SEEC Issues Third Fine Related to 2017 Campaign

In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Joseph Angland, the chairman of the Democratic Town Committee (DTC), confirmed that the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) has accepted a consent agreement regarding campaign finance violations by five current Democratic members of the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) relating to their 2017 campaigns.

The BET is responsible for the proper administration of the financial affairs of the Town.

This is the third such consent agreement fine issued by the SEEC relating to how Democrats paid for their successful 2017 effort to take over the BET. The effort in 2017 shifted leadership positions and gave tie-breaking authority to Democrats for the first time in town history.

The SEEC determined the following, outlined in the consent agreement with Tony Turner:

“Given that six members of each major party were guaranteed seats on the Board, all six Democrats running for the office were effectively running unopposed.

But the outcome of the election did carry some weight: the party that received more votes would lead the Board of Estimate and Taxation (“BET”) and would have a controlling vote on the board. The Charter of the Town of Greenwich directs that the ‘chairman and vice-chairman of the Board shall be chosen from those members of the Board who belong to the political party receiving the greatest number of votes cast for all the candidates of any one political party for members of the Board of Estimate and Taxation at the last Town election.’ In the case of a tie vote on action of the Board, the BET’s chairperson has an extra vote to break the tie.”

In order to win leadership roles, the entire slate of Democrats needed to receive the most total votes. In order to achieve this goal, according to the SEEC, Tony Turner’s People First Committee spent $343,500.

Stratford resident Mark Miller, who served as the campaign’s treasurer, was ordered to pay “a civil penalty of $15,000 for violations of General Statutes that he committed over the course of the 2017 election cycle.”

Ultimately, campaign treasurers are legally responsible for the proper financing and reporting of their committees.

In a somewhat unusual step by the SEEC, six candidates were fined in addition to the treasurer. On August 2, 2019, Tony Turner was ordered to pay “a civil penalty of $52,000 for violations in the course of the 2017 election cycle.”

This week, Angland confirmed that a third consent agreement – the details of which have not yet been released – ordered Jill Oberlander, Leslie Moriarty, Jeff Ramer, Beth Krumeich, and David Weisbrod to pay $1,000 each, bringing the penalties in relation to the 2017 campaign to $72,000 in total, one of the largest in Connecticut history.

The full SEEC consent agreements can be found by clicking here https://seec.ct.gov/Portal/CommDecisions/CD2018 and reviewing File No. 2018-008 and File No. 2018-008A

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