Archive
Subscribe
Weather
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Nelson fined for campaign finance violations |
By David Sale,
Newberg Graphic reporter
E-mail David at
dsale@eaglenewspapers.com
|
Rep. Donna Nelson
(R-McMinnville) will be fined by the Oregon Elections Division for
improperly filing campaign finance reports during her 2006 campaign,
state officials announced Friday.
The Elections Division found violations of five statutes with civil
penalties totaling a maximum of $4,625. Jennifer Hertel, a
compliance specialist with the OED, stated that the District 24
state representative’s actual fine will likely be about $3,700.
“This has been very upsetting and hurtful — I think it’s a
miscarriage of justice,” said Nelson, who added she plans to appeal
the fine.
The charges
stem from a complaint filed by Democratic Party activist Debbie
Runciman, who supported Nelson’s opponent, Sal Peralta, in last
November’s election.
On Oct. 1, in her first campaign finance report for the election,
Nelson submitted a Certificate of Limited Contributions and
Expenditures — promising she had not raised or spent more than
$2,000 in contributions at that time.
But finance reports from several Oregon political action
committees, or PACs, indicate that these groups had sent Nelson more
than $4,000 in contributions before Oct. 1. Under Oregon campaign
law, candidates are required to record contributions within seven
days of receipt.
Runciman reported these discrepancies to the state immediately
after the Nov. 7 election, in which Nelson narrowly defeated
Peralta.
The PAC contributions in question had been declared by Nelson on
her second finance report, in mid-October 2006. State political
candidates must file two pre-election reports, plus a supplemental
report and a post-election summary.
Nelson said at the time that the contributions in question went
unreported due to a backlog of mail at her home office. Following
the state’s announcement, she reiterated that she was unaware these
donations had been sent to her until after the deadline for her
first campaign finance report.
Investigators concluded that Nelson did not deliberately make false
statements on her campaign finance reports, but nevertheless held
her liable for failing to report the donations in a timely manner.
“It was an honest attempt to do the right thing,” Nelson said. “I
should have returned the checks to the sender, not cashed and
recorded them on the next finance report.” |
|
From
July 11, 2007, Newberg Graphic
Click Here to Subscribe |
|
|
|
 |
|
