CFB Assesses Penalties Against One Campaign

During a regularly scheduled meeting today, the Campaign Finance Board assessed penalties against one campaign, reviewed a formal petition challenging a determination of non-payment by the Board, dismissed a complaint against the 2005 campaign of Manhattan borough president candidate Scott Stringer, and adopted proposed changes to Board Rules for public comment.

Penalties and a finding of breach of certification were assessed against the 2005 City Council campaign of Danny King. For a complete list, see below.

The Board considered a Rule 5-02(a) petition from Stephen B. Kaufman, a 2005 City Council candidate, challenging the Board’s denial of a post-election public funds payment. Mr. Kaufman’s campaign received $63,528 in public funds prior to the 2005 primary election, but was denied further payment because it could not demonstrate compliance with the primary election expenditure limit. Following a post-election audit, the Board determined that the Kaufman campaign had exceeded the primary election expenditure limit by $9,076, and did not provide the Kaufman campaign with an additional public funds payment. The Kaufman campaign filed a Rule 5-02(a) petition to challenge that determination. The Board denied the petition, and announced that it will “not grant campaigns which have been found to have exceeded the expenditure limit any additional public funds.” The formal determination can be found here.

The Board also dismissed a complaint filed in 2005 by Eva Moskowitz, candidate for Manhattan borough president, against one of her primary election opponents, Scott Stringer. Ms. Moskowitz alleged that certain electioneering activities supporting Mr. Stringer and opposing Ms. Moskowitz conducted by the Working Families Party (WFP) were coordinated with the Stringer Campaign, and as such, represented an in-kind contribution in violation of the contribution limit. After an extensive investigation, the Board was unable to find evidence of any coordination between the Stringer Campaign and the WFP. The formal determination can be found here.

The Board also issued for public comment proposed changes to its Rules. The proposed changes would conform the Board’s Rules to recent amendments to the Campaign Finance Act contained in Local Laws 34 and 67 of 2007. These changes also, among other things, clarify the applicable limits on contributions from contributors having business dealings with the City and contributions from entities controlled by such contributors. In addition, proposed new Rule 1-08(c) clarifies the timing and evidentiary requirements to demonstrate to the Board that a primary election was reasonably anticipated. Proposed new Rule 4-01 would clarify, among other things, how records for credit card contributions must be kept, and proposed new Rule 4-04 would clarify that a campaign’s failure to keep or produce records could result in a determination that the campaign made unqualified expenditures or that the campaign must return excess public funds to the Board. Written public comments will be accepted until September 22, 2008, the date of the public hearing on the proposed Rule changes.

Penalties Assessed