GOP campaign filing glitch resolved

DES MOINES - The Republican Party of Iowa could face sanction from the state Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board for failing to meet Monday's deadline for providing complete fundraising and expenditure activities for the period from mid-July to mid-October.

Republican Party of Iowa chairman Jeff Kaufmann said the party's private information technology provider experienced a problem downloading data on cash contributions into the state's computer system.

The problem got down to the state electronic filing system not recognizing dollar signs and rejecting the GOP submissions, he said, 'and it took awhile for them to figure that out.”

The result was the contribution data could not get entered, so the report on file Friday morning indicated the party raised no money during the latest reporting period and was nearly $2.8 million in the red.

'They're having problems, obviously,” ethics board executive director Megan Tooker said.

Tooker said she had authorized her agency's outside IT vendor to work with party officials to enter their data into the state's electronic filing system. By Friday afternoon, the amended report showed $3 million in cash contributions for the latest reporting period, $2.9 million in expenditures and $267,656 in cash on hand.

'Once I knew (there was a data entry problem), we contacted campaign and ethics (before the filing deadline), and they understood that we weren't trying to pull something,” said Kaufmann, who attributed the problems to a technical glitch. 'Everything has been uploaded,” he said Friday afternoon.

Tooker said she had not encountered a similar situation in her time with the board, and the delay would be discussed at a future meeting to decide whether any remedial response would be appropriate. State law requires timely reports that are true and accurate.

'Our board will have to be talking about this and what the repercussions are,” she said. The board has the discretion to take no action, issue a letter of reprimand or impose a civil penalty of up to $2,000 for violation of state campaign finance disclosure rules.

The Iowa Democratic Party's report for the Oct. 19 filing period showed $4 million in contributions and spending totaling $3.5 million. The party had $1.1 million in cash on hand and $281,000 in outstanding loans.