Allen County Democratic Party Violates Indiana Campaign Finance Law
Posted by Mike Sylvester - 4/19/08 @ 10:41 am - Filed Under 2008 Local Elections, Featured, Local Politics
A front page piece in the Journal Gazette on April 18th, 2008 reveals a campaign finance reporting error made by the Allen County Democratic Party. Please read the article in its entirety:
The Allen County GOP requested a legal opinion on Indiana campaign finance law from The Indiana Election Commission and based on that legal opinion decided to list more of its outstanding bills then it has previously reported in its campaign finance filings. In other words; due to the recent attention that has been given to campaign finance reporting the Allen County GOP has decided to err on the side of transparency and list each and every outstanding bill and debt that it owes on its campaign finance report.
I believe that the Allen County GOP is following the intent of the Indiana Campaign Finance law and that they should have done this in the past as well. In other words; the Allen County GOP is providing more information on their campaign finance reports then they previously have provided and their previous reports are most likely deficient since they did not list all of their outstanding debts.
The real focus of the story should have been the below statement made by the Allen County Democratic Chairman:
Bynum said the party didn’t list every outstanding bill on its report, as he didn’t believe it was necessary.
Indiana Campaign Finance Law is often vague and is unclear enough that portions of it can be interpreted two different ways by reasonable people; however, I 100% disagree with Mike Bynum, the Allen County Democratic Chair about his interpretation of Indiana Campaign Finance Law. In fact, I disagree with him so much I am filing a written complaint with the Allen County Election Board later today.
The Allen County Democratic and Allen County Republican Parties are required to file a CFA-4 (Receipts and Expenditures Report of a Political Committee) at least three times a year. The campaign finance reports discussed in the story are the Pre-Primary reports which must cover January 1st through 25 days before the Primary Election.
Every candidate for elected office has access to the 2008 Indiana Campaign Finance Manual as do all political parties. This manual is intended to provide easy to follow instructions so that Indiana’s campaign finance laws can be followed. Below is a section of the manual that discusses what is considered a debt per Indiana Campaign Finance Law.
Debts (Loans): Debts (loans) include all money or things of value that must be repaid or returned. Debts include, but are not limited to, amount of monies or items borrowed, credit purchases, credit card accounts, or other unpaid debts. Debts owed by a committee (Schedule D, CFA-4) are those items borrowed by the reporting committee from an individual, business, lending institution, credit card company or another committee. Debts owed to a committee are those items that the reporting committee has loaned to another committee or other entity with the requirement that the item or money be returned. (IC 3-9-5-14)
If a committee pays a debt owed by the committee, and does so by mailing a check to the creditor, the committee should indicate that the debt has been paid as of the date the check was mailed or otherwise delivered to the creditor.
If the creditor does not deposit the committee’s check, or for any other reason the check does not clear the committee’s account before the end of the reporting period, the committee’s report should nonetheless show the debt as paid by the committee. However, if the check remains outstanding at the end of the following reporting period, it may be necessary for the committee to amend its earlier report to reconcile the balances shown on the summary sheet of the CFA-4.
Credit Purchases: Credit cards, credit accounts, etc., must be listed on the Debts Owed By the Committee, CFA-4 Schedule D, to the extent that there is still an outstanding balance (amount still owing). However, any payment made to pay off a credit purchase is considered an expenditure and the vendor or individual must be itemized as such.
Investments: Money received as a contribution may be invested by a committee in an account with a financial institution, savings and loan association, or credit union, or in any equity account. Any loss resulting from an investment may be reported as a committee expenditure. Any gain resulting from an investment must be reported as income.
Debts owed by a Committee are listed on CFA-4 Schedule D. The instructions at the top of this form states the following:
List all debts and loans, regardless of the amount, OWED BY the committee during the reporting period. Include all amounts owed for or to lend institutions, individuals, credit purchases, committee credit card accounts, etc.
Indiana Campaign Finance Law is 100% clear on this issue. The Allen County Democratic Party should have listed all of its outstanding debts on its CFA-4 and it failed to do so; again. Anyone analyzing the CFA-4 forms of the Allen County GOP and Democratic Party would be comparing “apples” to “oranges” since they are not prepared using the same rules.
The Allen County Democratic Party has prepared their CFA-4 form incorrectly and I am disappointed that they have decided to withhold their debts as is required by Indiana Campaign Finance Law. This shows a lack of transparency and violates Indiana Campaign Finance Law.
It will be interesting to see how the Allen County Election Board deals with my written complaint…
(Photo from Mike Bynum for State Senate)
Comments
14 Responses to “Allen County Democratic Party Violates Indiana Campaign Finance Law”
Leave a Reply
Mike,
Nice headline….at least there is no bias there!
I have not looked at the report…but at this time, there is NO PROOF that any law was violated.
Besides, Jim Bopp thinks that you do not have to report anything…..
;)
Hmmm…
When did Jim Bopp say that you do not have to report anything?
Mike
Mike,
Jim Bopp does not believe there should be ANY reports or requirements.
On another note- I have just looked over Mitch Daniels campaign finance report. It appears that several invoices were paid on January 4th. These expenses occured last year- but they DO NOT show up on that report.
Since you are filing a complaint against us, I thought you would want to file one against him as well….just a thought.
Kevin,
I do not hang out with Jim Bopp so I really cannot respond intelligently to your statements concerning him.
You say that my post is biased; please explain that comment.
In my post I state that the local GOP has likely violated Campaign Finance Law every time they have filed a report EXCEPT for this time and I go on to state that the Democratic Party has most likely violated Campaign Finance Law every time including this time.
