| Request that the Board waive a $1,000 campaign finance late fee assessed against Raymond C. "Bubba" Harris, a candidate for Councilman /District 5, Livingston Parish, in the October 24, 2015 whose 30-P campaign finance disclosure report was filed 85 days late. |
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Patrick W. Dunn, on behalf of Raymond C. Harris, states that the 2015 election marked the first time Mr. Harris had come in contact with campaign financing rules and procedures and without any formal assistance from an established campaign committee or a qualified treasurer. For the 2015 election, Mr. Harris completed and submitted the 10-P report on October 13, 2015. After which, Mr. Harris was notified that he needed to amend his 10-P report because it was inclusive of all his expenditures for August and September which should have been submitted separately as a 30-P report.
Mr. Harris immediately communicated with the ethics support staff via telephone and made the necessary corrections and returned the amended report. Mr Harris is appealing the late fee in hopes it can be waived as he made a good faith effort to comply with all deadlines in a difficult and unfamiliar process he undertook on his own. In the alternative, he hopes the late fee can be reduced in light of the fact that information for the 30-P Candidate Report had been reported in the 10-P Candidate Report supplied on October 13, 2015. Mr. Harris has never had any campaign contributions to report and was only reporting expenditures that were made from his personal funds.
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ELECTION: October 24, 2015
TYPES OF REPORT: 30-P
DAYS LATE: 85
ASSESSED FEE: $1,000
REPORTS DUE: September 24, 2015
REPORTS FILED: December 18, 2015
ACTIVITY REPORT: $2,889.75 Receipts (Personal Funds); $2,889.75 Expenditures; $-0 Funds on Hand at the Close of Reporting Period.
OTHER LATE FILINGS: NONE
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18:1505.4.A(1) Any candidate, the treasurer or chairman of a political committee, or any other person required to file any reports under this Chapter, who knowingly fails to file or who knowingly fails to timely file any such reports as are required by this Chapter may be assessed a civil penalty for each day until such report is filed.
18:1495.4D(1) If the final report of a candidate for an election, as required by Paragraph (5), (6), or (7)of Subsection B of this Section, shows a deficit or a surplus, the candidate and his treasurer, if any, shall file supplemental reports with the supervisory committee of all information required in R.S. 18:1495.5. Such reports shall be filed annually no later than February fifteenth and shall be complete through the preceding December thirty-first. Such a supplemental report shall be filed each year until a report has been filed which shows no deficit and until any surplus campaign funds have been disposed of in accordance with R.S. 18:1505.2(I). The report on surplus funds shall disclose the disbursement of such funds in the same manner as expenditures are reported.
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Suspend all but $760 based on future compliance. The late fee must be paid within 30 days or the suspended portion becomes due and owing.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Jennifer Land |
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