Commission candidate fails to file election report

Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2004 | 9:55 a.m.

An unsuccessful candidate for Clark County Commission has failed to file his report of contributions and expenses for the 2004 election, and the failure may cost him thousands and get him in hot water with his boss.

Jerry Tao, a deputy district attorney, ran as the Democratic challenger to Republican Chip Maxfield in Maxfield's west side district. As of Tuesday, he had not filed the second financial disclosure report, which was due Oct. 25.

Although it is not unusual for local candidates to file late, the length of time since the Nov. 2 elections and the fact that Tao is an officer of the court have raised eyebrows.

District Attorney David Roger said his office is checking the manual of policies and procedures to see if Tao has violated any rules within the office. However, Roger noted that the secretary of state's office is responsible for policing violations of the elections laws.

Still, that doesn't get Tao, who did not return phone calls over the last week, off the hook.

"We expect our employees and especially our prosecutors to abide by the letter of the law," Roger said.

Clark County Elections Director Larry Lomax referred questions to the Secretary of State's office. Representatives of the office were not available for comment this morning.

According to the Secretary of State's Web site, candidates who failed to file their contributions and expenses form can be fined $25 a day for the first late week, $50 a day for the second week and $100 a day thereafter. Under that formula Tao would owe more than $2,500 to date.

The maximum civil penalty for failure to file is $5,000.

Maxfield, who filed a complaint with the Secretary of State in July for irregularities in Tao's first annual campaign finance report, said his former political opponent has an obligation to take the law seriously.

"I feel that as an officer of the court, as an attorney, he's supposed to know and uphold the law," Maxfield said. "You have to wonder why he hasn't filed."