| Request that the Board waive each of the $240 and $40 campaign finance late fees assessed against Steve Stokes, a candidate for Councilman at Large, City of Covington, Tangipahoa Parish, in the July 11, 202 election, whose 10-G and 40-G campaign finance disclosure reports were filed 6 and 1 days late, respectively. |
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Elizabeth Stokes, Treasurer for Steven Stokes, requests a waiver and states the following:
10-G: Although they had the paperwork in order, they failed to upload on the correct day because they misunderstood the filing dates for the runoff. This combined with the stress of her husband's job situation with COVID was very overwhelming for her and she simply didn't read the dates correctly. She knows that the Ethics office is very accessible to her questions, but it was a particularly difficult month for her and her family and it just slipped through the cracks. Once she received paperwork stating thatshe made mistakes on previous filings, she had to go back and rework all the paperwork to be resent, and this caused more time to pass before she could upload. 40-G: She made the mistake of thinking she needed her husband's signature before it was uploaded. He was out of town. She should have uploaded it on time. She just didn't want to upload an incomplete report. She is truly sorry for her poor understanding of this process and that the length of the campaign itself made the process even more confusing for her.
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ELECTION: July 11, 2020
TYPES OF REPORT: 10-G & 40-G
DAYS LATE: 6 & 1
ASSESSED FEE: $240 & $40
REPORTS DUE: August 5, 2020 and September 24, 2020
REPORTS FILED: August 11, 2020 and September 25, 2020
ACTIVITY REPORT:10-G: $1,250.00 in Receipts; $832.34 in Expenditures; $467.79
Funds on Hand at the Close of Reporting Period.
40-G: $2,069.10 in Receipts; $2,536.89 in 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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| Assigned Attorney: |
Charles Reeves |
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