Finally, all the local political candidates have filed their required campaign statements. As reported last week, Tolley Gorham, the candidate for District 3 Supervisor, and Brad Aborn, who seeks re-election to the District 1 Supervisor post, filed their statements after the deadline. But they weren’t alone.

Unchallenged County Clerk Keith Williams, who is also the county’s registrar of voters, along with County Assessor Becky Crafts, were both tardy in filing their 470 campaign statements.

The file stamp dates for Gorham, Aborn, Williams, and Crafts all indicate their paperwork was filed on Wednesday, March 24. It was due by 5 p.m. on Monday, March 22. Only District Attorney Bob Brown, who is also running unopposed, filed his statement in a timely fashion, on March 8, far in advance of the deadline.

Gorham floated a flyer around town late last week, apparently taking the

GAZETTE to task for reporting which candidates didn’t meet the required financial filing deadline.

Last Friday, Gorham told the

GAZETTE he has received “a dozen” phone calls after the article was published, with callers stating they were sorry to hear he was “no longer a candidate.” The first line of his flyer states, “There seems to be a rumor floating around that I am no longer a candidate for Supervisor, District 3. There is no truth to this rumor.”

In explaining his tardiness for filing the financial documents, Gorham wrote, “I simply did not realize the report would take as long as it did to complete, and since I wanted to make sure I submitted an accurate report, I did file the completed report about 36 hours after it was due.”

Therein lies the problem with the report Gorham filed.

The candidate’s report, which is only four pages of handwritten, fill in the blanks material, doesn’t compute.

On the summary page of “Monetary Contributions Received” Gorham lists a $100 contribution from Tom and Brenda Archibald, a $100 donation from Craig Mullis, an additional $100 from Kathryn O’Rourke, and $1,935.53 from the Best Western Motel, which is operated by Yosemite Management Group, LLC and owned by Gerald Fischer. The report also indicates a $1,150 personal contribution from himself and his wife, Sherry, on March 17. The report period covers from Jan. 1, 2010 through March 17, 2010. All listed contributions total $3,385.53.

Under expenses, Gorham lists $261.50 for data analysis from Professional Print, however the required code designation as to the type of expense is ismissing. He also shows $931.28 to the Mariposa County Clerk for filing fees, $736.30 to the GAZETTE for print advertising, $1,440.93 to Victory Store.com for campaign signs, and $11.56 to Yosemite Bank for campaign checking account checks. The listed amounts for reportable expenses totals $3,381.57.

However, early in March, Gorham sent a campaign mailer and fund solicitation to the 2,471 registered voters in District 3, but no where on his financial reporting documents are any expenses shown for printing and postage, which would have been substantial.

One possible explanation would be the uneven amount listed as a contribution by the Best Western Motel, since that figure is likely close to what a direct mail solicitation of that size would cost.

However, if that is the case, then Gorham’s calculation of having a positive cash balance of $201.96 is off by almost $2,000.

The Fair Political Practices Commission does allow candidates to file amended 460 financial statements, but as of Wednesday, March 31, no additional information from Gorham had been provided to the County election office.