The Tampa Tribune's Christain Wade is reporting this afternoon that former Tampa City Council members John Dingfelder and Linda Saul-Sena, both running for Hillsborough County Commissioner and both subject to lawsuits challenging their status on the November ballot because of their failure to submit proper paperwork in time, are also required to return their campaign contributions because of that error. Wade reports that:
Under Florida Election laws, candidates who withdraw from state or local races have 90 days to close out their campaign bank account and return any funds collected. County Election official said as of Wednesday, neither had closed their accounts.
In Dingfelder's case, he stepped down from the District 1 race on June 29 and was re-nominated by the county's Democratic Party the next day, allowing him stay on the ballot. But he had resubmit his campaign paperwork to the county's elections office and open a new campaign account, this time with a zero balance.
If he wants to use money he raised before that, Dingfelder must refund the contributors, minus what he has spent to date, and ask them to cut another check to his campaign.
This article appears in Jul 15-21, 2010.