Rep. Patton continues to flunk Campaign Math 101

Campaign finance reports isn't an area of expertise for outgoing state Rep. Sylvester D. Patton Jr.
Patton, a Youngstown Democrat, acknowledges he hates to fill them out. Because of his dislike for the reports, he typically waits until the last minute to fill them out.
The dislike has led to problems with Patton's reports.
He was fined twice, once in 2005 and the other in 2002, by the Ohio Elections Commission for failing to file campaign finance reports on a timely basis.
Patton also failed to file required information about campaign contributions on his 1998 and 1999 financial reports. But the commission cut him a break because those were his first two offenses.
But it really wouldn't have mattered because the fines in 2005 and 2002 were $100 each. That didn't even amount to a slap on the wrist, and Patton paid the fines from his campaign fund.
During his 2005 failed Youngstown mayoral run, Patton had to amend a campaign report because he failed to include $17,500 in contributions, an amount that represented more than 35 percent of the money he raised for the race.
He's also used campaign funds in the past to pay for vehicle repairs. It's an allowable expense, but I've never seen anyone else use campaign money for vehicle repairs in my six years of looking at reports.
So when it's time to file campaign finance reports, I always give Patton's a close look.
Sure enough, something unusual appeared on Patton's report earlier this week.
Patton received $5,000 from the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus' political action committee the same day he gave a $5,000 contribution to the Ohio House campaign of Vernon Sykes, an Akron Democrat. Sykes' wife, Barbara, heads the caucus and is the Democrats' state auditor nominee.
It is illegal for a candidate committee to accept money from a PAC with the intention of giving that money to another candidate committee to circumvent state elections law. Patton insists he did nothing improper and the timing of the contributions was a coincidence.
Patton said the caucus gave him the money as part of a get-out-the-vote effort in Youngstown, Akron and Toledo. The $5,000 was to pay people to distribute literature in support of the Democratic Party's slate of statewide candidates.
Patton's campaign report shows he didn't pay anyone for assisting with the voting effort.
That's because, Patton said, there was already an organized effort of volunteers not seeking to be paid for GOTV activity in Youngstown and Toledo.
There wasn't a coordinated volunteer effort in Akron, Patton said, so he gave the $5,000 to Sykes to pay for the effort in that city.
It should be noted that the $5,000 transactions for GOTV efforts were on May 31, 29 days after the primary.
Sykes' post-primary campaign report showed he paid $1,780 to 46 people to work the polls for him the day of the May 2 primary. Sykes received 78 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, a race in which he went in as the heavy favorite.
Bob Bennett, the Ohio Republican Party chairman, pounced on this saying the transaction was "extremely questionable and potentially illegal."
I think the chairman is going overboard on this issue.
First, the caucus can give Vernon Sykes' campaign up to $10,000, and as of June 2, it contributed only $225 to his campaign.
Most importantly, a person has to knowingly circumvent the state's campaign finance rules for there to be a violation. If you look at Patton's track record, his lack of interest in campaign finance law is beneficial. It's a rare case of ignorance of the law working in a person's favor.
A quick note on the gubernatorial debate in Youngstown: Nothing is officially confirmed, but the tentative date is Sept. 5 with a location not yet determined. Youngstown is expected to be the first of the four debates between the two major party candidates.