Stanley/Photo by Campaign
Some Amarillo voters have been asking questions regarding Amarillo City Councilman Cole Stanley’s latest campaign finance report and the fact that he reported no expenditures during the reporting period that ran through the end of April.
With this in mind, The Amarillo Pioneer reached out to Stanley for an explanation regarding this interesting statistic on his finance report.
According to Stanley’s finance report for his current mayoral campaign, the candidate raised $52,934 during the reporting period running from January 1st through March 28th. During that period, he reported no expenditures, despite already having an ongoing campaign operation.
So, why did Stanley have no expenditures? As it turns out, it’s due to state campaign finance rules.
As Stanley told the Pioneer, as of the close of books during the reporting period, he had not yet received a bill for the services rendered for his campaign. Stanley said his campaign’s primary consultant has been making arrangements for printing expenses, television ad time, web maintenance costs, and more. And his consultant had not yet billed him for any of these services, as of the March 28th deadline.
Stanley attributes this fact largely due to the good credit he has developed in the community with those he is working with, saying they know he will pay his bills on time, as soon as he receives the bill. Stanley went on to say expenditures on invoices received since that deadline will be reflected on his next finance report.
The reporting procedures being followed by the Stanley campaign are in-line with state election laws, which require candidates to report contributions, expenditures, and loans during a given reporting period. For bills received that have not yet been paid, the campaign must report “unpaid incurred obligations,” meaning essentially a bill payable for the campaign. However, under existing campaign finance law, if a bill has not been received for services rendered during the reporting period, it is not to be included during the reporting period and must be included on the finance report for whichever period the bill was received during.
According to the Texas Ethics Commission, two more reports will be required of candidates during the current calendar year for their campaign — an “8 Day Before Election” report, which covers campaign operations through April 26, and a July semiannual report, which covers operations from the April reports through the end of June.
For full campaign finance reports from the candidates for City Council, visit this link. For our breakdown of the finance reports for all mayoral candidates, click here. Our report on the finance reports for council candidates is coming soon.