Politics & Government
$2,000 Ethics Fine on Amato
The Missouri Ethics Commission says it will waive $1,800 of the fee if Amato has no further ethics violations within the next two years.
The Missouri Ethics Commission placed a $2,000 fine on Phil Amato for donor reporting violations related to his campaign for a Jefferson County Council seat last year.
Amato, who was elected a Arnold’s Ward 3 Councilman in April, will only have to pay $200 of the fine if no further ethics violations occur within two years and the money is paid by Sept. 26, stated a document posted on the Missouri Ethics Commission website.
“The responsibility for the violations is all on me. It was my campaign,” Amato said in a phone interview.
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Amato said he should have read the reporting requirements more closely.
The commission stated that campaign finance violations occurred at a fundraising event for Amato on Oct. 12, 2010.
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Twelve donors each gave more than $100, for a combined $3,650, toward the campaign at the event.
All donor contributions were written on separate forms when people responded to event invitations, Amato said.
The campaign filed a report on Oct. 25, 2010, eight days prior to the Nov. 2 county election, stating the event raised more than $6,900 from 200 donors, the document stated.
The report “failed” to identify donors who gave more than $100 at the event, the document said.
“Only contributors of more than one hundred dollars shall be reported by name and address,” a commission special investigator said in the document.
The campaign also broke ethics rules when it received a $400 cash donation from Marion Becker, the campaign’s deputy treasurer, the document said.
Amato filed an amended donor list on January 30 after the commission received a complaint on Dec. 20, 2010.
Amato agreed to pay the $200 fine.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch website first broke this story Monday.
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