Kenney campaign committee admits it missed filings, pays penalty

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney’s campaign committee has paid a $2,000 penalty to the city Ethics Board for missing campaign finance filings earlier this year.

As a candidate, Kenney promised to adhere to the ethics reforms imposed during Michael Nutter’s years as mayor, but his campaign has struggled a bit with the details.The committee was supposed to file reports detailing its fundraising and spending in March and again in April, because it had contributed to state candidates.Those reports would have disclosed spending for the mayor’s transition and inauguration, so it also had to file electronic copies with the Ethics Board.But the Kenney campaign failed to file either report until August, when campaign officials realized their error.”The campaign disclosed the late filings and fully cooperated with the Ethics Board,” Kenney campaign spokesman Marty O’Rourke said in a statement. “We agree with the board’s decision and welcome their continued guidance.”The Kenney campaign certainly isn’t the first to miss a required filing, and missing one in an off-year when the candidate isn’t on the ballot is less troubling than when the candidate is charging hard for office, raising and spending large sums.But every filing matters, and the mayor should be setting an example.Besides, the rules aren’t hard to follow.Years ago, campaign committees were a lot sloppier about filings, but the Ethics Board has been after non-filers for a while now, and campaigns with a lot fewer resources than the mayor manage to get their homework in.I asked Ethics Board Executive Director Shane Creamer about the rates of compliance for campaign committees these days.He said in 2015, a huge municipal election year, nearly 2,000 candidates and committees were required to file; 97 percent of them managed to do it, and do it on time.”After 10 years of enforcing the filing requirements and other rules under city law, people understand that they really have to pay attention to these deadlines and get their reports in on time,” he said.The Kenney committee violations could have cost the campaign penalties totaling $11,000, but the Ethics Board reduced the fine to $2,000 “in light of the committee’s remedial action and cooperation.”