Campaign finance Ken
Remember the dust up back in the mid-1990s about an allegedly math challenged Barbie? That’s the doll some claimed said, “Math is hard.”
Meet her counterpart, the Campaign Finance Ken doll.
OK, he doesn’t really exist. After all, what kind of kid would want to play with him? (Other than maybe political reporters, that is.)
But, if Campaign Finance Ken really did exist, he might utter the phrase “Campaign finance law is hard” … kind of like Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Bollinger basically did when he sentenced Councilman Ken Oliver last Tuesday.
Oliver pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of taking money from a campaign account for personal use and for failing to properly maintain records for a petty cash account by not providing receipts for expenses for which the councilman reimbursed himself.
“I don’t think anyone can understand it until they run for office,” said Bollinger before he sentenced Oliver to what many, including State Prosecutor Robert Rohrbaugh, called an unusual community service sentence.
Oliver was sentenced to 50 hours with a certified public accountant (such as the one he had hired to serve as his treasurer at the time the councilman was writing himself $4,000 in loans from the account) or another campaign finance guru.
Chris Cavey, chairman of the county Republican Central Committee, called the sentence “crazy.” It’s not exactly community service,” Cavey said. “I don’t know what community that serves.”
Cavey said the summary guide to campaign finance law, written in plain English and available on the Maryland State Board of Elections Web site, should be plenty of education and leave time for real community service.
“It’s not that hard, it really isn’t,” Cavey said. “The councilman has an MBA in finance. I think there are concepts here that any business that goes through audits understands.”
A quick scan (about 5 minutes) of the Web site turned up these guidelines:
- Expenditures “For personal use or expenses related to holding office” are prohibited.
- An expense may be reimbursed provided it “is supported by a receipt that is retained by the treasurer of the campaign finance entity”
- Only the treasurer of a campaign entity may have possession of the checkbook and is directly responsible for reimbursing expenses and signing the reports.
How do you think the councilman fill up the other 49 hours and 55 minutes of his community service?