State board fines local PACs

By Hannah Wever
Review Staff Writer
Published: July 31, 2008

By Hannah Wever
Review Staff Writer

The State Board of Elections has determined that two local political action committees (PACs) must pay fines for campaign violations related to last November’s general election.
The board voted to assess civil penalties in the amount of $4,200 against the Orange County Taxpayers Alliance (OCTA), and $4,600 against the Orange County Citizens Committee (O3C) at a meeting earlier this month.
In May 2008, an investigation conducted by the state police determined the two PACs had violated state election law last November, according to Orange County Commonwealth’s Attorney Diana Wheeler. The investigation concluded that during the 2007 general election (in which all five of the county’s constitutional officers and three seats on the board of supervisors were eligible for election) expenditures authorized by the OCTA and the O3C were not reported to the local electoral board.
District 2 Supervisor Zack Burkett and his wife, Marcia Landau, are co-founders and officers of the OCTA; Jack Snyder is treasurer of O3C. Both PACs are represented by Harrisonburg-based attorney John Elledge.
According to Wheeler, candidates have a duty to report money that is contributed to a campaign as well as money that is spent. If the local electoral board becomes aware of a discrepancy, the matter is reported to the commonwealth’s attorney.
“State law requires all independent expenditures made in support of, or in opposition to a candidate for local office to be reported to the local electoral board within 24 hours of the time when the funds where expended,“ Wheeler explained. Those expenditures were made on behalf of District 2 Board of Supervisors candidate Zack Burkett and District 3 Board candidate Steve Satterfield, she added.
In the investigation report, Landau admitted she posted information on websites titled goodwinforsupervisor.com and gravesforsupervisor.com. Further, she acknowledged in that report that she omitted the information required for political advertisements. 
Those websites, now defunct, featured unflattering photos and negative and damning personal and professional information about Graves, who lost the bid for re-election, and Goodwin, who won the District 3 Board seat. 
While they were still up, those sites claimed to be authorized by those candidates, but were not-and that’s against the law. Any person (or group) who funds and endorses an affronting media ad or announcement is required by law to claim it, according to Wheeler.
The $4,200 in fines levied against OCTA resulted from not including disclaimers on the websites, political advertisements for Satterfield and on two occasions, failing to report expenditures exceeding $500 within 24 hours.
Fines against O3C totaling $4,600 were for similar violations: insufficient disclaimers on advertisements for Burkett and Orange County School Board candidate Delores Darnell, and for failing to report campaign expenditures exceeding $500 within 24 hours in two instances.
Elledge said his clients concede liability to some of the board of election’s fines, “There are other portions that we believe are overcharged.“
Fines related to political advertisements assessed at $1,000 were unfairly levied, he added, and should have been $500.
“We do not concede liability for claims that we did not post disclaimers on two particular websites,“ Elledge said. “Those websites aren’t the subject of independent expenditures. They don’t express advertisement for election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate.“
According to his-and his clients’-interpretation of Virginia law, Elledge said, disclaimers were not required. “We believe that we were entirely okay not posting a disclaimer,“ he explained.
There is a possibility Elledge will appeal his clients’ fines but in the long run, it may ultimately be less costly not to appeal the state board of elections’ decisions.
“There’s a strong feeling that we should prove our point on this,“ Elledge said. “It will cost more to litigate than to simply suck it up and pay the fine.“