PRINCETON: Mayor’s finance reports show contributions

By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
   Princeton Borough Mayor Yina Moore received $975 in campaign contributions, according to her 20-day post-election reports filed last month.
   Her largest contributor was Bonnie Watson Coleman for Assembly, of Trenton, with a $500 donation. The next largest donation was from Bernadine Hines of Princeton for $100. Other miscellaneous contributions of $300 or less amounted to $375.
   Mayor Moore lists $1,729.19 in expenditures, mostly for staff food and office supplies. The largest disbursement listed among the 25 claimed was $270.66 to FedEx for yard sign printing.
   She filed the report on Jan. 18.
   ”Most candidates are trying to abide by the law, but some may slip up for various reasons,” said Joseph Donahue, deputy director at ELEC. “It’s a largely self-enforcing law, but if you don’t comply, you could face financial penalties. Our main mission is disclosure so the public knows where the money comes from that candidates raise and how it is spent.”
   Ms. Moore said the filing deadline “slipped through the cracks” during the holidays.
   Fines can be up to $6,800 per transaction, or each contribution and expenditure that is not disclosed, said Mr. Donahue.
   ”It’s rare we punch it up to that level, it’s a hammer,” he said. “It’s rare we’ve had to use it. Our largest fine was $255,000, but that’s rare, you’re not going to get to that level often.”
   It was imposed on the Democratic State Committee in 2006 for failure to disclose certain information; the Republicans were fined in the same year as well.
   There are 28 fineable disclosures on the forms, if Mayor Moore is fined at all.
   ”If they actually file and disclose, that’s the main mission,” said Mr. Donahue. “That’s a mitigating factor (for determining any penalty).”
   The report was due Nov. 28, 2011, 20 days after Election Day.
   Penalties, which are issued as a complaint with due process rights, will be listed on the ELEC website.