Democrats File Complaint Over Stanzione's Campaign Finance Report

While Democrats question Republican Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione's latest campaign finance reporting, Stanzione said it's a mistake he is already taking steps to correct.

The Friends of Dominick Stanizione, the councilman's re-election campaign committee, filed a finance report by the July 11 cutoff that claimed "no activity" for the past six months. Stanzione was the treasurer for the committee.

The East Hampton Democratic Campaign Committee filed a formal complaint with the New York State Board of Elections on Monday. 

In a letter faxes to the enforcement division of the campaign finance unit in Albany, Christopher Kelley, the Democratic campaign chairman, claims Stanzione filed "a false campaign finance report." He pointed to four advertisements in The East Hampton Star and other local newspapers, as well as on East Hampton Patch.

"It is our understanding that both the expenditures for the ads and the source of the funds to pay for them are required to be disclosed in the periodic campaign finance report," he wrote. "Even if the ads were donated, they would have to be reported as contributions in-kind and the donors name disclosed."

By phone Monday afternoon, Stanzione acknowledged an issue with his latest finance report and said he paid for the ads with personal funds as a loan to his campaign, he said.

A professional treasurer, whom he recently hired, with the firm Campaigns Unlimited brought the problem to his attention about a week ago, he said, after reviewing the report. The firm is making the appropriate adjustments, he said.

"My bad. I'm not a campaign finance professional that's why I now have a professional handling the committee's filings and finances," Stanzione said, adding that he is no longer the treasurer. His campaign committee will reimburse him "several thousand dollars," he said.

Stanzione said the Democrats, which issued a statement on the matter on Monday, were merely throwing mud. "It's a political distraction — a desperate attempt to take total control of the East Hampton Town Board," he said.

Just last month, Stanzione defended allegations made in an ad from Democrats that he was untrustworthy.

Stanzione is the only incumbent seeking re-election. He is in the midst of finishing his first term on the board, and said that during his first campaign four years ago the Republican party helped manage campaign finances.

The Democratic ticket consists of Kathee Burke-Gonzalez and Job Potter are the Democrat's candidates for town board and Larry Cantwell for supervisor. There is no Republican candidate for supervisor.

Fred Overton is the Republican's second town board candidate. Both Overton and Stanzione have the Independence party endorsement, as does Cantwell.

The Democratic campaign committee also claims that some of Stanzione's ads do not include the words "Paid for by," as required by law. The print ads do include the name of the committee and its address.

"It might have been a typographical error for all I know," Stanzione said, adding, "I will take tighter control over the editing policy in the future."

Kelley, an attorney who previously served as the Democratic Committee chairman, said intentionally filing a false campaign finance report could led to a felony charge.