After a review of campaign finance records for the 113 local Democratic and Republican clubs in New York's Nassau & Suffolk counties, eight of the 73 Nassau GOP clubs have failed to file disclosures with the state since 2006.
These eight Nassau County Republican clubs, in Long Island New York, contributed a total of nearly $500,000 to local candidates, violating state election laws by failing to report their campaign contributions.
Some politicians are getting campaign money from clubs run by local officials or former officials who work for them or once worked for them.
New York State law requires all political clubs and committees that raise or spend more than $1,000 annually to candidates to file financial disclosure reports each year with the State Board of Elections. Violators can face civil fines or criminal penalties.
By not filing with the state, the clubs make it impossible for voters to identify club donors and force voters to examine the campaign filings of individual candidates to determine where the clubs are spending some of their money.
Questions about possible penalties go to the state's Division of Election Law Enforcement, an independent enforcement office within the Board of Elections with the authority to open its own cases.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo created the office last year in a compromise with the State Legislature that resulted in the closure of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. Cuomo had created the panel in 2013 in response to growing criticism of the state's campaign finance laws.
Risa Sugarman, who was appointed head of the enforcement agency by Cuomo last June, said in an email that, "without knowing specific information and looking into all the facts and circumstances, it would not be fair to make any broad or general statements."
The state's campaign finance handbook says those who do not file as required face a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each missed filing, and up to $10,000 if they have failed to report three or more times in a campaign cycle. The state's handbook also says it is a misdemeanor for "any person who knowingly and willfully fails to file" disclosures.
Once registered with the state, committees are required to file two periodic reports each year, plus three additional reports for any election in which they support or oppose a candidate or ballot proposition. Even during the periods when they do not raise or spend money, the committees are required to file "no activity" statements and must continue filing until they submit paperwork to the state terminating the committee's existence.
Unregistered Nassau political clubs' donations to political candidates, 2006-2015:
Lakeview Republican Club: $7,925.00
Manhasset Republican Club: $3,225.00
Massapequa South Republican Club: $151,740.00
Merrick Republican Club: $102,290.00
North Bellmore Republican Club: $99,520.00
North Massapequa Republican Club: $7,450.00
Roosevelt Republican Club: $5,530.98
Seaford Republican Club: $107,340.00
Total: $483,640.98
Newsday reported Nassau County Legislature Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves violated state election laws by failing to file dozens of reports over nine years. During reporting on the story, Gonsalves filed the paperwork creating her committee for the first time and has since filed her missing disclosures.
Some club leaders stopped filing financial disclosures in 2006, when the state began requiring electronic filing, said John Ryan, attorney for the Nassau County Republican Committee. He said some older club officers had difficulty changing from the previous paper-based system. "These are people that found the transition too daunting and they did something they shouldn't have done -- they threw up their hands," said Ryan, to whom several clubs referred Newsday requests for comment. "They should have complied."
Ryan said he first became aware of the issue when Newsday contacted the Nassau Republican Committee. While the committee has no control over the finances of the local clubs, Ryan said he has contacted all the groups Newsday inquired about and notified them of the obligation to report electronically.
Massapequa South, North Massapequa, and Seaford filed disclosures last Wednesday in accordance with Board of Elections requirements for all candidates and committees.
The Floral Park GOP Club, led by former Floral Park Village Mayor Phil Guarnieri, had not filed state disclosures from 2011 until last week. Its report for the period Jan. 12 to July 11 showed it received no donations and had no expenses or contributions to candidates. The club had $5,074 in its bank account.
Guarnieri said his 81-year-old treasurer had been filing its reports with the county, and the club has since filed all of its missing reports.
A 2013 study by the Manhattan-based nonprofit found that of 579 neighborhood political clubs statewide, 224 had spent more than $1,000 annually on political activity from 2009 to Jan. 11, 2013 but had not registered with the state Board of Elections.
The lack of reporting of financial transactions makes "it unknowable if relationships between clubs and candidates resulted in coordinated campaign activities," the report said.
Blair Horner, legislative director for the New York Public Research Interest Group, a nonprofit student-directed advocacy group, said "the disclosures are an important way for the public to know who is donating to whom." They also enable "the public to know which candidates are receiving donations from those that have business before the government, to see if there's a potential for conflict of interest," Horner said. "There's absolutely no excuse for not filing," Horner said. "The state needs to review Newsday's findings, to figure out what's going on with these groups."
UPDATE
Nassau district attorney's office subpoenas County Board of Elections officials Wednesday requesting campaign finance documents for 10 Nassau GOP clubs over the past decade. The subpoena calls on Board of Elections record officials to provide by Tuesday "statements of campaign receipts, contributions, transfers and expenditures," dating to January 2005.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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