Candidate fined for filing late report

ELLSWORTH – A Stonington man who ran for Hancock County commissioner last fall has been fined by the state for not filing a post-election report until seven months after it was due, according to a state official.

Earlier this month, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices decided to assess a $918 penalty on Lawrence P. Greenlaw Jr. for filing the late report.

According to Jonathan Wayne, commission executive director, Greenlaw was supposed to have filed a post-election report by Dec. 17, 2002. The report is supposed to include financial information about money received for and spent on the candidate’s campaign, Wayne said Tuesday.

The state sent Greenlaw letters Dec. 27 and Jan. 13, 2003, reminding him of the filing requirement, but Greenlaw did not file the report until July 21, the state official said.

Greenlaw, a member of the Stonington school committee, declined to comment on the matter when contacted Tuesday afternoon at his home.

Using a formula prescribed by state law, state officials initially recommended that Greenlaw be fined $2,753.55, but members of the state election commission later reduced the fine to $918.25, according to Wayne.

Greenlaw was late to file another report required earlier in the campaign, but no penalty was assessed for that missed deadline because Greenlaw did not receive or spend any money for his campaign during the prior reporting period, Wayne said.

Because of this financial inactivity, state commissioners decided to treat what was actually a second offense as a first offense and reduced the recommended fine, the executive director said.

Wayne said that Greenlaw told state commissioners that he had been trying to find records pertaining to his campaign finances and that he thought the original recommended penalty of $2,753 was too high.

Running as a Democrat, Greenlaw lost the election last fall to Republican Royce Perkins of Penobscot, getting 3,468 votes to Perkins’ 4,082.

Perkins took over the commission seat formerly held by fellow Republican Percy “Joe” Brown of Deer Isle.