Crow Fined $250 For Reporting Campaign Funds Belatedly

State Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Hayden, has been fined $250 for belatedly reporting nearly $5,600 in campaign contributions.

Crow failed to report the contributions until four months after he collected them at a Hayden Lake fund-raiser with Gov. Phil Batt in October.

Chief Deputy Secretary of State Ben Ysursa has said there is no evidence of financial wrongdoing.

“The Secretary of State’s office has been diligent and professional in the handling of this matter,” Crow said Wednesday in a written statement. “I believe that they realize there was no intent on the part of the campaign to hide anything. It was simply a matter of carelessness on my part.”

The problem arose after a “Batt-Crow Fundraiser” at the Hayden Lake Country Club in October. The event raised more than $8,000 and cost $5,600, leaving $3,400 for the two candidates to split.

Saying he was unsure of how to account for the event costs, campaign treasurer Jim Deffenbaugh only listed about a third of the event’s contributors. State campaign finance law requires all contributors of more than $50 to be listed individually.