by Taylor Dobbs vtdigger.orgIt’s that time of the election cycle known as silly season. The campaigns are starting to heat up ‘not with heady debate about the issues, but with what politicians are calling ‘petty’accusations regarding obscure forms and details from recently released campaign finance reports.
The Vermont Democratic Party has been on the offensive, issuing several press releases about inconsistencies or campaign finance violations made by Republican candidates.
Last week, Jake Perkinson, chair of the Vermont Democratic Party, sent out a statement accusing Randy Brock, the GOP candidate for governor, of flip flopping. In December of last year, Brock told the Burlington Free Press he didn’t expect to self-fund his bid for office. According to recent campaign finance reports, he shelled out $300,000 of his own money for his candidacy.
‘The fact that Brock had to put so much of his own money into a campaign with no primary opponent is another sign that his agenda is far from the mainstream,’Perkinson said in a statement. ‘Brock’s campaign is struggling, forcing him to reverse course on self-financing and raising questions about his ability to assemble a viable campaign effort.’
Brock has pointed out that Gov. Peter Shumlin, the Democratic incumbent, also made a significant contribution to his own campaign in the 2010 primary election.
On Monday, the VDP was back at it with a release accusing Wendy Wilton, a Republican candidate for state treasurer of violating a ‘candidate filing law.’Wilton neglected to submit a ‘Bank Designation and Treasurer Appointment Form’in time.
It turns out one of the Democratic Party’s own candidates ‘Cassandra Gekas, who is running for lieutenant governor ‘missed the deadline for the same document. And though it’s common practice for incumbents to refile the form when they open new bank accounts or bring on a new treasurer, Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell’s campaign neglected to do so right away.
Wilton, Gekas miss filing deadlines
The Vermont Democratic Party release accusing Wendy Wilton of violating campaign finance law for failing to file the Bank Designation and Treasurer Appointment Form. Under the law, candidates must file the form within 10 days after spending or receiving $500 for a campaign.
‘Wilton’s July 2012 campaign finance disclosure report shows that she had already received $6,650.00 in campaign contributions when she filed on June 12, 2012,’the statement reads.
Wilton reached the $500 limit at her campaign launch on May 14.
Perkinson issued scathing remarks about Wilton’s failure to meet the deadline on Monday. ‘Vermonters deserve a Treasurer who will be fiscally responsible and transparent, not someone who accumulates thirteen times the legally permissible amount prior to making the filings required by law,’he said in the statement. ‘Wilton’s cavalier decision to wait is disrespectful to Vermonters and unfair to the candidates who are playing by the rules.’
Wilton admits she missed the deadline, but she doesn’t accept the VDP criticism.
‘I’m not going to dignify that rhetoric with a response,’she said. ‘I think they had a candidate who had â ¦ a similar challenge to what I did, and they’re going to come after me, and people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.’
Wilton’s treasurer left for vacation four days after her campaign launch, she said. Both the candidate and the campaign treasurer need to sign the form.
‘There’s no way I could catch up with her at that point. It’s just one of those things ‘I couldn’t get her and she couldn’t get me,’Wilton said. ‘It was my obligation. I wanted it to be there sooner. Didn’t happen. I accept responsibility for it. I’m fine.’
The Democrats said Gekas, on the other hand, had made an honest mistake.
Gekas missed the deadline, too, submitting her Bank Designation and Treasurer Appointment Form July 11 after she hit the $500 limit on June 21.
Gekas raised $1,650 before she filed her Bank Designation and Treasurer Appointment form on July 11. She said her filings were rushed, as she decided to run for office just before the June 14 candidate filing deadline. She first approached her treasurer, Jerry Greenfield, on June 23 but they wanted to confirm the requirements of the job before he signed on. She says he signed the form July 7, 11 days after she surpassed the $500 limit.
VDP called Gekas’filing lapse an honest mistake made by a rookie candidate for statewide office.
‘Sometimes when you have a new candidate coming in to run, a few little things slip by in the beginning,’said Ariel Wengroff, a VDP spokeswoman. While Gekas is new to political candidacy, Wilton is a sitting city treasurer and former state Senator.
‘We strongly still stand by the release from yesterday. Wendy Wilton’s attitude about filing is instructive of the leadership she would’she wouldn’t be providing to Vermonters,’Wengroff said.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Bill Sorrell’s new campaign treasurer started in early May and apparently didn’t submit the form right away.
Sen. Claire Ayer said Sorrell approached her at the end of the session and asked if she would serve as his treasurer. Ayer accepted, and said in an interview that she’d been signing off on campaigning finances ever since.
While Sorrell’s new Bank Designation and Treasurer Appointment Form was filed July 16, it’s unclear when Ayer first acted in her new role. Campaign manager Mike Pieciak said he wasn’t sure at first. ‘I think what’s typical in campaigns is that the treasurer is sort of designated and does review the reports and whatnot but is not involved in day-to-day expenditures, but let me just chat with Claire,’he said. In a later interview, Pieciak said his story and Ayer’s lined up. ‘Her first official act was that campaign finance disclosure form, and the designation form came in with that,’he said.
Ayer made no official action in her capacity as Sorrell’s campaign treasurer between early May and July 16. Sorrell raised at least $64,695 in May and June combined, according to his campaign finance filing.
While it is common practice for candidates to file a new form when they change treasurers, banks or both, there is no statute that requires it. According to the Secretary of State’s director of elections and campaign finance, Kathy Scheele, the re-filing is not required by law.
‘The statute does not include a specific requirement that a candidate or a PAC refile a bank and treasurer designation form when there’s a change,’she said. ‘It’s a common-sense interpretation we’ve made of the law and that to the best of my information and belief no one has disagreed with.’
July 25, 2012 vtdigger.org
Vermont Democratic Party attacks GOP candidates over campaign finance
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