North Adams Candidate Misses Filing Deadline Second Time
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Mayoral candidate Robert R. Moulton Jr. is again being fined for failing to submit his campaign finance report on time.
The pre-election filing covering the period between Sept. 2 and Oct. 20 was due by midnight on Monday, Oct. 30. The report was filed on Nov. 1.
Candidates who fail to file campaign finance reports in a timely fashion are penalized $25 a day up to $5,000 and must pay with their own, not their campaign, money to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Moulton also missed the preliminary filing date of Sept. 11 by nearly two weeks and was penalized with a $300 fine. A second notice assessing the fine was sent on Oct. 12 with the warning it could be referred to a collection agency if not paid.
The first report was filed on Sept. 23, 12 days after the due date, and listed no contributions and no expenses.
The second required report filed on Wednesday had minimal information. He reported 14 contributions totaling $947, no unitemized contributions, and, so far, expenditures of only $199.56, both for Walmart for supplies for campaign events.
Of the contributions, 11 were from North Adams and three from Vermont, with the largest being $300 from his mother, Carolyn Moulton and the second largest $200 from Charles Jewett of Bennington, Vt.
The report was cited as amended "to add out of pocket expense" listed as $1,923.30 for printed materials and a web page through 180 Media of Pittsfield. The summary report, which does not calculate the out-of-pocket expenses, shows him with an ending balance on Oct. 20 of $747.44.
The other candidate in the race, Thomas Bernard, filed his report on Monday and showed receipts of $8,012 and expenditures of $5,591.57, for an ending balance of $10,883.59.
He had ended his first filing period on Sept. 1 with receipts of $11,630 and expenditures of $3,166.84 for an ending balance of $8,463.16
Bernard's largest expenditures in this filing was for printing and mailings, with $1,382.90 spent on postage alone. He also spent $600 for office rental on Ashland Street and another $600 for hosting and catering an event at the American Legion. Some $255 was spent on radio advertising and $324 for advertising on iBerkshires.com. Bernard's also made use of the Democracy Engine, a political donation site, expending nearly $200 on fees.
He had 74 direct donations during this time period and unitemized donations of $1,154. The largest donors were his stepfather, Thomas G. Bernard, and Bruce Jacobson of Florence at $1,000 each, and $500 from Joseph Finnegan of Williamstown.
The bulk of his donations to date are in the $50 to $100 range; nearly 60 percent of all donations are from North Adams, with another 15 percent from Williamstown and almost 17 percent coming from outside the Berkshires.
The two candidates will face off next Tuesday in the general election. This is the first time in 34 years that no incumbent is running for re-election.
Tags: campaign reports, campaign spending, election 2017, mayor,
