01262015 - News Article - Dems file campaign fund complaint against Portage mayor

Dems file campaign fund complaint against Portage mayor
Post-Tribune
January 26, 2015
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/chi-ptb-dems-file-campaign-fund-complaint-against-portage-mayor-20150127-story.html

A formal complaint has been filed with the county election board against Portage Mayor James Snyder

The Porter County Democratic Party filed a formal complaint with the county’s election board Monday because Portage Mayor James Snyder, a Republican, did not file his 2014 annual campaign finance report on time.

The report was due at noon Wednesday.

Party chairman Jeff Chidester requested an emergency meeting be scheduled to discuss the matter.

While Snyder was not the only Republican to miss last week’s deadline, Chidester said the other people who didn’t file their reports ran in last year’s county elections, while Snyder is running for a second term as Portage mayor this year.

Chidester said he talked to David Bengs, president of the election board, who said Snyder’s campaign changed treasurers and needed more time to fill out the report, but there are no extensions for the filings.

Snyder could have filed the report and sent in an amended report later, Chidester said.


“I’m not going to nickel and dime it,” Chidester said, but the state sets the deadlines for the filings a year in advance. “If your treasurer has something happen, you have to file a report.”

Ken Taylor, Snyder’s new campaign treasurer and the Republican Party’s executive director, said he took over at the first of the year after Snyder’s treasurer resigned.

Taylor said he told Snyder the report would be filed late and contacted Bengs, who could not be reached for comment. Taylor also amended Snyder’s reports for 2011, 2012 and 2013. The one for 2011 has been filed and the other two will be in by early next week. He expects to file the 2014 report within the next two weeks.

“I wanted to make sure they were very accurate and correct,” Taylor said.

The FBI visited the county’s Voter Registration office in July, seeking copies of Snyder’s campaign finance reports from 2007, when he first ran for office, through 2013. Agents also sought reports from a political action committee from his run for mayor in 2011.

He called the complaint from Porter County Democrats political retribution for the Republicans’ complaint against the reports filed by Democrat David Reynolds, who successfully ran for sheriff.

Republicans asked for and received an emergency meeting over those reports. That meeting was scheduled within two days, and four days before the November general election.

The election board is made up of two Republicans, Bengs and Clerk Karen Martin, and one Democrat, J.J. Stankiewicz.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how quickly they call this meeting,” Chidester said.

The next regularly scheduled election board meeting is Feb. 13.