A sharp-eyed citizen who, like me, loves political irony sent me this screenshot of a transaction filed by the Salem Chamber of Commerce's Create Jobs PAC. This is public information available by searching the Secretary of State's ORESTAR system.
As noted in red, on January 18, 2017 the Create Jobs PAC filed a transaction report about a $60 payment to the Secretary of State for penalties assessed against the Create Jobs PAC for late filings. These penalties totaled $4575.05, as reported in a February 7 Statesman Journal story, "Chamber of Commerce-backed PAC hit with campaign finance violations."
A political action committee backed by the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce has been fined thousands of dollars by the state for breaking campaign finance rules, though the committee has since paid those penalties off.
The Create Jobs PAC has been fined more than $4,000 for often filing its records improperly and late. The similar Build Jobs PAC has been cited, too. It hasn't had to pay, because its fines all fall under a $50 threshold an Oregon Secretary of State spokesman says "the elections division does not process."
The delicious irony comes from the fact that the due date for reporting the $60 check that was written on December 12, 2016 was thirty days later, January 11, 2017. But the Create Jobs PAC transaction was posted on ORESTAR on January 18, a week late.
So the Chamber's Create Jobs PAC was late on filing a penalty payment assessed by the Secretary of State for making late filings. Lovely irony!
Comments