An alert Frontburnervian directed our attention toward this Center for Public Integrity report, which tracked dozens of political scofflaws who have skirted Federal Election Commission fines by simply ignoring them. About three-quarters of the way down, after the mentions of Al Sharpton and Jill Stein and Cindy Sheehan, we get to the name Steve Salazar. The former Dallas City Councilman has five outstanding election violation cases against him and owes $34,000, according to the report.
An attorney and former Dallas City Council member, Salazar finished sixth in a 2012 Democratic congressional primary — then amassed more than $34,000 in FEC-issued fines across five election violation cases.
“It’s something I’m intending to take care of,” said Salazar, whose committee’s most recent financial disclosure report, filed in 2012, indicated it had no money.
Salazar preceded Monica Alonzo in West Dallas; he was term-limited out of his District 6 seat in 2011. He’s since lost that Democratic congressional primary and popped up as a sometimes-lobbyist at City Hall, where he’s represented development interests in his former district. In that CPI story, the feds don’t seem to have much recourse to get that money—they’ll send demand letters and pass it along to debt collectors, but time spent in court is too costly to sue. Salazar says he plans to pay what he owes, but another anecdote in that piece shows that he probably won’t have to:
Cindy Sheehan earned international attention last decade for camping outside then-President George W. Bush’s Texas ranch in protest of U.S. military involvement in Iraq. In 2008, she ran as an independent against Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Pelosi easily defeated Sheehan, whose campaign failed to file a mandatory campaign finance disclosure report on time. The FEC fined it $10,000; Sheehan’s committee paid part of the fine, and a $3,125 balance has lingered for eight years.
Asked if she was aware of this fine balance, Sheehan said she wasn’t. Now that she is, will she pay it?
“No,” Sheehan replied.
