According to documents obtained by Face the State, state Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, owes the state $19,750 for a series of five delinquent campaign finance reports. His fines continue to grow by $50 for each day he neglects to file his latest required paperwork.
Pommer, originally elected in 2002, is currently serving his fourth term in the state House of Representatives, where he sits on the powerful Joint Budget Committee and chairs the House Appropriations Committee. His delinquent campaign finance reports date back to 2006, when he ran for his third term.
Colorado Revised Statute 1-45-108-2 establishes guidelines to candidates on deadlines for filing reports. Campaign finance reports are due on a regular basis, either monthly or bi-weekly depending on how close the election is. If a report is delinquent, candidates or candidate committees are subject to a $50 per day fine that continues to accumulate until the report is filed or a settlement is reached with the Secretary of State.
Since 2006, Pommer and his registered agent David Kirk have filed at least five delinquent reports, one of which is still accumulating fines. The first is from a report that was due November 30, 2006 (PDF). The campaign committee was fined $1,150 and has since been sent to the state collections agency.
Fines continue to accumulate every calendar day until a delinquent report is filed. After such a report is filed, if it is, the Secretary of State sends an invoice for any fines to the candidate or candidate committee, and then has the discretion send the bill to state collections if it remains unpaid after 30 days.
Pommer had three delinquent reports in 2008, all of which have since been filed. The fines that accumulated have not been paid, however, and the invoices have been sent to state collections. The first was due January 15, 2008 (PDF), but because it was filed late, it will cost Pommer $9,400. The second was for a report due April 15, 2008, also filed late and for which
Pommer was penalized $4,850 (PDF). In addition, a report due July 15, 2008 was submitted late by Pommer's committee submitted a report late due July 15, 2008 late, a move costing him $300 (PDF). His total delinquency for 2008 is $14,550.
Pommer successfully ran for re-election in 2008, and has yet to file his report on contributions and expenditures due January 15, 2009 (PDF). He is currently being penalized $50 per day, and as of April 6, he owes $4,050 for this delinquency.
"Rep. Pommer has not paid any of the invoices for campaign finance violations," Secretary of State spokesman Rich Coolidge wrote Face the State in an email.
Scanned copies of all notifications sent to Pommer and his committee are available on the Secretary of State's Web site. Notifications of the fines were sent to his registered agent's address, Pommer's home address, and to his state issued e-mail account. According to the Secretary of State's records, many of the e-mail notifications were returned to the sender due to the fact that Pommer's e-mail box was full.
"It is important for candidates to stop the meter from running and file their reports on time so they don't have these fines in the future," said Coolidge. "Is this a common occurrence? No, but the Secretary does have the opportunity to waive these kinds of fines."
Pommer could appeal to the Secretary of State for a waiver to get out of paying his fines, all of which have since been sent to collections except his latest delinquency from January. The decision to waive Pommer's fees is completely at the discretion of the Secretary of State, Bernie Beuscher, D-Grand Junction, who was appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter, also a Democrat, in 2009.