Newport City Councilman David Carlin III, who is running unopposed for reelection in the city’s third ward, has apparently dodged efforts by the state Board of Elections to collect more than $2,500 in campaign fines, resulting in the Board referring the case to the Central Collections Unit at the Revenue Department, according to Richard Thornton, director of Campaign Finance at the Board of Elections.
Since that filing with the Collections Unit, Thornton said Carlin has accumulated another $1,232 in fines. Thornton said the Board of Elections has reached out to Carlin several times.
Carlin was fined for something labeled as “other” on his campaign finance report in September 2019, and for late filings for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2023, and first quarter of 2024. He has since filed the late reports on June 26 this year.
Currently, Carlin’s campaign finance report shows a zero balance, with liabilities of $52,817, of which $50,498 are unpaid loans, accumulated over a political career dating back to 2004, with runs for state Representative, School Committee and Council. He has served on the School Committee, and now is on the Council.
What’sUpNewp has reached out to Carlin for comment, but he has so far not responded.
His case is representative of longstanding efforts by the Elections Board to collect fines for candidates’ failure to file campaign finance reports or filing late. Under the board’s system, candidates are fined $25 for missing or filing late reports, and that fine accumulates at the rate of $2 per day for each missing or late report. In many cases, the fines accumulate to thousands of dollars.
Several years ago, cases were brought to the Superior Court, and Thornton said Superior Court judges deemed some fines “disproportional,” reducing the fines considerably.
Over time those fines have reached over $5 million, with the largest individual fine now $643,614, owed by Patrick McDonald, former state Senate candidate. The fines have been accumulating for 20 years.
Frustration over the inability to collect the fines resulted in the Board of Elections adopting a regulation several months ago that gave the board considerable flexibility, allowing it to reduce fines it deemed as “disproportional” to a “manageable level.” Several factors are considered, Thornton said.,
Since implementing the new regulation, however, the Board of Elections has only heard two cases, and no longer posts the aging finance reports publicly, including past reports.
Thornton said the campaign finance division has only three employees, and during this political season, is dealing with some 900 candidates.
He said the two cases the board has considered had dramatically different outcomes.
Lacy McGrievy, a 2003 North Kingstown School Committee candidate did not file any reports, Thornton said, and her fines have accumulated to $4,704. On June 12, Thornton said, the board upheld the fine, after what he said were “extraordinary attempts to get her to comply.”
The other case involved Daniel Grzych, who ran unsuccessfully several times in state and local elections between 2002 and 2014. His fine was reduced from $72,000 to $6,600, Thornton said. The case had gone to Superior Court and the Boad of Elections had a lien on Grzych’s property, which Thornton said has now been resolved.
While the old fines have been a considerable challenge, Thornton said the board is doing much better job of managing lower level fines.
Several years ago, then Gov. Gina Raimondo proposed legislation that would have prevented someone from running for office if they had elections’ fines over a certain amount. That proposed legislation was never introduced by legislators.
