I don’t know if you read the “fake news” report that the Moscow-Pullman Daily News did back on 29 Aug, but here’s an excellent retort.
Josh Babcock recently wrote an editorial (“Our View: Election fines for late reports should be mandatory,” Aug. 29) relating to campaign finance fines stating, “With all this information, something stinks and a horrible stench is wafting from the Idaho Secretary of State’s office.” While we are not typically one to take offense to (or validate by response) such trite insults, when a statement is so misinformed and manipulated to support a contrived position, a response is mandatory.
Babcock painted a picture of partisan politics where two Democrats were fined and two Republicans received a pass. In his narrative, all other factors were equal, and the decision to fine or not fine was merely a party-line privilege extended to an inner circle. When you present it that way, sounds like pretty cut and dry partisanship.
Now for the real story.
There were other candidates that filed late – like the Democrat candidate for attorney general – who were not fined.
Second, not all “late” reports are equally late. We send a letter of notice of requirements shortly following a filing deadline. We allow time for delivery prior to sending a notice of the fine start date.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra filed on the same day the first notice went out. Lt. Gov. nominee Janice McGeachin filed on the following day, and AG Candidate Bistline (Democrat) filed two days later. These candidates were not fined.
Alanna Brooks (Democrat) did not respond to multiple notices and calls from our office to file her May 8 pre-primary report. The report she filed June 8 was eight days after a final notice of fine assessment. She was fined for those eight days.
Similarly, the Idaho Democratic Latino Caucus did not file until the day after the start of their fines.
For the record, we are in favor of changing how campaign fines are assessed. We feel “receipt of written notice” is a difficult starting point to connect the fine to, and would be happy to begin applying the fines on day one. However, that is not how the law presently reads, and we apply the law – and fines – as directed by statute. We don’t just randomly “dish them out to candidates hoping to sit on the left side …”
Perhaps the next time you choose to use the phrase “with all this information,” your readers would be better served by actually receiving all the information. After all, isn’t that fair?
Chad Houck
Deputy secretary to the Idaho Secretary of State