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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that more than 70 companies and political action committees have failed to meet a state deadline to report about $150,000 in campaign contributions.
The review by the newspaper compared candidates' financial disclosure forms with those of companies and political action committees.
State law says a political action committee's failure to disclose their campaign contributions constitutes a class B misdemeanor and that the lieutenant governor must report them to the state attorney general. Corporations can be prosecuted for a misdemeanor, too, but must first be given notice by the lieutenant governor with 14 days to comply.
The Tribune review only counts money spent by those organizations that filed no report. Thousands more may be going unreported because the state elections office is not reviewing political action committee and corporation pre-election reports for accuracy by cross-checking them with candidate reports.
The list of potential violators includes the Utah Mortgage Lenders Association, Planned Parenthood, the Boyer Co., Utah's Major League Soccer franchise Real Salt Lake and political pollster Dan Jones & Associates, according to state records.
Political candidates are required to file disclosure reports on September 15th, seven days before the election and in January.
Corporations and political action committees are only required to file disclosures at those deadlines after raising or spending at least 750 dollars.
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune,
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
