03112015 - News Article - New Snyder campaign complaint on panel's radar

New Snyder campaign complaint on panel's radar
By Amy Lavalley
Post-Tribune
March 11, 2015
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-porter-election-complaint-st-0312-20150311-story.html

VALPARAISO – Portage Mayor James Snyder raised the ire of the Porter County Democratic Party when he missed the deadline to file his campaign finance reports in January.

Now that those forms are in, the Democratic Party has filed a formal complaint with the county's election board, noting that Snyder, a Republican seeking his second term this year, accepted more money than he should have from contributors, and four of those contributors share an address.

"They are attacking businesses that are supporting James to cut finances for his upcoming campaign," said Kenard Taylor, who took over as the treasurer for Snyder's campaign at the start of the year. Taylor also is executive director of the county's Republican Party.

Jeff Chidester, chair of the county's Democratic Party, disputed that charge.

"This is about transparency and ethics," he said.

State statute limits contributions from a single corporation to $2,000 in an election cycle. Snyder is in the process of returning any excess donations that were over the limit, said Taylor, who also amended four years of Snyder's campaign finance reports when he took over the campaign's finances.

"We documented in the report that we are in the process of returning excess funds," he said, adding corporate donors don't always know what the state limits on donations are.

The FBI paid a visit to 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. They also sought reports from a political action committee from his run for mayor in 2011.

According to the Democratic Party's complaint, four businesses share an address at 1201 Marine View Drive in Portage, including Rediehs Freightliner; Chief Freightliners; Combined Steel Carriers; and Combined Transport Systems. The contributions between the four total $10,400.

As far as Snyder's campaign understands it, all four of the businesses are separate corporations.

"It's not the campaign's responsibility to determine if they are different corporations or not," Taylor said, adding that job belongs to the election board.

Chidester wants clarification about the separate nature of the companies sharing the same address, and questioned how Snyder can return any excess funds when, according to his 2014 annual campaign fund report, the campaign has $621.45 on hand. The report states that Snyder raised $140,902.61 last year.