Editorial: Attention all candidates

Friday, April 16, 2004 | 8:51 a.m.

Republican Assemblyman Chad Christensen of Las Vegas, still in his first term, was slapped with a $4,500 fine this week for failing to properly account for his campaign finances. In imposing the fine, Secretary of State Dean Heller said he felt it was important to show to Christensen and other candidates "the need to follow this state's election law."

With election season coming up, we hope candidates learn the lesson. Christensen is by no means alone in having filed bewildering campaign finance reports. Each election season, candidates who proclaim they are qualified to help fashion budgets that range from the millions to the billions demonstrate that they cannot even properly manage the few thousand they receive in campaign donations.

Christensen excused his accounting errors, saying they were "mistakes that anyone could make." He also resorted to what we've heard many times before, the excuse that a campaign staff member was largely responsible. He also remarked about how complicated the forms are. In our view, anyone running for public office should know how, or learn how, to document donations and expenditures and list accurate fund balances. We're glad to see that Heller did not accept Christensen's excuses for failing in this responsibility to the public.

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