Here's an encouraging thought to consider as political campaigns go into peak season with just five weeks until Election Day. The state Board of Elections is doing what it's supposed to do, enforcing the admittedly lax laws that political candidates and their campaign aides are supposed to follow.
Those requirements include filing detailed reports about how much money they're spending on trying to get elected or re-elected. More to the point, it means detailing campaign spending in a state where sky-high contribution limits encourage way too much of it.
More than 310 campaign committees and political action committees were hit recently with penalties totaling almost $123,000 by the Board of Elections for failing to file reports that were due more than two months ago.
Almost 230 of the committees were given the maximum fine of $500.
The truth is that almost any enforcement of the law by the Board of Elections is encouraging. This is an outfit that has made some of its biggest headlines by reminding New Yorkers what it couldn't do, not what it could.
The Board of Elections wins points for its willingness to help educate those people. It also seems to be getting wise to the excuses it apparently hears from people who have an easier time raising and spending money than satisfying the relevant disclosure requirements.
It's tempting, at times, to see the battle for fairer and more competitive elections that are won rather than bought as a lost cause. But penalties, mild as they might be, to more than 310 campaign committees and political action committees are ample reason to press on, and for more substantive reform.
The Times Union of Albany/AP
