Washington • Two candidates for the U.S. Senate seat from Utah – Republicans Mike Kennedy and Larry Meyers — have not filed their personal financial disclosures as required under federal law.
The two candidates, who have each raised more than the $5,000 threshold that triggers the reporting, were supposed to have filed a list of their assets, liabilities and other income-related information with the Senate one month before the Utah Republican Party Convention on Saturday.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Senate did not have their disclosures.
Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Alicia Colvin and Samuel Parker have filed their disclosures as required, as have Democrat Jenny Wilson and Libertarian Craig Bowden.
The Senate Ethics Committee guidance on the disclosures says the reports must be filed within 30 days of an individual becoming a candidate — meaning that the person running has raised or spent more than $5,000 — “at least 30 days before the election.” The Utah Republican convention on Saturday qualifies as an election.
Several candidates for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Orrin Hatch did not have to report, as they didn’t raise or spend $5,000, according to the latest campaign filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Joe DeBose, a spokesman for Kennedy, a state House member from Alpine, said Wednesday that Kennedy was not an official candidate for the Senate until March 22 and the $5,000 campaign threshold wasn’t triggered until the candidate filed his FEC disclosure on April 9.
DeBose added that the campaign received a login from the Senate this week and plans to file Thursday even though Senate officials told the campaign it had until Sunday to file without penalty.
Meyers, who lives in St. George, did not respond to emails sent to him on Wednesday.
The penalty for not filing the personal financial disclosures isn’t steep and is rarely doled out.
The Senate Ethics Committee says reports filed more than 30 days after the due date “shall subject the filer to a mandatory $200 penalty.” Some waivers are granted, the committee says, but only under “extraordinary circumstances.”
If Kennedy files Thursday, he would fall within that 30-day grace period to avoid a penalty.
