(Not) running a campaign is expensive business

Ask any candidate for public office what their biggest campaign concerns are, and you’re likely to find fundraising at the top of the list. You’d think, then, that a silver lining to being term-limited would be freedom from the constant pressure to fill campaign coffers.

Debi Brazzale / Colorado News Agency

Not so for Democratic state Rep. Jack Pommer, of Boulder, who for the second time in his final term in office faces thousands of dollars in fines related to his campaign finances. The problem? For whatever reason, Pommer’s campaign has been serially unable to file fundraising reports on time, leading to easily-avoidable but expensive $50-per-day fines. His current tab stands at $9,650 for late reports over the past year.

Last April, Pommer’s campaign committee owed nearly $20,000 in late fees and other penalties accumulated through that time. In an agreement with the Secretary of State’s office, the fines were cleared up with a lump-sum payment of $15,000.

According to data current through mid July, Pommer’s campaign account has a balance of $6,521.64, about $3,000 less than he currently owes.

Considering the committee is doing nothing but costing him money, Pommer would do well to take the unsolicited advice of Stephanie Cegielski, the conservative attorney who recently raised an alarm over the fines. In a letter to Pommer, Cegielski says since he isn’t running for office this year, the account should just be closed, doing away with the reporting requirements - and late fees - altogether. She says the habitually late reporting “reeks of impropriety.”

If so, any funny business doesn’t have to do with improper spending: the only outlay since April 2009 has been to pay the previous fine. Which of course raises the question, why keep it open in the first place? We’re guessing fines wasn’t what donors had in mind when writing their checks. The money would be better spent by a non-profit - many retiring politicos donate their leftover cash - than going down the memory hole of state government.

Calls to two of Rep. Pommer’s listed numbers were not returned.