On May 14, the Florida Secretary of State informed the Party for Socialism and Liberation that he will not enforce a regulation that parties must have at least $500 worth of campaign-related activity during 2011. However, he warned that he will enforce that regulation in the future. The Secretary of State’s May 14 letter says the rule won’t be enforced as to 2011 because it was not promulgated until September 7, 2011.
The Republicans and Democrats keep trying to stop third parties from getting in on their business. After all they’re the Chosen ones.
I don’t see how the SOS comes up with their interpretation of the statutes in the first place.
There is a statutory requirement that political parties file their campaign-related financial activity. And there is a statutory requirement to file when there is more than $500 (this applies to all election-related entities, not just political parties).
The SOS has apparently mashed these two together – you have to have $500 in political activity in order to file, and as a political party you are required to file.
But if the legislature had wanted to require $500 of activity, they could have easily said so. Or if they wanted political parties to file even if they were below the $500 threshold they could have said so.
And the legislature did require an annual financial audit, and requires that a party have a treasurer, which should be sufficient to ensure that the party is OK on the financial side.
All the other regulations are straight from statute. The SOS should change its regulation, and recommend that the legislature remove the $500 threshold for political parties.
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