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Letter to the editor

Candidate's reports don't list expenses

Other commission candidates have spent more than $1,000.

By LORRI HELFAND, Times Staff Writer
Published October 24, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Jim Damaske | Times] In a video on Largo's Web site, City Commission candidate Curtis Holmes holds a campaign brochure. Holmes has not reported expenses for brochures, signs, T-shirts or other campaign items.

LARGO - City Commission candidate Curtis Holmes promises to be a watchdog of the city's checkbook and touts his ability to track city operations in detail.

But Holmes' own campaign treasurer's reports do not list any expenses for his campaign brochures, signs and T-shirts, although he has said he has an "ample supply" of those items.

"It's pretty simple," Holmes said Tuesday when asked about the reports. "I haven't been billed."

Holmes said he is working with a company that is providing campaign items.

"One bill just came in," he said.

That sounds unusual, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the Florida Division of Elections. Typically, he said, candidates have to pay at least something up front for big-ticket items like signs, and they get a bill when they receive the goods.

Ivey acknowledged that there could be a valid excuse for not reporting expenditures until after a bill is received, but he added that the state's Campaign Treasurer's Handbook rules require candidates to pay for campaign items when they receive them and to report those expenditures as they occur.

"Candidates shall pay for all expenses authorized or incurred for the purchase of goods or services upon final delivery and acceptance of the goods or services," the handbook says.

Holmes has had at least one of his campaign items for more than three weeks. On Sept. 27, he flashed a brochure during a taped candidate announcement for the city's Web site and TV channel.

"We have a brochure that's available," Holmes said in the announcement, which can be seen at www.largo.com. "It's liberally distributed around the city."

But costs for the brochure were not listed in any of Holmes' three treasurer's reports. His most recent report was submitted Friday and is intended to show candidates' contributions and expenses through Oct. 12.

Expenditures for T-shirts or signs were not included, either.

"My sign, I just got it the other day," Holmes said Tuesday.

On Oct. 8, Holmes told a public forum hosted by the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee that he had "an ample supply of yard signs, handout brochures and neato T-shirts."

Along with saying he just got a bill, Holmes said he had received an in-kind contribution but didn't say what it was. His treasurer's reports don't show any in-kind contributions, which are goods or services given to the campaign.

Reporting rules require in-kind contributors to tell the candidates how much the donations are worth. Ivey said in-kind contributions must be reported when they are received.

Holmes said he plans to list his in-kind contributions on his next report.

The only expenses that are listed on Holmes' reports are $16 for voter lists from the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Office and a $148.61 election assessment fee from the city of Largo.

The other three candidates up for election on Nov. 6 have listed expenditures of more than $1,000. Holmes' opponent for Seat 6, Woody Brown, reported expenditures of $5,140, mostly on advertising, postcards, signs and postage. Brown's contributions total $7,776 through Oct. 12, compared to $2,608 for Holmes.

In the race for Seat 5, incumbent Harriet Crozier has raised $3,225 and spent $1,013, and John Mandujano has raised $2,950 and spent $1,867.

Holmes said he just got the bill for items and planned to call the company about it, but hung up with a Times reporter before providing the company's name.

"He just emptied my checkbook," Holmes said. "I'll have to get back with you. I'm trying to figure it out. I'm in sticker shock."

He did not return a later call seeking additional information.

Lorri Helfand can be reached at lorri@sptimes.com or 445-4155.

[Last modified October 23, 2007, 23:14:08]