More than 40 candidates stiff ethics board

More than 40 candidates who have filed to run for City Council and other Philadelphia offices have failed to contact the City of Philadelphia Ethics Board to provide required information about their campaigns.

By law, candidates in Philadelphia have three days to contact the ethics board and provide information about their campaign committees, treasurers and banks they use for their campaign accounts.

Executive director Shane Creamer said the ethics board needs the information to ensure candidates obey the city’s campaign finance law.

“We need to be able to monitor their reports, and we may need to get bank records to verify certain contribution information,” Creamer said.

Creamer said candidates should also take advantage of free training sessions the board offers on how to comply with the law.

“We’ve held six trainings in the past three months. We’ve trained 75 people over those six sessions, and we have three more scheduled between now and the primary election,” Creamer said. “We encourage every campaign to have at least one person, preferably the treasurer, come to the training.”

The ethics board has written letters to candidates who’ve failed to provide required information. Those who don’t risk a fine of up to $1,000.