The state will look at whether a fire board candidate broke the law by accepting donations without an account.
By ANNE LINDBERG
Published October 31, 2004
LEALMAN - Fire commission candidate Vivian Diane Campbell may have violated a state law that bars her from accepting contributions when she has no campaign bank account, the county elections supervisor said.
The charge came late last week in a letter Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark sent to the state Division of Elections. The state agency will determine whether Campbell broke the law and, if so, the penalty. She could be fined up to $1,000 for each violation.
"We received a campaign treasurer's report . . . from Vivian Diane Campbell, candidate for the Lealman Fire Control District, Seat 5, which we feel might be in violation," Clark wrote in the letter.
Clark included copies of a treasurer's report and other receipts showing in-kind contributions totaling about $370.
Campbell said Friday she had not seen Clark's letter, but she denied any wrongdoing.
She filed the paperwork for an account with Clark's office at 11 a.m. July 1, but never funded it, she said. Then, when offered the donations, Campbell said she called Clark's office for guidance and was referred to the state elections commission by Michael Greenman, an elections specialist in Clark's office.
The state, Campbell said, told her she could accept in-kind donations.
"(In) no way, shape or form was I going to do anything illegal because I knew I was going to be under scrutiny on it," Campbell said.
Campbell, a first-time candidate, is running against incumbent W.A. Adams and another political newcomer, Marion Boyle. Boyle has a campaign account. Adams does not because he waited too long to both sign up and open the account. He has used no campaign paraphernalia in his re-election bid.
Another fire board candidate, Mike Brophy, who is running for re-election to Seat 3, also has no account. Brophy handed out fliers at a recent debate. Brophy had made them himself. Like Campbell, Brophy said his actions were approved by state elections officials.
But Clark did not report Brophy.
"We don't have any physical evidence of him doing it," Greenman said.
If others have such evidence, they can report the alleged violation themselves, Greenman said. The state division of elections Web site has a form people can use, he said.
Generally speaking, candidates for office must open a bank account and make regular reports listing monetary and in-kind donations. Those donations must show the name of the donor. The reports must also show what was spent, what was bought and who got the money.
But fire board candidates can decide not to open an account. That means, Clark said, that the candidate can neither accept any donations nor spend any money, even his own. Nor can the candidate decide later that he or she wants to open an account.
"At the time of qualifying, we explained to (Campbell) that she could choose whether or not to have a campaign account," Clark wrote in her letter.
"If she paid the qualifying fee and agreed not to accept any contributions or make any expenditures, she would not be required to have an account. If she intended to accept contributions and make expenditures, she would need to open a campaign account at the time of qualifying," Clark wrote.
"Ms. Campbell chose to pay the qualifying fee and said she would not accept contributions or make expenditures."
"I was not told all those things either, and Michael Greenman knows I was not told those things," Campbell said.
At a community forum earlier this month, Campbell had signs posted and also handed out fliers. Her signs can also be seen around the fire district, and she spent part of last week passing out fliers door to door.
Campbell also submitted to Clark's office a report for the period Sept. 25-Oct. 8.
That report indicated she received $46.01 in in-kind donations.
A receipt attached to the report showed $321.18 paid by James Allison to Frames and Things in Holiday for signs and stakes.
