WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- Political candidates in the United States have missed more than 900 filings with the Federal Election Commission since 2000, a review of documents indicated.
Fines imposed were slightly more than $2 million for Democratic, Republican and third-party candidates, the Roll Call review published Thursday indicated.
No party can claim the high ground, either. Democratic candidates missed 447 filings since 2000, netting more than $958,000 in fines. GOP candidates failed to file 449 reports and penalized just more than $1 million. Third-party candidates missed another 37 filings, collecting more than $53,000 in penalties.
Campaign watchdogs told Roll Call they have little sympathy for candidates who don't file their reports in a timely manner.
"There's no excuse for it," said Paul S. Ryan, a lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center who works on election law issues. "Refusing to file a report is blatant non-compliance, and it should be punished. How can the public trust these individuals to make huge budgetary decisions affecting public policy if they can't manage to file a fairly simple campaign finance disclosure report?"
The campaign committee for Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, didn't file more than 18 months' worth of its transactions to the Federal Election Commission, Roll Call's examination indicated. The nine finance reports were filed only after the FEC sent letters threatening an audit and to fine the campaign.
Some of the biggest fines were against campaigns that didn't file 48-hour reports detailing contributors who gave them $1,000 or more in donations, Roll Call said.
The study of campaign finance records indicated at least 680 campaigns failed to file more than 900 required filings since 2000. The FEC fined the campaigns more than $2 million.
