POLITICAL NOTEBOOK:

Official: Many candidates’ reports filed late, not at all

Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Carson City — The secretary of state has notified 30 candidates for office that they failed to submit campaign finance reports or filed them after the deadline.

Kristi Geiser, who oversees campaign reporting for the secretary of state’s office, said the candidates — who include 13 candidates for the District Court bench in Clark County — have two to three weeks to respond.

Among the Clark County candidates the office says failed to submit reports of campaign donations and expenditures are: Assemblywoman Francis Allen, R-Las Vegas; District Judge James Bixler; judicial candidates Mathew Harter, Donn Ianuzi, Pamela Lawson, Terrance Marren, Troy Peyton and Susan Scann; state Senate candidate Robert Zavala; and Assembly candidates Barry Clayton, Mark DeStefano, Ryan Fitzgibbons, Ernest Fitzpatrick, Aaron Hall, James Jones, Richard O’Dell and Don Woolbright.

They face initial fines of $4,575. The fines grow by $100 a day to a maximum of $5,000.

The Clark County candidates the secretary of state says were late filing their reports include: District Judges Jackie Glass, Jessie Walsh, Elizabeth Halverson and Kathy Hardcastle, district judge candidate John Jensen and state Senate candidate Brandon Casutt.

Those candidates face fines of $25 $50.

The deadline for filing the first campaign report was Aug. 5. The deadline for the second campaign finance report is Oct. 28 and the final report is due Jan. 15.

The candidates can pay the fines or appeal to Secretary of State Ross Miller.

If candidates don’t respond to the secretary of state notices they will be sent another letter giving them one to two weeks to act, Geiser said. Failure to respond to the second notice will result in the cases’ being turned over to the state attorney general’s office, which can file suit seeking the fines.

Geiser said the delinquencies are based on information provided by the counties.

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Republican Rep. Jon Porter will get a boost today when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns on his behalf in Boulder City.

Porter is facing a tough reelection challenge from Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers southern and eastern Clark County.

A three-term incumbent, Porter has been sidelined from the campaign trail by the $700 billion financial system bailout plan being negotiated in Washington. A House vote on the measure is set for Friday.

Romney’s visit is expected to rally Nevada Republicans, who favored him overwhelmingly in the state’s presidential caucus. (Sen. John McCain finished a distant third in the caucus, behind Texas Rep. Ron Paul.) It could also excite Southern Nevada’s Mormon community. The former governor is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Romney is scheduled to appear at the Boulder City High School Theater with Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, state Sen. Warren Hardy, Assemblyman Joe Hardy and Boulder City Mayor Roger Tobler. He drew about 1,000 people to the Henderson Convention Center last month while campaigning for McCain.

For Porter and McCain, tapping into existing campaign organizations is important as the district trends Democratic. Influential political analyst Stuart Rothenberg rated the race “Toss-Up/Tilt Democratic” this week.

According to the Clark County Election Department, Democrats now outnumber Republicans by 31,080 voters. The district was evenly split in 2006, when Porter won reelection by less than 4,000 votes.

Sun reporter Michael J. Mishak contributed to this story.