Democrats say Rua’s financial forms late
City Democrats have filed a complaint with election officials about mayoral candidate Vince Rua not submitting required financial disclosure forms.
Rua, who is running on the SAM (formerly Serve America Movement) line, does not dispute the claim but says there’s a reason for the delay.
“A team member responsible for my filing had been feeling under the weather and was admitted to the hospital due to complications with his heart,” Rua said in an email. “We are hopeful for a thorough and speedy recovery.”
The Kingston Democratic Committee said in a press release that it filed a complaint with the state Board of Elections.
Committee Co-Chairman Matt Dunn said Mayor Steve Noble, a Democrat who’s running for a second four-year term, “is the only mayoral candidate in the city of Kingston to have completed his 2019 financial disclosure reports to date.”
Dunn did not immediately explain why the Democratic Committee has not filed complaints against GOP-nominated candidate Ellen DiFalco or Kingston People’s Party candidate Ethan Scott Barnett if they, in fact, also have not filed financial statements.
Dunn said “Rua ignored his legal obligation to disclose his financial activity,” Dunn added. He said Rua has “solicited donations, purchased signage, literature, apparel and other campaign items, and has run multiple paid Facebook advertisements which are stamped with a fictitious committee: ‘Paid for by the Friends of Vince Rua.’”
Rua said his campaign “learned of the issue, we are resolving the issue.”
Dunn said campaign financial filings are significant.
“We believe that it is critically important to maintain transparency in this and all elections,” he said. “As Rua is required to comply with campaign finance disclosure laws, this type of repeated disregard for transparency and process will be the hallmark of Rua’s campaign.”
Rua called the Democratic complaint one of the “boldest cases of the pot calling the kettle black that I have ever heard of.” He said there also are “outstanding complaints against the Ulster County Democratic Party for failure to disclose ... financial operations.”
Rua said his filings will “show that my campaign has raised nearly $9,000 and has roughly $2,000 cash on hand.”