Appeals court throws out record $311,000 Florida campaign fine

[Judi Lynn]

Appeals court throws out record $311,000 Florida campaign fine

By Catherine Wilson
Associated Press Writer
Posted September 11 2003, 2:40 PM EDT

MIAMI -- An appeals court has erased a record $311,000 fine against state Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla and is urging the Legislature to develop a more workable system for reporting campaign contributions.

The Florida Elections Commission fined Diaz de la Portilla but cleared the Miami Republican of criminal charges for sloppy record-keeping during a six-week campaign in a 1999 special election that moved him from the state House to state Senate.

But the 3rd District Court of Appeal on Wednesday struck down all but 17 of 311 violations found by the commission and ordered his fine recalculated. The court also called on the Legislature to give ``more specific guidance'' to candidates on how closely they must track campaign money.

If the state wants candidates to do anything more than a cursory check of financial reports, the court said, ``A system needs to be devised which is workable given the time demands of a political campaign.'' (snip/...)

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-0911campaignfine,0,4679853.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

[kimchi]

1. Never, ever accept responsibility for your own actions.

snip

The state commission decided Diaz de la Portilla should have audited his treasurer's reports before filing them and found 287 violations on that issue alone. But Judge Gerald Cope wrote that the commission went beyond existing law on questions of candidate accountability and report reliability.

``Such an auditing requirement is nowhere stated,'' Cope wrote for a three-member panel. ``We fail to see how such an auditing or verification requirement would even be physically possible in the case of statewide races for governor.''....


Physically impossible to make sure the accounts jive. Now they're getting creative. Now good bookkeeping is a HANDICAP, it could hurt them. WTF?

snip..

``I think it very well could happen,'' she said. ``You always have to have somebody where the buck stops, but the reality is that in a campaign you pretty much have to trust someone who is doing the finances.''

In Diaz de la Portilla's case, his experienced treasurer hit the campaign trail and delegated the money chores to campaign workers who didn't follow instructions....


If all else fails, blame it on the stupid peons.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Judge must belong

to the same Rotary Club.

[mbperrin]

3. It's FLORIDA! You're not SUPPOSED

to count everything! Dang! Thought we settled all that a few years ago!