In a follow-up to our report in the Oct. 8 issue (Missing Numbers), the state Board of Elections (BOE) confirmed it had received requests from each of the four Cold Spring Village Board candidates running under the Better Together banner — Vinny Tamagna, Cathryn Fadde, Jeff Phillips and Yaslyn Daniels — asserting they would not raise or spend more than $1,000 on their campaigns. There is no filing for Better Together.
Under state election law, in a town or village with a population of less than 10,000, such as Cold Spring or Philipstown, candidates are not required to file campaign finance disclosure reports under that threshold.
Once a candidate files an exemption form, known as a CF-05, he or she does not have to file a “No Activity” report, according to the BOE. A candidate also does not have to file if he or she raises and spends less than $50.
Searches this week of a state Board of Elections database turned up no financial disclosures from Barbara Scuccimarra, the Republican candidate for Putnam County legislator, or Sarina Tamagna and Neal Tomann, the Republican candidates for Philipstown Town Board. Nor was there anything submitted on their behalf by the Philipstown Republican Committee or the Putnam County Republican Committee.
When asked how laws about campaign financial disclosures are enforced, a BOE representative said: “Enforcement against local candidates for public office has always been spotty because the state has no way to track all local offices and who is running for them. The previous enforcement counsel chose to take no action against candidates who routinely failed to make a filing, and that lack of enforcement was known. If a complaint is filed against a specific candidate, the current enforcement counsel may take action, including sending a letter instructing the candidate to make a filing or explain why they do not need to make a filing.”
The numbers below include all money raised and spent from Jan. 1 to Oct. 22, when the most recent disclosures were due at the state BOE.
How about comparing those non-disclosures with demonstrable proof of campaign expenditures — ads, signs, palm cards, events? The Current has done an extremely poor job this campaign season: publishing hearsay and opposing candidate accusations with no counterpoints or research into wild and unfounded accusations. The campaign expenses issue is by far the easiest to prove questionable, if not patently false. Do a better job, Current. Please.