Report: Board of Elections Enforcement Counsel Looks to County Legislator

The Times Union reports that the state Board of Elections Enforcement Counsel Risa Sugarman has filed a complaint against the Friends for Norma Gonzalez, a political committee that supports the presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature, for the committee’s failure to file timely campaign finance reports listing her donors and spending between 2006 and Mar. 2015.

The complaint alleges:

“eight (8) enforceable instances of failing to file with each violation carrying a penalty of One-thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for each such failure pursuant to §14-126(1)(a). Complainant further alleges two (2) separate enforceable failures to file three or more times within a given election cycle with each violation carrying a penalty of Ten Thousand dollars ($10,000.00) for each such violation pursuant to §14-126(1). Complainant alleges a total civil penalty of up to twenty-eight thousand dollars ($28,000.00) for which the candidate and treasurer are jointly liable under the election law.”

The Chief Enforcement Counsel asks the Hearing Officer to make findings of fact and conclusion of law that Friends for Norma Gonzalez “did fail to timely file in accordance with Article 14 of the Election Law and as such, along with the candidate and treasurer, is subject to the aforementioned $28,000.00 dollars in penalties set forth in EL §14-126(1).”

Under Election Law § 3-104 and the SBOE’s rules, if the hearing officer finds in favor of the Chief Enforcement Counsel, then the Chief Enforcement Counsel is authorized to settle the matter, or to institute a special proceeding in State Supreme Court to recover a civil penalty. The court would have the discretion to accept, reject or modify the hearing officer’s findings of fact and conclusions of law.