The Missouri Ethics Commission may have finally grown teeth and shown it is willing to impose hefty penalties on political committees that fail to comply with public disclosure laws.
At a meeting on Jan. 26 the Ethics Commission imposed a total of $218,000 in penalties on three political committees.
In the first set of complaints, the Ethics Commission voted to impose a $168,000 fine against the Northeast Ambulance & Fire Protection District Improvement Committee and its treasurer, Linda Love Tolbert. In addition to the fine, the Ethics Commission will require the Committee to "file all campaign finance disclosure reports which are due by the committee, including all reports which are the subject of this complaint and the January 2010 Quarterly Report".
On a second complaint, the Ethics Commission found violations of 10 separate provisions of Missouri statute and ordered Northeast Firefighters PAC and treasurer Kirk McPike pay a fine of $13,000 and file disclosure reports not yet turned in. It's possible this committee could pay as little as $1,300 if the reports are filed within 90 days.
In a third complaint, against Democrat April Harris, the Ethics Commission found probably cause of violations and ordered Harris' committee to pay $35,670 in fines for failure to file two quarterly reports, among other reasons.
Related Links:
MEC Minutes from Jan. 26, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Ethics Commission doles out $218,000 in fines for violations
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