Ethics board watching Philly candidates

Dozens of candidates in Philadelphia are gearing up to run for City Council and other offices.

Most of them haven’t registered with the city’s ethics board.

Before the city’s campaign finance law was enacted in 2003, Philadelphia elections had no contribution limits, and there was little monitoring of required campaign-finance reports.

The campaign finance ordinance now limits contributions, restricts candidates to a single campaign committee, and requires electronic filing of finance reports with the ethics board.

Philadelphia Board of Ethics Director Shane Creamer said many candidates don’t realize they’re also required to register with the ethics board as soon as they publicly announce their decision to run for office.

“Within three days, you’re supposed to provide the ethics board with the name and address of your committee, the name and address of your treasurer and also the e-mail address of the treasurer,” Creamer said.

So far, fewer than half of the 80 declared candidates have filed with the board.

Those who don’t register risk fines of up to $1,000.

The board has already cited one council candidate for violating the election law.