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LISBON – Former Columbiana County auditor candidate Brandon Kovach has finally filed corrected campaign finance reports and avoided having the matter referred to the Ohio Elections Commission.
Mark Guy, who is in charge of campaign finance reports for the county elections board, said Kovach came to the office on April 1 to work with him on his reports, and Guy said they are correct, but one or two possible additions may need to be made.
The elections board sent Kovach a series of letters and emails following the November 2014 election advising him his initial pre-election report was filled out incorrectly and was incomplete. Kovach ran for county auditor, losing to incumbent Nancy Milliken.
Kovach filed an amended report in mid December but this one was also flagged by Guy because it failed to fully comply with reporting requirements. This resulted in a second letter mailed on Jan. 21 advising Kovach he needed to file another amended report to correct the deficiencies in the pre- and post-election reports.
After not hearing back from Kovach for nearly two months, the election board took the unusual step of sending him a certified letter dated March 9, telling him he had until the end of the month to comply with state campaign finance reporting requirements, or the matter would be referred to the elections commission.
According to Kovach’s amended reports, he received $2,135 in contributions and spent $1,760. Milliken reported spending a combined $6,633.
Kovach’s contributions included $810 generated by a shotgun and rifle raffle held on Sept. 1 that had previously gone unreported. There is no mention in the reports of how he acquired the firearms for the raffle, whether they were purchased or donated. Either way, the weapons would have to be listed in the report. The only listed expenditure related to the raffle is $96 spent on campaign cards.
Guy said the only other possible outstanding issue needing resolved is a $177 charge by Facebook being disputed by Kovach, who is in talks with Facebook to resolve the matter.
Kovach is now in substantial compliance and the matter will no longer be referred to the elections commission as long as he continues to work to correct the problems.
“We’re not picking on him or singling him out,” said elections board director Adam Booth. “We are handling this the same as we would any campaign filing, but we’ve never had anybody drag it out like this.”