5 things to know about Butler County GOP’s campaign finance reports

The Butler County Republican Party has pledged to fix the campaign finance issues in three of its financial reports filed in 2016.

Butler County Democratic Party leaders doubt the group will be able to accomplish it, but the GOP has already been in touch with the Ohio Secretary of State’s office about the issues. The party has not yet contacted the Federal Elections Commission, but officials say that’s not unusual.

FIRST REPORT: Butler County GOP records flawed, audit shows

Here are five things to know about the GOP’s miscues in its financial statements:

1. State law requires names of any donor to a political party be known, and anonymous donations may not be accepted. The Butler County GOP accepted more than $43,000 in donations in 2016's pre- and post-general election reports.

According to the Butler County Board of Election’s audit, “Contributors may not remain anonymous by request … (and) if an anonymous contribution is received, the campaign committee must make an effort to identify the donor.”

Any unsuccessful attempt to identify the donor must be fully detailed and explained, including the circumstances that caused the donation to be anonymous.

2. State law says only cash donations of $100 or less may be made to a campaign committee. The Butler County accepted $3,000 in cash donations from 10 donors, according to the report and elections office audit.

If those donations were cash, including a $1,400 donation, $2,000 must be refunded to those donors.

There were more a dozen “anonymous” donors and 80 people identified by either a first name, last name or a first initial and last name.

MORE: Butler County Democrats call Republicans to task on messy bookkeeping

3. Because the Butler County Republican Party has an active state candidates fund, the $3,222.90 it spent on the 51st and 53rd Ohio House District races in support of their endorsed candidates should have been spent there. It was not, according to a review of the state reports.

The Ohio Secretary of State officials said the GOP verbally notified them of the issue, but has not filed any formal notice.

"They are working to get this all clarified and corrected," said Matt McClellan. "They're trying to be proactive to fix it."

State law says in counties with more than 150,000 residents are required to establish a state candidates fund if they plan to support statewide candidates.

Ohio Elections Commission Executive Director, and staff attorney, Phillip Richter said this would not be a cut-and-dry case if a complaint was brought forward. “There’s a variety of things that would come into play,” he said.

That includes, if this is a first violation and if they are actively working to correct any issues.

4. Federal election law requires any spending of more than $5,000 or contributions of more than $1,000 to be reported to the Federal Elections Commission.

The party spent more than $84,000 in support of the campaign by opening county-operated offices and Facebook advertisements, and donated $1,000.

FEC spokeswoman Judith Ingram said there’s nothing on the public record on the GOP attempting to correct the reporting issues yet. However, she said, “It’s possible that a committee could contact the commission for guidance and that would not end up on the public record unless it later files a report or is involved in an enforcement action.”

Any enforcement action would not be public until it’s resolved, Ingram said.

5. For the 2016 post-primary and pre- and post-general election reports, the total number of contributions reported were different from the totals calculated in the elections office's audit.

The GOP reported nearly $5,200 less than what the audit calculated in its post-primary report. However, the party reported more than $10,500 and $32,880 more than what the audit calculated in its pre- and post-general election reports.

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