Eu, Supporters Fined $20,000 for Reports Filed 2 Years Late

The Fair Political Practices Commission imposed a $20,000 fine Tuesday on Secretary of State March Fong Eu and supporters for filing campaign finance reports more than two years late.

Eu, who is in charge of the state agency that oversees elections and monitors campaign funds, agreed to pay the fine for violating financial disclosure laws during her 1986 reelection campaign but said she did not deliberately break the law.

Eu said she was not aware that a group of supporters in San Francisco, the Bay Area Asians to Re-Elect March Fong Eu Committee, failed to file campaign finance reports on time.

“When I discovered the deficiencies, I immediately directed that the statements be filed,” Eu said in a statement.

“The public has an absolute right to full and timely disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures and I have taken steps to ensure that the problems experienced by this committee will not be repeated by any committee with which I may be associated,” she said.

The commission fined Eu, her San Francisco campaign committee and its treasurer, Catherine Lee, for waiting until early 1989 to report $40,000 in donations and $37,000 in expenditures for 1986.

“Eu (as secretary of state) is responsible for imposing fines against committees that fail to file timely campaign statements,” the commission said in a statement. “As such, she should have been well aware of the importance of these requirements and taken steps to ensure that (her committee) complied with the requirements.”

The fine is the second imposed by the political watchdog agency against Eu this year. Last February, the commission imposed an $8,000 fine against the Friends of March Fong Eu Committee for campaign reporting violations.

During her recent reelection campaign, Eu was accused by her Republican rival of reducing fines for a variety of political figures and businesses as well as cutting fines levied against her own campaign committee. Eu did not dispute the charge, but she said she routinely reduced fines when violations were unintentional.