State Senate candidate Paul Johnson is being fined $50 per day and already faces a minimum charge of $250 for failing to file campaign-finance reports, an official with the N.C. Board of Elections said Monday.

Johnson, a Westfield resident seeking the Republican nomination for the area 30th District Senate seat in today’s primary against incumbent Don East, said Monday the problem stems from the hospitalization of his campaign treasurer.

“I’m not doing my own paperwork,” explained Johnson, who is presently on the Surry County Board of Commissioners. The candidate added that the treasurer, whom he declined to identify, has been in and out of the hospital for the past month, including last week.

That means the Committee to Elect Paul Johnson missed an April 26 deadline for filing a campaign-finance report to the state Board of Elections disclosing contributions and expenditures for the first stage of his Senate run.

“He’s actually missed two reports,” Adam Ragan, compliance officer with the state board, said Monday. “One was an organizational report due 10 days after he filed (for Senate).” That initial report, listing basic information about a candidate’s campaign including the appointment of a treasurer, was due in late February.

“Actually, we’ve not received anything campaign finance-related from him,” Ragan said.

Under state law, a candidate who fails to file “all reports, statements and other documents required” is subject to a civil penalty of $50 per day, up to $500. However, Ragan said that penalty is waived for a first offense, meaning the candidate from Surry has incurred no fine for not submitting the organizational form in February.

Yet Johnson is facing at least $250 in accumulated fines at this point for not meeting last week’s deadline for submitting the campaign contribution and expenditures document, Ragan said.

“We sent him a letter April 7 with a packet of information with instructions on filing the form,” he added, “but we have not received a form back from him.”

Johnson said Monday that his campaign will be sending the financial report soon. “I just talked to my treasurer, and she has not filed my paperwork,” the candidate confirmed. “But she talked to the (state) Board of Elections and we’re going to be filing an amended report after the primary, which will be probably Wednesday or Thursday.”

“We’ve spent less than $5,000,” Johnson said when asked about his campaign finances.

Ethics Report Issue

Also Monday, the Senate challenger acknowledged difficulty in filing another document required of candidates for state office — a Statement of Economic Interest (SEI).

On that form that is submitted to the N.C. Ethics Commission, office-seekers are required to disclose their associations with companies or other organizations, as well as real estate holdings and similar details. The intent is to avoid potential conflicts of interest in legislative decisions.

“We did get an SEI for Paul Johnson — he has filed that,” said Stacy Phipps of the Ethics Commission.” This was done on March 11, although Johnson’s report was incomplete, Phipps said. In filling out the document, the candidate overlooked one section regarding any affiliations he has with non-profit organizations.

“It’s not one people generally miss,” the Ethics Commission spokeswoman added of the affected portion. “We’re waiting for him to send us a supplement.”

Johnson said Monday that this was simply an oversight on his part in completing what he called a “long, long form.”

“I missed a page in that and I filled it out and mailed it back to them last week,” he said. “I just missed a page in the filing of it.”

The candidate charged that supporters of his opponent, Sen. East, are aware of the paperwork-filing delays and using them as “more dirt” to discredit his campaign.

“It sounds like to me they’re desperate,” Johnson said. “If he (East) is that desperate, he should have gotten out and campaigned a little more.”

The East-Johnson Senate battle has become bitter at times, including a mass-mailing by the incumbent depicting Johnson as robbing the pockets of Surry citizens by voting to raise property and sales taxes. Johnson, meanwhile, has attacked East for allegedly being out of touch with voters and not adequately representing his district.

Johnson indicated that his campaign is mounting a good-faith effort to resolve all the document-filing problems. “We’re doing everything we’re supposed to do,” he said.