Fines levied against McCollum campaign

MIAMI, June 24 (UPI) -- The 2004 U.S. Senate campaign of Florida Attorney Gen. Bill McCollum has paid a $50,000 fine for failing to report all spending in a Republican primary.

McCollum lost the September election to Mel Martinez, who went on to become a U.S. senator after the November general election. McCollum was then elected state attorney general in 2006.

Despite McCollum claims of office chaos caused by Hurricane Charlie, the Federal Elections Commission found ''probable cause'' that the campaign had violated federal election law by failing to file an accurate pre-election report 12 days before the highly-contested primary, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday.

''The feds looked at it and felt that we had made an error,'' said Matt Williams, McCollum's political adviser and 2004 campaign manager of an unreported $756,000 in expenditures. ``We felt that we had a compelling case, given it was an act of God. They didn't. We paid the fine.''