If Maryland State Board of Elections records are to be believed, about 175 individuals, businesses and other donors exceeded state campaign finance laws when they gave to gubernatorial campaigns during an eight-week period before the Nov. 7 general election.
But an Examiner analysis of about 2,300 pages of the complete records submitted by the campaigns, on file at the board?s Annapolis office, found serious misrepresentations in just how much a donor has given during the current four-year election cycle. The records make it appear that the campaign committees of Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich and his Democratic challenger, Baltimore Mayorand now Gov.-elect Martin O?Malley, accepted more than $315,000 in donations between August and Oct. 22 that violated Maryland?s contribution limits.
The real amount, based on Examiner analysis, is about $18,000 from about a dozen donors.
Ehrlich?s finance director said his campaign?s chief concern was to provide accurate information to the state about donors and making sure their contributions to the campaign followed state law.
“That?s what we spend all of our time and energy doing,” said John Reith.
The deceptive figures only appear on a written version of the campaign report, not the electronic Web page version.
The director of the candidacy and campaign finance division said there have been translation issues between state and campaign software resulting in campaign committees sending data that isn?t what the board requested.
“That?s their fault,” said Jared DeMarinis of the perceived excess contributions. “The final report there is what they gave to us.”
DeMarinis said an eventual audit would have caught these errors and asked the campaigns to amend the apparently faulty data. He said fewer people came to look at report printouts this election cycle than in the past, perhaps because of an improved Web site.
“Our ultimate goal is to make sure all of our data is available online as quickly and accurately as possible,” DeMarinis said.
With the board?s small staff, DeMarinis said, audits usually begin about 10 months after a report is filed. Media and government watchdog groups sometimes find irregularities before his staff can, he said.
“You guys are on top of it a lot quicker than we are,” DeMarinis said.
In regard to the amount given by a particular donor, reports submitted by the Ehrlich and O?Malley campaigns appear to combine donations made in two distinct four-year campaign cycles. The current cycle began on Jan. 1, 2003, and ends Dec. 31. Most individual and business donors are limited by Maryland law to giving no more than $4,000 to any single campaign and a total of $10,000 to all campaigns. Total donations for that four-year period for a particular donor should appear in an aggregate column on the campaigns? reports.
What The Examiner found was that aggregate amount often reflected donations made both during the current four-year cycle as well as the preceding cycle. As a result, more than 150 donors between the two campaigns appeared to have given more than state law allows.
At least one incident with unclear data at the board of elections has been blamed on computer communications between board and campaign software. Smaller campaigns are more likely to use software provided by the state to record their contributions, DeMarinis said. But larger campaigns such as Ehrlich?s and O?Malley?s often turn to private vendors to supply software, DeMarinis said, to handle what can end up being tens of thousands of contributions in a single year.
This year, the elections board collected five reports ? one annual and four during the primary and general election cycle ? from about 1,500 different campaign entities registered in Maryland. Under state code, the board of elections is mandated to “receive, and in its discretion audit, campaign finance reports.” DeMarinis said the volume of reports received by the board, especially during a year in which the office also conducts two major elections, means report audits generally come about 10 months after a report is filed.
“We?re still better than the FEC,” DeMarinis said of the Federal Elections Commission. “They?re going after the 2004 people right now.”
Maryland campaign finance basics
» Campaign contribution cycles are four years long. The current cycle began on Jan. 1, 2003, and will end on Dec. 31.
» During a four-year cycle, individuals may give no more than $4,000 to a single campaign and no more than $10,000 to all campaigns.
» Political action committees may give up to $6,000 in a four-year cycle to a single campaign but can give to an unlimited number of campaigns.
» Business donations depend on the nature of the business. Distinctly owned corporations have the same limits as individuals. Limited liability companies do not have donation caps.
? Erica Jacobson
