The Republican and Conservative parties endorsed candidate for Jamestown mayor failed to meet the state’s financial disclosure deadlines earlier this month.

David Wilfong, who is currently a county legislator representing District 11, said he did miss the financial disclosure deadline for the latest report that was due July 15. He said he was contacted by the Chautauqua County Board of Elections earlier this month about missing the deadline. He added he was contacted by the county Board of Elections because a formal complaint had been filed against him.

“The charges are absolutely true. I’m 100% responsible for them. I’ve put in the appropriate checks and balances to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Wilfong said. “I did an internal inquiry and found it to be factual, but I’m totally compliant now.”

Jim Walton, Jamestown Democratic Committee chairman, said he sent a letter to the county Board of Elections on July 16 about Wilfong not filing three consecutive financial disclosure reports on time.

“I am asking that you investigate the campaign filings of Jamestown mayoral candidate and current County Legislator David E. Wilfong,” Walton said in his letter to the county. “Per the regulations of the Board of Elections and state of New York, and as of (the) date of this letter, Mr. Wilfong has missed three consecutive campaign finance filings. Those include the 2019 11-day pre-primary report, 2019 10-day post-primary report and the July 2019 periodic report.”

Brian Abram, Chautauqua County Board of Elections Republican Commissioner, said it’s true that Wilfong was tardy with filing his financial reports.

He said the county Board of Elections only plays a role to assist a candidate if they’ve missed a filing deadline.

“Eventually the state will contact the local Board of Elections to get the individual to comply,” he said. “We assist the process to make sure people who have forgotten or weren’t timely are brought up to speed. If there is a missed filing, we will assist at the end.”

Abram said there can be a penalty for not filing on time, but didn’t know the exact punishment. He said there are still more financial disclosure filings this year — the 32-day pre-general election Oct. 4, 11-day pre-general election Oct. 25 and 27-day post-general election Dec. 2.

As of Tuesday morning, Abram said he had received an email that Andrew Liuzzo, who is also running for mayor as an endorsed candidate of the Libertarian Party, had also not filed his July 2019 periodic report. The state website that tracks candidates financial disclosure reports — elections.ny.gov/CFViewReports — confirms that Liuzzo hasn’t filed the latest report.

JAMESTOWN MAYORAL CANDIDATES FINANCES

The Democratic Party candidate for mayor has a substantial lead over his opponents when it comes to finances. According to the 2019 July periodic report summary page, Eddie Sundquist, who is also endorsed by the Independence and Working Families parties, has a closing balance of $6,469.93. This is considerably more than Wilfong who has a closing balance of $705.78.

The difference could be because of the Republican primary election Wilfong had to face against Liuzzo last month. Wilfong defeated Liuzzo by 528 to 284 to win the Republican primary. However, according to the 10-day post-primary report, Wilfong spent $2,152.46 between June 14 and July 5 on his campaign. According to the 11-day pre-primary report, Wilfong spent $1,184.80 between May 24 and June 14 prior to the June 25 primary.

According to Liuzzo’s 10-day post-primary and 11-day pre-primary report summary page, Liuzzo spent $1,158.84 between May 24 and July 5.