Coalition of Concerned Asshats
from Daily News Tribune

A campaign group formed to defeat the Question 1 ballot initiative in last month's election filed its requisite papers weeks after the deadline and did not fully comply with state election laws.

Last month, the city of Waltham voted on a Libertarian sponsored initiative to reduce city spending to 1998 levels. Despite what I think of the local Libertarian committee, at least fiscal responsibility was debated before the electorate.

The Coalition of Concerned Citizens was the city worker's unions campaign to assure that Question 1 would be defeated, and their lawn signs conveniently omitted the mandated disclosures about who paid for them. It appears this wasn't the only law they broke. Just remember, you can't fight city hall because they fight dirty.

Click here for more on Rich Aucoin, the Waltham Libertarians and the Waltham Citizens for Limited Taxation.

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Campaign group filed late

By Joshua Myerov / Tribune Staff Writer
Monday, December 8, 2003

WALTHAM -- A campaign group formed to defeat the Question 1 ballot initiative in last month's election filed its requisite papers weeks after the deadline and did not fully comply with state election laws.

Under law, the union-supported Coalition of Concerned Citizens should have filed finance reports with the City Clerk's office eight days before the Nov. 4 election. Instead, the forms, which detail contributions and expenditures, were not filed until Nov. 17 and Nov. 19, about two weeks late.

Also, at least three unions that provided newspaper ads as in-kind donations to the coalition should have filed their own campaign finance reports with the city, said a spokesman from the state's Office of Campaign & Political Finance.

They have yet to do so, according to the clerk's office.

But so far the coalition has not been fined or penalized.

"They were confused with what they had to do," said City Clerk Rosario Malone, who pointed out that the coalition recently donated its remaining $1,000 toward the creation of a veterans memorial on Waltham Common.

"We don't want to go banging on people," Malone said. "We've always gotten along doing it the way we're doing it."

The coalition's reports show that it collected $14,600 between Oct. 16 and Nov. 18, all of which came from nine local unions. The biggest contributors were the laborers, firefighters, police and teachers unions, each of which gave $3,000.

The money was used for mailings, campaign signs and newspaper advertisements opposing Question 1, which proposed to cut the city budget by $40.7 million, or 25 percent.

The initiative was defeated 86 percent to 14 percent.

Despite the violations, OCPF spokesman Denis Kennedy said municipal clerks are given broad discretion to deal with campaign finance issues in local elections. For the state agency to take up a local matter, Malone would have had to send a warning letter to the coalition within 10 days after the filing deadline, and then forwarded the letter to OCPF.

Then, fines could be instituted.

But coalition spokesman John Newell said he was not aware of being sent any such letter from the clerk.

OCPF also takes up formal complaints, but Kennedy could not say whether one has been lodged.

Kim Elizabeth, a member of the Citizens for Taxpayer Justice, the group that sponsored Question 1, complained that the coalition has been given leeway because it supports governmental interests.

"I would just like the law enforced equally on both sides," she said.

The clerk's office sent her organization a letter the day after the September preliminary election reminding it to file on time, she said.

Newell denied the coalition has been deceptive. The forms were filed late because he had never done it before, he said.

"I was kind of overwhelmed with the paperwork involved," he said. "I filed one form that wasn't the right one. There was a lot of confusion," he said.

If the city was lenient, it was a simple courtesy, he said.

"I proved to them that I was working in good faith," he said, adding that he was in touch with OCPF "sometimes on a daily basis."

Now, he said, "Everything is in order, and my books, they're open -- anybody can look at them."

posted by prof_booty | 08:58 AM