The Vermont Democratic Party and the Burlington Democratic Committee will pay a small fine to the state in settlement over campaign finance reporting violations.
The $2,750 settlement was announced Friday by the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. The Democrats were fined for failure to meet deadlines for campaign expense reports before the March 3 Town Meeting Day election for the Burlington City Council race.
The organizations’ finance reports were due on Feb. 2, Feb. 22 and March 17; none were filed.
The Attorney General’s Office received complaints about the violation in April, and notified both organizations on May 20.
The Burlington Democratic Committee filed reports to correct the error on June 19, and the Vermont Democratic Party filed reports Sept. 25.
The fines will be paid collectively as a civil penalty within 30 days.
Neither organization responded to requests for comment Friday afternoon.
Terje Anderson, the Vermont Democratic Party chair at the time, stepped down during the summer for health reasons. Anderson saw the party through the rather tumultuous departure of the party’s political director, Brandon Batham, who was accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from the organization for personal spending.
The party’s former communications director, R.C. Di Mezzo, departed shortly before August’s primary to work for the Lincoln Project, a group led by conservative strategists working to oust President Donald Trump.
Campaign finance violations are infrequent in Vermont. Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Dunne was ultimately cleared by the Attorney General’s Office last year over questions about how he repaid himself for a personal loan to his 2016 campaign.
The Vermont Democratic Party accused Scott Milne, this year’s Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, of violating election laws by airing commercials about his travel agency during campaign season. In a fact check report, VTDigger found the party’s claim about Milne to be false.
