Update 2: In a revised version of the story from Wednesday’s Gazette, Henry Marraffa is quoted on this issue:
Gaithersburg City Councilman Henry F. Marraffa, whose name appeared on the list, questioned Monday how 77 candidates could have bungled the filing process.
“They have everything from me, they have it timely,” said Marraffa, who said on Monday that when he ran for Montgomery County Council in 2006, he filed his first two campaign finance reports manually, something a county election board representative said he could do. He has a witness and time-stamped documents, Marraffa said. He has since refiled the reports electronically at election officials’ request.
Marraffa said he has not been served with any charging documents.
Note that in conjunction with this article, the Gazette has posted a PDF of the State Prosecutor’s press release on this issue. Number 17 on the list of 40 committees charged is:
17) Friends of Harry Marraffa, Jr.
a. Chair = Henry Marraffa
b. Treasurer = Donald Fatzie
C. Benjamin Ford writes in the online Gazette:
The Maryland State Prosecutor’s Office charged 77 individuals Thursday with violating state election laws for not filing campaign finance reports on time, including the treasurer for the campaign of former Frederick County State’s Attorney Scott L. Rolle, who ran unsuccessfully for Maryland attorney general in 2008.
“Those were filed,” said Rolle (R), who currently is serving as an active-duty captain in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. “There was a computer glitch, but I hadn’t heard anything about [the charges].”
The charges covered a range of political figures, election campaign treasurers and chairmen, as well as those at political action committees. A total of 40 campaign finance committees were affected.
Update: Following is the text of the press release that precedes the list of charged committees:
ROBERT A. ROHRBAUGH
STATE PROSECUTORSTATE OF MARYLAND
OFFICE OF
THE STATE PROSECUTORHamplon Plaza
Suile 410
300 East Joppa Road
Towson. MD 21286-3152
Telephone (410) 321-4067
1(800) 695-4058
Fax (410) 321-3851April 1, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEThe Office ofthe State Prosecutor has announced that criminal charges have been filed against 77 individuals for violating state election laws regarding the timely filing of campaign finance reports.
Maryland’s Election Law Article, Title 13 governs the filing of campaign finance reports. All campaign finance committees are required to have a chainnan and treasurer and to file reports with the State Board of Elections periodically, delineating what monies have corne into the committee and where such monies are expended. The chainnan and treasurer of the committees are jointly and severally liable for filing these reports timely and accurately. Failure to do so can result in late fees being levied by the State Board of Elections and ultimately referral to the State Prosecutor’s office for prosecution. Upon receipt of such referrals from the State Board of Elections, the Office of the State Prosecutor sends notices to all the officers of the committees in an effort to get the committees to come into compliance with the reporting laws. However, after significant efforts to do so, the committees listed herein continue to be non-compliant.
Attached is the list of committees and their officers who are being charged. If found guilty, each count of failure to file the campaign finance report carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and/or a $25,000.00 fine. All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. Pursuant to Office policy, the office did not request warrants in these cases, opting instead to request that criminal summonses be issued.
No court dates have been set as of the date of this press release. Any inquiries regarding these charges should be directed to Assistant State Prosecutor Shelly Glenn.