Conlosh owes up to $30,000 in late filing fees

Torus Tammer

FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- Councilman Chuck Conlosh may owe as much as $30,000

in late fees as a result of delinquent campaign statement filings -- some

of which date back to 1997.

City records show Conlosh, who is up for reelection next month, has

not filed several campaign statements from his unsuccessful 1998 bid for

the state Assembly, as well as from 1997 after he was elected to City

Council.

In an Aug. 24 letter to Conlosh from the city clerk’s office, the

councilman was informed that he had two weeks to file the necessary

paperwork. On Sept. 12, the clerk’s office then notified Conlosh’s

campaign treasurer, David Gould, about the delinquent filings. At that

time, a verbal agreement was made to have all late filings submitted by

Sept. 26, Gould said.

By Oct. 4, only half of the campaign statements had been filed. Again,

the city sent another letter to Conlosh requesting that all outstanding

documents -- one by Monday and the remaining three by today.

As of Wednesday, those documents were not filed.

But Gould said the city clerk’s office has the obligation to notify

the person when a report is due and when a report was not filed. He added

that he believes Conlosh, who could not be reached for comment, was

delinquent only until recently because he didn’t know about it.

Gould said it’s hard to file a report that is three years old on short

notice.

“We have make to sure everything is accurate before we file,” he said.

The Fair Political Practices Commission, the governing body that has

the final say in enforcing campaign laws, said anyone who files a

statement or report late is liable for $10 a day until it is filed.

The state’s Political Reform Act of 1974 puts a cap on funds raised or

spent during an election period. For each delinquent filing, Conlosh

cannot be fined more than what he had raised, the act states.