Groups say companies may violate NY campaign giving limits

The campaign filings released Thursday identify more than 100 companies that appear to have donated more than the $5,000 limit, which applies to a corporation's total contributions to all candidates.

Good government groups say part of the problem in New York is that the election law has a number of loopholes, meaning many of these companies may not have acted illegally. Over-limit contributions break the law only if they're done "knowingly or willingly," and if the company, group or organization is actually a corporation -a fact that was difficult to determine through the state filings.

That means companies that are a "limited liability company" instead of a corporation, or corporations that didn't know they weren't allowed to donate $5,000 per candidate instead of $5,000 aggregate each year, could avoid getting in trouble.

In one example, Riccelli Enterprises Inc. spent $11,600 in 2007 on campaign contributions, according to the study. The trucking company, which hauls bulk commodities and waste, was also identified as one that had overspent in 2006.

Multiple calls to Riccelli Enterprises were not immediately returned Thursday and it was unclear if the company knowingly donated more than the limit.

The good government groups also blame the Board of Elections for a lack of oversight.

"We're coming close to completing the 2006 (campaign filings) and I know we're under way on the 2007. There was a bit of an issue, in 2005 they changed the law," board spokesman Robert Brehm said.

The legal change created more work for the board by including filings from local governments, so instead of tracking only about 1,700 files in a year, the board now deals with about 10,000 files, Brehm said.

In many cases information is entered incorrectly, Brehm said. He pointed out that the board was able to eliminate the majority of the potentially illegal filings from 2005 -ultimately referring only 14 companies to district attorneys. The board did not know if any of those cases have been prosecuted.