5 candidates file unrequired report

One Republican raised close to $600,000 in the 6th District race.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Five Ohio congressional candidates, including four with local ties, filed unnecessary financial disclosure reports with the Federal Election Commission.
The FEC waived a requirement to have Ohio congressional candidates file a 2006 first-quarter campaign finance report, said Kelly Huff, a commission spokeswoman.
That's because the first quarter report was due Saturday, only five days before an FEC mandatory pre-primary finance report must be filed for Ohio congressional candidates on the May 2 primary ballot, she said.
The waiver was granted months ago, Huff said, because of the close proximity to the filing deadlines of the two reports.
The five who filed the unnecessary report are:
State Rep. Chuck Blasdel of East Liverpool, a Republican candidate in the 6th Congressional District that includes Columbiana and a portion of Mahoning.
Noble County Commissioner Danny Harmon of Quaker City, also a 6th District Republican candidate.
Capri Cafaro of Sheffield Village, a Democrat running in the 13th Congressional District primary. Cafaro, formerly of Liberty, is a member of one of the Mahoning Valley's wealthiest and well-known families.
U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, a Concord Republican whose 14th Congressional District includes seven northern townships in Trumbull County.
Barbara Anne Ferris of Parma, a Democrat running in the 10th Congressional District.
The pre-primary report is to include financial activity between Jan. 1 and April 12, and must be filed with the FEC no later than Thursday, 12 days before the May 2 primary.
"We don't care if they file an extra report as long as they file the mandatory report on time," Huff said.
The 2006 first-quarter report, for financial activity between Jan. 1 and March 31, must be filed by those with active congressional campaigns who aren't running for a U.S. House or Senate seat this year. For example, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland of Lisbon, D-6th, running for governor, has an active congressional report.
Strickland, who can't use his federal campaign money for his gubernatorial race, continues to deplete his congressional fund. A year ago, Strickland's congressional fund had close to $500,000.
As of March 31, the fund had $48,216. Between Jan. 1 and March 31, Strickland's congressional fund spent $373,344. Of that amount, $350,000 went to the Ohio Democratic Party.
Strickland's congressional campaign also gave $10,000 each to state Rep. John Boccieri, a New Middletown Democrat running for the state Senate, and to state Rep. Barbara Sykes, an Akron Democrat running for state auditor.
Though Strickland's congressional campaign continues to spend, Blasdel's campaign continues to raise money. In the first three months of this year, Blasdel raised $223,124 and had $360,097 on hand as of March 31.
PAC money
Of the money raised by Blasdel's campaign during this year's first three months, $99,950 came from political action committees. Blasdel also received $86,111 from the Ohio Sixth District Victory Committee, a joint committee created by Blasdel and the Ohio Republican Party.
Unlike standard candidate committees that can collect up to $2,100 a person per election cycle, a joint committee such as this one can receive up to $10,000 from each individual, Huff said. The Ohio Sixth committee, created Feb. 23, raised $127,700, with a decent amount coming from people who've already contributed to Blasdel's campaign.
Blasdel is also part of two other joint committees, Midwest ROMP [Retain Our Majority Program] and ROMP III 2006, with other congressional candidates and sitting members of Congress. As of March 31, Blasdel received no money from either joint committee, according to his FEC reports. The two ROMP committees and Ohio Sixth are based in Alexandria, Va.
Harmon raised $12,645 in the year's first three months with $10,945 coming from the candidate. Harmon is self-funding a majority of his campaign and had $6,975 on hand as of March 31.
There are two others in the Republican primary for the 6th District and three Democratic candidates. They have until Thursday to file their pre-primary reports.
TV ads
The National Republican Congressional Committee has spent about $212,000 to run television commercials attacking the credibility of state Sen. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, a 6th District Democratic write-in candidate. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent about $161,000 on TV and radio advertisements urging voters to write in Wilson's name.
LaTourette, who has no primary opponent, had $494,737 on hand as of March 31. Three Democrats are running in the May 2 primary.
Cafaro is among seven Democrats running in the 13th Congressional District race. The candidate gave $865,000 of her own money to her campaign as of March 31. She's received only $60 from others for this race. The 13th District includes portions of Summit, Medina, Cuyahoga and Lorain counties.
skolnick@vindy.com