New York State has recently begun to require political campaigns to file their financial statements electronically. It's not a great system, with problems like Windows-only software that is apparently less than fun to use, but it does mean that anyone who'd like can look up campaign finance statements online - if they're filed. The only way you don't file is if your campaign has neither raised nor spent $1000.
If you enter "Dryden", you'll get the statements for the Town of Dryden Democratic Committee and for the Town of Dryden Republican Committee. You can explore in some detail what's come in, both in annual filings and in specific 32-day and 11-day before the election reports. You can find similar information for the Leifer 2007 campaign for Town Justice.
I can't, however, find anything at all for Chris Clauson's campaign for Town Justice. The many signs, glossy brochures, glossy lit drop piece, office in the Village of Dryden, and participation in a television commercial seem like they must have cost something well over $1000, and even "in kind" contributions have to be recorded. Town Justice campaigns also have to have finances separate from the party committee, and the candidate shouldn't know who has donated.
Filing a complaint with the Board of Elections is a long slow process that will only get decided long after the election, but I have to say that this lack of basic filing is just plain strange. Am I missing something?
Posted by simon at November 3, 2007 5:36 PM in politics (local)