Some Pulaski County candidates who failed to turn in pre-election campaign finance reports by October 19 will not be fined. The Democrat Central Committee, Coroner John Behny, former Circuit Court judge candidate Tim Murray, and former county council candidate Doug Roth all failed to turn in their reports by the noon deadline.
But after reviewing the 2018 Campaign Finance Manual, the county election board determined that the candidates who weren’t actually on the November ballot could wait and file an annual report in January, according to Lynn Wilder with the Clerk’s Office. That means the candidates who were defeated in the May Primary but still hadn’t disbanded their committees – in this case, Murray and Roth – were not in violation, after all.
Wilder says the other two candidates’ committees who were found to be late had their fines cut in half by the election board Tuesday. Since both filed their reports within a day of the deadline, that means their fines were cut from $50 to $25.
