Tardy
The following is the over-long version of an item I wrote for tomorrow’s Inside Scoop column. You get it here early because, well, I like you and I can’t stick hyper-links in newsprint:
Rep. Earl Jones’ homework is late again. He has not filed his campaign finance reports for the third and fourth quarters of 2006. Those reports let other people know who funds a candidate’s campaign.
The State Board of Elections has chastised Jones on three prior occasions since 2001 for being late with paperwork. (11/25/2002; 7/3/2003; and (11/24/2004.)
Guilford County’s five other representatives and four senators all have their reports in on time.
Folks at the State Board of Elections tell me that not-so-gentle-reminders will be going out “very soon.”
While the fourth quarter report was only due recently, the third quarter form was due in October.
“I’m making amendments to a past report,” Jones said when I inquired. He went on to explain that he had a problem with his second quarter report, which could have affected his third and fourth quarters.
“If you have something that needs to be corrected it’s better to go ahead and take the time to do it,” Jones said.
Sure, but why so much time?
“I’m not an accountant,” Jones said. “I had other things I had to fit in the schedule.”
Like raising money and campaigning maybe?
The third quarter finance report was due 10 days before the election and tends to be a rich source of information, says Bob Hall, director of Democracy North Carolina, a group that lobbies for clean government. That’s because the legislative session usually ends during the summer and candidates spend August, September and early October kicking their fund raising into high gear.
“The public is best served by timely disclosure,” Hall said. “It does seem like there are other ways to address a previous error rather than not filing the reports on time.”
Comments (2)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
he is the type of person,that the people in Greensboro will elect to a public office.
Posted on January 30, 2007 8:28 AM
What else do you expect from a guy who refused to explain what happened to several hundred thousand in misapplied taxpayer's monies in the now defunct exempt organization he headed a few years back.
What's sad is that his constituency will return him to office year in and year out without questioning the lack of accountability that this character has demonstrated over the years.
Posted on January 30, 2007 7:59 PM