Health Care Law's Mandate Unlikely To Affect Many People

City Councilwoman Inez Dickens — a top contender to be City Council speaker — won’t have debt collectors hounding her to pay property taxes after all.    

She says he touched her and leered at her and even came on to her during an out-of-town trip.    

BY ZEKE CAMPFIELD zcampfield@opubco.com ALSO Oklahoma leads pack in campaign reporting, according to study Oklahoma received the highest grade possible in a recent analysis of disclosure requirements for political action committees, nonprofits and outside spending groups. The state was one of 15 to receive an A grade, meaning its laws were at least as robust as federal spending requirements, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, which produced the report along with The Center for Public Integrity. The institute's rankings focused on campaign spending and not on donations to the groups that are doing the spending. Points were awarded or withheld based on the level of disclosure and whether disclosure forms differentiate between independent spending and other types of campaign expenditures. In most states, disclosure laws are less stringent than federal laws, “meaning shadowy nonprofit groups and big-spending super PACs are able to do business virtually undetected,” according to the report. Oklahoma law requires all candidates and political action committees to file quarterly contribution and expenditure reports with the state Ethics Commission or face as much as $1,000 in penalties. These reports are then accessible to the public via the commission's website. ZEKE CAMPFIELD, Staff Writer

BY ZEKE CAMPFIELD zcampfield@opubco.comCandidates for political office in Oklahoma could soon be on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in penalties for failing to file campaign contribution and expenditure reports as required by state law. Lee Slater, executive director of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, said work will begin this summer to chip away at a two-year backlog of candidates and political action committees that have not kept up with the required reporting schedule. As of Friday, two dozen candidates for political office stretching back as far as 2008 had not filed their latest quarterly report, due April 30, but dozens of others filed their reports days or weeks late. The list of political action committees that are behind schedule is even longer. Slater said the commission can charge each candidate or committee $100 per day for each day it is late filing its reports, with a total maximum penalty of $1,000 each. “It's something that the law anticipates and our rules require, and we're gonna do it,” he said. Most names on the delinquent list are candidates who ran small-budget campaigns one time and then dropped out of the political arena. Others, however, carry years of experience. Lost in inactivity? Former House Speaker Lance Cargill, who now works as a Republican political consultant in Harrah, was among several that scrambled Friday to get their reports filed after The Oklahoman called. Cargill, who last campaigned in 2008, said he has been filing quarterly reports but that the Ethics Commission has not been receiving them. Though he has not accepted any contributions or made any expenditure for several years, the law requires all candidates and political action committees to file a quarterly “Statement of Inactivity” until a report is filed to close the campaign out. “I don't know why that would be — perhaps there's a problem with the Internet or something,” Cargill said. But Debbie Maddox, general counsel for the Ethics Commission, said she didn't buy that. Maddox said filing a contributions and expenditures report can take some time, but that filing a statement of inactivity is just a matter of logging onto the site and clicking a few buttons.

BY DIANA BALDWIN dbaldwin@opubco.comEDMOND — Edmond taxpayers would have to go back four years to find a budget larger than the $231.3 million budget proposed for the coming fiscal year. City council members will hold a hearing on the proposed fiscal year budget and five-year financial plan at 9 a.m.