SBOE Conducting Campaign Finance Investigation? (Updated)

The Albany Times Union reports that the State Board of Elections (SBOE) is investigating whether a developer has violated the state Election Law by exceeding campaign contribution limits in making donations to the Supervisor of the town of Halfmoon in Saratoga County.

The article does not cite a source, and SBOE does not confirm whether it is conducting an investigation.

It will be noteworthy if SBOE does make a determination that there is a violation of the campaign finance laws.  According to SBOE’s 2010 Annual Report:

In 2010, the Board opened 65 complaints alleging violations of the Election Law. The Enforcement Unit processed 97 complaints to a Determination during 2010. One was referred by the Board for investigation, and 1 Final Determination was made.

Some members of the State Legislature would like to see SBOE engaging in more campaign finance enforcement activities, proposing the creation of a campaign finance enforcement unit within SBOE led by a enforcement counsel with some degree of independence.

Update:  A follow-up article on Saturday reports that the over-payments were returned.