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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Friday, November 01, 2013

O'Donnell Should Have Claimed Dog Ate Finance Report

Tom O'Donnell
Yesterday, I told you NorCo Council candidate and supposed numbers cruncher Tom O'Donnell has completely failed to file his pre-election campaign finance report. This is required by state law, and enables the public to determine how he is funding his campaign, how much he is spending and where the money goes. Designed to promote transparency in government, it's a "Show me the money!" law.

In response to a written complaint, I received this very prompt response yesterday from the County elections office.
In response to this matter I just spoke to Tom O’Donnell. I informed him that the Elections Office has received a complaint in writing in regards to him not following finance laws and spending over $250.00 Dollars on his campaign. He stated that his treasure George Treisner has filed all the appropriate paper work to the state. I then informed him that he is not a state candidate therefore it should not be filed with the state; he is a local candidate who must file on a local level. I also told him that he is going to have to file the finance reports to our office and also if he has a committee he must legally form that committee by filling out the Political Committee Registration Statement. He asked me to mail the papers to him and said that George Treisner is out of town and when he comes back, this will be taken care of.
O'Donnell should have told the elections office that the dog ate his campaign finance report.  The explanation would have made more sense. I also find it interesting that O'Donnell claims that George Treisner is his treasurer.

You see, Treisner also happens to be the Chairman of Northampton County's Elections Commission.

Can you say conflict of interest?

Treisner
Despite O'Donnell's claim that Treisner was out of town yesterday, I tracked him down. O'Donnell apparently is unaware of this new invention called the cell phone.

Treisner is a numbers cruncher, too. He's a financial advisor, and apparently knows all about money. Treisner told me he filed O'Donell's report with the state.

"I filed it online," he explained, telling me that O'Donnell has no committee and is filing only as a candidate. If that is so, then why the hell does he need a treasurer?

I told Treisner I've been unable to find O'Donnell's report online, and was unable to find any committee filed with the state.

"Keep looking," he told me, and hung up.

I did. I called the state, and asked them to look. There is no committee registered under O'Donnell's name. There is no online report. In fact, I was told that it would be impossible for O'Donnell to file online because he would need a state identification number, and they would only give that to him if he were a state candidate.

So Treisner, Chairman of the Elections Commission, flat out lied to me.

No wonder he hung up.

After my call to Treisner, O'Donnell called the elections office to pick up the paperwork he needs to file the report required by law.

O'Donnell tells everyone he's a certified fraud examiner. He should examine himself. And Treisner, who flat out lied about something as important as a campaign finance report, needs to resign from the Elections Commission.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow.


I am from Lehigh County. I don't know any of the people you are talking about. I recognize Treisner from his picture but never knew his name.

Just Wow. This is awful.

The first rule of politics is never lie to the press.

"I forgot" or "I messed up" is so much better than a lie. Every time.

When I first saw this headline, I though it was no big deal. Lots of candidates make errors in filings and they are honest errors. Especially first time candidates.

But this is really bad.

The inability to admit an error is one of the biggest character flaws that can exist.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I think this is a serious mis-step.

Anonymous said...

This is one of the many problems with O'Donnell. he is into the old Democratic network. His "treasurer" as well as politicians like Kiaja Farber and other old-timers are pushing him. However, he is just plain unqualified. He is an embarrassment to an other wise pretty good group of candidates. He claims he is the smartest number cruncher running for office. Sort of like Barron being the smartest Controller in history.

How Borzo managed to team up with the Barron/McClure gang and this group of old Democratic holdovers is amazing.

I see them both going down on election night.

Anonymous said...

George should know better.

Anonymous said...

O'Donnell is just a whacky old man. His candidacy is a joke. His debate performance was atrocious. Probably the worst of all the candidates.

Phillips is just a bit scary. He seems to have this hidden simmering personality. He attacks experience as a bad thing, yet touts his own bureaucratic experience in the military. He is as much a bureaucrat as anyone else. There is a just that under the surface rage that you can see in most of the tea partiers.

Anonymous said...

I will give O'Donnell the benefit of the doubt here and say that he repeated what his "treasurer" told him. He emphatically stated his report waas filed with the state, that's because he was told that by Triesner. Tommy is a nice caring person who is looking to serve his community. Nothing more. He shouldn't be chastised for wanting to do something for his community. He should be encouraged. He won't get my vote because others are more qualified but I thank him for putting his name out there and trying.

Anonymous said...

Thanks BOH. Thumbs down to this guy come election day.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"I will give O'Donnell the benefit of the doubt here and say that he repeated what his 'treasurer' told him."

I would agree with this. But he should shed Treisner. The guy is both a liar and incompetent. Amazing that he chairs the Elections Comm'.

Celtic Warrior said...

Bernie O'Hara you smear the name of a true Irishman for blog hits, this is a sickening act of treachery that will not be forgotten by the brotherhood of shamrocks.

Anonymous said...

I see the IRA is back. Go eat a potato.

Anonymous said...

Like how O'Donnell told the Elections office how he would handle it on "his" schedule. Nice that the law only apples to some people and others can take care of it at there leisure.

People can get confused or forget. However, his arrogance has cost him any hope of this Democratic vote.