Campbell added, "It's an in-kind contribution. It's not like money. . . . Anyone can have them if someone wants to put them up for them or buy them."
Brophy may have a similar problem, but he says he thinks he broke no law.
The fliers were produced on his own computer, he said, and cost nothing. Besides, Brophy said, he talked with someone in Clark's office who referred him to elections officials in Tallahassee. The folks in Tallahassee told him making the fliers was okay. But Brophy said he did not know to whom he spoke in Tallahassee.
Depending on the way the law is interpreted, both Brophy and Vivian Diane Campbell could be in the clear. A legal interpretation could happen if someone reported the alleged violations to the state Elections Commission. That agency would decide if any laws have been broken.
If there have, no one would get tossed out of the race. The offender would be fined up to $1,000 for each violation.
