Getting fined $50 for violating a campaign law isn’t much of a penalty for most candidates or committees promoting a ballot measure.

But letting that fine build daily for months or years can be like an albatross around the neck.

Or not.

Candidates for state offices who violate the Fair Campaign Practices Act and don’t pay the fines can have a collection agency sicced on them, while those in county, city and school elections never have to pay up.

The inequity arises from the fact that counties, unlike the state, do not have clear authority under the Fair Campaign Practices Act to collect the fines, El Paso County election manager Liz Olson said.

“The fact is the Colorado Constitution addresses the fact that we must levy the fines but is silent on the collection of those fines,” she said in an e-mail.

If the county could collect, David Stark, a Falcon School District 49 board member, would be in a pickle.

As of last week, Stark owed $59,650 in fines for failing to file three annual campaign-finance reports after his 2005 election.”It certainly would discourage me from doing volunteer work anymore,” he said of being forced to pay. “I’d be destitute. I don’t have that kind of money.”

For years, counties simply looked the other way and didn’t try to collect penalties for campaign-law violations.

But after learning last week that the Secretary of State’s Office pursues politicians and committees using a collection agency, El Paso County officials are considering their options, Olson said.

At the least, the county is interested in getting the law changed to give county officials enforcement powers or bar candidates who don’t pay from seeking office.

Campaign laws require candidates and committees to file finance reports showing who finances their campaigns and how they spend the money.

The idea is to force them to disclose to the public who’s behind an issue or candidate. The act carries a fine of $50 per day for every day a report is late.

The Secretary of State’s Office has been collecting fines for years, said spokesman Richard Coolidge.

“We let (candidates) know there is a fine and they need to pay it,” he said. “But at the same time, (the law) also says a fine cannot prevent someone from taking office.”

Coolidge estimated the number of outstanding penalties at nearly 1,000 but said some have to be written off because collectors can’t locate the necessary people, such as the person listed as the registered agent for an issue committee.

Coolidge said that for the fiscal year starting July 1, the Secretary of State’s Office submitted roughly $45,000 in campaign finance fines to the state’s collections agency. Since that time, $4,795 has been collected and $3,750 has been waived.

That’s not much, considering some penalties reach six figures.

Rural PAC of Greenwood Village, formed “to encourage protection of the Democratic system of government and the free enterprise system,” owes $116,350 for filing some reports nearly three years late. According to a Nov. 30 report, the committee has $2,351 cash on hand.

Rep. Jack Pommer, a Boulder Democrat representing House District 11, filed two campaign finance reports late in 2008. One was 97 days late, resulting in a fine of $4,850, while the other was 188 days late, drawing a $9,400 fine. His campaign has $11,471, according to a September report.

In El Paso County, amounts owed by several committees were wiped clean after a change in the law that allowed candidates and committees to seek waivers of penalties.

The fines were resolved, Olson said, because all of the committees that owed money had filed the necessary reports and been terminated, which, she said, complied with the spirit of the law.

The current list of sanctions contains four candidates, among them Stark, who owes nearly 50 times the $1,200 he spent to get elected.

A defense contractor, Stark said he’s out of town frequently and hasn’t had a chance to address the issue and didn’t receive notices until recently that he owes the money.

The Clerk’s Office said notices were sent the past three years.

He said he recently met with county officials to assure them his committee was shut down within six months of his election. He hopes the fines will be waived.

“I never ran for anything before,” he said. “We don’t get classes of what you’ve got to do.”

But El Paso County Commissioner Amy Lathen, who owes $350, said ignorance isn’t an excuse.

“We goofed and we have to pay it,” Lathen said. “Even though there’s no enforcement, we know the rules going in and we need to follow them.”

She said it’s appropriate that penalties are imposed. “It’s a serious process,” she said. “People want to know who’s supporting you.”

Olson said candidates and committees can ask the clerk and recorder to waive fines by filing a request within 30 days of receiving notice they’ve violated the act.

They must state “good cause” for the violation, Olson said, which might be that no contributions were received or spent, illness prevented compliance or a misunderstanding arose because of a change in campaign workers.

Clay Bussanich, 8, center, and his sister Audrey Bussanich, 11, right, along with other children enjoy an ice shower, as ice carvers carved blocks of ice into artful business signs at the Ice Sculpture event in Old Colorado City Saturday. Photo by KIRK SPEER, THE GAZETTE

KIRK SPEER