| Last July 29 Danny reminded Ron Sparks that he needed to establish a principal campaign committee: Alabama law requires a candidate to file the statement within 5 days of raising (or spending) $25,000 for the candidacy. Fundraising for this election cycle could begin on June 1.
Sparks filed the appropriate paperwork with the Alabama Secretary of State that very day. At the time, we all wondered if he had only just raised (or spent) $25,000 or if Sparks had just forgotten about that filing requirement. Now that the financial reports have been released, we can see that Sparks indeed passed the $25,000 mark no later than June 12, 2009 when Mack Cooper contributed $25,000. By rights, he should have filed the statement establishing a principal campaign committee within 5 days of passing that milestone ... say June 17th. Instead, he filed the form on July 29th, the day of Danny's reminder. Here's my reminder to the folks at Ron Sparks 2010: You still have another financial report to file. Alabama's Fair Campaign Practices Act requires (b) Each principal campaign committee, political action committee, and elected state and local official covered under the provisions of this chapter, shall annually file with the Secretary of State or judge of probate, as designated in Section 17-5-9, reports of contributions and expenditures made during that year. The annual reports required under this subsection shall be made on or before January 31 of the succeeding year.
Now, Sparks has filed a 2009 annual report (it even includes 11 days of 2010) for his gubernatorial committee (SPARKS, RON (GOV)) but as of this morning, the Secretary of State's website does not list a 2009 annual report for his other committee -- (SPARKS, RON) -- that he's used for Ag. Commissioner runs. That committee also has not been terminated, per the SoS website. It doesn't seem to matter whether it was active or not, but we know there was in fact activity because Ron Sparks transferred $107,702.02 from there to his gubernatorial account. The penalty for not filing these reports is stiff ...
A certificate of election or nomination shall not be issued to any person elected or nominated to state or local office who shall fail to file any statement or report required by this chapter. A certificate of election or nomination already issued to any person elected or nominated to state or local office who fails to file any statement or report required by this chapter shall be revoked. ... and I'd hate to see the Sparks candidacy get in trouble over this. More selfishly, I'd also really like to see the information -- so consider this a friendly reminder to please file the damned report. BTW, Treasurer Kay Ivey and Rep. Robert Bentley, also running for governor, are in the same situation with a gubernatorial committee and one for their current offices. Both have already filed disclosures for both their committees. |