How on Earth is that biased? It is just stating the facts as I see them.
Just for the record I have been the Treasurer for a couple of local campaigns and I always report all debts since I actually have read the Campaign Finance Manual.
As far as your Mitch Daniels comment: I am currently more concerned with local politics rather then State politics; however, you should feel free to file whatever complaint you want. As I have stated many times I am convinced that I could audit many candidates and find places where they have violated the law; this includes Libertarians, Independents, Democrats, and Republicans.
If you read my blog at all in the last 15 months you know that I think Campaign Finance Law is vague in many cases and is not followed by MANY people who run for office. I am convinced that I could audit many political campaigns and find numerous problems no matter the political persuasion.
What I took exception to the most were Mike Bynum’s comments as reported in the JG. Those comments are clearly wrong and show a lack of understanding of Indian Campaign Finance Law.
Think of this is me helping to educate the local Democratic Party on Indiana Campaign Finance Law Kevin. You should thank me if you believe that Indiana Campaign Finance Law is as important as you repeatedly have told the press in the last few months! Or were you just trying to attack the Republican candidate for Mayor?
You accusing me of being biased is really pretty funny…
GOOD GRIEF…
Mike Sylvester
P.S. Your first comment is truly funny where you say that I have “NO PROOF” that the law was broken. The only way that the Democratic CFA-4 is accurate is if the Allen County Democratic Party currently has no outstanding bills from ANY venders. You and I both know that is not the case…
P.S.S. It is also not my job to prove it; it is the job of the Allen County Election Board to prove it if they feel that it is likely that the law has been violated.
Mike,
It’s pointless to try and argue with Kevin. He’s always right no matter how left he is. You made some very valid points, good job.
[Jeff Pruitt: Blatantly posting under someone else’s name is not allowed. I know the name you posted under was obviously false but in the future either use your real name or a pseudonym]
Why are some Indiana Super Delegates taking huge sums of money from someone they have to cast a vote on? Is that like paying the judge before the verdict? Indiana Rep. Baron Hill took $12,500.00 from Barack Obama. There are more Indiana politicians taking BIG MONEY from Barack Obama for their Super Delegate votes and Indiana voters have not even been able to vote yet. Are Indian Super Delegate votes for sale?
Do Indiana voters know that
Rep. Baron Hill took a $12,500.00 “donation” from Barack Obama? Brad Ellsworth took a $10,000.00 “donation” from Barack Obama and Rep. Joe Donelly took $7500.00 “donation” from Barack Obama! Is Barack Obama trying to buy Indiana Super Delegate votes before the voters of Indiana have even been allowed to vote?
Mike,
Is it your interpretation that a simple heating bill must be reported? I must say that my reading of the definition of debt in the parts of the campaign finance manual you cited would lead me to believe that basic utility bills and such need not be reported.
And since Bynum did use the word “bills”, it’s plausible that those type of typical overhead expenses would be the only thing “missing”.
Tomorrow I will post the Indiana Election Commission letter that was sent to the local GOP just so we all know what their opinion was…
Mike,
Your bias shows in the headline you picked- you STATE the ACDP violated the law…..but now you admit you cannot prove it.
Sad, really.
Kevin:
Give me a break. You personally have been in the media over the past few months BLASTING a certain Republican candidate for his “Supposed” Campaign Finance Reporting violations.
I suggest you contact Mike Bynum and help him ensure that the most recent CFA-4 is correct if your priority is transparent Campaign Finance Law reporting.
You are more interested in being partisan then fixing a problem.
Mike
Jeff:
You and I do not interpret those sections the same at all. The Campaign FInance Manual is describing debts using the rules for accrual accounting…
The Campaign Finance Manual clearly states that debt is “all money or things of value that must be repaid or returned.”
If you order 100 yard signs and have a bill for those yard signs and have not paid it that is clearly a debt.
If you rent a building and have a bill for rent due that is clearly a debt.
If you have a utility bill that has not been paid yet that is also clearly a debt per Indiana Campaign Finance Law.
In fact if you further read the sections of the Campaign Finance Manual that I quoted it says you must list all outstanding credit card balances. It is 100% clear about this.
For example if you purchase 100 yard signs on a credit card on the 5th of the month for $200 and the report was due on the 8th of the month then you must report the $200 outstanding credit card balance on your CFA-4.
Mike
Mike,
What I find interesting here is that you still want to classify Kelty’s filing as “supposed” infractions.
Yet you will read 2 lines in a newspaper article and ASSUME that it is fact.
Let’s review- Kelty has been INDICTED by a Grand Jury. You do not have a clue as to what bills may or may not be owed by the ACDP. (Neither do I). Perhaps it is a misquote in the paper? Perhaps there are no bills outstanding? You do not know. PERIOD.
I will also point out that the opinion Shine got came from ONE lawyer, appointed by the GOP. That same lawyer DID NOT share that opinion with the GOP State Party or Mitch Daniels, since their reports seem to have ommitted certain bills.
I will also point out that the Democrat appointed attorney has not offered an opinion and Indiana Election Commission has NOT weighed in on this.
So, yes, I think your headline is pretty much showing your bias. Perhaps if you would have put a question mark behind it?
It seems like outstanding debts should be reported to me. At least I reported them. This is the first time that I have had a chance to really examine these forms. I think the debt thing is pretty clear. Of course, that is just a new guy (outsider’s) opinion who hasn’t been entrenched and taught by the system (insider). Had to teach myself.
Once again Kevin you are mistaking the words indicted for convicted. Look them up in the dictionary. They mean two different things.
Mark,
The only difference is that the trial has not yet taken place.